Abstract
Intermediate products such as smelting dust and scraps of semiconductors contain lead, silver, gold and many other kinds of valuable metals as well as arsenic and antimony. In order to recover these valuable metals from the secondary materials, a by-production process is required to avoid recirculation of arsenic and antimony back into the smelting of the base metals. In this process, the valuable metals are recovered by dissolving in the metallic lead which is formed. The arsenic and antimony are eliminated into the speiss phase. To analyze the behavior of the minor elements between the molten speiss and metallic lead, the distribution ratios were established in the Pb-Fe-As ternary system. Bi, Ag, Cd, In, and Au are collected in the metallic lead phase and can be rec, vered from the bullion in the lead refining process while Co, Ni, S and Ga are concentrated in the speiss phase. Cu, Sb, Se, Sn and Zn are however distributed in both phases. Effective recovery of these elements can not be expected in this process.
The activity coefficient of minor elements in the speiss phase of the Pb-Fe-As system are estimated by means of the distribution coefficients and activity coefficients of minor elements in molten lead.
