Abstract

CAMPOS SARAVIA, Karina; VELASCO HURTADO, Carlos  and  SILES TERAN, Luis Demetrio. Obtaining alkaline zinc by carbothermal reduction. Rev. Met. UTO [online]. 2012, n.32, pp. 44-51. ISSN 2078-5593.

Obtaining zinc from a sulfide trough a carbothermal reduction process may be viable if a desulfurization agent as lime or limestone is added to the normal operation conditions. These agents are characterized by retaining the sulfur forming CaS, avoiding its emanation into the environment as SO₂. The paper presents the interpretative thermodynamic analysis of what happens in the alkaline carbothermal reduction, and the experimental results in the laboratory of the zinc mineral reduction (marmatite type). It's shown that the proposal is highly competitive versus the traditional process in a classical way, highlighting the low impact on the environment and the energy demand that the alkaline carbothermal reduction has. Zinc recoveries of 90% and 99% have been achieved in the experiment which have been made using CaO and CaCO₃ as desulfurization agents.

Keywords : Alkaline reduction; marmatite; zinc; clean technology.