Abstract: A method of production of Zinc dust, which includes melting Zinc products in a melting furnace on a semi-continuous basis, transferring at least a part of the molten Zinc products to a vaporizing furnace, vaporizing the molten Zinc in the vaporizing furnace into Zinc vapor on a substantially continuous basis, transferring Zinc vapor from the vaporizing furnace to a condenser, and condensing the Zinc vapor to form Zinc dust.

Abstract: A process and apparatus for producing lead and zinc from concentrates of zinc and lead sulfides or oxides includes the steps of: (a) mixing lead ore and/or zinc ore concentrates, iron bearing and carbon containing materials, metallic iron fines and iron oxide fines, carbonaceous reductant, fluxing agent, and a binder to form a mixture; (b) forming agglomerates from the mixture (c) introducing the agglomerates to a melting furnace; (d) maintaining a reducing atmosphere within the melting furnace; (e) vaporizing lead and zinc in the melting furnace at a temperature of 1000 to 1650 C, and removing the lead and zinc from the melting furnace in vaporized form; (f) cooling and condensing the metal vapors to liquid metal; and (g) separating the zinc and lead; and (h) recovering the lead and zinc metal separately.

Abstract: Liquid metal is continuously recovered by condensing metal vapour in a sealed system, more or less at atmospheric pressure, and collecting liquid metal in a crucible. The contents of the crucible are agitated and the temperature is controlled to prevent the liquid metal from solidifying. Liquid metal and dross are tapped from the crucible.

Abstract: A method of operating mechanical separation devices at high temperatures to separate various volatile metals, metal halides and metal oxides to produce high purity materials.

Abstract: A 99.99% pure indium feed is charged into a crucible and heated to 1250 ° C. by an upper heater in a vacuum atmosphere at 1×10−4 Torr, whereupon indium evaporates, condenses on the inner surfaces of an inner tube and drips to be recovered into a liquid reservoir in the lower part of a tubular member, whereas impurity elements having a lower vapor pressure than indium stay within the crucible. The recovered indium mass in the liquid reservoir is heated to 1100° C. by a lower heater and the resulting vapors of impurity elements having a higher vapor pressure than indium pass through diffuser plates in an upper part of the tubular member to be discharged from the system, whereas the indium vapor recondenses upon contact with the diffuser plates and returns to the liquid reservoir, yielding 99.9999% pure indium, while preventing the loss of indium.

Abstract: A method for reducing metal oxides in a shaft furnace. A charge of metal oxide and a reductant is reacted in the furnace to produce a primary metal of the metal oxide and an additional secondary metal. The temperature of the off gas from the reaction is controlled to prevent condensing of the secondary metal so that it remains in the off gas for separation therefrom.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for collecting valuable products, particularly zinc, from a zinc-containing substance such as electric furnace dust. A shaft type smelting reduction furnace has a packed bed of a carbonaceous solid reducing agent and has upper and lower tuyeres, and a zinc-containing substance is injected through tuyeres to reduce and vaporize zinc, which is directly contacted by a liquid coolant thereby forming a slurry, and the zinc product is collected from the slurry.

Abstract: A processing method by which metals may be recovered at a high purity from metal-containing waste materials.The method for processing metal-containing waste materials comprises crushing a metal-containing waste material to a particle size of 1-50 mesh, separating and recovering the metal-containing particles from the crushed portion, introducing the metal-containing particles into a vacuum heating furnace, pre-heating the furnace while under suction evacuation, and then raising the temperature of the furnace in stages while continuing the vacuum suctioning, recovering the metal and non-metal vapor produced at each temperature level using a condensing and adsorbing means, and recovering the liquated metals as melts. The method may be used to process waste batteries, copper-containing waste materials and the like in the same manner to recover high-purity metals.

Abstract: This invention describes a method of reprocessing zinc- and iron oxide-containing residual material. Zinc- and iron oxide-containing dust and/or sludge is granulated with water, granules and carbonaceous material are fed to a circulating fluidized bed system, the gas-solids suspension circulated in the circulating fluidized bed system is fed to a second fluidized bed reactor, the solids discharged from the second fluidized bed reactor are recycled to the reactor of the circulating fluidized bed system, 50 to 75% by volume of the oxygen required to gasify the carbonaceous material are fed as fluidizing gas to the reactor of the circulating fluidized bed system and 25 to 50% by volume of said required oxygen are fed as a fluidizing gas and secondary gas to the second fluidized bed reactor, iron oxide-containing material is discharged from the reactor of the circulating fluidized bed system and zinc-containing material is discharged with the exhaust gas from the circulating fluidized bed system.

Abstract: The foundry dust is fed to a first furnace atmosphere which is preferably at 1000.degree. to 1100.degree. C. With the dust pellet being continuously rolled around, it remains therein until in particular chlorine, alkali and lead compounds have almost completely evaporated out of the dust. Experience has shown this takes an hour. In that operation a scavenging gas flow is fed to the furnace atmosphere whereby the lead-chlorine-alkali vapour produced in the rotary cylindrical furnace is passed out of sane to a condensation and filtering apparatus.Reducing agent, in particular coal, is then introduced into the foundry dust and same is fed to a further furnace atmosphere which in particular is at 1150.degree. to 1350.degree. C., where it is continuously rolled around.

Abstract: Residual metallurgical materials which contain zinc and lead are reprocessed by a thermal treatment in a circulating fluidized bed. The required heat is generated in that solid carbon is combusted in the fluidized bed reactor of the circulating fluidized bed. A solid carbon content of 5 to 30% is maintained in the lower part of the fluidized bed. Oxygen-containing gases are supplied to the upper part of the fluidized bed reactor, and CO.sub.2 is formed only in such an amount that zinc metal will not be reoxidized. Substantially all solids are removed from the discharged suspension in a recycle cyclone and are recycled. The gas is cooled to a temperature at which zinc metal is oxidized to ZnO. The dustlike compounds of zinc and lead are separated from the gas.

Abstract: Metal vapor, for example zinc fume in the offgas of a smelting furnace, is captured by bringing the stream into direct contact with a fluidized bed of solid particles having a particulate loading of greater than 10 kg/m.sup.3 and preferably greater than 400 kg/m.sup.3. The thermal mass and temperature of the bed is such as to rapidly quench the vapor in the case of zinc from above 960.degree. C. to below 419.degree. C. in less than 100 milliseconds, whereby the vapor condenses in the bed and is recovered as zinc metal in acceptable yield.

Abstract: A process is provided for condensing zinc and other metal vapors from a gaseous stream. A duplex condensing bath is provided, having a bottom layer of molten zinc and a top layer comprising a liquid condensing medium, such as a molten salt. The molten salt is inert to, immiscible with, and less dense than the molten zinc, and has a negligible zinc vapor pressure even at temperatures greater than 700.degree. C. The molten salt condensing medium is splashed into, or otherwise contacted with the gaseous stream, causing condensation of the zinc and other metal vapors, which then partition with the molten zinc layer of the duplex condensing bath.The process of the present invention is a significant improvement over current molten zinc-type splash condenser systems. The negligible zinc vapor pressure of the molten salt layer permits operating temperatures of 700.degree. C.

Abstract: A process of treating argentiferous alloy variously called "zinc crust" or "silver crust", obtained in the separation of silver from lead, removes sufficient zinc in one apparatus and process step to ensure the product is suitable as feed to cupellation. Suitable feed is defined as material, when partially oxidized in a cupel to remove impurities from silver, results in a litharge that is liquid at typical cupellation temperatures. The process requires that care be taken to avoid excessive oxidation of the crust during its formation. No preliminary step to upgrade the crust is necessary, avoiding the associated expense and effort.

Abstract: There is disclosed a process for recovering valuable metals from a dust containing zinc comprising mixing the dust containing zinc with a reductant and a flux for regulating the basicity of slag, forming the mixture into pellets with a pelletizer, charging the pellets into a shaft type preheating-prereducing furnace provided with a preheating zone at the upper part and with a reducing zone at the lower part and removing, in the preheating zone, moisture and ignition loss components in the pellets, while prereducing in the reducing zone, the pellets under such conditions that a reduction of iron oxide is made to proceed selectively while the reduction of zinc oxide is suppressed to the possible minimum, charging the prereduced pellets into a melting furnace to melt and reduce them in the furnace, separating zinc, or zinc and lead, by evaporation followed by condensation to recover them, and separating iron and lead, or iron, according to the difference in their specific gravities to recover the iron as a molte