What is plasma smelting?

By feeding dust and grindings from stainless-steel production plants into a plasma furnace, we can chemically reduce metal oxides and generate a high alloy metal product. This can then be returned to the steel production process to ensure greater environmental impact.

What is PGM refinery?

BASF announced today the expansion of its Seneca, South Carolina, USA, Platinum Group Metals (PGM) refining facility. The company will invest double-digit millions in capital improvements to increase refining capacity to recycle precious metals from spent catalysts such as automotive catalytic converters.

How is platinum processed?

Refining platinum ore is a costly and laborious process. Froth generated at the top of a flotation cell concentrates the platinum particles. The dried powder is then heated to extremely high temperatures to remove impurities. Air is blown over the matte that remains after smelting to eliminate unwanted iron and sulfur.

What happens at a metal refinery?

In metallurgy, refining consists of purifying an impure metal. It is to be distinguished from other processes such as smelting and calcining in that those two involve a chemical change to the raw material, whereas in refining, the final material is usually identical chemically to the original one, only it is purer.

How hot is a plasma furnace?

A plasma arc operates on principles similar to an arc-welding machine, where an electrical arc is struck between two electrodes. The high-energy arc creates high temperatures ranging from 3,000 degrees to 7,000 degrees Celsius. The ÓplasmaÓ is highly ionized gas.

How does a plasma arc furnace work?

A plasma arc furnace (PAF) uses plasma torches instead of graphite electrodes. Each of these torches has a casing with a nozzle and axial tubing for feeding a plasma-forming gas (either nitrogen or argon) and a burnable cylindrical graphite electrode within the tubing.

How is palladium refined?

The steps that constitute the process are : leaching with sulphuric acid and nitric acid, removal of impurities, precipitation of palladium yellow salt (dichlorediamine-palladium(II)), reduction of this salt to metallic palladium and finally the smelting of this metal.

What is white gold made of?

White gold is usually an alloy containing about 75% gold and about 25% nickel and zinc. If stamped 18 karat, it would be 75% pure gold.

How is platinum different from gold?

The main distinguishing physical characteristic between gold and platinum is color. While platinum is naturally white, gold is naturally yellow. White gold rings are composed of gold, alloys, and a rhodium plating which gives it a white look that’s very similar to platinum.

What are refined metals?

Refined Metal means gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, platinum group or other marketable metals produced from Minerals and refined to standards meeting or exceeding commercial standards for the sale of such refined metals.

How does plasma arc recycling work for precious metals?

When sent for recycling using Tetronics’ plasma arc technology the catalyst is first de-canned and the honeycomb ceramic part is crushed into a powder to be fed into the furnace. Tetronics claims to recover in excess of 98% of the PGMs present in the catalyst, which it traps in a ‘collector metal’.

How are precious metals extracted from plasma powder?

The processed and extracted metals are mixed in plasma powder form, which can be recovered and purified through conventional extraction and refining techniques. According to TPT, the resulting precious metal powder can then fetch up to 96% of the London Metals Exchange price.

Where is the d.c.plasma arc steel refiner located?

D.C. Plasma Arc Steel Refiner at Steel Foundry. This furnace was initially designed and constructed as an experimental furnace for steel processing with a 200 lb. capacity. The furnace is comprised of a refractory lined foundry ladle with porous plug gas stirring and two electrodes to generate the D.C. plasma arc.

How is plasma technology changing the mining industry?

Plasma technology capable of increasing precious metal yields from complex ores by over 1,000% could change the face of the mining industry. Elly Earls spoke to the managing director of Toss Plasma Technologies, the company behind the innovation, to find out more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuUJwFLUpS0