Co-treatment of copper smelting flue dust and arsenic sulfide residue by a pyrometallurgical approach for simultaneous removal and recovery of arsenic

As the typical hazardous arsenic pollutants, copper smelting flue dust (CSFD) and arsenic sulfide residue (ASR) are produced extensively during copper smelting process, which pose significant pressure on environmental protection and green development of the copper industry. This work proposed an economic, efficient, and applicable approach to treat waste with waste, in which the simultaneous removal and recovery of As from CSFD and ASR were realized by a roasting process, with adding sulfuric acid, at a relatively low temperature (300-350 celcius). The thermodynamic analysis and experiments confirmed that the main phases of As2S3 and S0 in the ASR were used as a reductant for reducing As(V) in the CSFD, and the introduction of sulfuric acid favorably enhanced the thermodynamic driving force and greatly lowered the reaction temperature. The results indicated that removal and behavior of As were highly dependent on the mass ratio of ASR to CSFD, roasting temperature, and H2SO4 dosage. By regulating the parameters, the species As2S3, As2O5, and arsenate were all converted to volatile As2O3, which could be captured and deposited in cold water. In the optimized co-treatment, a satisfied As removal efficiency of 96.12% was achieved, while getting the 97.03% pure As2O3.

Automated summary

An economic, efficient, and applicable approach to simultaneously remove and recover arsenic from copper smelting flue dust (CSFD) and arsenic sulfide residue (ASR) through a roasting process was proposed in this study. By optimizing parameters, a high efficiency of arsenic removal and purity can be achieved.