| An experimental study of minor element elimination from copper smelter dust by vacuum calcination was carried out. The rationale for the study was to test the feasibility of vacuum calcination as a treatment to separate minor elements from copper smelter dusts and to recover the copper values in the dust.;Experiments were performed to measure the extent of removal of bismuth, arsenic, lead and zinc from copper smelter dust exposed to a vacuum in the range from 50 to 110 Pascal in the temperature range from 600 °C to 950 °C and for a time in the range from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. Fifty gram samples of smelter dust were used in each test. It was found that up to 97 % Bi, 99 % As and 99 % Pb eliminations from the dust were achieved in experiments, performed at 900 °C, in the pressure of 50∼110 Pa and for a period of 60 minutes with the addition of copper concentrate in different ratios. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).;The physical, chemical and mineralogical nature of copper smelter dust as received was characterized using ICP, AA, XRD, EDS etc. The prevailing mineralogical components of the dust were copper sulfate, lead sulfate and magnetite. It was observed that the dust particles consisted of spherical and irregular shaped agglomerated solid droplets. |
