PROSPECTS OF EXTRACTING METALS FROM TECHNOGENIC WASTES USING CONCENTRATED SOLAR RADIATION

摘要

According to a performed analysis, technogenic wastes produced by the JSC Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (Almalyk MMC) contain a total of 31 metals and elements, including iron (30.3 wt), silicon (16.9 wt), aluminum (4.7 wt), etc. Experiments were carried out to further extract valuable components from such wastes involving their melting in a large solar furnace with a 1-MW thermal capacity. A method for smelting technogenic wastes having an average granularity of 74 um in such a furnace was developed. The reduction smelting of a charge containing 5 kg of technogenic wastes, 0.5 kg of calcium oxide (10 wt above 100), and 0.25 kg (5 wt above 100) of coke was performed in a graphite crucible having a diameter of 250 mm and a height of 300 mm. The charged crucible was placed into the focal plane of a furnace and the process of charge smelting was performed under the action of a concentrated solar radiation flux with a density of 100 W/cm . The smelting charge in this furnace with the subsequent water quenching of the melt was shown to produce melt containing metals up to 22 wt. A "small" solar furnace having a paraboloid concentrator of 12 m diameter and a focal plane of 30 cm diameter was calculated.