Process for bismuth recovery from lead-bismuth dross

摘要

A process for recovering bismuth, from lead-bismuth containing material, which is characterized by a series of steps of selective oxidation of lead from said material with the addition of at least one slag forming agent which produces a lead-enriched bismuth-poor slag and an enriched-bismuth product. The slag forming agents are chosen from a group which selectively stabilize Pb while rejecting Bi at the oxygen activity levels required to stabilize the Pb. Typically the process includes a pretreatment process where calcium and magnesium content of the lead-bismuth containing material is reduced and an post-treatment where chlorine is added to remove the residual lead, and obtain a high purity bismuth metal.