A METHOD OF PURIFYING NON-FERROUS METAL MELTS FROM FOREIGN ELEMENTS

摘要

A process for purifying castings, consisting essentially of non-ferrous metals, preferably copper and lead, by elimination of the impurities contained in the form of elements which are not easily separable, such as cobalt, nickel, lead, bismuth, antimony and arsenic, consists in injecting into the casting at least one solid reaction agent using a carrier gas. During the injection process, the flow is maintained under the influence of significant turbulence. The carrier gas and the solid reaction agent are selected so that a product, the melting point of which is higher than the temperature prevailing in the flow, and which has a density different from that of the casting. The resulting product is then separated from the casting. For example, the cast can be made of copper, and the impurity elements can be nickel and / or cobalt, and the reaction agent is silica, which forms a solid product with nickel and / or cobalt. . Suitably, the casting can also contain an oxidizing agent, such as iron (III) oxide or copper oxide. The casting can also consist of raw lead and the impurity elements can be antimony and / or arsenic. In this case, the oxidizing agent can be lead oxide, which can also act as a solid reaction agent to form a solid product. Other combinations are also conceivable.