With the increasing depletion of non-ferrous metal resources and rising environmental protection standards,
the innovation and breakthrough of metallurgical process has become the lifeline of sustainable development
of the industry. This article will deeply analyze how modern metallurgical laboratories build a complete technical
system from complex mineral processing to high-purity metal preparation through seven core technology clusters.
High-efficiency hydrometallurgical technology innovation
In the field of leaching, the CIP/CIL process realizes the selective capture of gold-cyanide complex through
dynamic adsorption column design, and together with the ultrasonic enhanced leaching device, the gold leaching
rate breaks through 98.5%, and the leaching cycle is shortened to 18 hours. For difficult-to-process copper-nickel-cobalt
ores, the pressure leaching system, under the conditions of 180℃ and 2.5MPa, can increase the metal leaching rate by
40% compared with that of the normal pressure process through precise control of redox potential. After the
application in a laterite nickel mine project, the cobalt recovery cost is reduced by 35%, and the nickel
concentration of leaching solution reaches 45g/L.
Pyrometallurgical technology breakthrough
Converter arsenic removal roasting process in the 850 ℃ gradient temperature field, through the arsenic form of
directional conversion technology, to achieve the arsenic removal rate of 99.2% at the same time to ensure that
the main metal loss rate of less than 0.8%. The flash roasting system utilizes the principle of suspended state
reaction, compressing the traditional 72-hour roasting cycle to 22 seconds and increasing the thermal efficiency to
82%. The electric arc furnace intelligent smelting platform is equipped with spectral online analyzer, which can
adjust the slag system composition in real time, so that the crude copper grade is stable at more than 98.5%,
and the slag copper content is reduced to 0.25%.
Specialty Alloy Preparation System
The vacuum intermediate frequency induction furnace successfully prepares aerospace grade titanium alloy with
oxygen content <50ppm under 10^-3Pa vacuum with electromagnetic stirring technology. The atmospheric
protection smelting system adopts dynamic argon curtain technology, which reduces the oxidation loss rate
of magnesium alloy melt from 12% to 1.8%. The water atomization powder making device outputs 15-45μm
spherical copper powder through supersonic nozzle design, and the vibration density reaches 6.8g/cm³,
which meets the standard of 3D printing powder.
Metal Separation and Purification Technology
Atmospheric distillation system in lead-zinc separation to achieve a straight rate of 97.3% of zinc, lead residue
<0.03%. Vacuum distillation device completes 99.99% grade separation of selenium-tellurium materials under
0.01Pa working condition. Solvent extraction system through the development of a new type of chelating
extractant, so that the copper-nickel separation factor breaks through 10 ^ 4, cobalt-nickel solution
separation purity reaches 4N level.
Breakthrough in environmental protection treatment technology
Magnetization roasting tail gas treatment system integrates SCR denitrification and activated coke adsorption
technology to stabilize NOx emission concentration below 30mg/m³. Acidic wastewater treatment process
adopts selective membrane separation technology, with metal ion retention rate >99.9% and water reuse
rate increased to 95%. Arsenic hazardous waste curing technology through the mineral phase reconstruction,
so that the arsenic leaching toxicity down to 0.1mg / L, far below the 1.5mg / L national standard limit.
Process strengthening technology innovation
Microwave-assisted leaching system in the 2.45GHz band reduces the tungsten ore decomposition
temperature from 220℃ to 160℃, and energy consumption is reduced by 40%. Super gravity reactor
is applied to zinc powder replacement process, which improves gold precipitation speed by 8 times
and precious metal recovery rate by 2.3 percentage points. Micro-channel reaction device in the copper
extraction process, the mass transfer efficiency to the traditional mixing clarifier 15 times.
Digital twin technology application
By building a digital twin platform for the whole metallurgical process, virtual mapping of 23 key processes
was realized. The process optimization cycle was shortened from 3 months to 72 hours in the traditional
trial-and-error method, and the cost of new process development was reduced by 65%. The online quality
prediction system, based on 128 process parameters, can prejudge product grade 4 hours in advance, with
an accuracy rate of 98%.
Currently, these innovative technologies are reshaping the technological landscape of the metallurgical
industry. Laboratory data show that the integrated application of the new process equipment system, its
comprehensive metal recovery rate than the traditional process to increase an average of 12-18 percentage
points, energy intensity decreased by 25-40%, three waste emissions reduced by 60-80%. In the field of new
energy metal extraction, lithium mica lithium extraction process through the joint method of innovation, so
that the cost of lithium recovery down to 1/3 of the market price of lithium carbonate.
With the deep integration of material genome program and machine learning technology, metallurgical
process research and development is entering a new stage of intelligence. Through the high-throughput
experimental platform, a single day can complete the workload of match screening that takes half a year
by traditional methods. The adaptive control system can automatically generate the optimal process route
according to the characteristics of the ore, increasing the ability of the production line to adapt to
fluctuations in the ore source by five times.
These technological breakthroughs not only solve the existing metallurgical problems, but also provide key
technological support for the development of urban mines, electronic waste recycling and other emerging
fields. When green metallurgy technology meets the circular economy model, the traditional resource-intensive
industry is being transformed into an environmentally friendly precision manufacturing industry, injecting
new momentum into the sustainable development of the global metal supply chain.