Clean antimony production from stibnite concentrate with goethite residue co-treatment for zinc, iron, sulfur conservation

Release time:2023-01-09

Impact Factor:9.297

DOI number:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127847

Journal:Journal of Cleaner Production

Key Words:Antimony extraction, Stibnite concentrate, Goethite residue treatment, Sulfur conservation, Phase conversion mechanism, Solid waste recycling

Abstract:In view of the issues of low efficiency and environmental pollution existing in current antimony production, this work proposes an innovative and cleaner process to extract antimony from stibnite concentrate and co-treat goethite residues. The mechanisms of antimony extraction and zinc, iron, sulfur conservation was thermodynamically and experimentally investigated. The results show that iron- and zinc-bearing components in the goethite residue firstly reacted and releasing FexOy and ZnO, then stibnite (Sb2S3) quickly converted to senarmontite (Sb2O3) in the presence of FexOy and ZnO. Intermediate Sb2O3 was subsequently reduced to metallic Sb. Bench-scale experiments of antimony extraction from stibnite concentrate with goethite residue as sulfurfixing agent validated that 85.7% of Sb was directly recovered as crude antimony bullion, only around 7.4% antimony volatilized to fume. Pb, As, Au, and Ag tended to also be co-enriched in the bullion. 97.4% of sulfur, 88.8% of zinc and 86.1% of iron were recovered and fixed simultaneously. Sulfur in Sb2S3, iron and zinc contained in goethite residues was conserved in matte as marketable Fe2Zn3S5, FeS, and ZnS, instead of forming gaseous SO2. This novel process is a promising recycling and co-treatment alternative for various secondary ironand zinc-containing materials.

Indexed by:Journal paper

Discipline:Engineering

First-Level Discipline:Metallurgical Engineering

Document Type:J

Volume:313

Page Number:127847

Translation or Not:no

Date of Publication:2021-06-07