Oxide fraction of industrial zinc ash from hot dip galvanizing was characterized in terms of composition and leaching behaviour in 10% sulfuric acid solution. Waste product contained about 68% Zn, 6% Cl, 3% Al, 1% Fe, 0.7% Si, 0.5% Pb and minor percentages of other metals (Mn, Cu, Ti etc.). It consisted mainly of zinc oxide contaminated with metallic zinc, zinc hydroxide chloride and silica. Dissolution of the metals from the material was determined as a function of solid to liquid ratio (50-150 kg/m3), temperature (20°C and 35°C) and agitation rate (300 and 900 rpm). The best results (50 g/dm3 Zn(II) at 78% zinc recovery) were obtained for 100 kg/m3 and the temperature of 20°C. Increase in the agitation rate had weak effect on the zinc yield. The final solutions were contaminated mainly by Fe(II, III) ions. Leaching of the material was an exothermic process with the reaction heat of about 800 kJ/kg.

Catalytic converters contain the catalytic substance in their structure, which is a mixture of Platinum Group Metals (PGMs). The prices of these metals and a growing demand for them in the market, make it necessary to recycle spent catalytic converters and recovery of PGMs. In the study, the effect of ozone and hydrogen peroxide application on the possibility of extracting PGM from used car catalysts was investigated. The catalytic carrier was milled, sieved and then the fractions with the desired grain size were treated with the appropriate HCl mixture and 3%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 30% H2O2, respectively, and the tests were also carried out at temperature 333 K. Ozone tests were conducted with the O3 flow in the range of 1,3,5 g/h. Samples for analysis were collected after 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, 3 h and after 4 h, respectively. The residue after the experiments and filtration process was also analysed. The obtained results confirmed the assumption that PGMs can be extracted using hydrochloric acid with the addition of H2O2 or ozone as oxidants. It allows to significantly intensify the carried out reactions and to improve the rate of PGMs transfer to the solution.

Zinc is present in electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) mainly in two basic minerals, namely as franklinite ZnFe2O4 and/or zincite ZnO. While zincite is relatively reactive and easily treatable, franklinite is considerably refractory, which causes problems during EAFD processing. In this work EAFD containing 18.53% Zn was leached in water solution of ammonium carbonate. This leaching solution selectively leaches zincite, while franklinite is refractory and stable against leaching in this case. The temperature dependence of zinc leaching from EAFD was studied and the activation energy EA was determined by two methods: 1.) classically based on zinc chemical analyses from the leaching solution and 2.) by using of X-Ray diffraction qualitative phase analyses of leaching residues. The determined values of activation energies 37.41 and 38.55 kJmol–1 match perfectly, which show the excellent possibility of using X-Ray diffraction toward the study of leaching kinetics at properly chosen experimental conditions. The important result is the determination of the amount zincite and franklinite in EAFD, which is not possible by using of classical chemical methods.

The paper proposes a new electropulse apparatus for processing natural raw materials. The temperature of the crushing-and-reducing assembly of an electropulse plant is found. The results of ore crushing are presented and optimal engineering factors are offered. The elemental analysis of the test material is obtained. It is reported that the electropulse processing at the reduction stage made for significant increase in the content of non-ferrous and rare metals.