TY - CONF A1 - Taube, Mareike Carolin A1 - Adam, Christian A1 - Adamczyk, Burkart A1 - Beckmann, T. A1 - Reuter, M. A1 - Stelter, M. T1 - Influence of carbon feeding on a pyrometallurgical tantalum and niobium recycling process and the formation of carbides N2 - An existing pyrometallurgical process for tantalum and niobium recovery, mainly from low grade pyrometallurgical residues, was investigated. Series of melting experiments were carried out in a pilot-scale electric arc furnace to study how the amount, the grain size and the way of feeding affect the activity of carbon as a reducing agent. During the pyrometallurgical treatment refractory metals such as tantalum and niobium are reduced to their carbide form and enriched in the molten iron-based metal phase. The cooled down slag and metal phase were analysed to investigate thermodynamic and kinetic conditions of the carbide formation. FACT Sage simulations were also used to investigate the material system in state of thermodynamic equilibrium. Results show that mass transfer and kinetics may play an important role if compared to equilibrium analyses using FACT Sage. T2 - Euopean Metallurgical Conference (EMC) 2019 CY - Düsseldorf, Germany DA - 23.06.2019 KW - Pyrometallurgy KW - Tantalum KW - Carbide formation KW - Reduction process KW - Carbon feeding PY - 2019 SN - 978-3-940276-87-2 VL - 1 SP - 371 EP - 386 PB - GDMB Verlag GmbH CY - Clausthal-Zellerfeld AN - OPUS4-48363 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Taube, Mareike Carolin A1 - Adam, Christian A1 - Adamczyk, Burkart A1 - Beckmann, T. A1 - Reuter, M. A1 - Stelter, M. ED - Thiel, S. ED - Thomé-Kozmiensky, E. ED - Pretz, T. ED - Senk, D. G. ED - Wotruba, H. T1 - Tantal-Rückgewinnung aus Zinnschlacken und weiteren Reststoffen N2 - Since the recycling of tantalum bearing post-consumer waste is practically not existent, metallurgical residues are the most important feed for the tantalum recycling. Most tin ores naturally contain significant quantities of refractory metals. During the smelting process in primary tin production these elements are enriched in the slag phase. This slag is a highly valuable raw material for tantalum production due to its considerable concentration of tantalum and its functioning as an additional slag former in further pyrometallurgical treatment. In this paper the first process stage of an existing pyrometallurgical process for tantalum recovery, mainly from low grade pyrometallurgical residues, is discussed. Smelting trials were carried out in a pilot-scale electric arc furnace to analyse the effect of feeding on the activity of carbon as a reducing agent. Therefore, blowing petroleum coke through an iron lance and the manual adding of coke into the melting bath were tested. During the pyrometallurgical treatment elements with a high affinity to carbon were reduced to their carbide form and enriched in the molten iron-based metal phase. The objective of the process was to reduce the oxidic tantalum completely and to enrich it into the metal phase. Furthermore, the transfer of unwanted elements such as titanium into the metal phase was aimed to be avoided. Spoon test specimens were taken from the liquid mineral melt to follow the evolution of the reduction process. The cooled down solidified melting bath was investigated by using the XRD and EDX method to characterise the slag system and to identify relevant mineral phases. T2 - Berliner Konferenz Mineralische Nebenprodukte und Abfälle CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 13.05.2019 KW - Zinnschlacke KW - Tantal KW - Recycling KW - Pyrometallurgie KW - Lichtbogenofen PY - 2019 SN - 978-3-944310-47-3 VL - 6 SP - 378 EP - 393 PB - Thomé-Kozmiensky Verlag GmbH CY - Neuruppin AN - OPUS4-48357 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Taube, Mareike Carolin A1 - Adam, Christian A1 - Adamczyk, Burkart A1 - Schulenburg, F. A1 - Bartmann, U. A1 - Beckmann, T. A1 - Michalik, K. A1 - Reuter, M. A1 - Stelter, M. T1 - Optimisation of a Pyrometallurgical Niobium and Tantalum Recyling Process with on-line-LIBS N2 - Tantalum and niobium are essential for the development of electronics towards a more and more compact design, but without reducing their performance today. Especially in smart phones and tablets, tantalum and niobium capacitors with high charge densities have already become almost indispensable. However, tantalum as a critical raw material is still a problem for the sustainable production of electronics. Due to this fact, the existence of efficient recycling processes especially in Europe is becoming even more important nowadays. The Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) is currently working on the optimisation of an existing pyrometallurgical tantalum recycling process. Optimisation of this industrial process is carried out in a small-scale electric arc furnace (480 kVA, capacity approx. 150 kg/h) at BAM using a new and innovative equipment for on-line analysis of high temperature processes. The aim of this project is to identify the best timing for an optimum slag tapping, when the slag is lower than minimum targeted tantalum concentration. Hence, LIBS (Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy) is used to identify the chemical composition of the slag layer and during slag tapping. The on-line-LIBS prototype of BAM enables an in-situ measurement of the element distribution in the melt after calibration on the slag system. First results of this joint research project will be presented including LIBS-measurements and thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the process. T2 - European Mineral Processing & Recycling Congress (EMPRC 2018) CY - Essen, Germany DA - 25.06.2018 KW - Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy KW - On-line analysis KW - Tantalum KW - Niobium KW - Pyrometallurgy PY - 2018 SN - 978-3-940276-84-1 SP - 347 EP - 362 PB - GDMB Verlag GmbH CY - Clausthal-Zellerfeld AN - OPUS4-47040 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -