Density Tuning in Conjunction with Pelletizing of Reductants for Enhanced Recovery from Copper Smelting Slag

High-efficiency reduction of Fe3O4 particles in molten copper slag is the key for recovering slag-entrained copper, although restrained by the sluggish reaction kinetics of commercial powdery reductants with low density. Here, a new strategy by density tuning in conjunction with pelletizing of the powdery reductants is suggested, greatly enhancing the Fe3O4 reduction kinetics and resulting in remarkably facilitating the recovery of slag-entrained copper. Specifically, by replacing the industrially used coal powder with FeS2-C pellets at optimized density, the efficiency of Fe3O4 reduction is significantly increased from 18