Recovery of antimony from smelter slag

Antimony (Sb) has many uses in the industry such as; in the hardening of metals, protection against corrosion and fire, paper, plastic and paint. It was accepted in the world that antimony ore is one of the most critical raw materials based on its economic value versus supply-risk. China, the world's largest supplier of antimony, has reduced its antimony production as a result of policy changes in recent years and created a risk for other countries in terms of resource security. It is predicted that antimony reserves detected in the world will end up in 2050. Therefore, the recovery of Sb from secondary sources (such as battery, smelter slag) is important. Although there are many studies on the production of Sb from an antimony ore in the literature, studies focused on the recovery of Sb remaining in the slag after the pyrometallurgical process by using hydrometallurgical methods are limited. Within the scope of this thesis, a process is planned to be developed for the recovery of antimony from the slag of an antimony smelting facility. -Raw material characterization and grinding -Dissolution of Sb in the slag with HCl solvent under atmospheric conditions and investigation of the dissolution kinetics of antimony will be carried out. -Hydrolysis tests -Utilizing the Taguchi approach, the recovery of Sb in different forms from the solution will be investigated through hydrolysis and related methods. Ultimately, it will be revealed that the slag, which is present in waste form in the stock area and has significant economic value, can be an important raw material source. The environmental impact of the leach residue remaining after Sb recovery will be minimized. Keywords: Slag, Antimony, Leach, Hydrolysis