Electrokinetic Removal of Zinc from Ancient Pyrometallurgical Slag
Xu Zhonghui and Li Dongwei
Abstract:Ancient pyrometallurgical zinc generated large amounts of slag. Natural leaching from ancient pyrometallurgical zinc sites has contaminated the soil close to the deposits. This work shows the laboratory results of electrodialytic removal experiments on ancient pyrometallurgical slag. Two mainly mechanism of electrokinetic removal of heavy metal from ancient pyrometallurgical slag can be concluded: 1.Heavy metal extracted from the pyrometallurgical slag; 2.The migration and enrichment of the metal ions. The generation of metal hydroxide precipitation could be the most serious factor that influenced the removal rate. Also the water content of slag can not be ignored. The final removal rate of zinc was only 15.77%. Some enhanced technology must be adopted to improve the removal rate.