A new method for separation of As–Pb alloys: Vacuum distillation-condensation

Abstract

As–Pb alloys exist in the smelting process of non-ferrous metals. Both arsenic and lead are toxic and need to be recycled. Vacuum distillation can be used to recover these metals, but the distilled materials still need to be processed by multiple distillation, which may waste of manpower and material resources. In this work, a new method of vacuum separation of alloys has been discovered which can be used to recover those metals with high efficiency at one time. The purity of condensate arsenic and lead were over 99.98% and 99.96% respectively by using this method. Furthermore, the condensation ranges of lead concentrates between 480 and 700 °C, and the arsenic concentrates between 200 and 310 °C when the pressure is 5–20 Pa. At the same time, this method also provided the theoretical basis and solutions for non-ferrous metal refining and alloys recovery.