Decomposition behaviour of jamesonite and separating lead and antinomy sulfides via one-step vacuum distillation and multi-stage condensation

Abstract

Jamesonite is known as an important complex mineral for smelting antimony. At present, the method used to separate antimony and lead by pyrometallurgy is disadvantaged by high pollution and high energy consumption. For this reason, a simple and eco-friendly method of separating antimony and lead in jamesonite from mineral source by vacuum distillation was proposed in this paper. The decomposition temperature and products of jamesonite under argon atmosphere and atmospheric pressure were determined by TG-DSC technology and variable temperature in-situ XRD detection method for the first time. The phase evolution of minerals under vacuum conditions is determined by vacuum heating method. The initial decomposition temperature of jamesonite under argon and atmospheric pressure is 583 °C, and it is basically completely decomposed above 610 °C. The intermediate products include FeSb2S4, Pb2Sb2S5, Pb9Sb22S42, Pb5Sb4S11, Fe11S12, Pb4Sb6S13, Pb12Sb10S27 etc. Under vacuum conditions, the mineral begins to decompose at 300 °C, and the temperature at the end of decomposition is about 500 °C. One-step separation of lead and antimony sulfide can be achieved by vacuum decomposition and multi-layer condensation. The lead content on the lead enrichment condensing plate is 82.78 wt%, and the antimony sulfide content of 68.18 wt% can be obtained on the antimony enrichment condensing plate.