Novel process for recycling metallic elements from mixtures of metal oxidewastes and waste polyvinyl chloride

A new pyrometallurgical process that involves recycling steel-making dusts and waste PVC simultaneously is proposed. In this work, firstly, a thermody namic analysis of the proposed reaction process for steel-making dusts + PV C system is performed using the Facility for the Analysis of Chemical Therm odynamics (F*A*C*T) computational system It is found that the simultaneous chlorination and reduction of ZnO and Fe2O3 in the dusts by PVC and the sep aration of Zn from Fe under controlled chlorine and oxygen potentials are t hermodynamically possible. To testify the results of the thermochemical con sideration, thermogravimetry-mass spectrometry (TG-MS) analysis of the reac tions in the ZnO/ Fe2O3/PVC system is carried out at temperatures up to 950 degrees C. A batch-type reactor experiment is also made to investigate the possibility of the separation of Zn from Fe in ZnO/Fe2O3 mixture by the re actions between the oxides and PVC. The results of the TG-MS and batch type reactor experiments show that recovering zinc and metallic iron from mixtu res of ZnO, Fe2O3 and PVC and effective Zn/Fe separation can be achieved.