from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
The Ausmelt TSL pyrometallurgical process is efficient, environmentally friendly and flexible for processing a wide range of non-ferrous metal concentrates and secondary raw materials. The pursuit of environmentally friendly technologies and greater opportunities for processing a wide range of concentrates and various secondary materials has made this technological process the main one for lead smelting in recent decades. As a model scheme, the one of KCM-AD, Plovdiv, Bulgaria - a major lead producer for Southeastern Europe - was used. The new lead plant combines the best available techniques in the metallurgical industry. The implemented high-tech scheme based on autogenous smelting of raw materials meets high environmental and energy European standards. Lead-containing raw materials are primary lead concentrates and secondary materials such as lead paste from the KCM spent battery plant, lead cakes from the zinc plant, as well as recycled dust. The plant has a complete cycle of processing raw materials and intermediate products by integrating technological schemes in lead and zinc production. The ratio between the metal content in primary and secondary raw materials is currently approximately 1:1. The exergy and environmental study was carried out using the exergy method of thermodynamic analysis. The resources - primary and secondary raw materials, the products and emissions - gas emissions, wastewater and solid waste, and the methods used to minimize technogenic emissions were assessed. Based on the circular economy, in the processing of concentrates, intermediate products and waste along the technological processing chains, in-depth and complex utilization of the raw materials used has been achieved.
Keywords: Ausmelt, lead production, exergy analysis, environmental impact, circular economy© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.