US3625440A

US3625440A - Method for recovering copper base metal from copper base ashes and residues

Info

Publication number: US3625440A
Application number: US852554A
Authority: US
Inventors: Irving Bond
Original assignee: BAY STATE SMELTING CO Inc
Current assignee: BAY STATE SMELTING Co Inc
Priority date: 1969-08-25
Filing date: 1969-08-25
Publication date: 1971-12-07
Anticipated expiration: 1988-12-07

Abstract

Copper base aggregates are washed with water to remove dust, are ball milled to separate oxides by shock, are screened to remove lumps for reprocessing and are cleaned by flowing with water over a vibrating table, to produce an intermediate copper base product for remelting.

Description

United States Patent [72] Inventor Irving Bond Newton Highlands, Mass. [21 Appl. No. 852,554 [22] Filed Aug. 25, I969 [45] Patented Dec. 7, 1971 [7 3] Assignee Bay State Smelting Co., Inc.

Somerville, Mass.

[54] METHOD FOR RECOVERING COPPER BASE METAL FROM COPPER BASE ASHES AND RESIDUES 1 Claim, 1 Drawing Fig.

[52] US. Cl 241/21, 241/24, 241/30 [51] Int. Cl ..B02c 21/00, 1302c 17/10 [50] Field of Search 24l/I5, 20, 2 I 24, 30, 8O

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,072,063 2/1937 Alton 24l/80 UX 2,675,966 4/1954 Kihlstedt 241/20 3,086,718 4/1963 Lukas 241/24 Primary E.\'aminerDonald G. Kelly AllameyMorse, Altman & Oates ABSTRACT: Copper base aggregates are washed with water to remove dust. are ball milled to separate oxides by shock, are screened to remove lumps for reprocessing and are cleaned by flowing with water over a vibrating table, to produce an intermediate copper base product for remelting.

l NVE NTO R BY ATTORN EYS c DQ000000 PATENTEU DEB 715m METHOD FOR RECOVERJING COPPER BASE METAL IFROM COPPER BASE ASHES AND RESIDUES BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY The present invention relates to the recovery of copper base metal from copper base aggregates, particularly copper base ashes and residues from other copper base metal production and fabrication processes and more particularly to such recovery in an efficaciously and economically. Difficulties have been encountered particularly in removing oxygen economically in order to leave a copper base intermediate product useful as a copper melt or copper melt additive.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a process and a device for providing such an intermediate copper base product by washing with water to remove dust, ball milling to separate oxides by shock, screening to remove lumps for reprocessing, and cleaning by flowing with water over a vibrating table. It has been found that, under the contemplated circumstances, it is more economical to dispose of the oxides separated in'the foregoing manner than to attempt to recover useful copper base materials from the oxides by various techniques.

Other objects of the present invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the process and device, together with their steps, parts and interrelationships, which are exemplified in the present disclosure, the scope of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, reference is made to the following detailed specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which is a diagrammatic view of an apparatus embodying the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION With reference to the drawing, the starting material is copper base ashes and residues 10, commonly called grisley, which is supplied to a well 12 through a coarse screen 14. Generally the copper base ashes are composed of one or more of a member of the class consisting of brass, cupronickel and bronze, containing at least 40 percent copper and a remainder of other constituents.

This starting material is elevated to a chute 14 by a vertical bucket conveyor 16, which has driven pulley wheels 18, 20 for controlling an endless belt 22 having a series of bucket scoops 24. The lower extremity of conveyor 16 projects into well 12 so that bucket scoops 24 continuously 16 projects the starting material to chute 14.

The starting material from conveyor 16 is guided by chute 14 to a rotating drum 28, which, in conjunction with steel balls 30, constitutes a mill. Drum 28 is joumaled at

bearings

32, 34 for rotation about an axis, at the opposite ends of which are an inlet 36 and an outlet 38. A stream of water, introduced at 40, flows through inlet 36 to form a pool of water 42 in mill 28, and through outlet 38, which is associated with a series of screens to be described below. Generally the volume occupied by steel balls 30 ranges from one-third to one-half the volume of drum 28. Steel balls 30 range in diameter from 1.5 to inches.

Outlet 38 communicates with a series of a vertical screen 44 and an inclined screen 46. Screen 44, which is located in outlet 38 and is characterized by l to 2 inch openings, retains the copper base material within the mill for a sufficiently long ing articles tend to be retainedb the rifiles in such a way as to ow transversely along the ri es for capture m a suitable container 54 and the lighter oxidized particles flow transversely of the riffles in the direction of inclination of the vibrating table for capture in a suitable container 56.

OPERATION AND CONCLUSION In the process of the present invention, in one example, screen 46 has openings that are 1% inch in diameter and screen 46 has openings that are one-eighth inch in diameter. Agglomerates from well 12 are transferred to chute 14 by conveyor 16 and immersed in a steady flow of water through inlet 40. Within mill 28, which rotates continuously, the agglomerates are impacted by steel balls 30 and the slurry produced by water 42 is flowed toward screen 38, which retains balls 30 and the larger agglomerates and transmits that portion of the slurry containing particles less than IVs inch in diameter. This portion of the slurry flows over inclined screen 46, which transmits that portion of the slurry containing the smaller particles and guides that portion of the slurry contain ing the larger particles. The larger particles, which are at least one-eighth inch in diameter, are caught by container 50. The smaller particles, which are less than one-eighth inch in diameter, are flowed onto inclined vibrating table 48, where the metal bearing particles are caught in container 54 and the residue is caught in container 56.

Containers

50, 54 and 56 all have lower openings, through which water escapes. Since certain changes may be made in the foregoing disclosure without departing from the scope hereof it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawing be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

l. A process for recovering copper base metal from copper base aggregates, said process comprising the steps of washing said aggregates with water to remove dust, ball milling said aggregates in an aqueous slurry to separate oxides by shock, screening said aqueous slurry to remove lumps for reprocessing, screening to separate a slurry component containing larger particles and a slurry component containing smaller particles, and flowing said slurry component containing smaller particles over a riffled vibrating support to separate metal bearing particles from oxidized residue, said copper base metal being selected from the class consisting of brass, cupronickel and bronze, said ball milling being effected with steel balls that range in diameter from 1.5 to 5 inches in a rotating mill having an axis, an inlet at one end of said axis receiving said copper base aggregates, an outlet at the other end of said axis discharging a slurry formed in said rotating mill, said axis being slightly inclined from said inlet to said outlet, said screening being effected by a first screen at said outlet for retaining predeterminedly large particles in said mill and a second inclined screen at said outlet for receiving a flow of slurry from said outlet in order to separate finer particles from coarser particles, the volume of said steel balls ranging from one-third to one-half the volume of said rotating mill, said screening including obstructing at said outlet with a screen having openings ranging from 1 to 2 inches.