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MIT developing new ways to advance copper production-2019 China(Guangzhou)Int’l Non-Ferrous Metal（Copper）Exhibition
9/28/2018 有色金属展-Copper exhibition -non-ferrous metals expo |
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MIT associate professor of metallurgy Antoine Allanore has received a USD 1.9 million grant from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to run larger scale tests of a new way to produce copper using electricity to separate copper from melted sulfur-based minerals, which are the main source of copper. One of Allanore''s primary goals is to make high purity copper that can go directly into production of copper wire, which is in increasing demand for applications from renewable energy to electric vehicles. Production of electric and hybrid cars and buses is expected to rise from 3.1 million vehicles in 2017 to 27.2 million by 2027, with an accompanying nine fold increase in demand for copper from 204,000 metric tons to 1.9 million metric tons (2.09 million US tons) over the same period, according to a March 2017 IDTechEx report commissioned by the International Copper Association.
In June 2017, researchers in Allanore’s lab identified how to selectively separate pure copper and other metallic elements from sulfide mineral ore in one step. Their molten sulfide electrolysis process eliminates sulfur dioxide, a noxious byproduct of traditional copper extraction methods, instead producing pure elemental sulfur.
Allanore said that “We think that with our technology we could provide these copper wires with less energy consumption and higher productivity.” It may be possible to cut the energy needed for making copper by 20 percent.
In earlier research, postdoc Sulata K Sahu and graduate student Brian J. Chmielowiec ’12, decomposed sulfur-rich minerals at high temperature into pure sulfur and extracted three different metals at very high purity: copper, molybdenum, and rhenium. The process is similar to the Hall-Héroult process, which uses electrolysis to produce aluminum, but operates at a higher operating temperature to enable production of liquid copper.
Currently, it takes multiple steps to separate out copper, first crushing sulfide minerals, and then floating out the copper-bearing parts. This copper-rich material copper concentrate is next partially refined in a smelter, and further purified with electrolytic refining. Mr Hal Stillman, director of technology development and transfer for the International Copper Association said that “Professor Allanore’s approach would work on the copper concentrate and has the potential to produce copper rod in a single operation while separating unwanted impurities and recovering valuable byproducts that are also in the concentrate. Professor Allanore’s approach is a big step; it allows a completely new approach to refining copper.”
The three-year, USD 1.89 million DOE award will allow Allanore’s group to make a larger reactor, producing about 10 times as much liquid copper per hour, and to run the reactor for a longer time, enough to identify what happens to the other metals accompanying copper, which are also commercially important.
有色金属展-铜材展-2019年广州国际有色金属工业（铜业）展览会
-2019 China(Guangzhou)Int’l Non-Ferrous Metal（Copper）Exhibition
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