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Copper Scrap (Cu 50-99%) Recycling

Copper recycling technology and equipment supplied by Metalcess can produce 99.96% cathode Copper from varies Copper scrap(50-95%). Through the process of smelting, converting, and fire-refining, 98.5%-99% Copper anode will be produced, and then by electrolysis 99.99% cathode Copper can be produced. As a China new high-tech enterprise, Metalcess can help small and medium capacity client with the supply of a minimum capacity of 3 ton/batch furnace and 3 ton/day Copper electrolysis system.

Raw Material

Scrap Copper (50-99%) 

High Zinc brass, white scrap Copper, high Lead and Tin scrap Copper (brass and bronze), scrap red Copper, black Copper, Copper smelting slag, refining slag, blowing slag, etc. Including the three types following:

  • Contaminated Copper and Copper alloy waste such as cut heads, Copper shavings, leftover materials, plate heads, Copper wires, waste products and parts containing copper and copper-based alloys, such as electric motors, televisions, etc., and high-iron bimetallic waste (iron can be used as a flux).

  • Slag from the production of Copper-based alloys, smelting slag of crude Copper, slag shell of ladles, waste from casting Copper products, molding sand, etc.

  • Difficult-to-classify scrap red Copper, black Copper, refining slag produced in the production of substandard Crude copper, converter blowing slag from high-lead and high-tin materials, and some low-grade black Copper blowing slag.      

Output Product

98.5% Copper Anode

99.99% Cathode Copper 

Process Description

Metalcess recommends different process for different type of Copper scraps:

High Copper content Scrap (Cu ≥ 92%):  fire-refining in Anode furnaces Or Tilting Reverberatory Furnaces

Low Copper content Scrap (Cu ≤ 92%): 

For large capacity, blast furnaces smelting - converter blowing - anode furnaces / tilting reverberatory furnaces refining 

For small capacity,TBRC furnace smelting and converting - anode furnaces / tilting reverberatory furnaces refining 

                              Blast furnace smelting-anode furnaces / tilting reverberatory furnaces refining 

With the above pyrometallurgical process, 98.5% anode copper is produced from Copper scrap (Cu: 20%- 92%), which is put into electrolysis proecss to produce 99.96% cathode Copper. Other valuable metals stay in Copper anode slime that can be directly sold or sent to follow-up recovery process. Copper scrap containing precious metals is recommended to be processed in TSL furnaces or TBRC furnaces.    

Blast furnace Reduction Smelting
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Blast furnace Reduction Smelting

The Copper scrap blast furnace conducts the reduction smelting process of yellow mixed Copper(brass), white mixed copper, various Copper-containing residues, and low-grade copper scrap materials (automobile scrap parts). 

The Copper recovery can reach 95.5-99%. The main product of blast furnace is black copper, furnace slag, off-gas, and dust. It is mainly suggested for large capacity. 

Oxygen-enriched side blowing furnace can also be used for processing secondary copper materials of large scale.

For small capaicty project and Copper scrap containing precious metals, TBRC furnace is used to replace Blast furnace for smelting, which has a 70% lower Energy consumption and 50% lower off-gas volume than that of the blast furnace.

Black Copper and Bronze Converting
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Black Copper and Bronze Coverting

For Copper scrap recycling plant, bronze scrap and black Copper produced by smelting needs to be processed with converting. The Copper content is around 55-85% with impurities of Zn, Pb, Sn, Ni, Fe, As, Sb, and etc.

The purpose of coverting is to remove impurities by volatilization and slagging. The coverting can be reacted in PS converters and TBRC furnaces. Secondary crude Copper is the main product of converting process.

TBRC furnace manufactured by Metalcess can perform smelting, converting and refining process. Generally, no pre-treatment is required for processing scrap copper. Dust, blocks and even some wet materials can be directly fed into the furnace. It has the characteristic of strong adaptability to raw material changes and is very suitable for processing various raw materials with different temperature requirements. The furnace body is small in volume, has a small amount of flue gas, high thermal efficiency, easy disassembly and convenient maintenance. 

For small and medium capacity copper scrap recycling plant, the converting process can be completed together with the following fire-refining process in a anode furnace with strengthed oxidization refining process. In this way, a blast furnace/TBRC furnace+andoe furnace is enough. And investment for converter can be saved.

Anode Furnace for Fire Refining
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Reverberatory Furnace for Fire Refining

Materials needs to be processed by fire-refining in reverberatory furnace includes:black Copper,  secondary crude Copper, and red scrap Copper.

The output of fire-refining is anode Copper (Cu ≥98.5%) and slag. The Copper anode can be sold out directly or to produce Copper cathode by electro-refining process. 

There are three types of reverberatory furnace: rotary reverberatory furnace, fixed reverberatory furnace and titling reverberatory furnace (anode furnace). 

Copper Electro-refining
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Copper Electro-refining

The Copper anodes after pyrometallurgical refining generally contain over 98.5% Copper. To further remove impurities and comprehensively recover other valuable metals, it needs be purified in electro-refining system.  

The Copper electrolysis system provided by Metalcess is the IAS method, which uses permanent stainless steel cathode plates instead of cathode made from starting sheets. With this, the cathode Copper is stripped from the permanent cathodes. A mini-capacity of 1ton/day Copper stripping system is self-developed by Metalcess to meet small and medium capacity project requirement.     

WHY Metalcess for Your Copper Scrap Recycling Project

Intergration system provider: As a certicated Chinese new high-tech enterprise in metallurgy industry, Metalcess can tailor design the Copper scrap recycling system for customers based on specific materials characteristics, capacity, automation level and budget control. A comprehensive and complete multi-metal recovery system can be offered from the smelting, converting, fire-refining, and eletro-refining until 99.95% Cathode Copper produced.

Core equipment manufacturer: blast furnaces, reverberatory furnaces, TBRC furnace, anode furnace, electric furnace, eletrolysis system and other related supporting equipment can be tailor designed and fabricated by Metalcess. 

Whole-Process Engineering service: Our service will start from the engineering consulting, designing, fabrication, installation and commissioning guide till the qualified product produced.

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