Processing of Electronic Scrap with Ausmelt TSL Technology

Continued decreasing of the world’s average copper ore grades, coupled with a meteoric rise in the generation of consumer waste streams, has led to the processing of electronic scrap (e-scrap) and other secondaries assuming increasing importance within the global copper industry. Treatment of these secondary feeds has traditionally been carried out in the Blast furnace, Peirce-Smith converter and/or anode furnace. More recently however, bath smelting processes such as the Ausmelt TSL and Outotec Kaldo technologies have emerged as the preferred option for processing these materials due to their superior environmental performance and flexibility to operate under a wide range of conditions. Furthermore, the ability of these processes to handle a wide range of feed inputs make them ideally placed for the processing of not only e-scrap but also other waste streams from the clean energy transition such as end of life e-mobility batteries and photovoltaic systems. This paper focuses on the processing of electronic scrap and other copper secondaries with Ausmelt TSL technology and discusses specific issues facing secondary copper smelters in relation to impurity management and process offgas handling/cleaning.