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Copper - steel separation

The company I work for uses electrolytic copper coated steel (plating thickness of about 5 microns thick). During our process, we produce scrap. We are looking for a method to separate the copper from steel under the following conditions. 1. Must be environmentally friendly 2. Must be energy efficient 3. Must be economically feasible to operate We have several tons of scrap a month in coil, blanked and final formed process in various shapes. Any Ideas?

Nathan Allen
- - Japan
1999

Copper can be chemically or electrochemically stripped from steel but I very strongly doubt that there is any such process that is environmentally and economically feasible for use on scrap. It sounds like smelting would be much more practical, and since I know nothing about that process, I can bow out of the conversation.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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