Summary for separating tin and lead Discussion
The thread on separating tin and lead from copper dust asks how to treat about 100 kg of mixed metal powder containing roughly 85% copper, 9% tin, and 6% lead. The original plan was to use sulfuric acid so copper would dissolve as copper sulphate while tin and lead would remain as insoluble sulphates, then separate the solids and electrowin copper. The plan later changed to making copper sulphate crystals instead of recovering copper metal, but the core problem remained: how to economically remove tin and lead first. No detailed technical solution is given in the excerpt, so the page mainly frames the process challenge and the intended end product. The discussion centers on whether sulfuric-acid treatment can selectively dissolve copper and leave tin/lead behind for separation before crystallizing copper sulphate.
June 25, 2013
Q. We have around 100 kilos of mixed metal powder. This powder contains copper 85%
Tin 9%
Lead 6%
Previously we were thinking to first treat this dust with sulfuric acid so that copper would form copper sulphate
⇦ on
eBay or
Amazon [affil link] solution and tin and lead would form insoluble sulphates. We would separate tin and lead sulphates from copper sulphate solution and electrowin copper from copper sulphate solution. But later we changed our mind. And now we are thinking of making copper sulphate crystals from copper sulphate solution, instead of electrowinning copper from it.
Now, our problem is that first we want to economicaly separate tin and lead from this copper dust and then we want to make copper sulphate crystals with the copper dust.
Any help regarding this will be greatly appreciated
Adeeb Khan
– New Delhi, India