Microstructures and Microwave-Absorbing Properties of ZnO Smoke from Zinc Leach Residue Treated by Carbothermal Reduction

Abstract

Much zinc residue is produced during the traditional processes involved in zinc hydrometallurgy in the leaching stage: its composition is complex and valuable metals are difficult to recover therefrom. If not handled properly, it can lead to a waste of resources and environmental pollution. To solve this problem, zinc leach residue specimens were treated using the carbothermal reduction method (CTR) that is easy to operate and has a high energy utilisation rate. The methods, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) were used for analytical characterisation. Based on this, this research investigated a structure-function relationship between microstructures and microwave-absorbing properties of ZnO smoke from CTR-treated zinc leach residue. The results demonstrate that microstructures and macro-properties of ZnO smoke obtained at different temperatures differ greatly. Under conditions including a calcination temperature of 1250°C, holding time of 60 min, and addition of 50% and 10% of powdered coal and CaO separately, the ZnO content in the obtained smoke is 99.14%, with regular micron-sized ZnO particles therein. For these particles, the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) reached –25.56 dB at a frequency of 15.84 GHz with a matching thickness of 5 mm. Moreover, frequency bandwidth corresponding to RL < –10 dB can reach 2.0 GHz. ZnO smoke obtained using this method is found to have excellent microwave-absorbing performance, which provides a new idea for high-value applications of zinc-rich residue.

Keywords

• zinc leach residue
• carbothermal reduction
• zno smoke
• microwave-absorbing properties