Ruthenium Slag Recycling

Ruthenium slag refers to the solid waste or residue produced after ruthenium metal reacts with other substances during the smelting, refining, or use of ruthenium. Because ruthenium is a precious metal, it is usually smelted under high temperature and pressure conditions. Therefore, ruthenium slag often contains small amounts of other metal impurities, such as iridium and platinum, in addition to ruthenium. The composition and properties of ruthenium slag may vary depending on the specific process by which it is produced, and it usually needs to be recovered and processed in a specific way to extract the ruthenium and other precious metals it contains. Ruthenium slag may also be used as a by-product of catalysis in some cases, or chemically processed to produce other ruthenium alloy materials.

The sources of ruthenium slag are mainly:

1. Ruthenium slag smelting and refining process: The smelting process of ruthenium metal requires the extraction of ruthenium in the ore by high temperature smelting and chemical processing. During this process, ruthenium reacts with other impurities (such as iridium, platinum) to form solid waste or slags that are difficult to separate. These ruthenium slags usually contain incompletely extracted ruthenium and other metal impurities, and their content and composition vary depending on the smelting technology, ore composition, and reaction conditions. The recovery of ruthenium slags usually requires methods such as solvent extraction and pyrometallurgy to extract precious metals.

2. Use and disposal of catalysts: Ruthenium is widely used as a catalyst in many chemical industrial reactions, especially in hydrogen production, electrocatalysis, and petrochemistry. Over time, the active substances of the catalyst will be gradually consumed, and a certain contamination or deterioration of the ruthenium catalyst may occur during the reaction process, resulting in the generation of waste slags containing ruthenium. These waste slags usually contain ruthenium and other impurities that have lost their catalytic activity. The purpose of recycling these ruthenium slags is to extract ruthenium and other precious metals from them and reduce resource waste.

3. Processing of ruthenium alloy materials: When ruthenium alloys (such as ruthenium-iridium alloys and ruthenium-platinum alloys) are processed at high temperatures, ruthenium slag may be generated. For example, when the metal is melted, cut, welded, or sintered during the manufacturing process of ruthenium alloys, some ruthenium may not fully react with the alloying components, forming waste materials such as slag. These ruthenium slags usually require further chemical processing or physical separation to recover the ruthenium and other precious metals. In some high-end industrial applications, the slag generated by the processing of ruthenium alloys may contain precious metals and have high recovery value.

4. Residues from high-temperature metal processing: In some high-temperature metal processing processes, such as metal smelting, welding, and sintering, ruthenium and its alloying materials may react with other metals to form ruthenium slag. The slag generated during such high-temperature processing usually contains incompletely reacted ruthenium and its alloying metals. If these residues are not recovered in time, it will be a waste of resources. In the smelting process, to ensure the efficient use of ruthenium resources, it is usually necessary to further refine it by metallurgical methods to recover ruthenium and other precious metals from the slag.

5. Ruthenium residues in waste electronic products: Ruthenium has certain applications, especially in high-end electronic components such as hard drives, solar panels, and circuit boards. When these electronic products are discarded and recycled, ruthenium, one of the precious metals, may remain in the waste and form ruthenium slag. During the recycling process of these discarded electronic products, ruthenium may be decomposed or exist in the form of slag. Through special recycling processes (smelting, solvent extraction, etc.), ruthenium can be extracted from these electronic wastes, realizing the reuse of ruthenium and reducing environmental pollution.

Waste ruthenium slag is one of the recycling routes for ruthenium-containing waste. Other recycling channels for ruthenium-containing waste include ruthenium water recycling, ruthenium slurry recycling, ruthenium slag recycling, ruthenium powder recycling, ruthenium gold recycling, ruthenium wire recycling, and ruthenium block recycling. If you need to recycle ruthenium-containing scrap, please call our 24-hour service hotline. Ding Feng precious metal recycling and refining manufacturer has an independent recycling and refining plant that eliminates the profit-making middleman, and has a professional technical team and customer service personnel to provide one-to-one service and ensure customer privacy during the recycling process.