The work to continue the deliberations around slag at the 8th International Secondary Lead Conference continues apace, and a draft document has been produced to form the basis of a working group. The proposed name “slag council” is out and “technical excellence council” is in as an idea.
Conference chair Mark Stevenson told BEST : “The panel from the session has been reviewing and correcting/rewriting/deleting the draft with several others.” This work is ongoing, but has now been sent to a wider audience for comments, thoughts and ideas.
“The first change has been the title – from the working ‘slag council’ to the proposed ‘technical excellence council’. “The first title was soundly rejected, but it served its purpose to get people talking,” he said.
The paper noted the secondary sector surpassed the production from primary-sourced material 20 years ago. It now supplies an estimated 65% of annual global lead consumption.
The secondary sector process feed from scrap batteries, while the primary sector uses a product derived from ores, it stated.
Not much is published about secondary lead smelting or best practices, the paper went on. This is due to industry fragmentation and misperceived view of the simplicity of the process.
“It cannot be overemphasised that secondary smelting is a complex operation, although it may appear relatively easy on the surface,” the paper stated. Many operators do not have the technical staffing or knowledge to deal with the complex issues of operating a smelter. The depth of knowledge needed to understand issues such as slag chemistry is beyond many of the smaller producers.
The draft document is intended to lay the groundwork for a network secondary lead producers can tap into and share knowledge with.
Arguably, the most significant issue many smelters face is the treatment and disposal of the waste, including slag, separators and effluent, according to the report. “A lot of work and effort has occurred over many years to look at solutions to these issues and the problems they cause, but due to their complexity, it has been challenging to find resolutions.”
It concluded: “Nearly every smelter has slag issues, and every issue is different to that of another smelter. Building the foundations for the industry will help us better understand the problems and, hopefully, lead to proper, sustained solutions. But it will also help us in other areas of operations around the furnace and refinery, for example, defining the standards we can use internally to aid our operations. Even items we sometimes struggle with, such as sampling and analysis, could be addressed in the council.”
Photo: Round table discussion on slag at the 8th International Secondary Lead Conference in Cambodia, September.
