A Review of Comprehensive Utilization of Copper Slag of China

With the development of the economy and the increasing annual output of copper, the treatment of copper slag has become a more and more critical issue. Copper slag contains valuable metals such as iron, copper, gold, silver, lead, and zinc, which have extremely high recycling value. Physical, hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical methods for valuable metals recovery from copper slag are particularly reviewed in this paper. Besides, this paper then introduces a novel technique proposed by Northeastern University of China which can achieve high-value and slag-free treatment of molten copper slag. It is much preferred over the current methods. This method significantly increases the added value of the product and greatly reduces energy consumption. This paper reviews the comprehensive utilization of copper slag and provides some recommendations for the large-scale and green utilization of copper slag in the future.KeywordsCopper slagEnergy savingUtilizationCopper recovery technologies