Solar technology for metallurgical waste processing

Abstract

The possibilities of solar installations based on mirror-concentrating systems for processing of waste materials in a stream of concentrated high-density solar radiation were analyzed. It was proposed to use mobile compact solar installations located near metallurgical plants for processing mining and metallurgical waste. The geometric and optical-energy parameters of the concentrator for processing were calculated in order to extract metals from mining wastes. It was shown that a system of mirrors consisting of a heliostat (100 m2) and a paraboloid-shaped concentrator with a diameter of 10 m can focus a solar radiation flux with a density sufficient to melt metallurgical waste from the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Plant. It was shown that ultrasonic treatment of waste materials stimulates an increase in the amount of copper containing phase in the melt by 8 times compared to the initial state of the material.