USRE11188E - clemons - Google Patents

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2 Sheets-Sheet 1.v

1 W. WEST. Assignor to J. CLEMoNs and M. WEST. PROGESSQOF TRETING ZINC GRES. l

' ReissuedSept. 8, 1891.,

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. WEST.

Assignor to J. E. GLEMoNs and M. WEST. PROCESS OF TRBATING ZINC 0RBS.

No. 11,188. Reissued Sept. 8, 1891.

I La 77( w W Arm/Mfrs f UNITED Snom-5 AND MARX wlcs'r, no'rn ('nrfsAME PLACE..

PROCESS oF TREATING z riCi-Onlefsf?y sPEcIFIeATIoN forming part of' Reissued Leners Patent No. 11,188,.aerea september (5,1891.`

Original No. 444,997, dated Jnuuary. 1891. Applicaticn forreissue filed February 5, 1 -'91 Serial lle- 7 llo all who/11, #may concernhe it known that I, lVILLIAM, WEST, of Den yer, in the county-of Arapahoe and State'of Colorado, have invented-a new and Improved 5 Process of Treating Zinc Orcs, of which the following is a'. specification.

There are in 'many parts of this country,

especially in theWest'and South, large bodies of mineral composed of zine and lead sulro phides carrying gold and silver with more or less iron, `which -ores are almost Valueless from the presence of zine. The slnelting for silver is diiiienlt in the case of this combina tion, and the lead hinders the use'fo'r smelt- 15 ing for zinc. Many schemes have been devised to save the metals zine, lead, gold, and

silver.

My invention consists vin a new process for working these ores, whereby the zincis sepaao rated and recovered from the other metals as asnlphite in a single economical operation and the remaining 'metals-left in goed conditionfor .further treatment.

'Figur-elisa horizontal section on line 1 l 5 of Fig. 2 of 4afurnace and connections with thepressure-blower, which exhausts the gas from the-furnace and forces it te the ore-V -tanks@ Fig. 2 is a vertical lonffitudinal'seetion 'of the samethrough the line 2 2 of Fig. o 1; Fig.`3 is a' horizontal `section through Aline fy of. Fig.`4 of two tanks and their connections for' treetingthe roast-'ed ore with the gas.

1 is a'. vertiealseetion of thesame through Y the line w' of Fig.- 3, and Fig, 5 isa vertical Sectional,- View of, the precipitating apparatus. A is the firelplace i he eenter'of the furnace Baregthenn wh the front -fl nes and returns Bitq nl, ner

,'P e furnace-bed 1ark d allows much ot' the .drated oxide. vlheliquor Where the hydrated zi'ne ox ichcary theheat ofammonia solutiori is siph s and' 'from' there' saine-gin .anot'hcfpaten these fines the gas passes to the pipeor pipes.'

H, leading to the blower, which pipe .may-bev placed in a bank Z'of Waterfto further cool. the gas before it enters the blower.' I is v this 55- xblower, which exhausts ihegas' from the, fnr

l nace and forces it tothe ore-tanks, .From theblower the gas enters the lpipe J, leadingto 1 the trunk K, Fig. A steainfpipefL iseon, -nected to this part., tlirougli \vi1ieh steam-N160 forced into and mixes,withthe gas in;A the trunk K.v From the trunk 'K areshorpipes M, which convey the steam and,- nnderore is dampened and placed to be treated4v 6,5 Before admitting thcgas to't'heore in tank the temperature of said gas4 isreduced to about- 180 Fahrenheit to prevent' its heat from dryingout the dampened orc. Sai-d gas. .i-sbooled in transit by passage under the diy 7o ing-Hoor?, through the eoo'lingtgmk Z 4when used, and through the p i1ic"ll, vl 1 i, c h;latter heat Of the' gas .to escupe i, by radiation.'

W'hen the orc is l.

immediately subject the v ore` to.; tf'ifltmen-L. with water at a temperatur. preferably be low 18N Fahrenheit, which ifateiis 1 tillen- Jine is is 'suspended is then'r back to still T to-belibc" lime and used on the non lution.

he urn pplicat'ion, 'a

uponthe tile hearth D and the ore frunsied 2"!40 serves to dry'it forsubsequent treatment in till the zinc is in the forni of oxide. When the raw ore is placed upon the tile hearth D,

it is generally of about the followingr composition: silica, twelve per cent.; lead, fourteen per cent.; zinc, twenty-six to thirty per cent.; iron, twelve to fifteen per cent., and yas the metals are all in the state of sulphides there is from4 twenty-seven 13othirty percent. of sulphur. The effect of the roasting upon these ingredients is to convert the iron and zinc into oxides with 'a very slght'loss of zinc, the pipportion of zinc remaining 'being reduced to about twenty-three per cent., which involves only about t-he usual loss 'of three to seven per cent. The lead'fremainsas partlyconvcrted oxide and partly-.unacted-npon sulphide. A

' siblethe conditionoij` the Vcl1argre-wh-en it leaves thet'urnacefj'lfhis charge is'then removed .and placed'uponf't'he false bottom N Vof tanks O anddar'npen'ed.. Anewchar'ge of ore is then'placed von"the"'hearth D, and 'while it isbeing roastedithesulphurousfacid gas is drawn oif'by the blovver, cooled, asdes'cribed,

andforced'at a pressure ofgabouitonepoundto the inch in connection with steamlth'ioughvthedamp'ened ore in-vtanks O 'untilthe oxidepirate.

. and alsoto keep the ore in a 4porous condition,

so the'gas can penetrate it. Care is t ken to prevent air from reaching the ore. sp as to avoid oxidizing the sulphite of zinc infto sul- The-'sulphite'of zinc is then r noved by 'successive leachings of warm wate. The remaining ore containing `the other m tals is taken out and put upon't'he dryingoor P, wherethe, lheilt ofjtheshot gases in '-rausit SePMat'On 0f the remaining metals. The heat -abstracted by this drying' of the wet ore also i proiitably'serves to'cool the 45 ases as they pass to the blower, andthuspreare them for admission. to. the leaching-tanks.` The charge from the hearth D is then transferied'tq the tanks O andamew charge placed upon thev hearth, and .the triple operation of roasting l the roasted ore in tanks O is simult'aA the oredryinglthe residual-ores of the' previous charge, and eliminatingthe zin f' tisly carried on with a great economy of-'working and very-satisfactory results. u

I n de'ning'ny invention'with greater clearness I Would'state that I am aware that it is I not new'to roast ores ofthe class I treata'ridl V to take offthe fumes of sulphurous acid and "make anaqueouspluticn" of the same and F-I. leachingswith this'bu'lky solutionof the gasy then 71o -t'reat the roastd'ore to successive in -vvaterfto-fform a "soluble snlphiteof' zinc.

Ths'process involves the useof a very. large "amountpf'waten-with theiucideut cost of -b llgof'sollrtiong'andalso theprecipitation otV handling, the cost of l evaporating'so large ,a-

Theabovedescribesas nearly as posy The process herein 'described'ot climialarge amount of insoluble matter back upon the ore being leached, as Well as the obJectouable conversion of a large amount of the 'sulphurous acid into sulphuric acid by the Water during the timerequired for the successive lcachings with the sulphurous acid solution. All these objections are overcome by my process.

I am .also aware of the Patent to Ryerson, August let, 1866, in which sulphurous-acid gas from a charge of roasted ore, 1n connection with binoxidc of nitrogen and steam, is admitted in gaseous form to a roasted charge ot ores for the purpose of converting the 0X- ides into sulphates, the commingled gases serving in suchV case to lconvert the sulphurous acid into sulphuric acid before converting the oxides into sulphates. This process is not designed-fornor applied to the separation of -zinc oresr-as' ruine is, and could not separate the zinc from the iron, for the .rear son that both'th'eoxides ofl zinc and the iron would beteonverted into soluble sul-phate's by thesulphuric acd, and all Would be leached out together uuseparated; By my process the compositiim of sulphurous acid is preserved Without being allowed to reach' any phurous gas'fisfbroug'ht into aqueous solution l and put upon the roasted ore in tanks, which.

are placed above the Aiues through which the hot gases pass. In this casethe presence of water and heat together, causes the salts that are formed to b e sulphates and this process couldI not be applied to'th'e separation of zinc even it' it werepresent,for vthe''-" r e asons before given.

I am also Af l'irth'er aware-of the patentgto Mackie, August 29, 1865, in which theoreis reduced tofa matte, and is then introduced into a retort and .the oxide acted upon by a current of moist airand sulphur-ous or muri- Iatic-acid vapor without reference to the'sepaf ration of zinc, and process.

Having thus described niyinv'ention, what-` IOO nating zinc from complex ores, as described,- whi'ch consists in roasting-,theore to,form

sulphu rousfacid gas and oxidize the zine, 'then' cooling this gas-to a temperature yof about 180 Fahrenheit; and pasj'singf the Same vi'n gaseous form inl 'conjunction yvitlrstearnzand withoutoxid ationinto'sul' 'uric ac zeidth-'rough a previously-,roasted cha toform 'soluble l I suiphite of zinc Aand then :immediately leach.

ing 'out and separating the.' 'zinsulphj withl Warm Weten as described.

2. The processherein-described of'eliniii Dating zinc 'from complex ores, which Consists in roasting the ore, cooling the sulphurousacid gas arising therefrom to aboutv 180 Fahrenheit, and then passing it in conjunction with steam through a previously-roasted charge t0 form soluble sulphite of zinc,1each ing out the sulphite of zinc with warm Water and simultaneously drying the leached-ore resduum by the transit of the hot sulphurous-aeid gas, and thersby cooling said gas, 1o

substantially as shown Witnesses:

A. W. KELLOGG, D. W. MILLER.

and described.-

vWILLIAM WEST.

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