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• Behavior of Battery Metals Lithium, Cobalt, Manganese and Lanthanum in Black Copper Smelting:

Recycling of metals from different waste streams must be increased in the near future for securing the availability of metals that are critical for high-tech applications, such as batteries for e-mobility. Black copper smelting is a flexible recycling route for many different types of scrap, including Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and some end-of-life energy storage materials. Fundamental thermodynamic data about the behavior of battery metals and the effect of slag additives is required for providing data necessary for process development, control, and optimization. The goal of our study is to investigate the suitability of black copper smelting process for recycling of battery metals lithium, cobalt, manganese, and lanthanum.

• Computational Approaches for Studying Slag–MatteInteractions in the Flash Smelting Furnace(FSF) Settler:

Computational methods have become reliable tools in many disciplines for research andindustrial design. There are, however, an ever-increasing number of details waiting to be included in the models and software, including, e.g., chemical reactions and many physical phenomena, such asparticle and droplet behavior and their interactions. The dominant method for copper production,flash smelting, has been extensively investigated, but the settler part of the furnace containing moltenhigh temperature melts termed slag and matte, still lacks a computational modeling tool. In this paper,two commercial modeling software programs have been used for simulating slag–matte interactionsin the settler, the target being first to develop a robust computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeland, second, to apply a new approach for molten droplet behavior in a continuum. The latter isbased on CFD coupled with the discrete element method (DEM), which was originally developedfor modeling solid particle–particle interactions and movement, and is applied here for individualdroplets for the first time.

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• Distribution Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements in Copper Smelting:

The use of rare earth elements (REEs) is increasing, mainly due to the growing demand for electric vehicles and new applications in green technology. This results in annual growth of the in-use REE stocks and the amount of End-of-Life (EoL) products containing REEs. REEs are considered critical elements by the EU, mainly because the rest of the world is dependent on China’s supply. Recycling of REEs can help alleviate the criticality of REEs, however, no REEs are currently functionally recycled. In this study, the time-dependent behavior of REEs in copper matte-slag system in primary copper smelting conditions was investigated experimentally at a laboratory scale.