Application of Microwave Melting for the Recovery of Tin Powder

Lei Xu; Jinhui Peng; Hailong Bai; C. Srinivasakannan; Libo Zhang; Qingtian Wu; Zhaohui Han; Shenghui Guo; Shaohua Ju; Li Yang

doi:10.1016/J.ENG.2017.03.006

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Engineering ›› 2017, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (3) : 423-427. DOI: 10.1016/J.ENG.2017.03.006

Research

Application of Microwave Melting for the Recovery of Tin Powder

Lei Xu¹^,² ,
Jinhui Peng¹^,² ,
Hailong Bai³ ,
C. Srinivasakannan⁴ ,
Libo Zhang¹^,² ,
Qingtian Wu¹ ,
Zhaohui Han¹^,² ,
Shenghui Guo¹^,² ,
Shaohua Ju¹^,² ,
Li Yang¹^,²

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Abstract

The present work explores the application of microwave heating for the melting of powdered tin. The morphology and particle size of powdered tin prepared by the centrifugal atomization method were characterized. The tin particles were uniform and spherical in shape, with 90% of the particles in the size range of 38–75 μm. The microwave absorption characteristic of the tin powder was assessed by an estimation of the dielectric properties. Microwave penetration was found to have good volumetric heating on powdered tin. Conduction losses were the main loss mechanisms for powdered tin by microwave heating at temperatures above 150 °C. A 20 kW commercial-scale microwave tin-melting unit was designed, developed, and utilized for production. This unit achieved a heating rate that was at least 10 times higher than those of conventional methods, as well as a far shorter melting duration. The results suggest that microwave heating accelerates the heating rate and shortens the melting time. Tin recovery rate was 97.79%, with a slag ratio of only 1.65% and other losses accounting for less than 0.56%. The unit energy consumption was only 0.17 (kW·h)·kg⁻¹—far lower than the energy required by conventional melting methods. Thus, the microwave melting process improved heating efficiency and reduced energy consumption.

Keywords

Microwave heating / Melting / Tin powder / Microwave equipment / Recovery

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Lei Xu, Jinhui Peng, Hailong Bai, C. Srinivasakannan, Libo Zhang, Qingtian Wu, Zhaohui Han, Shenghui Guo, Shaohua Ju, Li Yang. Application of Microwave Melting for the Recovery of Tin Powder. Engineering, 2017, 3(3): 423‒427 https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENG.2017.03.006

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51204081), by the China Scholarship Council (2011853521), the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Talents scheme—Technological Leading Talent of China (2013HA002), the Major Project of Applied Basic Research of Yunnan Province (2013FZ008), and the Scientific Research Fund of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education (2013Z118).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Lei Xu, Jinhui Peng, Hailong Bai, C. Srinivasakannan, Libo Zhang, Qingtian Wu, Zhaohui Han, Shenghui Guo, Shaohua Ju, and Li Yang declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.

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2017 2017 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier LTD on behalf of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Higher Education Press Limited Company. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).