Production of Zinc Powder by Alkaline Hydrometallurgy

. In this paper, a novel hydrometallurgical process for zinc powder production in alkaline solution at industrial scale was reported. The production procedure was developed and discussed, and the characteristics of the zinc powder products, including mineral phases, chemical composition, surface morphology, apparent density and specific surface area were investigated. It is found that the chemical composition of the products have completely reached the need of the National Standard GB/T 6890-2000. Although the outward apperance is always in powdery form, the zinc powder products are composed of dendritic deposits from a microscopic viewpoint, which is important in applications such as cementation, paints and extraction of gold and silver etc. where high specific surface areas are needed. Compared with the acidic-air pulverization process for zinc powder production, about 10-20% energy can be saved by the alkaline process.