A vacuum distillation process for separation of antimony trisulfide and lead sulfide from jamesonite

Abstract Jamesonite is an important complex antimony mineral which treated by conventional methods have shortcomings, such as sulfur dioxide emission and low antimony and lead recovery. This study applied vacuum metallurgy technology to treat jamesonite. The vacuum decomposition behavior of jamesonite (Pb4FeSb6S14) was investigated, and a two-step vacuum distillation process of separation of antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) and lead sulfide (PbS) from jamesonite was developed. First of all, the decomposition behavior of Pb4FeSb6S14 under vacuum condition was comprehensively studied. The results indicate it decompose into Sb2S3, PbS and FeS at 823 K under vacuum condition, then, Sb2S3 and PbS volatilize at different temperatures. Based on above results, we investigated the effects of vacuum distillation temperature and time on the recovery of Sb2S3 and PbS as well as the effects of temperature on the purity of them. The results indicate that the optimal temperature for separating Sb2S3 and PbS are 923 K and 1173 K, respectively. Under optimal conditions, up to 98% of Sb2S3 with a purity of 99.17% and up to 99.5% of PbS with a purity of 98.7% could be recovered.