Primary battery recycling has important environmental and economic benefits. According to battery sales worldwide, the most used battery type is alkaline batteries with 75% of market share due to having a higher performance than other primary batteries such as Zn–MnO2. In this study, carbothermal reduction for zinc oxide from battery waste was completed for both vacuum and Ar atmospheres. Thermodynamic data are evaluated for vacuum and Ar atmosphere reduction reactions and results for Zn reduction/evaporation are compared via the FactSage program. Zn vapor and manganese oxide were obtained as products. Zn vapor was re-oxidized in end products; manganese monoxide and steel container of batteries are evaluated as ferromanganese raw material. Effects of carbon source, vacuum, temperature and time were studied. The results show a recovery of 95.1% Zn by implementing a product at 1150 °C for 1 h without using the vacuum. The residues were characterized by Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) methods.

This paper is a contribution to the theoretical and quantitative understanding of the processes for the production of magnesium metal by metallothermic process in vacuum (Pidgeon Process). In the present study, effects of reductant type and amount were investigated. CaC2 is a low-cost alternative to FeSi (ferrosilicon) which is the common reductant in the Pidgeon Process. CaC2 slightly decreases the Mg recovery ratios but it remarkably decreases the process cost. The experimental study, conducted with the change of mass % FeSi–CaC2 ratio at 1,250 °C for 360 min, the optimum Mg recovery was measured as 94.7 % at 20 % CaC2 addition. Also aluminum, as a reductant, allows conducting the process at lower temperatures than that of FeSi. For the experiments conducted with Al addition, the highest Mg recovery ratio was measured as 88.0 % in the conditions for 300 min process duration and 100 % stoichiometric Al addition at 1,200 °C.

Self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) is a very important technique for the synthesis of high technology ceramics, metals and alloys. SHS parameters of TiB 2 were carried out in this study. Mg stoichiometry as reductant, process atmosphere and addition of NaCl and MgSO 4 ·7H 2 O additives were investigated. HCl leaching was applied to SHS products to purify their TiB 2 contents. Stoichiometrically 100% Mg addition ratio and Ar atmosphere were determined as the optimum parameters. NaCl addition was also positively affected the specific surface area values. 11.78 m 2 /g specific surface area value was measured for 5.0% NaCl addition ratio.

Mill scale (MS) has a potential to use as an iron source because of its high iron content. MS mainly consists of a mixture of iron oxides, metallic iron and other base metal oxides. MS is formed on the surfaces of steel ingots during continuous casting as a waste material. In this study, the use of MS as an iron source for the production of carbon-free iron containing alloys (unalloyed iron, Fe-Ni, Fe-Cr-Ni, Fe-Cr-Ni-Mo) via a metallothermic reduction process was investigated. Thermodynamic calculations and the experimental studies were performed on the basis of 100 g of MS. The effects of different stoichiometric amounts of MS and aluminum (Al) powders (as reductant) were investigated for the production of unalloyed Fe. While, different amount of metal oxide ratios and their effects on metal recoveries, compositions and microstructure of final alloys were studied during Fe-based alloys production. The highest iron recovery during unalloyed Fe production was obtained as 95.14 % by using 100 g of MS and 100 % stoichiometric Al (28.6 g) containing mixture. In Fe-based alloys production series, the highest metal recovery values were reached up to 95.0 % for Fe, 95.1 % for Ni, 68.3 % for Cr and 77.2 % for Mo, respectively.