Initiatives to Treat Impurity Elements at Saganoseki and Hitachi Refinery Toward “Green Hybrid Smelting” in JX Advanced Metals Corporation

A stable copper supply is needed to meet the increasing copper demand, which is expected to continue growing in the future. Moreover, a copper refining process with a lower environmental burden is required. JX Advanced Metals Corporation aims to establish a stable copper supply system and lower the environmental burden of copper production. To achieve this goal, we are developing “Green Hybrid Smelting” process that maximizes the processing of secondary raw materials by efficiently utilizing the flash smelting process. Notably, impurities such as nickel, antimony, and bismuth contained in the secondary raw materials deteriorate the quality and efficiency of copper production during the electrorefining process. Herein, we reinforced the capacity of nickel, antimony, and bismuth removal at the Saganoseki and Hitachi Refinery. The series of process reinforcement allows us to maintain the high quality of copper during electrorefining, even when the impurity load increases. We plan to further reinforce our impurity removal capacity to increase the ratio of the secondary raw materials in the feed to 50% by 2040.