China Nonferrous Metallurgy

In China, the existing cemented carbide recovery technologies have the disadvantages of heavy environmental pollution, high requirements for equipment,high production costs, etc., and the quality of only a few products can be up to the world average level, resulting that the stockpiled amount of waste cemented carbide has been increasing geometrically. In view of the fact that the tungsten and cobalt resources are scarce in China, the development of a new, high efficiency and short-route waste cemented carbide recovery process is of great significance. In this article, the main methods for waste cemented carbide recovery in China and abroad are summarized, the recovery technology of low temperature water solution in electrochemical method and the recovery technology of high temperature molten salt electrodeposition and the relevant applications are elaborated; and finally, the detailed analysis is made for the route of joint process of these two technologies.The article points out that this technology can remedy effectively the shortcomings of single electrochemical recovery process, and can improve the alloy separation efficiency and product quality; it shows that in the future, the way of “electrochemical method is the mainstay, combined with various processes and methods” will be the major hot research direction for treatment and recycling of waste cemented carbide.