Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec

Characteristics and utilisation of copper slag

* a review
/

Bipra Gorai, R.K. Jana *, Premchand

Non-Ferrous Process Division, National Metallurgical Laboratory, (Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research), Jamshedpur 831007, India
Received 27 March 2002; accepted 4 December 2002

Abstract
Copper slag, which is produced during pyrometallurgical production of copper from copper
ores contains materials like iron, alumina, calcium oxide, silica etc. For every tonne of metal
production about 2.2 ton of slag is generated. Dumping or disposal of such huge quantities of
slag cause environmental and space problems. During the past two decades attempts have
been made by several investigators and copper producing units all over the world to explore
the possible utilisation of copper slag. The favourable physico-mechanical characteristics of
copper slag can be utilised to make the products like cement, fill, ballast, abrasive, aggregate,
roofing granules, glass, tiles etc. apart from recovering the valuable metals by various
extractive metallurgical routes. This paper gives a review of characteristics of copper slag as
well as various processes such as pyro, hydro and combination of pyro-hydrometallurgical
methods for metal recovery and preparation of value added products from copper slag.
# 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Copper slag; Environmental problems; Utilisation; Recovery of metals; Preparation of value
added products

1. Introduction
Since the beginning of the industrial era, slags the glassy materials left over when
metals are pyrometallurgically extracted from ores, have been considered waste. One
such material is copper slag which is produced during matte smelting and converting

* Corresponding author. Tel.: /91-657-271806; fax: /91-657-270527.

E-mail address: rkjana@nmlindia.org (R.K. Jana).
0921-3449/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0921-3449(02)00171-4

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B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

steps of pyrometallurgical production of copper. During matte smelting two separate

liquid phases: copper-rich matte (sulphides) and slag (oxides) are formed. It has been
estimated that for every tonne of copper production about 2.2 ton of slag is
generated and in each year, approximately 24.6 million ton of slag is generated from
world copper production. The major slag producing regions with quantities is given
in Table 1. Slags containing B/0.8% copper are either discarded as waste or sold as
products with properties similar to those of natural basalt (crystalline) or obsidian
(amorphous). Utilisation and recovery of metal depend on the type of slag. Current
options of management of this slag are recycling, recovering of metal, production of
value added products and disposal in slag dumps or stockpiles. Processed air-cooled
and granulated copper slag have number of favourable mechanical properties for
aggregate use, including excellent soundness characteristics, good abrasion resistance
and good stability. Since copper slag has a low content of CaO, granulated copper
slag exhibits pozzolanic properties (Deja and Malolepszy, 1989; Douglas and
Mainwaring, 1985). As CaO content increases or under the activation of NaOH it
can exhibit cementitious properties and can be used as partial or full replacement for
Portland cement. Utilisation of copper slag for applications such as Portland cement
replacement in concrete, and/or as a cement raw material has the dual benefit of
eliminating the costs of disposal, and lowering the cost of the concrete (Mobasher et
al., 1996). Some of the properties of copper slag are favourable for its use as an
aggregate in asphalt paving applications. Dumping or disposal of this slag causes
wastage of metal values and leads to environmental problems. Rather than
disposing, these slags can be used taking full advantage of its physico-mechanical
properties. Therefore its use was explored by several investigators and they have
utilised the slag in diversified ways like recovery of metal values, preparation of value
added product like, cement, cement replacement in concrete, fill, ballast, abrasive,
aggregate, glass, tiles etc. The present paper reviews briefly all the above aspects.

2. Physical chemistry of high temperature copper recovery

2.1. Matte formation
Recovery of copper at high temperature takes place by the process of smelting
followed by converting. Major constituents of a smelting charge are sulphides and
oxides of iron and copper. The charge also contains oxides such as Al2O3, CaO,
MgO and principally SiO2 which are either present in the original concentrate or
added as flux. It is the iron, copper, sulphur, oxygen and these oxides which largely
control the chemistry and physical constitution of the smelting system. A further
important influence is the oxidation/reduction potential of the gases which are used
to heat and melt the charge. The first purpose of matte smelting is to ensure
sulfidisation of all copper present in the charge so that it enters the matte phase
which can be represented as follows (Johansen et al., 1970)
FeS(l)Cu2 O(l; slag) l FeO(l; slag)Cu2 S(l)

(1)

B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

DG 0 350004:6T 0 K kcal=kg mol

301

(2)

The equilibrium constant for Eq. (1)

KE 

aCu2 S(l)  aFeO(l;slag)

aCu2 O(l;slag)  aFeS(l)

(3)

DG 0
from which KE at smelting temperature (:/
4:576T 0 K
1200 8C) is 104. This high value of KE shows that Cu2O is completely sulfidised to
Cu2S by FeS at smelting temperature. Eq. (1) can also be used for recovering copper
from converter slags. These slags are recycled to the smelting furnace where their
oxide is sulfidised to Cu2S. Oxidised copper may be present in the form of CuO,
CuSO4, CuO /CuSO4 or CuO /Fe2O3. These compounds also react to form Cu2S
during smelting. In short, the entire amount forms Cu2S. CuS and FeS2 are unstable
at high temperature due to their high sulphur pressures (CuS: p S2 :/100 atm at
600 8C; FeS2: pS2 /5 atm at 700 8C). These decompose during smelting to form
Cu2S and FeS. (Biswas and Davenport, 1980).
KE is given by logKE 

2.2. Copper slag formation

In the ore the oxides and sulphides combine covalently to form Cu /Fe /O /S
phase in the absence of silica. During smelting when silica is added, it combines with
the oxides to form strongly bonded silicate anions which group together to form slag
phase.
2FeO3SiO2 0 2Fe2 Si3 O4
8

(4)

The sulphide shows no tendency to form these anion complexes and hence they
remain as distinct covalent matte phase, quite dissimilar to the silicate slag. Silica is
added directly for the most complete isolation of copper in the matte which occurs at
near saturation concentration with SiO2 (Shi and Qian, 2000). Certain amount of
lime and alumina are added to stabilize the slag structure. The molten slag is
discharged from the furnace at 1000 /1300 8C. When liquid slag is cooled slowly, it
forms a dense, hard crystalline product where as quick solidification by pouring
Table 1
Copper slag generation in various regions
Regions

Copper slag generation/annum in million ton

Asia
North America
Europe
South America
Africa
Oceania

7.26
5.90
5.56
4.18
1.23
0.45

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B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

molten slag into water gives amorphous granulated slag. Trade names of copper
slags include Kleen Blast and Tru-Grit. The copper slag that is usually found is an
impure iron silicate glass with small inclusions of copper and copper sulphide. The
chemical composition of slag varies with the types of furnace or process of treatment.
The typical composition of copper slag is given below. Fe: 30 /40%, SiO2: 35/40%,
Al2O3: 0/10%, CaO: 0/10%, Cu: 0.5 /2.1%.

3. Physical and mechanical properties

Some physical and mechanical properties of copper slag is shown in Table 2. Aircooled copper slag has a black colour and glassy appearance. The specific gravity
varies with iron content, from a low of 2.8 to as high as 3.8. The unit weight of
copper slag is somewhat higher than that of conventional aggregate. The absorption
capacity of the material is typically very low (0.13%). Granulated copper slag is more
porous and therefore, has lower specific gravity and higher absorption capacity than
air-cooled copper slag. The granulated copper slag is made up of regularly shaped,
angular particles, mostly between 4.75 and 0.075 mm (No. 200 sieve) in size (Emery,
1986; Hughes and Haliburton, 1973).
The air-cooled and granulated copper slag have a number of favourable
mechanical properties for aggregate use, including excellent soundness characteristics, good abrasion resistance, and good stability. It has high friction angle due to
sharp angular shape. However, the slag tend to be vitreous or glassy, which
adversely affects their frictional properties (skid resistance), a potential problem if
used in pavement surfaces.

Table 2
Typical physical and mechanical properties of copper slag
Appearance
Unit weight
Absorption, %
Bulk density
Conductivity
Sp. gravity
Hardness
Moisture
Water soluble chloride
Abrasion loss, %
Sodium sulphate soundness loss, %
Angle of internal friction

Black, glassy, more vesicular when granulated

2800 /3800(kg/m3)
0.13
144 /162 lbs per cubic feet
500 ms/cm
2.8 /3.8
6 /7 Moh
B/5%
B/50 ppm
24.1
0.90
40 /53

Emery (1986), Hughes and Haliburton (1973), Das et al. (1993) and Feasby (1975).

Origin

Fe, %

SiO2, %

CaO, %

MgO, %

Al2O3, %

S, %

Cu, %

Co, mg/kg

Mn, mg/kg

Ni, mg/kg

Zn, mg/kg

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

44.78
39.65
41.53
47.8
44.7 /47.7
47.13
44
47.8
44.8 (oxide)
34.62(oxide)

40.97
31.94
37.13
29.9
28.5 /32
/
28
26.1
24.7
27.16

5.24
3.95
/
/
1.6 /3.9
/
/
0.7
10.9
17.42

1.16
2.82
/
/
/
/
/
1.0
1.7
3.51

3.78
2.4
/
/
/
/
/
6.8
15.6
14.7

1.06
/
0.11
/
0.3 /0.9
1.47
/
1.5
0.28
0.33

/
1.01
0.79
0.7
0.5 /0.95
0.68
0.6
0.82
2.1
1.64

/
1040
/
/
Tr /8
2200
1300
4000
/
/

/
420
/
/
/
300
/
/
4000 (oxide)
4900 (oxide)

/
150
/
/
14 /20
500
600
/
/
/

/
7220
/
/
1700 /2850
500
/
1500
/
/

(1) Iranian National Copper Industries Co, (Marghussian and Maghsoodipoor, 1999). (2) Etibank Ergani Copper Plant, Elazig-Turkey (Kiyak et al., 1999).
(3) Caletone Smelter Chile (Imris et al., 2000). (4 /7) Indian Copper Plants (Agrawal et al., 2000). (8) Kure Copper Slag (Yucel et al., 1992). (9 /10) Copper
Queen, Prince, USA (Mobasher et al., 1996).

B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

Table 3
Typical chemical compositions of the slag

303

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B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

4. Chemical composition
Chemical analysis of various copper slags are shown in Table 3. Copper content is
limited to 0.5 /2%. Major constituents are iron, silica, alumina and calcium oxide.

5. Slag characterisation
Microscopic observations indicate most of the copper slags are well crystallised. In
addition to iron oxides, other oxides such as silica, alumina, lime and magnesia
constitute 95% or more of the total oxides. Composition of some of the slag phases
obtained by Quantitative Electron Microprobe analyses (Imris et al., 2000) is given
in Table 4. The X-ray diffraction pattern shown in Fig. 1 revealed 2FeO /SiO2, Fe3O4
and Ca (Fe, Mg) (SiO3)2 as the main phases present in the slag (Kiyak et al., 1999).
As the metals are most stable in oxide and silicate forms, construction material
produced from copper slag have least possibility of corroding.
The TG/DTA tests on copper slag (Fig. 2) showed the transformation of fayalite
to hematite and amorphous silica (Eq. (5)), magnetite to maghemite and hematite
(Eq. (6)) and emission of SO2 due to oxidation. Marked weight gain in the 374 /
989 8C range followed by a weight loss from 989 to 1040 8C was observed. The
weight gain in the 374 to 989 8C indicated the oxidation of fayalite (Eq. (5)). The
weight loss above 989 8C was due to the oxidation of copper and iron sulphides
present in minor amounts in copper slag.
2FeOSiO2 1=2 O2 0 aFe2 O3 SiO2
Fe3 O4 0 gFe2 O3 0 aFe2 O3

(5)
(6)

The exothermic peaks at 516 and 767 8C in DTA was related to the magnetite to
maghemite and maghemite to hematite transformation, respectively (Eq. (6)). The
endothermic dip at 1040 8C was associated with the slag melting.

6. Recovery of metals from copper slag

Various methods of recovering copper from the copper smelter slags with
attention given to pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, and mixed pyro and
hydrometallurgical processes was briefly reviewed by Yucel et al. (1992). Some of
the methods of recovering metals are discussed below.
6.1. Metal recovery through pyrometallurgical route
One of the methods of processing copper slag is based on carbothermic reduction
which involves recovery of the metals and also part of the iron yielding finally an
iron rich alloy. The alloy is processed for the recovery of copper and cobalt. At the
end of the treatment, iron which forms the major constituent of the slag usually
remains as a residue (Fe2O3) of not much commercial value, requires disposal (Yucel

Slag

Slag phase

Cu, %

Fe, %

S, %

Si, %

Ca, %

Al, %

Mg, %

EL Teniente (Slag cleaning furnace)

Large matte particle

Fine matte particle
Iron particle
Fayalite
Matrix

66.0
11.5
B/0.2
1.0
1.5

6.5
45.9
98.3
63.9
56.2

17.3
3.7
/
0.5
0.6

/
26.3
0.2
27.8
29.5

/
/
/
1.2
1.8

/
/
1.0
2.9
6.0

/
/
/
1.1
/

B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

Table 4
Quantitative electron microprobe analyses of copper slag

305

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B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

Fig. 1. XRD pattern of calcined copper slag (400 /1200 8C).

et al., 1992). Earlier, ancient copper slag of Kure in Turkey was subjected to
carbothermic reduction to produce a Fe /Co /Cu alloy by Topkaya (1990). It was
found that with the addition of 4% coke powder, an alloy containing 1.72% Co and
4.41% Cu could be obtained at 1400 8C in 1 h with Co and Cu recoveries of 97.7 and
86.7%, respectively. Yucel et al. (1999) reported the treatment of ancient Kure
copper slag by carbothermal reduction process in a DC arc furnace of open top type
by adding coke. In 1-h reduction time at a temperature between 1430 and 1480 8C
maximum metal recovery was obtained. Similar conditions in closed type furnace
resulted in higher cobalt and copper contents of the matte and also the higher
recoveries. In closed system recovery of cobalt and copper were 95.7 and 90%,
respectively. Fluxing materials such as CaO and Al2O3 caused an increase in iron
reduction but no appreciable influence on cobalt and copper recovery was noticed.
Granulated slag of Sterlite Industries India Limited was used to recover iron values
(Premchand et al., 2000) in a 50 KVA furnace. Eighty five percent iron recovery was
obtained from a charge of 10 kg granulated copper slag mixed with 2.5 kg lime and
600 gm graphite powder smelted for 1 h duration using 45 kW h power.

B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

307

Fig. 2. TG /DTA plots of copper slag.

6.2. Pyro-hydrometallurgical route

The copper slag generated at Kure, has been investigated by Acma et al. (1997) for
the recovery of copper, cobalt and production of magnet grade iron oxide by pyrohydrometallurgical route. The fayalitic slag analysing about 0.8% Cu and 0.4% Co is
reduced with coke/graphite in a DC arc furnace to yield a liquid alloy rich in iron
containing about 3.8% Cu, 3.3% Co and 2.1% S. The alloy is leached with hot
sulphuric acid so that cobalt and iron are solubilised leaving behind copper and
other impurities in the residue. The leach liquor is treated with H2S to precipitate
cobalt as sulphide. The remaining liquor containing mainly FeSO4 is taken through a
processing sequence consisting of goethite precipitation, dehydration, controlled
reduction and finally, reoxidation to obtain g-Fe2O3 for magnetic application. Jones
et al. (1996) reported the recovery of metals, such as nickel, cobalt, and copper in an
alloy by treating the copper slag with a carbonaceous reducing agent in a DC arc
furnace. Pilot plant test work at Mintek (South Africa) has demonstrated recoveries
of 98% nickel and 80% cobalt at the power levels of up to 600 kW and maximum
possible quantity of iron oxide in the slag. Copper slag has been carbothermally
smelted in a submerged electric arc furnace, partially reducing FeO to a metallic
phase comprising of copper and other metals by Acma et al. (1992). The metallic
phase has been transformed to the granules by passing through an air jet. The
granule after grinding was leached with H2SO4 and the solution was purified with
H2S to separate CuS. After the copper precipitation step iron was precipitated as
goethite from the final solution. From goethite through thermal decomposition,
magnetic iron oxide was obtained.

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6.3. Hydrometallurgical route

The recovery of copper by flotation method from secondary copper slag is an
alternate route (Osborn et al., 1990). Partial enrichment of Sn and Ni is also possible
by this method. A flotation scheme used at the Almalyk copper smelter for
processing slags together with Cu /Mo ores was described, and ways to optimise the
slag flotation process were examined (Sigedin et al., 1986). Results of the flotation of
converter slag were presented, and the effect of the combined flotation of slags with
the ores on the recovery of copper was also evaluated. The recovery of the useful
metals from the gangue, obtained as a result of the flotation process of
pyrometallurgical copper slag, was discussed by (Oprea and Murgulescu (1984)).
The gangue material generated from flotation contained 0.30 /0.65% Cu. To recover
copper, these gangues were treated with concentrated sulphuric acid. For the
solubilization of the sulphates which had been formed, the material was treated with
water at 80 /90 8C. Finally, a solution with 0.14 g/l Cu was obtained from which
copper could be extracted by well known processes.
Characterization studies on the tailings of the slag flotation mill from the Khetri
Copper Project in Rajasthan (Natarajan et al., 1980) containing on an average 0.2 /
0.4% Cu, to understand the nature, distribution and type of locking-up of the Cubearing mineral, have been made. A sulphuric acid leaching process for recovering
Cu from Khetri dump slag tailings was also discussed.
The White Pine Copper Div. (Copper Range Co.) has developed a variety of ways
(Clarkson et al., 1978) to use its accumulated reverberatory furnace slag. Four ways
were listed for copper losses to occur in the slag and justification was given for
constructing a heavy media plant to recover this metal. Exploratory studies on
copper recovery have been conducted using crushing, grinding and froth flotation
methods in a White Pine concentrator.

7. Use of copper slag in other areas

Since the metals present in the slag are very minor amount, their recovery may not
be economical by many processes. Therefore, its use in the production of different
value added products like abrasive tools, pavement, abrasive, concrete, cutting tools,
tiles, glass, roofing granules, cement, asphalt concrete aggregate etc. was explored.
7.1. Abrasive tools
Utilisation of granulated copper slag as a ceramic raw material, especially its use
as a component in ceramic binders was investigated by Herman (1989). It was found
that the introduction of copper slag instead of frit into the binder led to an
improvement of mechanical service properties of ceramic abrasive tools.
Copper slag was characterised by Szyrle and Wozniak (1988) to find its use in
abrasive blasting treatment or in the manufacture of abrasive tools. It has been
found that some properties of copper slag e.g. the ability of their grains to sustain

B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

309

loads or their geometry are comparable with those of the traditional abrasive
material, their micro-hardness being however, lower. As a result, slag abrasive
materials can be applied in abrasive tools for machining non-ferrous metals, wood or
plastics. In these cases, the specific machining output approaches that of the tools
containing silicon carbide or alundum which is the striking features of the slag based
abrasive.
Copper slag was used (Wyzsza Szkola Inynierska, 1987) as a binder in preparation
of grinding wheel. The service properties of these grinding wheels, the ultimate
strength, its cutting characteristics, service life and the condition of the working
surface showed the advantage of using slag based binder instead of ceramics binder.
With these wheels lower porosity of the ground surface, higher grinding efficiency
and reduced energy consumption were attained.
A comparative studies on the application of grinding wheels made of copper slag
and those made of polyurethane resins was carried out by Pluta (1989). The studies
have been performed for the machining of corrosion-resisting 1H18N9T steel, 55
plain carbon steel in the heat-treated condition, and 59 lead brass. The results
obtained are better than those relating to alundum grinding wheels. The highest
machining ability was found in the case of heat-treated steel, the lowest in the case of
brass.
The freely solidifying copper slag obtained as a waste material from a high
temperature copper process was investigated for its use as abrasive (Andrzej et al.,
1992). When disintegrated its billets yield grains which may be used as a substitute
abrasive of micro-hardness about 7 GPa and mechanical strength equivalent to that
of electro-corundum. Slag softening temperature at 1190 8C makes it unsuitable for
use as a ceramic bonded abrasive. Heat treatment at 800/1000 8C can significantly
improve the mechanical properties of slag and the abrasive. The product has
properties comparable with those of corundum.
The possibility of utilisation of freely solidifying copper slag as an abrasive was
indicated by Grot and Oleska (1989). The investigations were carried out using liquid
and solid compounds of various compositions and polishing were done on steel,
brass, aluminium and Zn /Al alloys. For some compositions of abrasive-buffing
composites satisfactory results were obtained.
Minerals Research and Recovery, Arizona, USA manufactured a loose grained
abrasive (sharpshot) from an air-cooled slag from a plant of Ajo, Arizona. These
abrasives are very consistent in its composition and physical properties and are
reported to be environmentally safe (B/0.1% free silica).

7.2. Pavement
The use of copper slag aggregates in hot mix asphalt pavements was investigated
by Transportation Research Board, Washington (Collins and Cielieski, 1994). Fine
copper slag has reportedly been used in hot mix asphalt pavements in California and
granulated copper slag has been incorporated into asphalt mixes in Georgia to
improve stability. Although it is rarely used, Michigan Department of Transporta-

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B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

tion Specifications consider reverberatory copper slag to be a conventional coarse

and fine aggregate for hot mix asphalt pavement.
7.3. Concrete
American concrete institute (Moura et al., 1999) used the copper slag from Bahia,
Brazil as construction materials. They observed that the characteristic of the material
was equivalent to the traditional ones or even better. So copper slag can be a
potential alternative to the admixtures used in concrete and mortars.
Investigation on the use of slag from copper smelting as fine aggregate in concrete
was made by Akihiko and Takashi (1996). From mortar strength tests with cement/
slag/water ratio of 1/2/0.55 the ball milled slag gave higher strength. The effects of
several kinds of slag in mortar and concrete on alkali aggregate reaction, reinforcing
steel corrosion, abrasion, workability and slump, shrinkage and freezing /thawing
characteristics were examined.
Studies on the mechanical attributes of the epoxide and epoxide-asphalt concretes
filled with used abrasive of the post-copper slag was carried out by Rudnicki et al.
(1998). It was found that the slag was a good filler for the concretes.
Utilisation of slag in cement raw material, Portland cement replacement in
concrete, fill and ballast was investigated by (Tixier et al. (1996)). The use of copper
slag increased the compressive strength of concrete mixture.
Copper slag was used as fine aggregate for concrete by Toshiki et al. (2000). They
described the strength, setting time and durability of concrete with copper slag.
7.4. Cutting tools, tiles and glass
Use of copper slag as filler instead of conventional lithophone filler was
investigated (Szyrle et al., 1988). To improve the properties of grinding and cutting
wheels, copper slag filler (0.043 kg of particle size B/150 mm) was added to a mixture
of an abrasive powder (0.868 kg), powder novolak resin (0.147 kg), a liquid phenol
formaldehyde resin (0.037 kg) and iron red pigment (0.013 kg) and this was
compacted and hardened for 16 h at B/180 8C. The resulting wheel was used for
cutting a steel rod of 60 mm diameter at 3800 rpm. Cutting property of the wheel was
superior to the wheel made of conventional lithophone filler.
Use of copper slag in the production of tiles was reported by Yasuo (1992).
Molten slag from copper smelting are cast by cooling in atmosphere at about B/
100 8C/h within 900 /1250 8C to give tiles. Reports are also available (Sirajiddinov
et al., 1993) for the use of copper smelting slags as feldspar substituting fluxes in the
production of ceramic facing tiles. The mechanical strength of tiles made from
kaolinitic clay and copper slags increased sharply in the temperature range of intense
sintering (1100 8C) due to the formation of a liquid phase and strengthening effect
during its solidification.
Iranian copper slag was used in formulating unglazed floor tiles (Marghussian and
Maghsoodipoor, 1999). 40 wt.% of copper slag mixed with clay and sand material

B. Gorai et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 299 /313

311

fired at 1025 8C for 1 h gives the standard floor tiles with bend strength 57 MN/m2,
water absorption of 2 wt.%, hardness of 750 VH and very good acid resistance.
In firing mutual diffusion of atoms between touching particles takes place, which
is also known as sintering. As a result of sintering the particles become fewer and
larger and pores are eliminated. Strength in fired body is due to interlocking of
crystal. The principle behind fast-firing is that one can promote densification by
bypassing the coarsening regime with rapid heating. It enables the material to obtain
the mechanical characteristics required for the different uses and the properties of
chemical inertia (Yet-Ming Chiang et al., 1997).
Copper slags was utilised for the manufacturing of coloured glasses by Dongping
et al. (1997). A mixture of slag 12/43, SiO2 35/52, lime 5/18 and soda 15/25% was
melted at 1300 8C to obtain coloured glass containing SiO2 52 /61, Fe2O3 9 /23,
CaO 6 /19, Na2O 6/15, and Al2O3 0.5 /1.5%. The colour of glass changes
sequentially from light green, yellow green, brown green to black green with
increasing Fe2O3 content in the glasses.

7.5. Roofing grannules, asphalt concrete aggregate and cement

Copper slags have been used as granular base and embankment materials,
aggregate substitutes in hot mix asphalt, mine backfill materials, railway ballast
materials, grit blast abrasives, roofing granule material, and in the manufacturing of
blended cements (granulated copper slags) (Dongping et al., 1997; Emery, 1992).
Copper slags have been used as aggregate substitutes in hot mix paving. Aircooled slags can be used as coarse or fine aggregate, while granulated slags can be
used as fine aggregate (Miller and Collins, 1976).
Use of copper slag (15% mass) as a Portland cement replacement was reported by
Arino-Moreno and Mobasher (1999). It affects the strength and toughness of the
mixture.

8. Conclusion
Favourable physico-mechanical and chemical characteristics of copper slag lead to
its utilisation to prepare various value added products such as cement, fill, ballast,
abrasive, cutting tools, aggregate, roofing granules, glass, tiles etc. These materials
have been found to be possessing superior mechanical properties and they may be of
cheaper varieties than the similar conventional materials. The utilisation of copper
slag in such manners may reduce the cost of disposal. This may also leads to less
environmental problems. Improvement in plant economics may also be expected.
Metals and alloys can also be produced from the copper slag by various pyro, hydro
and pyro-hydrometallurgical routes. Therefore, it is evident that judicial utilisation
of different types of copper slag is of prime importance in the present days industrial
waste management.

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