Low carbon technology: Scientists smelt tin with hydrogen
Freiberg University in Germany has pioneered a new low carbon technology for smelting tin. The researchers used a ‘direct reduction’ process using hydrogen instead of carbon to reduce cassiterite to metallic tin.
Cassiterite (SnO2), the main tin ore, is typically processed with high-temperature reduction using carbon-based materials. The new approach offers an important potential for reduced carbon footprint, especially when the hydrogen used is produced using renewable energy sources.
The research team showed that using 3 g of hydrogen per 100 g of cassiterite concentrate at 1,300 °C produces tin metal with over 99% purity.
During the reduction process a slag phase also formed which contained impurities including around 13% tin as SnO. The tin was successfully leached and recovered using chemical leaching.
This work mirrors recent industrial deployments of hydrogen-based direct reduction technology in the steel industry include major projects in China, India, and Europe, with plants such as HBIS’s 1.2-million-ton facility and JSW Energy’s upcoming green hydrogen plant set to supply steelmakers at scale, with up to 70% reduction in carbon emissions.
This innovation is an important step forward in the development of low-carbon technologies for tin and should stimulate further work to explore the technology.
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