Design of Reduction Process of SnO(2) by CH(4) for Efficient Sn Recovery

We design a novel method for the CH(4) reduction of SnO(2) for the efficient recovery of Sn from SnO(2) through a study combining theory and experiment. The atomic-level process of CH(4)-SnO(2) interaction and temperature-dependent reduction behavior of SnO(2) were studied with a combination of a multi-scale computational method of thermodynamic simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We found that CH(4) was a highly efficient and a versatile reducing agent, as the total reducing power of CH(4) originates from the carbon and hydrogen of CH(4), which sequentially reduce SnO(2). Moreover, as a result of the CH(4) reduction of SnO(2), a mixture of CO and H(2) was produced as a gas-phase product (syngas). The relative molar ratio of the produced gas-phase product was controllable by the reduction temperature and the amount of supplied CH(4). The laboratory-scale experimental study confirmed that CH(4) actively reduces SnO(2), producing 99.34% high-purity Sn and H(2) and CO. Our results present a novel method for an efficient, green, and economical recycling strategy for Sn with economic value added that is held by the co-produced clean energy source (syngas).