TECHNOLOGICAL OVERVIEWS OF THE ZINC INDUSTRY - NOW AND FUTURE

This paper will discuss the recent situation and future of the zinc industry from the technical point of view. It includes recent problems faced by the zinc industry and technological developments. One of the biggest problems of the zinc industry is raw materials. Traditional zinc concentrate becomes much complicated with respect to its chemical and physical properties. Thus, each process faced various problems. Also, secondary resources, generating so called recycling processes, become much more important. Recycling is, of course, a very important aspect for sustainable development of society. Secondary raw material also includes a great variety of impurities not included or very low levels in traditional zinc concentrate. Some problems are caused by these impurities. To overcome these problems some technological challenges have been taking place. Details will be discussed in the symposium.