Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
491997fa-d22c-4dea-8a3c-0801f404b944
Materials
Associated ID
6a699b8a-6bc4-43aa-86a3-10e53e0656f3
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
This dataset represents a product that is metallic antimony, a silvery-white, slightly blue-lustred brittle semi-metal with the physical characteristics of high hardness, poor ductility and mediocre electrical and thermal conductivity; at room temperature it has good chemical stability and excellent acid- and alkali-corrosion resistance, and is an important basic material and strategic mineral required for the national economy, the national defence industry and scientific and technological development. Its upstream and downstream industries are closely linked: the upstream core raw material is antimony concentrate, with auxiliary raw materials including reducing agents, fluxes and refractory materials; the downstream application scenarios are diverse and critical, with the core application in the flame-retardant field (antimony trioxide as a synergist used in plastics, rubber and textiles), followed by lead–antimony alloy production (suited to lead-acid battery plates, bearings, solders, casting and other scenarios), while also being indispensable in chemical catalysis (polyester PET catalysis) and electronic semiconductors (as a dopant and in arsenide/antimonide compound semiconductors); in addition, high-purity metallic antimony and antimony-based materials play an increasingly important key role in emerging low-carbon technologies such as liquid-metal energy-storage batteries, sodium/lithium-ion battery alloy anodes, thermoelectric materials and antimony-series thin-film photovoltaics. The entire production process focuses on the antimony-ore smelting stage, with the full process covering the entire transformation process from antimony concentrate to the metallic-antimony product. The dataset includes the main raw and auxiliary materials, energy and wastes in the production process; infrastructure such as the manufacture of production equipment and plant construction is not included within the boundary of the dataset; the data inventory is formed by merging data from multiple sources.
Activity Description
The entire production process includes the antimony ore smelting process, covering the entire process from antimony concentrate to metallic antimony.
Process Description
Antimony is a brittle semi-metal that is silvery white with a slight blue luster. It has high hardness but poor ductility. It has average electrical and thermal conductivity. It has good chemical stability at room temperature and is resistant to acid and alkali corrosion. It is regarded as an important basic material and strategic mineral required for the development of the national economy, national defense industry and science and technology. Metal antimony and its compounds are mainly used in the field of flame retardancy (antimony trioxide is widely used in plastics, rubber and textiles as a synergist), and are secondarily used in lead-antimony alloys (lead-acid battery plates, bearings, solders, castings, etc.) and chemical catalysis (polyester PET catalysis) and electronic semiconductors (as dopants and arsenide/antimonide compound semiconductors). At the same time, high-purity metal antimony and antimony-based materials also play an increasingly important and key role in emerging low-carbon technologies such as liquid metal energy storage batteries, sodium/lithium-ion battery alloy anodes, thermoelectric materials, and antimony-based thin-film photovoltaics.
Time period
2021
2026
Geography
China
Geography comment
Generated by merging multiple data sets in this geographical location.
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
Antimony ore smelting adopts the "blast furnace volatilization smelting-reverberatory furnace reduction refining" route in the pyrometallurgical smelting process, that is, the antimony concentrate is oxidized into antimony oxide in the blast furnace, the antimony oxide is reduced to crude antimony in the reverberatory furnace, and the crude antimony continues to be refined into 99.9% metal antimony ingots in the reverberatory furnace. During the production process, a large amount of energy such as electricity, coke, and coal is consumed, and environmental protection facilities such as condensation dust removal and desulfurization are required to control flue gas emissions.