This process involved melting impure lead samples in a cupel, a small porous container designed for purification that would aid in the oxidation process, while being able to withstand the heat needed to melt these metals in a furnace.
Some lead, naturally containing a small percentage of silver, was loaded into the central pot and melted.
[3][4] The level of enrichment possible is limited by the lead-silver eutectic and typically the process stopped around 600 to 700 ounces per ton (approx.
To remove these impurities, the blister copper was repeatedly melted and solidified, undergoing a cycle of oxidation and reduction.
Gold and silver preferentially dissolved in this, thus providing a means of recovering these precious metals.
[citation needed] The product of the blast furnace is pig iron, which contains 4–5% carbon and usually some silicon.
Henry Cort's original puddling process only worked where the raw material was white cast iron, rather than the grey pig iron that was the usual raw material for finery forges.
This process oxidized the silicon to form a slag, which floated on the iron and was removed by lowering a dam at the end of the trough.
Examples of these materials include used catalysts, electronic assemblies, ores, or metal alloys.
In pyrolysis, the noble-metalliferous products are released from the other materials by solidifying in a melt to become cinder and then poured off or oxidized.
Subsequently, certain metals can be precipitated or reduced directly with a salt, gas, organic, and/or nitro hydrate connection.