Thermodynamic and kinetic study of the recovery of tungsten and cobalt from tool waste/ Estudio termodinamico y cinetico de la recuperacion de wolframio y cobalto a partir de residuos de herramientas

In the present research work, the recovery of tungsten and cobalt from waste coming from tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) tools, which are widely used in the metalworking industry, was analyzed. The WC-Co waste was characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with microanalysis (SEM/EDS). The process started with the oxidation of the waste to obtain a mixture of oxides (W[O.sub.3] and CoW[O.sub.4]). The AH and AG were calculated both for the oxidation and reduction processes. Thermodynamic and non-isothermal kinetic analyses were carried out to obtain a stability diagram where theoretical and experimental data are defined by transformation lines as a function of temperature; in addition, the apparent activation energy was determined. By a hydrogen reduction process, high-purity tungsten and cobalt in metallic form were obtained.