Tin purification is important to various alchemical practices, and a fundamental step in many recipes and formulas. In alchemy purified tin is a regular ingredient in asem, a metal alloy used to multiply silver or gold. To purify tin in ancient times, various methods are used.
The process of purifying tin is enabled by its low melting point, which allows for the easy separation of tin from impurities and other metals. By subjecting tin to the melting process, impurities are effectively removed, ensuring a higher level of quality in the final product.
Purification techniques and recipes are verbatim from c. 300 AD (Leyden Papyrus). Ingredients and processes are used by metallurgists and alchemists of the time. Many methods can be adapted to modern day.
Tin has a melt point of 232 °C (450 °F) and can be softened, melted or smelted in a regular fire. Average fire temperatures:
Orange flames range from around 1100 °C to 1200 °C (2012 °F to 2192 °F)
White flames are hotter, measuring 1300 °C to 1500 °C (2372 °F to 2732 °F). The brighter white, the higher the temperature.
Blue flames, or flames with a blue base, are up to twice at hot, with temperature approximately 2500°C to 3000°C (4532 °F to 5432 °F)
Violet flames burn hotter than 3000 °C (5432 °F)
Purifying Tin - Boiling
In ancient alchemy, one fire-refining method for tin is basic concentrated boiling. In this process, impure tin from the smelter or liquation furnace is heated in vessels or kettles agitated by compressed air. The intention is to oxidize impurities, which rise to the surface as dross.
The earliest forms of compressed air tools, dating back to c. 2000 BCE, are metalworkers' bellows to smelt and forge the ores needed for metal working. Before steam and electricity the bellows can be powered by humans, hand or treadle power, or by a water wheel.
Tin is a versatile metal with many uses. One of the seven metals of antiquity, it's commonly sold in the form of ingots or pigs. They're typically bars or blocks of refined or purified tin. Ingots show up as early as 3000 BCE.
Ingots are standardized forms, making them easier for manufacturers to handle, trade and transport. The process of producing metallic tin involves several stages, with most of the production taking place at specialized smelters and refineries from antiquity until today.
These facilities are near mining areas to streamline the supply chain and reduce transportation costs. At the smelters, the raw tin ore undergoes a series of refining processes to extract the pure metal, which is then cast into ingots for further distribution.
Liquation
Liquation is a crucial method in the realm of fire-refining, specifically tailored for the purification of impure tin and dross resulting from smelting operations. The primary aim of this technique revolves around isolating impurities with higher melting points than tin itself.
The metals or materials are placed on an inclined hearth in a reverberatory furnace. A reverberatory furnace is a metallurgical or process furnace. It isolates the material being processed from contact with the fuel, but not from contact with combustion gases.
Subject to precise heating, the materials reach a temperature marginally above the melting point of tin. As the temperature intensifies, the impure tin begins its transformation to a liquid state, gradually trickling down the inclined surface of the hearth.
This molten tin is collected in a container, ensuring its separation from the solid residues of the hearth's surface. These solid remnants, laden with impurities, are then removed and subjected to further processing to extract any remaining elements and enhance overall purity of the tin.
Fire refining may use vacuum distillation. Molten tin is heated in a compact graphite container at elevated temperatures from 1,100 to 1,300 °C (2,000 to 2,375 °F). The process involves application of a vacuum to selectively distill impurities, based on individual boiling points.
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