Abstract:Crude tellurium was obtained by direct reduction precipitation from acid leachate of copper anode slime with sulfur dioxide as reductant. The results show that NaCl additive not only facilitates reduction of tellurium, but also promotes precipitation of copper. It is proposed that most of copper in solution be removed before tellurium precipitation. The grade of crude tellurium is 82.7% with precipitation ratio of tellurium of 99.03% under the optimum conditions including temperature of 80 ℃, NaCl dosage of 40 g/L, SO2 flow rate of 92.8 mL/min, and reduction time of 1.5 h.