Submitted by s33761 t3_zy83rw in askscience
ccdy t1_j2cb5ky wrote
Not by any practical or economic means. In principle you could distill brass to separate copper and zinc by boiling point but this obviously poses significant technical challenges. The more realistic way is through hydrometallurgy, where the brass is dissolved in an aqueous solution and the two component metals separated by chemical or electrochemical means. This includes selective leaching of zinc from brass, which should be possible although I have not looked up any specific references for this. In practice the energy required is too great and it is far easier to just remelt scrap brass to make new brass.
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