The traditional method of separating bismuth-rich melt produced from the fire smelting of bismuth slags has some imperfections of the complicated operation, low recovery rate of metals and harmful to the environment and human health. As a result of these concerns, a green method for extraction of Bi and Pb from the bismuth-rich melt by super-gravity has been proposed in this study. The extraction mechanism of Bi and Pb was discussed in detail. And influences of the super-gravity field on the separation of bismuth-rich melt were investigated. It can be noted that the Bi solid was difficult to be separated from the liquid phase under a normal-gravity field. In contrast, after centrifugal filtration with optimum conditions of G = 600, T=130 degrees C and t = 90 s, the mass-specific gravity for Bi residual of Bi-5wt%Pb and Bi-15wt%Pb melts achieved 87.92% and 63.28%, and the purity of Bi residual could be up to 99.49% and 99.28%. Meanwhile, the removal rate of Pb reached 89.80% and 95.20%, respectively. Therefore, it is a promising technology for green extraction of Bi and Pb from the bismuth-rich melt in terms of the remarkable advantages of high separation efficiency, continuous operation and environmentally friendly. (c) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.