Converting an idea into a worldwide business commercializing smelting technology
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Converting an Idea into a Worldwide Business Commercializing Smelting Technology
J.M. FLOYD
Pyrometallurgy is an ancient art which has defined significant stages of human development. Today, new opportunities for improvements in the economic, environmental, and workplace costs of metal production continue to provide challenges for the profession and industry. Top-submerged lancing technology for the high-temperature processing of a range of metals and wastes is an example that has been taken up by many companies around the world. The furnace system now marketed under the names of Ausmelt and Isasmelt was, in the early stage of its 33 years of development, known as Sirosmelt. The voyage from the original idea through theoretical, laboratory, pilot plant, and commercial developments to establishment of a worldwide business has been both stimulating and rewarding.
I. STATUS OF TOP-SUBMERGED LANCING TECHNOLOGY
THE Top-Submerged Lancing (TSL) system was developed over more than 30 years by CSIRO (where it was called High-Temperature Submerged Combustion, then Sirosmelt), Ausmelt, and Mount Isa Mines (Isasmelt). Isasmelt now forms part of Xstrata Technology. At present, there are in operation or under design and construction 35 furnaces in 23 locations in 14 countries. Capacities of units range from less than 10,000 tons per annum (tpa) to more than 800,000 tpa of feed, with a total processing capacity of about 6 million tpa.
The Extraction and Processing Lecturer Award honors an outstanding scientific leader in the field of nonferrous extractive metallurgy with an invitation to present a comprehensive lecture at the TMS Annual Meeting. John Floyd is Deputy Chair, Ausmelt Limited, Australia. He earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Melbourne, Ph.D. from London University, and DIC from Imperial College. Dr. Floyd has authored or co-authored more than 70 published technical articles and has invented or co-invented 15 patented process or equipment inventions in the extractive metallurgy and high-temperature processing plant areas. METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS B
The reactor is used for mainstream smelters or for by-product or waste treatment in production of tin, copper, nickel, lead, platinum-group metals, zinc, and aluminum. The furnace is tightly sealed and feeds require little or no pretreatment, which makes the system particularly suitable for improving the environmental performance of smelting and for the recycle of hazardous wastes. Plants in Korea, Japan, and Australia process metallurgical waste material to recover values and produce useable waste products, and in Seoul a plant is being built to process municipal waste incinerator ash. Ausmelt has adapted the TSL approach to a new process called AusIron for smelting iron ore and wastes to produce iron. A demonstration plant in South Australia has been operated successfully at an iron production rate equivalent to 15,000 tpa, and commercial developments are being considered. II. OUTLINE OF THE TSL SMELTING SYSTEM The TSL system is a bath
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