Development of Ferrous-Calcium Silicate Slag for the Direct to Blister Copper-Making Process and the Equilibria Investig
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NVENTIONAL copper making from sulfide is composed of two main pyrometallurgical steps: smelting and converting, through which the concentrates are transformed into matte with target Cu content, and the further transformation of matte into blister copper. In fact, the two steps account for part of the same chemical process, i.e., oxidizing and separating Fe and S from the Cu-Fe-S phases and meanwhile enriching Cu to a dominant target phase.[1,2] Thus, for some particular concentrates, such as low-Fe chalcocite, bornite concentrates, and upgraded concentrates, these two steps are expected to be merged into one direct to blister (DTB) process, which has obvious advantages, such as the production of a single, concentrated SO2
YONGQI SUN, MAO CHEN, and BAOJUN ZHAO are with the School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia. Contact e-mail: [email protected] ZHIXIANG CUI is with Dongying Fangyuan Nonferrous Metals, Dongying 257000, China. LEONEL CONTRERAS is with the National Copper Corporation of Chile, Huefanos 1270, Santiago, Chile. Manuscript submitted December 8, 2019.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS B
off-gas to deal with the increasingly severe environmental challenges, the reduction of the costs of the acid plant, and the realization of a simplified process to minimize energy consumption, capital, and operating costs.[1,2] To confirm the smooth function of the DTB process, the selection and design of a proper slag system based on the concentrates is of great significance. Currently, several smelters have been commercialized, such as the Olympic Dam smelter in Australia, the two Gloglow smelters in Poland, and the Chingola smelter in Zambia.[1,3–5] For these industrialized smelters, iron silicate (IRS) and ferrous-calcium silicate (FCS) slags account for two basic systems based on their individual gangue compositions in the concentrates. The two slag systems have different characteristics, and compared to the IRS slags, FCS slags have the advantages of an expanded liquid area, a lower viscosity, and a lower dissolved Cu+ in the slags.[1,6] On the other hand, considering the inherent gangue compositions, such as the high content of CaO content, in some cases, the use of FCS slags cannot be avoided.[1,6] Thus, exploring the phase equilibria of the DTB process using FCS slags has a special significance either from the inherent requirement or from the designed target. The solid present in the slag of the DTB process is spinel at high temperatures. Therefore, the slag is in the spinel
primary phase field. However, the related studies for the FCS slags are quite limited, and the present study was, therefore, motivated. In a previous study,[7] the equilibria of IRS slags were investigated in equilibrium with spinel, blister, and gases, which could provide the methodology and fundamentals necessary for the present study. During the DTB process, an important factor to be controlled is the avoidance of the formation of a Cu2S layer to resist the slag foaming phenomenon. Thus, gen
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