Equilibria of Iron Silicate Slags for Continuous Converting Copper-Making Process Based on Phase Transformations
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THE traditional pyro-metallurgical copper-making process includes three main stages: smelting, converting, and refining. In the smelting process, the copper concentrates (Cu-Fe-S) are smelted and enriched into matte with a target copper content (55-75 wt pct Cu), which is defined as matte grade. In the converting process, matte is further oxidized to white metal (impure Cu2S, Fe < 1 wt pct) and finally enriched into blister copper (98.5-99.5 wt pct Cu, 0.02-0.1 wt pct S and 0.5-0.8 wt pct O).[1–3] Currently, it is estimated more than 80 pct of blister copper production is by PierceSmith (PS) converting process.[4,5] PS converting process is a batch process as matte from the smelter is tapped out into the ladles and transported by aisle crane to be poured to the PS converter. Significantly gases
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 the Dongying Fangyuan Nonferrous Metals, Dongying, 257000, China. LEONEL CONTRERAS is with the National Copper Corporation of Chile, Huefanos 1270, Santiago, Chile. Manuscript submitted March 19, 2020.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS B
containing SO2 escape during the transfer and great heat losses happen as the whole transferring process takes a relatively long period. To resolve the drawbacks of the batch process, continuous converting (CC) process is therefore developed, in which matte is transported continuously through the launder from the smelting furnace to the next-stage converting furnace. It is believed that the CC process could achieve a continuous and stable furnace operation and good heat transfer between the smelting and converting furnaces. As the furnace condition is stable, it will be greatly helpful to protect the refractory and maintain a long furnace life. Moreover, the use of a semi-closed launder transportation system, the SO2 gas emission, and dust could be minimized, which is beneficial for the S-resource recovery and the creation of clean workplace conditions. In addition to the reduction of SO2 emission, CC process has other advantages such as the utilization of oxygen-enriched blast to produce a SO2-rich off-gas with low volume to reduce the cost of acid plant and reduction of labor cost by more automation and computer control.[1–3] The elimination of the ladle and aisle crane system will reduce the total capital cost greatly and also the whole space due to the closer furnace arrangements. Therefore, due to the above great merits, different CC processes have been developed including Mitsubishi C-furnace, Kennecott–Outokumpu Flash converter, Noranda
Continuous Converter and Oxygen Bottom Blowing Process, etc.,[1–3,6–8] and it is estimated that currently more than 15 pct of blister copper is produced by CC process.[4,5] In the converting furnace during CC process, as matte is continuously charged into the system and the blister copper is also continuously produced, a complex chemical system is created
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