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Base Metals Waste Production and Utilization
Published in Sehliselo Ndlovu, Geoffrey S. Simate, Elias Matinde, Waste Production and Utilization in the Metal Extraction Industry, 2017
Sehliselo Ndlovu, Geoffrey S. Simate, Elias Matinde
Basically, the objective of direct smelting of sulphide concentrates is to produce a nickel- and cobalt-enriched matte by (Warner et al., 2007; Crundwell et al., 2011) (1) oxidation of sulphur from the sulphide concentrates, (2) removal of iron as molten fayalite slag by oxidation and silica-fluxing reactions and (3) removal of gangue components in the concentrates by dissolving them in molten iron silicate slags. Technically, the flash smelting process entails continuously blowing oxygen, air, sulphide concentrates and silica flux in a flash furnace at around 1300°C to produce three product streams (Crundwell et al., 2011): (1) nickel-cobalt–enriched molten sulphide matte, (2) molten slag lean in nickel and other base metals and (3) hot and dust-laden furnace off-gas containing about 20–50 vol.% SO2. Due to autothermal conditions, the flash smelting process has low electrical energy and fossil fuel consumption compared to roasting and electric furnace process. However, the oxidizing conditions results in increased oxidation loss and hence the entrainment of nickel and cobalt in slag (Warner et al., 2007; Crundwell et al., 2011; European Commission, 2014b). As such, the slags from conventional flash smelting furnaces are retreated in electric slag cleaning furnaces to recover the metal values from slag as shown in Figure 6.5.
Metal Industries
Published in Charles E. Baukal, Industrial Combustion Pollution and Control, 2003
In flash smelting, the concentrate is dispersed in an air or oxygen stream, and smelting and converting occur while the particles are in suspension. The major reasons that prompted the use of oxygen in flash smelting include: increased matte production from an existing smelter, use of a more efficient and lower cost S02 recovery system due to increased S02 content of the furnace off-gas, and an autogenous process resulting in energy savings [83].
CFD modelling of copper flash smelting furnace – reaction shaft
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy, 2023
S. Nirmal Kumar, Bhavin Desai, Vilas Tathavadkar, Yogesh Patel, Jayesh Patel, Anil Singh, Kaushik Vakil, Sokkuraj Kanakanand
With a global presence of nearly 30 furnaces, flash smelting technology by Outokumpu contributes to more than 50% production of world’s primary copper (Bacedoni et al. 2020). Flash smelting of copper concentrate involves removal of iron and sulfur species with the help of oxygen-enriched air at high temperatures. Essentially, the process involves thermal decomposition of chalcopyrite, pyrite & bornite into chalcocite, pyrrhotite and sulfur followed by oxidation of the resultant products of decomposition. The major heat source for overall smelting operation is provided by the heat of reaction through sulfur oxidation. This exothermic reaction heat source is effectively used to maintain the furnace temperature at >1200°C which makes the process autogenous. This fact makes flash smelting technology one of the most sought-after for copper smelting due to its high energy efficiency.
Modelling copper smelting – the flash smelting plant, process and equipment
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy, 2020
Pekka Taskinen, Ari Jokilaakso, Daniel Lindberg, Jiliang Xia
In the 70 year history of the Flash Smelting process for sulphide concentrates (Särkikoski 1999), significant equipment development was needed in the completely new smelting concept, and specifically the novel smelting furnace (FSF) and its key equipment. Already from beginning, the very low use of external fuel and a superb sulphur fixation were evident. The need for a continuous development in the last decades was induced by a continuous furnace capacity increase, initially 24 kt/a copper and today >400 kt/a (Kojo and Storch 2006). That has been met, e.g. by detailed physical and numerical modelling of the furnace, its external concentrate and off-gas handling devices, and the process conditions. The Flash Smelting technique was developed initially for the copper sulphide concentrates but adopted shortly thereafter for nickel, iron and lead sulphide concentrates (Bryk et al. 1958; Nermes and Talonen 1982) which brought additional dimensions to the process chemistry. Altogether 58 flash smelting furnaces have been built so far, including the flash converters (FCF) for continuous solid matte converting.
Effect of copper chloride layer on the oxidation-sulfation resistance of copper at 200°C
Published in Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly, 2020
Flash smelting is a smelting process for sulphur-containing ores, like chalcopyrite. Dried concentrate is fed with oxygen-enriched air into the reaction shaft of the furnace [1,2]. The objective of the smelting is to oxidize some amount of the sulphur and iron in the concentrate to produce a molten sulfide phase, matte, rich in copper and a slag: