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By Elli Miettinen, Markku Lahtinen, Ilkka Kojo

"The recent trends of decreasing energy consumption and environmental emissions and utilization of economies of scale are strong drivers favoring continuous copper converting processes. Flash Converting benefits from low off-gas volumes and low investment and operational costs for off-gas treatment. Separate matte and blister furnaces allow the adaptation to concentrate quality changes and flexibility in layout and maintenance.The stationary blister copper bath in Flash Converting furnace is less aggressive to the furnace linings than agitated processes, resulting in low refractory consumption, long campaign life and high on-line availability.Copper Flash Converting has been successfully applied in Kennecott with a campaign life now exceeding five years. A second FCF was started at Xiangguang Copper in China in 2007. The process itself is proven, as its features are similar to those in FSF, Direct-to-Blister and Direct Outotec Nickel Flash Smelting (DON), with one significant difference: it is the easiest of all to operate.The paper presents differences between continuous Flash Converting and conventional converting based on recent experiences and studies."

Jan 1, 2009

By Fumito Tanaka

The Mitsubishi process is the sole pyrometallurgical process for the continuous production of blister copper from copper concentrates and has been successfully operated around the world. The development of calcium ferrite slag (CaO-FeOx-Cu20), the so-called "C-slag", has enabled continuous converting from matte to blister copper in the commercial scale operations. Commercial interests in the slag led to many papers over the CaO-FeOx slag. However, CU2O- bearing slag has not been studied well due to experimental difficulties. The authors have quantified the thermodynamic properties ofthe CaO-FeOx-Cu2O system. The results have been utilized to analyze various issues related to the converting furnace, such as the magnetite precipitation from the slag or from blister copper and to develop better controlling criteria for the continuous converting operation.

Jan 1, 2003

By Manabu lshimaru

Solid-liquid interfaces as well as defect formation processes during crystallization of melted silicon (Si) have been examined by using molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations. The ordinary Langevin equation employing the Tersoff interatomic potential was used for the calculation of the atomic trajectories. A solid-melt interface has a tendency to form {]] I} microfacets during the crystal growth in the [001] direction, while it is essentially flat during the (Ill) crystallization. Because of the difference of the interfacial structures, the structures of grown-in defects and defect evolution depend strongly on the growth direction. We discuss defect structures and their formation processes within the context of our results as well as previous experimental observations.

Jan 1, 2001

By M. Drozd

Multi-use pad operators require an efficient and economic method to destroy cyanide in their process residues so new material can be stored on the pad and leached. Operators of the dedicated or single-use pads require an effective cyanide destruction method for pad closure. Cyanide destruction can be accomplished by utilizing oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide or calcium hypochlorite, or by utilizing ferrous sulfate which sequesters the cyanide in strong acid dissociable complex. Ferrous sulfate can be the preferred method of cyanide destruction because it is a less costly chemical, reaction rates are almost immediate and unlike oxidants, it can penetrate the total depth of a pile without being destroyed by side reactions. Literature indicates that the (Fe(CN)6)-4 com~lex is produced slowly but it appears that complexes such as Fe(CN)4(H20)2-or Fe(CN)4(OH)2)-4, are formed quickly and should have no U.V. sensitifity, unlike (Fe(CN)6)-4. Stoichiometry of the testwork indicates that Fe«CN)4(OH)2)-4 complex may be the species formed. The usage of ferrous sulfate has the advantage of being able to bring ~ level down that divalent metal ions such as Cu++, Cd++, Hg++, Pb++ and Zn will form insoluble complexes and precipitate from solutions does not destroy weak acid dissolvable complexes and can leave a heavy metal problem behind after cyanide destruction.

Jan 1, 1990

By Sang-Su Lee

This paper shows the application of the porous plug system in the Mitsubishi continuous copper smelting and converting process. This system has already been adopted and utilized in the steel industry to enhance productivity. Recently, some copper smelters have adopted this system but the results have not been satisfactory. The porous plug system was installed at the anode furnace in December 2001 to reduce the oxidation time and decrease the oil consumption. A good effect was that the nitrogen stirring of the melt through porous plugs improved the melt heat transfer. As the result of the enhancing heat transfer the oil consumption and the build-up inside the furnace were actually decreased. But until now the oxidation time has not been sufficiently reduced. In the future, further research and tests are needed in order to increase the productivity and save costs.

Jan 1, 2003

By Sang-Su Lee

This paper shows the application of the porous plug system in the Mitsubishi continuous copper smelting and converting process. This system has already been adopted and utilized in the steel industry to enhance productivity. Recently, some copper smelters have adopted this system but the results have not been satisfactory. The porous plug system was installed at the anode furnace in December 2001 to reduce the oxidation time and decrease the oil consumption. A good effect was that the nitrogen stirring of the melt through porous plugs improved the melt heat transfer. As the result of the enhancing heat transfer the oil consumption and the build up inside the furnace were actually decreased. But until now the oxidation time has not been sufficiently reduced. In the future, further research and tests are needed in order to increase the productivity and save costs.

Jan 1, 2003

By M. Jortikka

The smelting process of the old reverberatory furnace including its capacity has been improved over the years in different ways eg. with oxy-fuel burners, parallel reactors with the reverb or with various modifications of the reverb furnace itself. The future reverb modifications with old concepts are difficult or impossible as the increased copper losses in slag call for separate slag treatment and particularly the process modifications do not solve the environmental issues but instead mean unavoidable high capital and operating costs in gas cleaning and sulphur recovery. During the last decades improvement in process performance and increase in capacity of copper flash smelters has been achieved easily by substituting the pre-heated process air by highly oxygen enriched air. The flash furnaces of today, however, are inherently designed to operate with high oxygen enrichment. Further process improvement with a view to production costs and capacity increase as well as to the more stringent environmental requirements is possible with even higher oxygen enrichment. This, apart from the advantages it generates, requires improvements in and careful design of the feed system, concentrate burner, furnace cooling and the off-gas line as well as adaption of the flash converting instead of the conventional Peirce-Smith converters. A logical answer even for the revamping of the reverb smelters in the future is the total replacement of the reverb furnaces with flash smelting together with flash converting. This paper discusses the possibilities for future process improvements of the existing flash smelters taking into account the process concepts, equipment modifications and capital aspects not forgetting the environmental issues. The revamping of the PASAR smelter in Philippines is introduced as an example of a recent success story.

Jan 1, 1994

By Moto Goto

Today, Pierce-Smith converters, coupled together with various types of smelting units, are used in most of the world's smelters. However, due to the "batch" processing nature, and problems associated with fugitive emissions during the transfer of melt and blowing stages, this arrangement will unlikely be adopted in future smelters. Modern day alternative processes include the Mitsubishi Process, Outokumpu Flash Smelting and Flash Converting Process, the Noranda Process, and the Ausmelt Process, but only the Mitsubishi Process is a "truly continuous" smelting and converting operation, producing a constant flow of blister without tapping, and is economically proven by long term commercial operations. This paper reviews recent advances in modern continuous converting technologies, with a special section devoted to operation of the "first standalone Mitsubishi C-furnace" coupled together with a Noranda Reactor, at Port Kembla Copper Pty. Ltd. in Australia.

Jan 1, 2003

By Moto Goto

Today, Pierce-Smith converters, coupled together with various types of smelting units, are used in most of the world's smelters, However, due to the "batch" processing nature, and problems associated with fugitive emissions during the transfer of melt and blowing stages, this arrangement will unlikely be adopted in future smelters. Modern day alternative processes include the Mitsubishi Process, Outokumpu Flash Smelting and Flash Converting Process, the Noranda Process, and the Ausmelt Process, but only the Mitsubishi Process is a "truly continuous" smelting and converting operation, producing a constant flow of blister without tapping, and is economically proven by long term commercial operations. This paper reviews recent advances in modern continuous converting technologies, with a special section devoted to operation of the "first standalone Mitsubishi C-furnace" coupled together with a Noranda Reactor, at Port Kembla Copper Pty, Ltd. in Australia.

Jan 1, 2003

By T. Shibasaki, S. Kamio, K. Kanamori

"Mitsubishi Process has been proven through fifteen years operation to be highly productive, cost efficient and easy to abate environmental requirements. However, in order the process to remain competitive from now on, it should also be adaptable to a variety of varying conditions. Various test works have been conducted from such a stand point of view and some of the new concepts have been implemented to the actual operation.The paper discusses the adaptability of the process to the change of concentrate grade with respect to copper and also impurities, acceptability of the secondary materials and the potential to increase unit capacity. IntroductionThe first commercial plant of Mitsubishi Process with 48,000 mt copper annual capacity started its operation at Naoshima Smelter of Mitsubishi Metal Corporation in 1974, and the second plant with 65,000 st annual capacity started in 1981, at Kidd Smelter, Timmins, Ontario, now Kidd Creek Division of Falconbridge Limited 2. These plants have increased their capacities to 90,000 mtpa respectively by adding oxygen and acid plant capacities while maintaining the original furnace design uncharged. Thereby both smelters have established more cost efficient operations. (3), (4)Mitsubishi Process applies so-called multi-furnace continuous system. Figure 1 shows conceptual flowsheet. Backgrounds that required and justified the development of such system are as follows:"

Jan 1, 1988

By Fumitaka Tsukihashi

Phase diagrams of the CaO-SiO2-FeOx-MgO, Al2O3 systems are necessary for the analysis of copper smelting reactions and sintering process of iron ore. The effect of MgO and Al2O3 addition on the liquidus of the phase diagram of the CaO-SiO2-FeOx system at low oxygen partial pressure was observed. The liquid phase area changed by the addition of MgO and Al2O3 with a changing oxygen partial pressure from 10-8 to 10-3 atm (10-1 to 102 Pa) at 1573K. The effect of Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio on the melting mechanism is discussed.

Jan 1, 2003

By Graham J. C. Carpenter, Marc Charest, Jason Lo

"The method of producing magnesium-based composites with silicon carbide (SiC) particulates embedded in the matrix of magnesium AZ9I D alloy by the squeeze-casting technique are described. This method involves the fabrication of a SiC particulate preform and the subsequent squeezing of molten magnesium into the preform. In this study, alumina, aluminum phosphate and a proprietary binder were used for the fabrication of SiC particulate preforms. The procedures employed in the fabrication of SiC! AZ9ID composites are presented, together with the results of characterization of the composites using optical and transmission electron microscopy. Special attention is given to the reaction products in the bulk alloy and at the interfaces between SiC particles and the AZ9ID matrix alloy.1. IntroductionInterfacial, microstructural and metallurgical characteristics play an important role in determining the mechanical properties of a composite. In theory, reinforcing magnesium with SiC particulates should provide an improvement in strength and modulus of the composite over the unreinforced counterpart. However, many factors resulting from the fabrication process can cause degradation rather than improvements to the mechanical properties. In particular, the interfacial characteristics are known to critically influence the properties of composites [1]. Before evaluating the mechanical properties of a composite, it is always useful to examine the microstructure, which is closely related to the mechanical behavior. This helps to reduce the labor-intensive steps of sample preparation for mechanical property evaluation, which can be particularly difficult as a result of the high hardness of composite materials, as well as providing a wealth of information on the microstructural and interfacial characteristics, particularly the reaction products caused by processing. This information is also pertinent in understanding the factors governing the mechanical properties of the composites.There are many factors which determine the nature of the interfacial characteristics of a SiClMg composites. Qualitative estimations of the interfacial bonding have been performed based on thermodynamics, electronic and electrostatic concepts. In addition, the kinetic conditions during the fabrication play an important role. From an interfacial energy standpoint, the driving force for the formation of a metal/ceramic interface is the decrease in free energy that occurs when intimate contact is established between metal and ceramic surfaces. The simple representation of the energy change per unit area of interface formed (~G) is given by Dupre equation [2]:"

Jan 1, 1996

By Lauri E. K. Holappa

Ferrochrome, as the central constituent in stainless steels is one of the most rapidly growing primary metallic products. In this contribution results of a comprehensive study on the reduction process of chromite ore to FeCr are presented including thermodynamic examination, experimental work on kinetics and mechanisms in solid state, and smelting reduction conditions as well as kinetic modelling of solid state reduction.

Jan 1, 1999

By G. G. Krishna Murthy

Interactions of wustite and hematite pellets with Fe-C melts were investigated experimentally by examining the effect of pellet size and bath temperature on the reduction rates of the pellets. Experiments were carried out in the temperature range 1473-1923 K. A flash X-ray equipment was used to obtain images of the melt surface during its reaction with an oxide pellet. The reduction rates were calculated using experimentally estimated time for complete reaction of a pellet, tR. The value of tR was determined employing gas mass flow rate, or pressure rise in the sealed furnace, versus time traces. The value of tR was the same for both wustite and hematite pellets of equal weight at or above 1723 K and it decreased with increasing melt temperature. But the reduction rate was substantially lower at temperatures below 1651 K, the melting point of wustite. The rates were defined as the rate of moles of oxygen removed from the pellet per unit area of bath free surface and it was found that the bath surface area affects the reduction rates. It was established that the overall reaction followed nth-order rate kinetics with the values of n falling between 0.3 and 0.4 for temperatures above the melting point of wustite. The apparent activation energy determined using the apparent rate constants obtained from the experimental data was 76.2 + 27.7 kJ/mol-O.

Jan 1, 1992

By Christina Viklund-White

Life Cycle Assessment has been used to compare the environmental performance of landfilling versus recycling of the zinc used for galvanizing steel. Hypothetical process routes were com-posed involving four different EAF dust treatment processes; Waelz kiln, DC-furnace, EZINEX and slag fuming, as well as scrap dezincing. The study shows that recycling of zinc used for galvanizing steel has environmental benefits in that it saves zinc resources. However, zinc recovery does not necessarily decrease the potential impact on global warming and acidification. The magnitude of these two impact categories is tightly correlated with the amount and type of primary energy consumed in a process. Due to the high electricity consumption in the dezincing process, this route has the highest impact on Global Warming Potential as well as Acidification Potential. The major part of the energy requirement for the production of zinc from primary and secondary sources is consumed in the reduction of ZnO to Zn. The consequence is that the theoretically possible savings in primary energy by recycling zinc-containing materials are relatively minor. The impact categories "land use" and "waste generation" are not considered in this study, but most likely the evaluation of such impacts would further increase the potential environmental impact of the landfill alternative. The results also show that the location of an electricity-intensive process highly affects the potential environmental impact. Comparing process and material alternatives in LCA studies where branch average data is used, is considerably more complex than when LCA is used within a company.

Jan 1, 2000

By Tetsuya Uda

Our recent achievements of rare earth separation technique[1,2] and new process idea for rare earth magnet recycling[3] are reviewed, (1) Binary chloride mixtures of rare earths were separated by a new selective reduction-vacuum distillation process. According to our experimental results, apparent separation factors were 8.1 for the Pr-Nd chloride mixture and 570 for the Nd-Sm chloride mixture. These values are much higher than conventional solvent extraction methods. (2) A study of recycling process of magnet sludge was carried out. The rare earths in the neodymium magnet sludge were extracted by chlorination with FeCI2, An activated carbon was used as a de-oxidation reagent Metallic iron in the sludge was not chlorinated because the iron monochloride is not stable, The extracted rare earth chlorides were easily separated from Fe-alloy and the excess of FeCh by vacuum distillation, 96 % of neodymium and 94 % of dysprosium in the sludge were extraeted into chloride phase, By the vacuum distillation, a mixture of neodymium and dysprosium trichlorides of 99.2 % purity was recovered, On the other hand, the rare earth chlorides can be converted to the corresponding oxides by a pyrohydrolysis reaction accompanied by a formation of HCl gas, The HCI gas can chlorinate metallic iron to FeCh, Therefore, a new recycling process for rare earth magnet waste can be realized as a chlorine circulation type process. During the process, only carbon and water are consumed and there are no toxic pollutants, Moreover, the obtained rare earth oxide can be directly used as raw material in the conventional oxide electrolysis process,

Jan 1, 2003

By Supachai Surapunl

The distribution behavior of VA minor elements (As, Sb and Bi) in the smelting stage of the Mitsubishi process were evaluated thermodynamically based on thermodynamic data and operating data. The fractional distributions between the gas, slag and matte phases considered as the degree of vapor saturation of l.0 are as follows: 53.8, 27.2 and 19% for As, 23.6, 56.6 and 19.8% for Sb, and 91.3, l.1 and 7.6% for Bi, respectively. Arsenic is mostly distributed to the gas and slag phases. It is effectively eliminated by volatilizing and slagging. Antimony is mainly in the slag phase, which is suitably removed by slagging. Bismuth is easily vaporized to gas phase. The degree of vapor saturation has a large effect on the distribution behaviors of the three elements between the three phases. The amount of a minor element in the charge has an effect on the distribution of As but no effect on the distributions of Sb and Bi. Increasing matte grade and temperature results in the change of distributions for As and Sb, significantly. The change in the distribution ratio between slag and matte phases also considerably affects the distributions of As and Sb. The distribution behavior of Bi is not significantly changed by the change in matte grade, temperature and distribution ratio.

Jan 1, 2003

By Chu Yong Cheng

Manganese is one of the main impurities in the recovery of base metals from their ores. This is especially true when laterite ores are processed using the pressure acid leach (PAL) process. The use of intermediate precipitation, solids/liquid separation and re-leach in the three Western Australian nickel laterite plants to separate nickel and cobalt from manganese and other impurities makes these processes complicated and costly in capital and operation. The research work carried out by the solvent extraction (SX) group at the A J Parker Cooperative Research Centre for Hydrometallurgy (CSIRO Minerals) has led to the development of direct solvent extraction processes to separate nickel and cobalt from manganese and other impurities. The simplicity of the process flowsheets and the expected savings in capital and operating costs are the major advantages of the new direct solvent extraction processes over the existing processes. By using a new synergistic organic system, Versatic 10 / dccyl-4-pyridinccarboxylatc ester, with a pilot plant leach solution from BHP¬Billiton (after iron precipitation), the metal values (Ni and Co) together with zinc and copper were separated from manganese and other major impurities (Mg, Ca and Cl) in the first SX circuit. The co-extracted manganese, magnesium and calcium were easily scrubbed out. The extraction and stripping kinetics of the metals with the new synergistic organic system were very fast and the synergistic system was found to be chemically stable. pH-extraction isotherms of metals with D2EHPA showed that the extraction order as a function of pH50 was Zn2+ > Ca2+ > Mn2+ > Cu2+ > Co2+> Ni2+> Mg2+. Semi-continuous test work with a cobalt pilot plant leach solution from Peko Rehabilitation Project Pty Ltd and a synthetic solution to simulate a concentrated laterite leach solution from BHP-Billiton showed that manganese, together with calcium, copper and zinc can be separated from nickel, cobalt and magnesium. This led to the development of another direct solvent extraction process to separate manganese and other impurities from nickel and cobalt and to recover nickel and cobalt from leach solutions. A project was initiated by HiTec Energy Ltd to recover manganese from waste laterite leach solutions using SX technology and to further purify it to produce high purity electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) for the high quality alkaline battery industry. Batch tests were conducted to select a suitable organic system for the extraction of manganese in terms of selectivity and extraction and stripping kinetics. A total of eight organic systems were tested using waste laterite processing solutions. A Versatie 10 / synergist system showed very promising results. By using the synergistic system, high manganese recovery would be obtained, fewer SX stages would be required and a higher A:O ratio could be used in extraction, resulting in a smaller organic inventory and lower capital costs. The risk of gypsum formation is also minimised with the synergistic system. Keywords: Solvent Extraction, Manganese, Laterite, Synergist

Jan 1, 2004

By C. Beckermann

"A diffuse interface model is derived for the direct simulation of two-phase flows with surface tension, density differences between the phases, and phase change. The derivation starts from the balance equations for a sharp interface and uses a formal averaging procedure on an atomic scale to obtain diffuse interface versions of the equations. Two approaches are considered: (i) the two phases have different velocities inside the interface and separate conservation equations are solved for each phase, and (ii) the two phases have the same velocity inside the diffuse interfuce and mixture conservation equations are solved. Based on a superposition of microscopic (atomic-scale) and macroscopic interface morphologies, an expression for the interfacial momentum source term is introduced that models surface tension effects and accounts for immiscibility between the phases.IntroductionDiffuse interface methods have been a popular tool in the direct simulation of two-phase flows [I]. In diffuse interface approaches, the interface between the two phases is characterized by a rapid but smooth transition in the properties, such as density and viscosity. Usually, a phase function ? is introduced to represent this transition, and the evolution of ? in the domain is computed from a separate equation or recipe. A unique set of conservation equations (e.g., mass and momentum) is solved on the entire domain, irrespective of the phase present, by accounting for the transition in the properties and introducing terms that account for interfacial sources. The continuum surface force (CSF) model of Brackbill et al. [2], which accounts for surface tension, is an example of the latter. The volume-of-fluid (VOF), level set, and phase-field methods are all examples of diffuse interface approaches. The major advantage of diffuse interface methods is that explicit tracking of the interface and the application of traditional sharp interface conditions are avoided. A disadvantage can arise from the artificial smearing of what is in reality an interface of atomic-scale width; however, techniques have been developed to overcome this problem."

Jan 1, 2004

By Jonkion M. Font

An expression for the distribution ratio of arsenic between slag and copper matte or liquid copper was developed by both, an extension of the Reddy-Blander model for deriving a priori the arsenic capacity, and by a relationship between the arsenic capacity and the arsenic distribution ratio. In this study, the a priori arsenic capacities in the FeO-SiO2, CaO-SiO2, MgO-SiO2, FeO-CaO-SiO2, FeO-FeO1.5-CuOo.5-MgO-SiO2, FeO-FeO1.5-CuO0.5-CaO-MgO and FeO-FeO1.5-CuO0.5-CaO-MgO-SiO2 slags were calculated at 1573 K. The a priori arsenic distribution ratio between the FeO-FeO1.5-CuO0.5-CaO-MgO-SiO2 slag and copper matte (L s/m as), and between the FeO-FeO1.5-SiO2 or FeO-FeO1.5-CuO0.5-CaO-MgO slag and liquid copper (L s/Cu as) were calculated. The model calculated data are found to be in good agreement with the reported experimental data. The availability of reliable thermodynamic data for slag components and impurities in the slag-matte-metal system is essential for the accurate prediction of impurity capacities and distribution ratio data. The arsenic distribution ratio model developed here, can be extended for prediction in multi-component slags and mattes or liquid metal, and thereby may lead to the development of new slag systems for the efficient removal of arsenic in the copper smelting, converting and refining processes.

Jan 1, 2003