DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGY FOR CONVERTING NICKEL-CONTAINING COPPER ORE CONCENTRATES

摘要

The technology that is currently used at the Copper Plant to process the copper concentrates includes melting them in Vanyukov furnaces (VFs) and refractory furnaces (RFs) to obtain mattes with subsequent conversion in horizontal converters to obtain blister copper. This technology is characterized by the forming of significant amounts of gases that are lean in SO_2 content, which cannot be recovered in the conditions of Norilsk Kombinat. This problem can be resolved either by introducing the technology of continuous conversion of the mattes with the use of an acid blast or by radical improvement of the furnace and the technology of the melting of the concentrates in the VFs with the obtaining of "raw" blister copper. In this case the small volume of gases that are formed in the process of converting the "raw" blister copper can be discharged to the atmosphere because of their low sulfur dioxide content.