PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SUSPENSION SMELTING OF FINELY-DIVIDED OXIDE AND/OR SULFIDE ORES AND CONCENTRATES, ESPECIALLY COPPER AND/OR NICKEL CONCENTRATES RICH IN IRON

摘要

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA process for the suspension smelting of finely divided oxideand/or sulfide ores and concentrates, especially iron-rich copperand/or nickel; concentrates, whereby a suspension of a finely-divided feed mixture in pre-heated air and/or oxygen is fed down-wards, at the reaction temperature or above it, first into asuspension oxidation zone for the oxidation and partial smeltingof the raw material in suspension, and thereafter into a suspen-sion reduction zone under the suspension oxidation zone for apartial sulfidization of the oxidized raw material, where thesuspension flow is finally caused to change it flow directionperpendicularly sidewards so that most of the raw material pre-sent in the suspension flow impinges against the surface of theaccumulated melt in a salt reaction zone below the suspensionreduction zone, and the remaining suspension flow is directedinto a rising-flow zone, where it is possibly after-sulfidizedand cooled and the solid materials are separated from the remain-ing suspension flow in order to return the to the suspensionoxidation zone, is disclosed wherein an oxidizing gas is blowninto the matte phase of the melt reaction zone in order to pro-duce raw metal from the valuable metals present in the melt.There is further disclosed a suspension smelting furnace forcarrying out the above process and having a horizontal lowerfurnace, to which the lower ends of at least one vertical sus-pension reduction zone and at least one rising-flow zone havebeen linked, and at the upper end of the suspension oxidationzone there are devices for producing a suspension of a feedmixture containing the finely-divided oxide and/or sulfide areor concentrate with air and/or oxygen and for directing thissuspension downwards in the suspension oxidation and suspensionreduction zone, at the lower end of which there are devices forsulfidizing or reducing the suspension, in the lower furnaceunder the suspension reduction zone there is a melt reductionzone into which most of the suspension is discharged, and inthe rising-flow zone there are devices for withdrawing theremaining suspension from its upper part, means for blowing anoxidizing gas into the matte phase under the slag layer of themelt reaction zone in order to produce raw metal from the valu-able metals present in the melt and means, known per se, forwithdrawing the raw metal and the waste slag from the lowerfurnace.