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The evolution of copper
smelting practices in the lastfour decades
Carlos Daz
CIM-ICM 2008-2009 Lecture
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Typical Cu concentrate
CuFeS 2, Cu 5FeS 4, Cu 2S, FeS 2 Rock minerals - SiO
2, Al
2O
3, CaO,
Fe 3O4, etc. Precious metals Au, Ag Impurities Pb, Zn, As, Sb, Bi, etc.
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Pyrometallurgical processing of Cuconcentrate
Progressive oxidation of S to SO 2 and of Fe toFeO and Fe 3O4 usually conducted in two stages(smelting, converting).
The SO 2 is normally captured as sulfuric acid. The iron oxides and the rock components of the
concentrate are collected as molten slag. The product of smelting is matte. The product of converting is blister copper.
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Copper smelting in the early 1970s
Reverb furnace Peirce-Smith converterdominant technology in the Americas,
Africa, USSR.
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Reverb Furnace
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Peirce-Smith Converter
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Copper smelting in the early 1970s
Outokumpu flash smelting adopted inJapan and Western Europe (1960s 1970s)
Noranda (1973), Mitsubishi (1974), El
Teniente (1977), Vanyukov (1977) bathsmelting processes commercialized
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Outokumpu Flash Furnace
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Noranda Reactor
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Features of new processes
Use of oxygen-enriched air or justtonnage oxygen as reacting gas. Utilization of the heat of reaction of the
sulfide minerals of the feed. High specific smelting rates.
High grade matte (60-70% Cu). Low-volume, strong off-gas streams.
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The Americas (early 1970s)
31 smelters over 50% of westernworld copper smelter production.
16 USA smelters - producing half ofthis copper; capturing less than 20%sulfur input as acid.
1971 EPA regulation - 90% sulfurcapture.
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USA smelter environmental clean upPhase 1 (1970s)
Retaining reverb for primary smelting. Capturing particulates from process gas
streams. Processing converter gas in acid plants. Erecting tall stacks for dispersing reverb
off-gas. Curtailing production under adverse
meteorological conditions.
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USA smelter environmental clean upPhase 1 (1970s)
Sulfur capture 60% input
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The oil price factor
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USA smelter environmental clean upPhase II (1980s)
Substitution of new technologies forreverbs - Modernized plants had biggercapacity.
Closing of plants that did not justifymodernization 8 smelters in 1987.
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USA smelter environmental clean upPhase II (1980s)
90% sulfur capture achieved
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Elsewhere in the Americas I
Chile
Teniente Converter adopted byCodelco/Enami. Strict environmental standards
imposed in the 1990s.
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Elsewhere in the Americas III
Outokumpu technology adopted by newsmelters in Brazil (Caraiba) and Mexico(La Caridad).
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Copper smelting landscape inearly 1990s
Proven energy efficient and environmentallysound flash and bath smelting routes.
One proven continuous converting process.
Over 90% of smelter sulfur input captured inimportant copper producing regions of theworld.
Copper smelter CO 2 emissions dramaticallyreduced. R&D focused now on increasing process
intensity and smelter productivity.
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A new industry standard
Processing over ONE MILLIONtonnes of copper concentrate peryear through one single smelting
furnace
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Outokumpu flash smelting
High O 2 enrichment of the reaction gas. Improved solids feed system and burner
design. Water-cooling protection of furnace
integrity. Advances in process modeling and
control. Higher operating factor.
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Toyo smelter -Furnace capacity increase
3-45.510Dusting rate, weight %of DSC
6559.552.1Matte grade, Cu %
3,6002,4501,6001,000Dry concentrate feedrate, tonnes/day
7350-602921Oxygen enrichment of
reacting gas, vol%
2006200319891980
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The secret of Toyos success
Focused, long term (still on-going) programcarried out by researchers and operators inclose cooperation.
Continuous validation and revision of in-houseburner mathematical model against pilot plantand commercial furnace data (Szekelly-Jorgensen principle).
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TSL technology
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TSL Isasmelt, Ausmelt
High intensity. Versatile - wide temperature and pO 2
ranges; wet/dry, fine/coarse feed.
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Isasmelt
Commercialized in 1992. Fast increase of annual furnace smelting
capacity, reaching ONE MILLION tonnes ofconcentrate in less than 10 years. Ilo (Peru) Sixth smelter to adopt the
technology.
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The secret of Isasmelts success
Improvements in process control,achieved over more than 13 years of operation at Mount Isa, have resulted in a highly advanced control system that ensures that refractory wear is minimized. This sort of development can only be achieved over many years in an operations environment
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Converting
Two new continuous converting
processes commercialized Kennecott-Outokumpu (1995); NorandaContinuous Converting (1997).
Peirce-Smith Converter still dominanttechnology.
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Commercial continuous convertersMitsubishi
Converter
Noranda converter
Flash
converter
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TSL continuous converting
Ausmelt and Isasmelt have been developingcopper continuous converting processes, C3and ISACONVERT respectively. The feed
consists of granulated matte. First ISACONVERT vessel will start up in the
Mufulira Smelter in 2009 . Both C3 and ISACONVERT allow decoupling of
smelting from converting.
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Modern Peirce-Smith converting
Highly intensive, versatile pyrometallurgicalreactor.
High productivity. Substantially reduced secondary emissions.
Steady, low-volume, strong gas fed to acidplants.
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Evolution of the industry
Substantial increase of smeltercapacity.
Radical changes in world distribution
of copper smelter production.
W ld' l l
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World's largest copper smelters
since 1900
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Proportion of world copper smelteroutput vs. smelter size, 1975-2005
Smelter copper output 1960 2006
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(The output for each country is represented by the width of its coloured band)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
1 9 6 0
1 9 6 3
1 9 6 6
1 9 6 9
1 9 7 2
1 9 7 5
1 9 7 8
1 9 8 1
1 9 8 4
1 9 8 7
1 9 9 0
1 9 9 3
1 9 9 6
1 9 9 9
2 0 0 2
2 0 0 5
Year
S m e
l t e r o u
t p u
t , k t p e r y e a r
USA
Canada
China
WesternEurope
Japan
Chile
Smelter copper output 1960-2006
USA, Canada, Chile, Japan, WesternEurope, China
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Copper smelters in the 1960sCaletones Smelter, Chile
Noranda Horne Smelter
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Trend in SO 2 fixation 1960-2006
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The presentCopper smelting is close to achieving thestatus of sustainable technology; morework remains to be done.
An interesting and important lesson
The most significant advances have beenachieved with researchers and operatorsworking in close co-operation.
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Future technology trends - I
Size of smelters will increase further;expected average plant size~300,000 tpy copper.
Proportion of large custom smelterswill also increase.
Flash smelting and TSL will competefor additional territory.
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Future technology trends - II
New green-field smelters and probablyexpanded/modernized smelters willincorporate continuous converting.
However, the Peirce-Smith converterwill continue having and importantplace in copper smelters.
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Future technology trends - III
The 400 tonne anode furnace and 100 tphtwin-wheel anode caster will becomestandard; inroads will be made towardscontinuous anode refining.
Advanced process control and automationwill be introduced in all areas of thesmelter.
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Future technology trends - IV
Average world SO 2 capture willexceed 95%.
Physico-chemical models to predictimpurity behavior and control willbe perfected.
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Future technology trends - V
Pyrometallurgical processes willcontinue having an important place inthe production of copper from sulfide
feeds in the foreseeable future.
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Acknowledgements
Dr. Phillip Mackey The Canadian Institute of Mining,
Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Atlas Copco
The University of British Columbia The Vancouver CIM Branch