CA1085620A - Process for the production of blister copper from ores and concentrates - Google Patents
Process for the production of blister copper from ores and concentratesInfo
- Publication number
- CA1085620A CA1085620A CA272,384A CA272384A CA1085620A CA 1085620 A CA1085620 A CA 1085620A CA 272384 A CA272384 A CA 272384A CA 1085620 A CA1085620 A CA 1085620A
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- Prior art keywords
- copper
- furnace
- slag
- metals
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Classifications
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
- C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
- C22B15/00—Obtaining copper
- C22B15/0026—Pyrometallurgy
- C22B15/0028—Smelting or converting
- C22B15/005—Smelting or converting in a succession of furnaces
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
- C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
- C22B15/00—Obtaining copper
- C22B15/0026—Pyrometallurgy
- C22B15/0054—Slag, slime, speiss, or dross treating
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
- C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
- C22B7/00—Working up raw materials other than ores, e.g. scrap, to produce non-ferrous metals and compounds thereof; Methods of a general interest or applied to the winning of more than two metals
- C22B7/04—Working-up slag
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02P10/00—Technologies related to metal processing
- Y02P10/20—Recycling
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- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
- Materials Engineering (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Metallurgy (AREA)
- Organic Chemistry (AREA)
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- Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
- General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
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- Manufacture And Refinement Of Metals (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
In the processing of sulphidic copper ores containing as impurities other valuable metals, it is desirable to first try to separate the copper from the other metals. The copper may then be more easily purified and the remaining metals may be recovered. There is no hydro- or pyro-metallurgical process for so treating these ores. The present in-vention seeks to overcome this drawback by providing a process for the production of blister copper from copper ores or concentrates which contain harmful or economically significant amounts of other nonferrous metals com-prising using flash smelting, known per se, for the primary smelting of the concentrate to produce a matte or metal or both containing 70-98% Cu and a slag containing less than 1% S from the concentrate; recycling flying dust to the feed, reducing the produced slag containing less than 1% S in an electric furnace by means of coke at a temperature of 1300-1550°C to a copper concentration of less than 0.5% and mainly into a copper-lead-iron alloy; converting mattes, raw metals or raw metal alloys or a mixture thereof produced in the flash smelting furnace and the electric furnace into blister copper; feeding slag produced therein and containing less than 1% S together with the slag from the flash smelting furnace into the electric slag purification furnace; purifying the blister copper obtained from the converter into anode copper in an anode furnace; and feeding the produced flying dust, which has a high nonferrous metal content including zinc and lead, but a low content of copper, as a raw material into the process for producing the metal.
In the processing of sulphidic copper ores containing as impurities other valuable metals, it is desirable to first try to separate the copper from the other metals. The copper may then be more easily purified and the remaining metals may be recovered. There is no hydro- or pyro-metallurgical process for so treating these ores. The present in-vention seeks to overcome this drawback by providing a process for the production of blister copper from copper ores or concentrates which contain harmful or economically significant amounts of other nonferrous metals com-prising using flash smelting, known per se, for the primary smelting of the concentrate to produce a matte or metal or both containing 70-98% Cu and a slag containing less than 1% S from the concentrate; recycling flying dust to the feed, reducing the produced slag containing less than 1% S in an electric furnace by means of coke at a temperature of 1300-1550°C to a copper concentration of less than 0.5% and mainly into a copper-lead-iron alloy; converting mattes, raw metals or raw metal alloys or a mixture thereof produced in the flash smelting furnace and the electric furnace into blister copper; feeding slag produced therein and containing less than 1% S together with the slag from the flash smelting furnace into the electric slag purification furnace; purifying the blister copper obtained from the converter into anode copper in an anode furnace; and feeding the produced flying dust, which has a high nonferrous metal content including zinc and lead, but a low content of copper, as a raw material into the process for producing the metal.
Description
~ 3S6~
OUTOKUMPU OY, Outokumpu ., '' ~
Process for the production of blister copper from copper ores or concentrates which contain harmful or economically significant amounts of other non-ferrous metals When blister copper is produced pyrometallurgically from copper concentrates which also contain significant amounts of other metals, the anode copper produced at the final stage of the process must meet certain quality requirements. If the impurity rate increases, it causes problems in the electrolytic purifica-tion of copper, whereby the quality of the produced cathode copper also suffers. Where economically significant amounts of these so-called secondary metals are concerned, the form and composition in which they are separated Erom the co~per are by no means unimportant. In terms of their a~ter-treatment, it is advantageous if they are in a concentrated form and do not contain large amounts of copper since a separate removal of :
copper causes additional expense. .
.. . .
With raw materials becoming scarce, it is nowadays increasingly necessary to study the possibilities for using also non-conventiona concentrates for the production of copper and in general for ,,' ~'' ' ' . j:
~L~85i620 :
an as advantageous recovery as possible, of all the metals present in these concentrates.
When a sufficiently selective result is not obtained by concentration technology methods such as magnetic separation and froth flotation, various hydro- and pyrometallurgical methods for the processing of such mixed concentrates have been investigated.
To our knowledge, no economically advantageous hydro- or pyro-metallurgical process for treating these impure sulfidic copper concentrates is currently in operation on an industrial scale.
A process ~which is based on the flash smelting method (Finnish Patent 22 694) is known previously. In this process the concentrat is smelted by means of fuel and preheated air (maximum 550C) in a flash smelting furnace at a temperature of 1350-1550C in a so-called neutral (as to fuel/air) atmosphere, whereby the products are a low-grade copper matte 40-50% Cu, a slag containing approx. 1% Cu and Zn, and 0.2-0.3% Pb, and a flying dust containing most of the lead and the zinc. This flying dust also contains 4.8% Cu, 20-25% Zn, 8-10% Pb, as well as 7.8~ S and 17. % Fe. Calculated on the basis of the lead, the amount of flying dust is approx. 640 kg/t of concentrate, so that concentra-tion into the dusts has not been especially high. Furthermore, most likely approx. 13% of the sulfur is in the flying dusts, mainly in sulfate form. Since the low-grade matte also contains approx. 22-23% sulfur and the slag which is in equilibrium with it contains 1-2% S, sulfur is thus present in all the three solid and melt phases and in the gases. Owing to its low zinc content and its high copper, sulfur and iron contents, the obtained flying dust is by no means an advantageous raw material for using, for example, in a zinc plant.
Another attempt at treating mixed concentrates is the process in which the copper content in the concentrate has been limited to 0-6% Cu, but the lead and zinc contents are high; thus it can be regarded mainly as a lead or zinc concentrate. Obviously the aim ~8S~2~
in the process is to evaporate the lead and the zinc and thereby separate the copper, but further treatment of the relatively low-grade and impure copper matte still remains a problem.
The present invention for the treatment of such mixed concentrates is base4d on the flash smelting process of Outokumpu Oy (Finnish Patent 22 694). In terms of energy economy and environmental protection, the flash smelting process has been found to be a superior copper smelting process when starting from sulfidic concentrates (see, for example, H.H. Kellogg, "Prospects for the Pyrometallurgy of Copper", Paper presented in Santiago, Chile 1973; and Carl-August Maelzer: "Fortschritte in der Pyrometallurgie", Neue HUtte. 20 Jg., Heft 3, March 1975).
The slag produced by flash smelting usually contains such amounts of valuable metals that its further treatment is profitable. It can be treated in a known manner by slowly cooling, crushing, grinding, and flotating it, and by feeding the obtained froth flotation concentrate back into the furnace. Another method of treating it is to reduce it in an electric furnace, the products being either a matte or a metal alloy and a slag and flying dust which have to be removed. The result depends on ~he operating method of the flash furnace.
::
If the aim is to perform, in the manner described above, smelting only and to evaporate the lead and zinc present in the concentrate into the flying dusts, the outcome is uneconomical in terms of energy. The smelting and the evaporation must be performed almost completely by means of fuel at a relatively high temperature so that the gas amount per one tonne of concentrate is large, as is, of course, the so-called mechanical gas amount, and as was already noted above, the obtained dust is not especially advantageous for further treatment. The obtained low-grade matte requires a large amount of converter work and two flows of dilute S02 gas are easily produced.
The present invention for the treatment of such mixed concentrates is based on the principle that the energy contained in the ', ' ~ ' . ,', ,'. '~.. ' ' ' " '. " ;. '' ' ,,' , ~ .' ', ' . , ,' .
l~S62(3 concentrate is utilized as effectively as possible in the flash smelting furnace. The concen-trate is oxidized into a high-grade matte containing more than 70~ Cu or directly into blister copper, depending on the amount of iron present in the concentrate.
In this case, especially if prehea~ing and/or oxygen enrichment of the process air is used, the flash smelting furnace usually operates autogenically without additional fuel. A11 or part of the flying dust is cycled. The slag,which contains 3-15% Cu, depending on the degree of oxidation, is fed directly, while hot, into the electric furnace, in which it is reduced in a known manner by means of coke. Whether the slag contains more or less copper is not significant in terms of energy because the reduction o Cu20 into metallic copper does no-t require much energy. In order to evaporate the zinc, the magnetice and part of the iron must be reduced. This zinc reduction and evaporation are the reactions which require the greatest amount of energy.
The products obtained are a Cu-Pb-Fe alloy and flying dust which is almost pure zinc oxide and lead oxide with a copper content lower than 1% Cu. It is a first-grade raw material for the production of zinc and lead. It has been observed that if the sulfur content in the slag is <1% S, a waste slag with a lower valuable metal content is obtained than in the case of normal slags with sulfur contents of >1% S. With diminished sulfur contenl the activities of the valuable metals (Cu, Ni, Co, Pb, Zn, etc.) present in the slag increase, whereby their concentrations decrease. On the other hand, when, for example, copper settles from slag it occurs at a faster rate since with a lower sulfur content the density difference is greater between the slag and the matte/metal. The raw copper or high-grade matte (white metal) obtained from the flash furnace is puriEied together with the alloy Erom the electric furnace in a converter and an anode furnace in the normal manner. Their slags and dusts are returned to the electric furnace. The yields oE valuable metals obtained from the total process (from concentrate into anode copper) are very high and in a form easy to process further, 98-99% Cu, 88-90% Zn, 89-98% Pb. The other metals present in the concentrate, e.g. Sn, Sb, and Bi, are concentrated in the electric-furnace dust and can be recovered during the processing of zinc and lead.
.. , . :
11~185620 Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for the ~.
production of ~lister copper from copper ores or concentrates which contain harmful or economically significant amounts of other nonferrous metals com-prising using flash smelting, known per se, for the primary smelting of the concentrate to produce a matte or metal or both containing 70-98 % Cu and a slag containing less than 1 % S from the concentrate; recycling flying dust to the feed, reducing the produced slag containing less than 1 % S in an electric furnace by means of coke at a temperature of 1300-1550C to a copper concentration of less than 0.5 % and mainly into a copper-lead-iron alloy; converting mattes, raw metals or raw metal alloys or a mixture ;
thereof produced in the flash smelting furnace and the electric furnace into blister copper; feeding slag produced therein and containing less than 1 % S together with the slag from the flash smelting furnace into the electric slag purification furnace; purifying the blister copper obtained from the converter into anode copper in an anode furnace; and feeding the produced flying dust, which has a high nonferrous metal content including zinc and lead, but a low content of copper, as a raw material into the process for producing the metal.
':
- ~a -1iE1856;~
I~ the concentrate contains economically significant amounts of cobalt and nickel, in a process according to the present invention they pass into the alloy in the electric furnace for slag purification. Therefore a separate treatment of the alloy for the recovery of cobalt and nickel is advisablc. Noble metals Ag and Au naturally pass into the blister copper and can be recovered in the form of anode slime from the electrolysis.
The invention is described below in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which Figs. 1-4 depict flow diagrams of preferred embodiments of the invention, and with the help of examples which have been obtained when performing experiments with a flash smelting furnace and an electric furnace with a capacity of approx. 1 t concentrate/h and by performing conversion and anode-furnace treatments with approx. 50 t copper/batch.
The concentrates used in the experiments deviated from each other in regard to their composition. The amounts of material in the various cases and the concentrations of the most important components at the different process stages, starting from 1000 kg ol concentrate to the flash smelting furnace ~FSF),are given in Tables I, II, III, and IV. The presentation covers only the converter and electric furnace (EF) treatments. The anode furnace treatment does not require in all cases extra treatment. The distributions of the principal components at the di~ferent stages are shown in the respective bloc~ diagrams I, II, III, and IV illustrating the different stages of the process.
:' Example I
A copper concentrate which contained approx. 8~ Zn and approx. r 4~ Pb was processed. Table I shows that a matte containing 71.6% Cu, 1.3% Zn, and 1.8% Pb, as well as a slag containing ;~ 2.8~ Cu and 0.23~ S, was obtained from the FSF. When this matte was converted, together with the matte obtained from the electric furnace, a blister copper containing 0.2% Pb and 98.8% Cu was obtained. Thus it was pure enough for anode furnace treatment and for further electrolytic refining. The converter slag was treated, together with the FSF slag, in the electric furnace, , :
' :
~.
6~
whereby a reject slag containing 0.4% Cu, 0.1% Pb, and 1.6% Zn was obtained. The dust obtained from the electric furnace contained approx. 60~ Zn and approx. 21% Pb, and only 0.1% Cu, so that it was a suitable raw material for a zinc plant. The converter dust, which contained approx. 79~i Pb and approx.
10% Zn and practically no copper, was a suitable raw material for a lead plant.
Fig. 1 showi the distribution of the various components at the different stages of the process. It can be noted that 98.8%
of the copper was obtained in the form of blister copper, which contained only 1.5% of the lead. Respectively the electric-furnace dust contained 88.1% of the zinc and 65.4% of the lead and only 0.1% of the copper and the converter dust contained 32.2% of the lead and 1.8% of the zinc and no copper. The reject slag from the electric furnace contained 1.2% of the copper, 1.8% of the lead, and 10.1% of the zinc. Thus the yields of the most important metals were Cu 98.8~ into blister Pb 97.7~ into EF and converter dust Zn 89.9~i into EF and converter dust ....
Not only the copper yield but also the yields of lead and zinc were very good, and they were almost pure metal oxides.
Example II
A copper concentra-te which contained 5.8% Zn and 0.68% Pb was processed. The amounts and concentrations of material are shown in Table II and the distributions of material in Fig. 2. It can be observed that although the initial concentrations were lower than in the previous example, the metal yields were still ~ood:
Cu 98.8~ into raw copper Pb 83.8~ into EF and converter dusts Zn 88.0% into EF and converter dusts ~` . .
- ~1356ZO
Example III
A copper concentrate which contained 1% Ni and 0.54% Co was processed. The processing now comprised not only flash smelting and conversion but also two separate electric-~urnace treatments (EF I and EF II). The amounts and concentrations of material are shown in Table III and the distributions of material in Fig. 3.
The product from the converter wasblister copper which was highly suitable for anode furnace treatment and from the electric furnace I a metal mixture which could we~ be treated as a separate circuit in a normal electrolysis. From the electric furnace II
an alloy was obtained which was a suitable raw material for a cobalt plant. The losses into the reject slag were Cu 0.6~
Co 30 %
Ni 5 %
Thus, although the initial concentrations of cobalt and nickel were relatively low, the process produced directly not only a good yield of first-grade blister copper but also considerably advantageous yields of cobalt and nickel into alloys which could be processed further for the recovery of these ~etals and also for improving the total yield of copper.
Example IV
A concentrate with a low concentration of iron and a high concentration of copper and 2.4% cobalt was processed. The 1 process was now applied advantageous]y in such a manner that blister copper was directly produced in the flash smelting furnace by slagging the iron and the cobalt almost completely. The treatment o~ the slag took place in two stages, in electric ~urnaces EF I and EF II, whereby a metal containing approx. 98%
Cu and 0.6% Co and 1.5% Fe was obtained from the first stage.
Further treatment of the slag in EF II again produced a Co-Fe-Cu alloy and a pure waste slag containing 0.2% Cu and 0.3% Co.
The blister copper was suitable as such for anode furnace treatment and the metallic copper obtained from EFI was suitabl~
for a separate circuit in electrolysis. The metal alloy obtained from EF II was a suitable raw material for the production of , ,.. ,., . .,, .~ . , .
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1~856ZO
cobalt. The amounts and concentrations of material and the distributions at the different stages of the process are shown in Table IV and in Fig. 4.
As can be seen from the above examples, blister copper and anode copper can be produced advantageously according -to the present invention from so-called impure copper ores or concentrate~
by using, to a maximum degree, the thermal energy contained in the ores or concentrates, in their suspension smelting in which they are oxidized to a high degree, either into white metal or directly into blister copper, and by combining with this process conversion and anode treatments and slag purification, depending on the case and according to the principles demonstrated in the examples. Thereby good recoveries are also obtained in regard to the metals which are presen-t as impurities.
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OUTOKUMPU OY, Outokumpu ., '' ~
Process for the production of blister copper from copper ores or concentrates which contain harmful or economically significant amounts of other non-ferrous metals When blister copper is produced pyrometallurgically from copper concentrates which also contain significant amounts of other metals, the anode copper produced at the final stage of the process must meet certain quality requirements. If the impurity rate increases, it causes problems in the electrolytic purifica-tion of copper, whereby the quality of the produced cathode copper also suffers. Where economically significant amounts of these so-called secondary metals are concerned, the form and composition in which they are separated Erom the co~per are by no means unimportant. In terms of their a~ter-treatment, it is advantageous if they are in a concentrated form and do not contain large amounts of copper since a separate removal of :
copper causes additional expense. .
.. . .
With raw materials becoming scarce, it is nowadays increasingly necessary to study the possibilities for using also non-conventiona concentrates for the production of copper and in general for ,,' ~'' ' ' . j:
~L~85i620 :
an as advantageous recovery as possible, of all the metals present in these concentrates.
When a sufficiently selective result is not obtained by concentration technology methods such as magnetic separation and froth flotation, various hydro- and pyrometallurgical methods for the processing of such mixed concentrates have been investigated.
To our knowledge, no economically advantageous hydro- or pyro-metallurgical process for treating these impure sulfidic copper concentrates is currently in operation on an industrial scale.
A process ~which is based on the flash smelting method (Finnish Patent 22 694) is known previously. In this process the concentrat is smelted by means of fuel and preheated air (maximum 550C) in a flash smelting furnace at a temperature of 1350-1550C in a so-called neutral (as to fuel/air) atmosphere, whereby the products are a low-grade copper matte 40-50% Cu, a slag containing approx. 1% Cu and Zn, and 0.2-0.3% Pb, and a flying dust containing most of the lead and the zinc. This flying dust also contains 4.8% Cu, 20-25% Zn, 8-10% Pb, as well as 7.8~ S and 17. % Fe. Calculated on the basis of the lead, the amount of flying dust is approx. 640 kg/t of concentrate, so that concentra-tion into the dusts has not been especially high. Furthermore, most likely approx. 13% of the sulfur is in the flying dusts, mainly in sulfate form. Since the low-grade matte also contains approx. 22-23% sulfur and the slag which is in equilibrium with it contains 1-2% S, sulfur is thus present in all the three solid and melt phases and in the gases. Owing to its low zinc content and its high copper, sulfur and iron contents, the obtained flying dust is by no means an advantageous raw material for using, for example, in a zinc plant.
Another attempt at treating mixed concentrates is the process in which the copper content in the concentrate has been limited to 0-6% Cu, but the lead and zinc contents are high; thus it can be regarded mainly as a lead or zinc concentrate. Obviously the aim ~8S~2~
in the process is to evaporate the lead and the zinc and thereby separate the copper, but further treatment of the relatively low-grade and impure copper matte still remains a problem.
The present invention for the treatment of such mixed concentrates is base4d on the flash smelting process of Outokumpu Oy (Finnish Patent 22 694). In terms of energy economy and environmental protection, the flash smelting process has been found to be a superior copper smelting process when starting from sulfidic concentrates (see, for example, H.H. Kellogg, "Prospects for the Pyrometallurgy of Copper", Paper presented in Santiago, Chile 1973; and Carl-August Maelzer: "Fortschritte in der Pyrometallurgie", Neue HUtte. 20 Jg., Heft 3, March 1975).
The slag produced by flash smelting usually contains such amounts of valuable metals that its further treatment is profitable. It can be treated in a known manner by slowly cooling, crushing, grinding, and flotating it, and by feeding the obtained froth flotation concentrate back into the furnace. Another method of treating it is to reduce it in an electric furnace, the products being either a matte or a metal alloy and a slag and flying dust which have to be removed. The result depends on ~he operating method of the flash furnace.
::
If the aim is to perform, in the manner described above, smelting only and to evaporate the lead and zinc present in the concentrate into the flying dusts, the outcome is uneconomical in terms of energy. The smelting and the evaporation must be performed almost completely by means of fuel at a relatively high temperature so that the gas amount per one tonne of concentrate is large, as is, of course, the so-called mechanical gas amount, and as was already noted above, the obtained dust is not especially advantageous for further treatment. The obtained low-grade matte requires a large amount of converter work and two flows of dilute S02 gas are easily produced.
The present invention for the treatment of such mixed concentrates is based on the principle that the energy contained in the ', ' ~ ' . ,', ,'. '~.. ' ' ' " '. " ;. '' ' ,,' , ~ .' ', ' . , ,' .
l~S62(3 concentrate is utilized as effectively as possible in the flash smelting furnace. The concen-trate is oxidized into a high-grade matte containing more than 70~ Cu or directly into blister copper, depending on the amount of iron present in the concentrate.
In this case, especially if prehea~ing and/or oxygen enrichment of the process air is used, the flash smelting furnace usually operates autogenically without additional fuel. A11 or part of the flying dust is cycled. The slag,which contains 3-15% Cu, depending on the degree of oxidation, is fed directly, while hot, into the electric furnace, in which it is reduced in a known manner by means of coke. Whether the slag contains more or less copper is not significant in terms of energy because the reduction o Cu20 into metallic copper does no-t require much energy. In order to evaporate the zinc, the magnetice and part of the iron must be reduced. This zinc reduction and evaporation are the reactions which require the greatest amount of energy.
The products obtained are a Cu-Pb-Fe alloy and flying dust which is almost pure zinc oxide and lead oxide with a copper content lower than 1% Cu. It is a first-grade raw material for the production of zinc and lead. It has been observed that if the sulfur content in the slag is <1% S, a waste slag with a lower valuable metal content is obtained than in the case of normal slags with sulfur contents of >1% S. With diminished sulfur contenl the activities of the valuable metals (Cu, Ni, Co, Pb, Zn, etc.) present in the slag increase, whereby their concentrations decrease. On the other hand, when, for example, copper settles from slag it occurs at a faster rate since with a lower sulfur content the density difference is greater between the slag and the matte/metal. The raw copper or high-grade matte (white metal) obtained from the flash furnace is puriEied together with the alloy Erom the electric furnace in a converter and an anode furnace in the normal manner. Their slags and dusts are returned to the electric furnace. The yields oE valuable metals obtained from the total process (from concentrate into anode copper) are very high and in a form easy to process further, 98-99% Cu, 88-90% Zn, 89-98% Pb. The other metals present in the concentrate, e.g. Sn, Sb, and Bi, are concentrated in the electric-furnace dust and can be recovered during the processing of zinc and lead.
.. , . :
11~185620 Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for the ~.
production of ~lister copper from copper ores or concentrates which contain harmful or economically significant amounts of other nonferrous metals com-prising using flash smelting, known per se, for the primary smelting of the concentrate to produce a matte or metal or both containing 70-98 % Cu and a slag containing less than 1 % S from the concentrate; recycling flying dust to the feed, reducing the produced slag containing less than 1 % S in an electric furnace by means of coke at a temperature of 1300-1550C to a copper concentration of less than 0.5 % and mainly into a copper-lead-iron alloy; converting mattes, raw metals or raw metal alloys or a mixture ;
thereof produced in the flash smelting furnace and the electric furnace into blister copper; feeding slag produced therein and containing less than 1 % S together with the slag from the flash smelting furnace into the electric slag purification furnace; purifying the blister copper obtained from the converter into anode copper in an anode furnace; and feeding the produced flying dust, which has a high nonferrous metal content including zinc and lead, but a low content of copper, as a raw material into the process for producing the metal.
':
- ~a -1iE1856;~
I~ the concentrate contains economically significant amounts of cobalt and nickel, in a process according to the present invention they pass into the alloy in the electric furnace for slag purification. Therefore a separate treatment of the alloy for the recovery of cobalt and nickel is advisablc. Noble metals Ag and Au naturally pass into the blister copper and can be recovered in the form of anode slime from the electrolysis.
The invention is described below in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which Figs. 1-4 depict flow diagrams of preferred embodiments of the invention, and with the help of examples which have been obtained when performing experiments with a flash smelting furnace and an electric furnace with a capacity of approx. 1 t concentrate/h and by performing conversion and anode-furnace treatments with approx. 50 t copper/batch.
The concentrates used in the experiments deviated from each other in regard to their composition. The amounts of material in the various cases and the concentrations of the most important components at the different process stages, starting from 1000 kg ol concentrate to the flash smelting furnace ~FSF),are given in Tables I, II, III, and IV. The presentation covers only the converter and electric furnace (EF) treatments. The anode furnace treatment does not require in all cases extra treatment. The distributions of the principal components at the di~ferent stages are shown in the respective bloc~ diagrams I, II, III, and IV illustrating the different stages of the process.
:' Example I
A copper concentrate which contained approx. 8~ Zn and approx. r 4~ Pb was processed. Table I shows that a matte containing 71.6% Cu, 1.3% Zn, and 1.8% Pb, as well as a slag containing ;~ 2.8~ Cu and 0.23~ S, was obtained from the FSF. When this matte was converted, together with the matte obtained from the electric furnace, a blister copper containing 0.2% Pb and 98.8% Cu was obtained. Thus it was pure enough for anode furnace treatment and for further electrolytic refining. The converter slag was treated, together with the FSF slag, in the electric furnace, , :
' :
~.
6~
whereby a reject slag containing 0.4% Cu, 0.1% Pb, and 1.6% Zn was obtained. The dust obtained from the electric furnace contained approx. 60~ Zn and approx. 21% Pb, and only 0.1% Cu, so that it was a suitable raw material for a zinc plant. The converter dust, which contained approx. 79~i Pb and approx.
10% Zn and practically no copper, was a suitable raw material for a lead plant.
Fig. 1 showi the distribution of the various components at the different stages of the process. It can be noted that 98.8%
of the copper was obtained in the form of blister copper, which contained only 1.5% of the lead. Respectively the electric-furnace dust contained 88.1% of the zinc and 65.4% of the lead and only 0.1% of the copper and the converter dust contained 32.2% of the lead and 1.8% of the zinc and no copper. The reject slag from the electric furnace contained 1.2% of the copper, 1.8% of the lead, and 10.1% of the zinc. Thus the yields of the most important metals were Cu 98.8~ into blister Pb 97.7~ into EF and converter dust Zn 89.9~i into EF and converter dust ....
Not only the copper yield but also the yields of lead and zinc were very good, and they were almost pure metal oxides.
Example II
A copper concentra-te which contained 5.8% Zn and 0.68% Pb was processed. The amounts and concentrations of material are shown in Table II and the distributions of material in Fig. 2. It can be observed that although the initial concentrations were lower than in the previous example, the metal yields were still ~ood:
Cu 98.8~ into raw copper Pb 83.8~ into EF and converter dusts Zn 88.0% into EF and converter dusts ~` . .
- ~1356ZO
Example III
A copper concentrate which contained 1% Ni and 0.54% Co was processed. The processing now comprised not only flash smelting and conversion but also two separate electric-~urnace treatments (EF I and EF II). The amounts and concentrations of material are shown in Table III and the distributions of material in Fig. 3.
The product from the converter wasblister copper which was highly suitable for anode furnace treatment and from the electric furnace I a metal mixture which could we~ be treated as a separate circuit in a normal electrolysis. From the electric furnace II
an alloy was obtained which was a suitable raw material for a cobalt plant. The losses into the reject slag were Cu 0.6~
Co 30 %
Ni 5 %
Thus, although the initial concentrations of cobalt and nickel were relatively low, the process produced directly not only a good yield of first-grade blister copper but also considerably advantageous yields of cobalt and nickel into alloys which could be processed further for the recovery of these ~etals and also for improving the total yield of copper.
Example IV
A concentrate with a low concentration of iron and a high concentration of copper and 2.4% cobalt was processed. The 1 process was now applied advantageous]y in such a manner that blister copper was directly produced in the flash smelting furnace by slagging the iron and the cobalt almost completely. The treatment o~ the slag took place in two stages, in electric ~urnaces EF I and EF II, whereby a metal containing approx. 98%
Cu and 0.6% Co and 1.5% Fe was obtained from the first stage.
Further treatment of the slag in EF II again produced a Co-Fe-Cu alloy and a pure waste slag containing 0.2% Cu and 0.3% Co.
The blister copper was suitable as such for anode furnace treatment and the metallic copper obtained from EFI was suitabl~
for a separate circuit in electrolysis. The metal alloy obtained from EF II was a suitable raw material for the production of , ,.. ,., . .,, .~ . , .
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cobalt. The amounts and concentrations of material and the distributions at the different stages of the process are shown in Table IV and in Fig. 4.
As can be seen from the above examples, blister copper and anode copper can be produced advantageously according -to the present invention from so-called impure copper ores or concentrate~
by using, to a maximum degree, the thermal energy contained in the ores or concentrates, in their suspension smelting in which they are oxidized to a high degree, either into white metal or directly into blister copper, and by combining with this process conversion and anode treatments and slag purification, depending on the case and according to the principles demonstrated in the examples. Thereby good recoveries are also obtained in regard to the metals which are presen-t as impurities.
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Claims (4)
1. A process for the production of blister copper from copper ores or concentrates which contain harmful or economically significant amounts of other nonferrous metals comprising using flash smelting, known per se, for the primary smelting of the concentrate to produce a matte or metal or both containing 70-98 % Cu and a slag containing less than 1 % S from the con-centrate; recycling flying dust co the feed, reducing the produced slag containing less than 1 % S in an electric furnace by means of coke at a temperature of 1300-1550°C to a copper concentration of less than 0.5 % and mainly into a copper-lead-iron alloy; converting mattes, raw metals or raw metal alloys or a mixture thereof produced in the flash smelting furnace and the electric furnace into blister copper; feeding slag produced therein and containing less than 1 % S together with the slag from the flash smelting furnace into the electric slag purification furnace; purifying the blister copper obtained from the converter into anode copper in an anode furnace; and feeding the produced flying dust, which has a high nonferrous metal content including zinc and lead, but a low content of copper, as a raw material into the process for producing the metal.
2. The process of Claim 1, in which the flying dust which is produced in the electric-furnace reduction of the slags from the flash smelting furnace and the converter and is rich in zinc, lead, and other nonferrous metals but poor in copper is fed as a raw material into the process for producing said metals.
3. The process of Claim 1, in which the alloy obtained from the electric furnace for slag purification and containing most of the cobalt and nickel of the concentrate is treated separate-ly for the recovery of these metals.
4. The process of Claim 1, in which the purification of the slag from the flash smelting furnace is performed in two electric-furnace stages, whereby first a metal mainly containing copper and ultimately an alloy having a lower copper content and con-taining mainly cobalt and/or nickel are obtained.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| FI760455 | 1976-02-23 | ||
| FI760455A FI63441C (en) | 1976-02-23 | 1976-02-23 | FOERFARANDE FOER FRAMSTAELLNING AV RAOKOPPAR FRAON KOPPARMALM ELLER -KONCENTRAT INNEHAOLLANDE SKADLIGA ELLER EKONOMISKT SINIFIKANTA MAENGDER ANDRA ICKE-JAERNMETALLER |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1085620A true CA1085620A (en) | 1980-09-16 |
Family
ID=8509774
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA272,384A Expired CA1085620A (en) | 1976-02-23 | 1977-02-22 | Process for the production of blister copper from ores and concentrates |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1085620A (en) |
| DE (1) | DE2707578B2 (en) |
| FI (1) | FI63441C (en) |
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO2008155451A1 (en) * | 2007-06-20 | 2008-12-24 | Outotec Oyj | Method for processing cobalt-containing copper concentrate |
| AU2008337430B2 (en) * | 2007-12-17 | 2013-03-28 | Metso Metals Oy | Method for refining copper concentrate |
| CN115287455A (en) * | 2022-08-03 | 2022-11-04 | 山东恒邦冶炼股份有限公司 | Method for co-processing gold extraction tailings, copper-containing wastes and non-ferrous smelting wastes |
Families Citing this family (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4351705A (en) * | 1981-06-30 | 1982-09-28 | Amax Inc. | Refining copper-bearing material contaminated with nickel, antimony and/or tin |
| DE102006022779A1 (en) | 2005-06-08 | 2006-12-21 | Sms Demag Ag | Method and apparatus for recovering a metal from a slag containing the metal |
-
1976
- 1976-02-23 FI FI760455A patent/FI63441C/en not_active IP Right Cessation
-
1977
- 1977-02-22 DE DE19772707578 patent/DE2707578B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1977-02-22 CA CA272,384A patent/CA1085620A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO2008155451A1 (en) * | 2007-06-20 | 2008-12-24 | Outotec Oyj | Method for processing cobalt-containing copper concentrate |
| AU2008337430B2 (en) * | 2007-12-17 | 2013-03-28 | Metso Metals Oy | Method for refining copper concentrate |
| CN115287455A (en) * | 2022-08-03 | 2022-11-04 | 山东恒邦冶炼股份有限公司 | Method for co-processing gold extraction tailings, copper-containing wastes and non-ferrous smelting wastes |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| FI760455A (en) | 1977-08-24 |
| DE2707578B2 (en) | 1978-02-16 |
| FI63441C (en) | 1983-06-10 |
| DE2707578A1 (en) | 1977-08-25 |
| FI63441B (en) | 1983-02-28 |
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