Base Metals
The ores of base metals are often sulfides. In recent centuries, reverberatory smelters (sometimes ambiguously called cupolas) have been used. These keep the fuel and the charge being smelted separate. Traditionally these were used for carrying out the first step: formation of two liquids, one an oxide slag containing most of the impurity elements, and the other a sulfide matte containing the valuable metal sulfide and some impurities. Such "reverb" furnaces are today about 40 m long, 3 m high and 10 m wide. Fuel is burned at one end and the heat melts the dry sulfide concentrates (usually after partial roasting), which are fed through the openings in the roof of the furnace. The slag floats on top of the heavier matte, and is removed and discarded or recycled. The sulfide matte is then sent to the converter. The precise details of the process will vary from one furnace to another depending on the mineralogy of the orebody from which the concentrate originates.
More recent furnaces have been designed based upon bath smelting, top jetting lance smelting, flash smelting and blast furnaces. Some examples of bath smelters include, the noranda furnace, the teniente reactor, the vunyukov smelter and the SKS technology to name a few. Top jetting lance smelters include the mitsubishi smelting reactor. The flash smelters consist of over 50% of the worlds copper smelters. There are many more varies smelters as well, including the kievset, Ausmelt, Isasmelt, Tamano, EAF, and BF.
Read more about this topic: Smelting
Famous quotes containing the words base and/or metals:
“Report of fashions in proud Italy,
Whose manners still our tardy-apish nation
Limps after in base imitation.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“As in digging for precious metals in the mines, much earthy rubbish has first to be troublesomely handled and thrown out; so, in digging in one’s soul for the fine gold of genius, much dullness and common-place is first brought to light.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)