Efecto de la recirculación de polvo de fundición de cobre de Chile con altos contenidos de impurezas en la distribución de impurezas durante el proceso de fusión

Abstract

Usually, dust generated during the copper smelting process by the Teniente Converter and the Flash Smelting Furnaces in Chile, contains high concentrations of copper, zinc, arsenic, antimony and other metals. In general, the dust is recirculated to the smelting process or it is directed to hydrometallurgical process for recovery and stabilization. However, in recent years the generation of dust has increased because of the degradation of the quality of the concentrate. In addition, the environmental regulations have become stricter. It is therefore desirable to understand the behavior of those elements, when the smelting process operates with recirculation of dust. In this study, the effect of dust recirculation to smelting process on the distribution among the matte, slag and gas phases was evaluated, as a function of matte grade, amount of recirculated dust, oxygen enrichment and temperature. It was found that the concentration in thematte of the impurities such as arsenic, antimony and bismuth, increased slightly with recirculation of dust. On the other hand, the concentration of lead and zinc depend of the direct recirculation of dust to the process. Additionally, it was found that high concentrations of arsenic and antimony in the dust may lead to the formation and precipitation of copper arsenates and other metals (speiss), which may generates important operational problems.