Smelting of calcined basic nickel carbonate concentrate in a 200 kW DC arc furnace

M Abdellatif

doi:10.17159/2411-9717/2015/v115n8a5

Abstract

Smelting of calcined basic nickel carbonate concentrate in a 200 kW DC arc furnace

Highlights

One of the most distinctive advantages of DC open-arc smelting is the ability to process fine raw materials without any major issues with regard to the operability of the furnace, metal recovery, and metal quality
With the flux-1 recipe, the nickel content in the slag remained relatively high for the first six conditions, ranging from about 0.60% to 10.1% NiO, in certain taps it dropped to below 0.5%. (Condition 2 is excluded from the analysis as it consisted of only two taps)
➤ Metallic inclusions in the samples. This was evident from the analysis of cleaner samples taken from the ladle, which had a significantly lower nickel content. (Ni analyses of certain spoon sample taken during tapping were 50% higher than analyses of the corresponding clean samples taken from the ladle.) Incomplete metal-slag separation in the furnace was attributed largely to the viscous and sticky slag

Summary

Introduction

One of the most distinctive advantages of DC open-arc smelting is the ability to process fine raw materials without any major issues with regard to the operability of the furnace, metal recovery, and metal quality. This has been demonstrated in Mintek’s DC arc pilot plant facilities over a period of about three decades (Curr et al, 1983). The top particle size of such materials can vary from a few millimetres (e.g. laterite) to micrometres (EAF and SS dust). The applications of DC open-arc furnaces have the potential to be extended to other raw materials such as particulate nickel oxide, which has a particle size much less than 100 μm

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion