Sulfide smelting fundamentals, technologies and innovations

The nonferrous production industry has gone through a remarkable transformation in recent years in terms of developing and adopting new technologies. Most recent technology innovations have largely been driven by the need for greatly improved environmental protection in addition to increased productivity. The development of the more environmentally friendly technologies has accompanied other advantageous advances made in the nonferrous industry. They include the trend towards more gas-tight, continuous processes and larger plants, the use of increased oxygen enrichment in the process gas, better process control, reduced manpower requirements and plant operations with more skilled personnel. This has increased the competitive edge enjoyed by the producers that adopt such new technologies. Experience has shown that clean technology often leads to a profitable business, because its adoption forces the concomitant advancement of related technologies in addition to the avoidance of penalties imposed by the public on pollution-prone industries. Needless to say, there are other driving forces for new technologies, such as the reduction of operating and capital costs, improved product quality and energy considerations in terms of reduced consumption and utilization of readily available sources. The trends in the nonferrous industry towards more efficient and environmentally friendly technologies are summarized in this article. First, the authors discuss the fundamental principles of sulfide smelting processes and describe recent major developments in the industry. The discussion is centered on copper production, which represents the most important nonferrous industry. Finally, examples of important innovations implemented to improve the efficiencies and increase productivity are presented. This is a story of remarkable advances and developments made in the nonferrous industry over a short period of time. Further, strong arguments are put forth that the industry does not have to be described by terms such as “smoke stack,” “sun-set,” “dirty” “polluting” and other disparaging expressions.