Understanding the bottom buildup in an electric copper smelting furnace by thermodynamic calculations

Thermodynamic calculations were used to investigate the liquidus temperature of the slag and the possible influence on the buildup formation in an electric copper smelting furnace. The impact of parameters such as Fe/SiO2 ratio, partial pressure of oxygen and the content of the oxides ZnO, Al2O3 and Cr2O3 in the slag were investigated with respect to the liquidus temperature of the slag. Results show that the chromium content in the slag has the greatest impact on the liquidus temperature and on the formation of solid particles. The characterization of the buildup done earlier showed that spinel phases were among the dominating phases. This is supported by the thermodynamic calculations in the present paper, where the chromite solid solution was found to be the primary precipitation phase.Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-01-30 (inah)