Method of operating a top submerged lance furnace
AssigneeTenova South Africa (Pty) Ltd
InventorsBrett John Francis, Hugo Joubert, Martin Lluis Bakker, Stanko Nikolic, Stephen Gwynn-Jones
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Abstract
A method of operating a top submerged lance furnace, and more particularly but not exclusively to a method of coating an end of a lance of a top submerged lance furnace with a slag layer, as well as a method of maintaining a uniform heat distribution about the periphery of the lance of the top submerged lance furnace. In terms of the method, the lance is caused to rotate, and a fluid is passed through the lance before it is inserted into the molten material bath inside the crucible.
Claims6
A method of operating a top submerged lance furnace, the method including the steps of:
- providing a lance having an internal flow passage provided therethrough, with an end of the lance located inside a crucible of a top submerged lance furnace;
- causing the lance to rotate at a speed of between 0.5 and 6 rpm;
- passing a fluid through the lance in order for the fluid to be discharged from the end of the lance;
- displacing the lance to a preparatory position in which the end of the lance is located above an upper surface of a molten material bath in order for the fluid being discharged from the end of the lance to impinge on the upper surface of the molten material bath, thereby causing at least some operatively upwardly splashing of molten material;
- holding the lance in the preparatory position in order for splashes of the molten material to be deposited onto an outer wall of the lance during the rotation;
- and
- submerging the end of the lance into the molten material bath inside the crucible.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.