Method Of Operating A Converter And Apparatus For Carrying Out The Method

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of operating a converter, in particular a Peirce-Smith converter or a converter with similar design or mode of operation, and to an apparatus, for instance a plant, for carrying out the method. The method comprises the step of: loading the converter with a starting material comprising said metal, the metal in the starting material being chemically bound at least in part to at least one compound substance, in particular sulphur; maintaining a temperature within the converter interior space, which is above the melting temperature of the starting material; and supplying an oxygen-containing process gas into the converter interior space through injection nozzles arranged in the wall of the converter, the gas supplied through the injection nozzles comprising carbon dioxide, preferably very cold, technically pure carbon dioxide, as well as oxygen gas and/or air.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.