Thermal method for the recovery of metals and/or metal combinations with the aid of a melting cyclone

Apparatus for the continuous thermal recovery of metals and/or metal combinations from ores, concentrates, or metal-containing intermediary products as starting materials, comprising:

• a cyclone reactor for continuously receiving and melting starting materials charged into it;
• means for continuously charging starting materials into the reactor;
• an enclosure defining a generally horizontal flowthrough buffer hearth chamber;
• said reactor being located to continuously discharge molten materials and gases into one end of said chamber;
• means in the upper portion of the opposite end of said chamber for continuously withdrawing gases from the chamber;
• the bottom of said chamber providing a relatively short molten material flow area for receiving the molten materials discharged from the reactor at said one end of the chamber to flow continuously toward said opposite end of the chamber;
• a continuous discharge opening leading downwardly from said bottom flow area at said opposite end of the chamber and dimensioned to maintain a substantially uniform discharge flow rate of the molten materials from the discharge opening;
• said relatively short bottom flow area cooperating with said reactor and said discharge opening as a flow volume buffer zone to assure substantially continuous supply of molten materials to said discharge opening even though discharge output from the reactor may fluctuate;
• the length of said bottom flow area from the reactor discharge to said discharge opening being short enough to maintain the molten materials at a temperature in the chamber substantially as received from the reactor and in a thoroughly fluid state and continuously flowing from the reactor discharge to said discharge opening without additional heating;
• an upright axis centrifugal separator below said discharge opening and having an upper end entrance for continuously receiving molten materials downwardly from said discharge opening and continuously centrifugally separating the molten materials about the axis of the separator into a substantially cylindrical metallic phase and a concentric substantially cylindrical slag phase;
• and separate respective exits continuously discharging from the lower end of the separator and offset from the axis of the separator and radially spaced from each other;
• one of said exits continuously discharging the metallic phase of the molten materials from the separator and the other of said exits continuously discharging the slag phase of the molten materials from the separator.