Method and apparatus for the smelting of material such as ore concentrates

Abstract

A method and apparatus for smelting an ore concentrate or the like wherein the concentrate is first melted in an oxidizing atmosphere and the smelt is aftertreated with reducing gases to recover the metal values. The improvement consists in positioning a plurality of rows of lances in a smelting reactor in the direction of molten metal flow, the spacing between the rows of lances being substantially greater than the spacing between individual lances in each row. The reducing gas is blown with a high kinetic energy through each lance to cause an area of toroidal bath movement to occur where the gases from each lance impinge against the moving smelt. The spacing between the rows of lances is sufficiently large so that a relatively quiescent zone exists between the areas of toroidal bath movement between each of the rows. The molten metal and a relatively metal-free slag are withdrawn separately from the furnace enclosure.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.