Gas-fired smelting apparatus and process

A smelting furnace for recovering vanadium, in the form of ferrovanadium alloy, from ashes containing vanadium oxides and a carbon source while rendering said ashes safer for disposal, comprising a refractory base enclosing a smelting chamber having a lower molten metal pool section, an intermediate slag layer section and an upper freeboard section, said refractory base having a roof portion which covers said smelting chamber and which communicates with a vertical shaft;

• means for feeding said ashes into an upper area or said vertical shaft and down into said smelting chamber;
• vent conduit means for withdrawing off-gases from an intermediate area of said vertical shaft, after said gases have preheated said ashes;
• fuel jet burners extending through openings in said refractory base and opening downwardly into said upper freeboard section for the heating and circulation of a slag layer present in said intermediate slag layer section, and means communicating with said lower molten metal pool section for withdrawing molten ferrovanadium alloy formed therein by the reduction of said vanadium oxides in the presence of molten iron.