Blast furnace has been used for lead
ore/concentrate smelting for a long time.It plays a fundamental role to modern metallurgy
and is still very important in the small-scale smelting application. After numerous modifications based on practical experience, Metalcess is able to offer a high-performance
solution with complete set of blast furnace highlighted for its high lead recovery rate, low energy consumption and environmental-friendly feature.
In terms of the application of blast furnace in lead metallurgy, lead oxide ore/concentrate or lead paste from spent lead acid battery is directly charged into the blast furnace while lead
sulfide or lead-zinc sulfide ore/concentrate needs to be sintered and desulfurized before
charging into blast furnace. The furnace burden is reduced in the blast furnace and the lead bullion is
discharged by batches. Two refining approaches, i.e. fully fire-refining
and fire-refining + electro-refining can be selected based on lead bullion content. The final product usually is lead ingot.
The smelting of lead & zinc sulfide complex mine can also be
proceeded in the enclosed blast furnace. Solution with detail process
description please referring to ISP smelting.
With a view to the
growing demand of secondary lead recycling, like smelting of lead paste
recovered from spent lead acid battery, Metalcess provides optimized blast
furnace smelting solution integrating process, equipment, off-gas purification
and automation control. The blast furnace is adaptable to both lead
concentrate/ lead paste and their mixture. This advantage allows smelters to
adjust the production plan as per the market fluctuation of recycling industry.
The off-gas treatment to the lead paste smelting enhances lead recovery and
improves environmental index. Higher automation control requires less labor
force but provides better labor protection, higher stability and efficiency.
Characteristics
1. Optimized furnace shell design with steam jacket amplifies reaction zone and smelting effect and reduces heat loss;
2. Reduced investment of waste heat exchanger for cooling the off-gas;
3. High metal recovery rate, normally less than 0.3% metal in slag;
4. Simple
equipment and light investment, particularly advantageous for production capacity
below 50kt/a.
