Multi-Step Thermodynamic Calculation for Copper Dross Bath Smelting Process

The oxygen-rich bath smelting process of copper dross was simulated using Factsage software. It was found that the two-step simulation results agreed better with the industrial data, especially in the speiss. Bi, Pb, Sb, As, and Cu contents in the speiss by two-step simulation differed from the industrial data by 0.6 wt.%, 0.8 wt.%, 2.6 wt.%, 7.2 wt.%, and 8.6 wt.%, respectively. Two-step simulation results indicated that the speiss partitioning of Sb, As, and Cu increased from 60.1%, 32.3%, and 27.5% to 81.6%, 67.8%, and 47.2%, respectively, with the smelting temperature increasing from 1050 degrees C to 1250 degrees C. While the metal partitioning of Sb and Cu increased from 0% and 2.7% to 15.2% and 13.3%, respectively, with the separation temperature increasing from 400 degrees C to 700 degrees C.

Automated summary

The two-step simulation results showed that with increasing temperature, the distribution of Sb, As, and Cu in the speiss increased, while the distribution of Sb and Cu in the metal also increased with the separation temperature increasing.