PbZn 2020: The 9th International Symposium on Lead and Zinc Processing: Primary Lead
Sponsored by: The Mining and Materails Processing Institute of Japan, Nonferrous Metals Society of China, GDMB: The Society for Mining, Metallurgy Resourcce and Environmental Technology, Metallurgy & Materials Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum, TMS Extraction and Processing Division, TMS: Hydrometallurgy and Electrometallurgy Committee, TMS: Process Technology and Modeling Committee, TMS: Pyrometallurgy Committee, TMS: Recycling and Environmental Technologies Committee
Program Organizers: Andreas Siegmund, LanMetCon LLC; Shafiq Alam, University of Saskatchewan; Joseph Grogan, Gopher Resource; Ulrich Kerney, Recylex; Cheng Liu, China Enfi Engineering Corporation; Etsuro Shibata, Tohoku University
Monday 2:30 PM
February 24, 2020
Room: 14B
Location: San Diego Convention Ctr
Session Chair: Dean Gregurek, RHI Magnesita
2:30 PM
Lead Metal Production at Paroo Station Mine Using Leach-electrowinning Process in Methane Sulfonic Acid Solution: David Dreisinger1; Ken Baxter2; Andrew Worland2; Tom Cooper3; Nick Waters2; 1University of British Columbia; 2LeadFX Inc.; 3Rosslyn Hill Mining Limited
The Paroo Station lead mine, located in Western Australia and owned by LeadFX, has historically produced a lead flotation concentrate from a lead carbonate (cerussite) orebody. The shipment of the 67% lead concentrate from the minesite to smelters is subject to strict environmental controls and high product handling, logistics, treatment and refining charges due to the transport distance and the lack of intrinsic fuel value and by-product elements. An innovative solution was required to process the concentrate on-site to reduce environmental risk and cost. A hydrometallurgical process has been studied at bench, pilot and demonstration plant scale. The process involves leaching and electrowinning of lead in a methane sulfonic acid solution. A Definitive Feasibility Study has been prepared for production of up to 80,000 tonnes per annum of lead at Paroo Station over a 17 year mine life. The results of the testing and the engineering study are presented.
2:50 PM
Lead Plant Transformations: A Liu1; Michael Reed1; R. Close1; L Thompson1; 1Worley Services Pty Ltd
Worley have been involved in two major lead transformational projects in the last decade. These projects have involved the replacement of sinter plant and blast furnace operations, with the key initiative relating to improvements in environmental performance for the facilities, and to meet tighter global regulations on work place emissions and environmental performance. Worley has been involved in the projects since inception and the projects involved technology trades offs for both oxidation and reduction processes. A range of options were considered in both cases and different technology solutions were selected by the two organizations. This paper investigates the selection process and the modelling work that was undertaken to assess both technologies and how the data was used to assist in the final decisions for the two organizations. As a result, Worley have developed a series of comprehensive process models of all lead smelting and reduction technologies that can assist operations assess their performance and to do preliminary assessments on technology selection. Worley also completed wrap around engineering for the balance of plant in both cases and are familiar with total flowsheet solutions for lead smelters globally.
3:10 PM
Long Service Life of Removable Roof at Hindustan Zinc: Allan MacRae1; Sanjay Pal2; 1Macrae Technologies, Inc.; 2Hingustan Zinc Limited
The furnace was started at full production in February 2006. The originally roof design had water channels on top of a mild steel plate with a refractory lining on the hot face. The mild steel roof would crack which led to water entering the furnace. The roof was changed five times from 2006 to 2009. Repairs were so frequent that a standby roof was kept ready for rapid replacement. Water ingress caused refractory failures and campaigns as short as seven months. In 2009, a water-cooled roof was installed on the Ausmelt TSL- Lead furnace with three operation in Single Furnace at the Hindustan Zinc Chanderiya Lead-Zinc Smelter, Chittorgarh, India. The roof has been operating for nearly 10 years without replacement of a single copper element. Operation History and data are presented to highlight the successful long-term performance of the roof, and the benefits achieved by implementing the chosen design.
3:30 PM
Reduction of Lead Rich Slags with Coke in the Lead Blast Furnace: Robin Vanparys1; Geoffrey Brooks1; M. Akbar Rhamdhani1; Tijl Crivits2; 1Swinburne University of Technology; 2Umicore
The reduction of lead rich slag with metallurgical coke is one of the major reactions in the dripping zone of the lead blast furnace. However, because the conditions of this zone are hard to replicate in a laboratory xperiment, previous studies have been limited to simplified reaction eometries. In this work, an experimental study is performed in a lab-scale set-up that more closely resembles the conditions inside the dripping zoneof the lead blast furnace. A synthetic, lead-rich, PbO-SiO2-CaO-Fe2O3 slag, is molten on top of a small scale metallurgical coke bed with a total bed diameter of 35 mm, by heating for 15 to 60 minutes at temperatures of 1200 to 1300°C. A multitude of particles, including lead-depleted slag, lead and iron oxide phases, were found on the coke surfaces. This illustrates the occurrence of the direct reduction reaction. The importance of coke surface morphology for reactivity with slag is emphasised, as the majority of reduced particles are found in pores and surface depressions.
3:50 PM Break
4:10 PM
Research and Application of Oxygen-enriched Side-blowing Continuous Smelting Technology for Lead-antimony-silver Complex Materials: Jian Ping Yang1; 1Changsha Engineering and Research Institute Ltd. of Nonferrous Metallurgy
According to the characteristics of a lead concentrate containing high grade of zinc, antimony, silver, using the oxygen-enriched side-blowing continuous smelting technology deal with it. Technical process is that complex lead materials put into oxidation furnace smelting first, then output small amount of lead and high lead slag. high lead slag through chute continuous was put into the smelting reduction furnace, output most lead and reduction slag. Finally, reduction slag through chute continuous put into the fuming furnace smelting, output zinc oxide dust and smouldering slag. Production practice shows that lead recovery is more than 97%, gold and silver is more than 99%, antimony is more than 95%, volatile rate is less than 10%, comprehensive coal consumption is less than 11%, and the average smelting cost is 110 dollar /t Pb.
4:30 PM
Installation of a Brown Field Slag Reduction Furnace: State of the Art Off-gas Treatment with Dry Gas Cleaning for SO2 Capture: Peter Weber1; Dirk Behrmann1; Thomas Breuer1; 1Küttner GmbH & Co. KG
A new lead slag reduction furnace for the treatment of lead-rich slags from an existing top submerged lance (TSL) furnace has been installed at the Weser Metall (WMG) Lead plant in Nordenham, Germany. With the new reduction furnace the lead content in the slags is lowered significantly and lead bullion is produced. A Chinese side-blowing furnace (SBF) was selected for the reduction, all plant technology around the furnace was engineered and supplied by Germany based company Kuettner. The SBF was integrated into a Kuettner process concept for off-gas treatment including direct connection to the boiler unit and controlled forced-air combustion to mitigate accretion formation in the boiler. Due to environmental requirements, this expansion of the lead operations had to ensure a decrease of the existing emission footprint of the entire plant. To achieve this, Kuettner has installed a flue gas process line for the slag reduction furnace which integrates several existing emission sources from TSL operations and guarantees dust emissions below 0.2 mg/Nm³ and SO2 values below 250 mg/Nm³ without the need for wet scrubbers.
4:50 PM
KCM – Innovator in the Pb Metal Production through Ausmelt Technology and Variable SO2 Concentration Off-gas Utilization: Nikolay Starev1; Georgi Doganov1; 1KCM AD
KCM 2000 Group is the Principal of the non-ferrous Smelter located near Plovdiv, Bulgaria with annual production of 70 000 tpy lead and 75 000 tpy zinc including their alloys and compounds. As part of a large-scale renovation plan, a new brown field lead smelting plant was commissioned in the middle of 2014. It was designed to produce 75 000 tpy crude lead and 55 000 tpy sulphuric acid in an economically feasible and environmentally friendly way substituting the old sintering-blast furnace technology.The New Lead Plant represents a unique combination of sub-systems and applies Best Available Techniques. The smelting technology allows treatment of primary and secondary lead-containing materials in a wide range of ratios. Sulfuric acid production is reduced to lowest possible rates and depends solely on sulfur content in the TSL input. The technology creates no other products than lead bullion, low Pb slag and sulphuric acid.
5:10 PM
Innovative Solutions in Non-ferrous Metals Production: Timm Lux1; R. Degel1; 1SMS group GmbH
Non-ferrous metals find their applications in smartphones, tablets and computers. These materials with their particular properties are the basis of our modern life. SMS group is well prepared for this huge market and for growing future challenges. A large contribution here is the new joint venture PolyMet Solutions that was founded by SMS group and Mettop, an Austrian engineering company, with the objective to develop new technical solutions for the primary copper production lines as well as for non-ferrous metals starting with the primary smelting of concentrate and ending with the electrolysis. PolyMet Solutions provides the process know-how whereas SMS group supplies the plants and equipment and Mettop the key components. SMS group and Mettop also cooperate in the field of tankhouse technology. Together with Montanwerke Brixlegg AG, Mettop has developed together with a parallel flow technology (METTOP-BRX Technology), allowing a current efficiency of above 98 % at a current density of 420 A/m², which is a milestone in copper electrolysis. For the secondary copper production route, SMS group and PolyMet Solutions developed an innovative refining furnace for the smelting and refining of copper scrap. The refined copper is directly charged to the Contirod line to produce copper rods and wires. The innovative cooling solutions of SMS and PolyMet Solutions come into play where furnaces have to stand the highest loads and stresses, for instance in areas of very high temperatures or temperature fluctuations, aggressive exhaust gases and slags, or at critical spots such as taphole areas. Custom-tailored cooling systems for furnace vessels make sure varying loads are compensated in a targeted and effective manner. The solutions include air cooling, spray cooling, cooling technologies with integrated copper elements such as CFM (Composite Furnace Modular) cooling systems, plate and finger coolers. The major innovation in the field of furnace cooling is the ILTEC (Ionic Liquid Cooling) Technology which paves the way for increased plant safety. This revolutionary, patented cooling technology is jointly marketed by Mettop and SMS group. It permits water-free cooling to be implemented and thus makes operation safe wherever it is applied.