Abstract
MINTEK in South Africa is investigating the effect of preheating on smelter operations mainly to reduce the electrical energy requirement for smelters. A pilot-scale facility is being developed which includes a one t/h rotary kiln coupled to an electric arc furnace (EAF) optionally served by either an alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power supply. The facility also includes integrated materials handling, product handling, and water-cooling systems. It allows for the evaluation of cold versus hot feed (up to 900 °C) on smelter operations over periods of 2–3 weeks continuous operation. The first application will study the effect of preheating on the smelting of titaniferous magnetite (15% TiO2) using a DC-furnace as part of the TiMag project. The second application will evaluate the effect of preheating on the production of high carbon ferromanganese (targeting 78%Mn) using an AC-furnace as part of the PreMa project. The paper presents the results of the basic engineering of the project.
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Acknowledgements
The TiMag project is funded by the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) funding by the South African National Treasury. The PreMa project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 820561 and industry partners: Transalloys, Eramet, Ferroglobe, OFZ, and Outotec.
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Steenkamp, J.D., Denton, G.M., Pieters, T. (2020). Upgrading Pilot-Scale Facility at MINTEK to Evaluate the Effect of Preheating on Smelter Operations. In: Peng, Z., et al. 11th International Symposium on High-Temperature Metallurgical Processing. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36540-0_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36540-0_28
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