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CFD Study on Bottom-Blown Copper Smelting Furnace with Unsymmetric Gas Injection

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Abstract

When focusing on the largest copper oxygen-enriched bottom blowing furnace in China, the problems of uneven melt stirring and gas flow coalescence were studied. An unsymmetric blown was proposed by changing the ratio of gas flow rate and the lance diameter to investigate its effect on gas–matte–slag distribution, velocity distribution, and wall shear stress. The gas coalescence was inhibited by modifying the gas ratio (γ) of lances. At γ = 1.2:0.8, the gas inhibition is more obvious than that at γ = 1.1:0.9; average melt velocity (va) in stirring region increased by 11.44%, relative standard deviation (RSD) of melt velocity decreased by 10.82%, and slag content in matte layer decreased. Controlled injection volume ratio causes reduced stress at the edges of the furnace. Changing the diameter ratio of lances to b = 1.1:0.9 showed a 56.71% rise in va and a 16.27% reduction in RSD, imparting enhanced uniformity in the melt stirring. Therefore, the unsymmetric injection can suppress gas flow and improve the stirring uniformity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51974018), the Guangxi Innovation-Driven Development Project (Grant No. AA18242042-1), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. FRF-TP-19-016A3). The authors are also grateful to the reviewers for their arduous work in providing many pertinent comments and suggestions, which helped in improving the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Tingting Lu, Liangzhao Mu, Yadong Xiao, Hongliang Zhao & Fengqin Liu

  2. BGRIMM Technology Group, Beijing, 100160, China

    Liangzhao Mu

  3. School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Tingting Lu, Yadong Xiao, Hongliang Zhao & Fengqin Liu

  4. Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Recovery and Extraction of Rare and Precious Metals, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Hongliang Zhao & Fengqin Liu

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  1. Tingting Lu
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  2. Liangzhao Mu
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  3. Yadong Xiao
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  4. Hongliang Zhao
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Correspondence to Hongliang Zhao or Fengqin Liu.

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The contributing editor for this article was Yongxiang Yang.

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Lu, T., Mu, L., Xiao, Y. et al. CFD Study on Bottom-Blown Copper Smelting Furnace with Unsymmetric Gas Injection. J. Sustain. Metall. 8, 1235–1244 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-022-00565-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-022-00565-1

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