Removal of antimony from copper by injection of soda ash

The removal of Sb from molten copper is of importance in the development of processes which can smelt copper concentrates directly into copper in a single furnace. A promising method is injection of oxygen and sodium carbonate in a modified anode furnace. This study encompassed a thermodynamic analysis of the impurity removal reactions and an experimental investigation of antimony removal from molten copper in a 15 kW induction furnace. The results showed that the reaction was controlled by diffusion of Sb in the metal phase. The reaction between metal and injected flux can be divided into two subprocesses-. (1) “transitory contact” reaction to the injected flux particles as they rise through the melt and (2) “permanent contact” reaction across the interface between the metal bath and the supernatant slag layer. On the basis of the experimental work, the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient (cm³/s) at 1473 K was expressed in terms of the two subprocesses as follows:(k _d A) _ov = (k _d A) _pc +(k _d A) _tc = 1.25Q _g ^0.29 + 0.28(H Q _f ) whereQ _g is the injection gas flow rate in normal liters per minute,H is the depth of injection in centimeters, andQ _f the rate of flux injection in grams per second.