Alcan International Limited

Gaetan Chauvette

Ghyslain Dube

Frank M Kimmerle

Roger Roussel

Clement Brisson

A process for using nitride-containing aluminum dross residues to produce refractory products. The process involves mixing a dross residue which contains AlN, without prior conversion of the aluminum nitride in the dross to aluminum oxide or hydroxide, with a material comprising a metal oxide or a metal oxide precursor, and calcining the resulting mixture at a temperature suitable to produce a refractory product. During the calcination step, the AlN reacts with other components of the mixture. Since the reaction is exothermic, less heat is required for the calcination step than if a dross residue containing no AlN were used. The AlN can also reduce various contaminants (e.g. Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, silicon and titanium) present in the metal oxide refractories, and so the invention can be used to produce conventional refractory products of improved purity and appearance. The process enables dross residues to be used for useful purposes rather than being discarded.

Process for using dross residues to produce refractory products

A process for producing mineral fibers and the fibers thus produced are disclosed. The process involves forming a melt comprising an alumina-containing residue from a metal melting operation and one or more mineral raw materials suitable for forming mineral fibers, dividing the melt into streams and cooling the streams to produce the fibers. The residue from the metal melting operation acts as an inexpensive, substantially non-polluting source of alumina which can be used to increase the alumina content of the fibers and thus improve their properties, or which can be used as a replacement for more expensive or less desirable sources of alumina.

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Jonquiere, Canada

Gaetan Chauvette