Voest-alpine Aktiengesellschaft

Voest-alpine Industrieanlagenbau Gmbh

Heinz Muller

Heinrich Auberger

Erwin Koch

Gerhard Glockler

Leopold Werner Kepplinger

Panajiotis Matzawrakos

Gerhard Scheiblhofer

Hansjorg Wohlkonig

Reinhard Buzzi

There is disclosed a plant for treating and melting metals, metal compounds and/or metal alloys or for producing calcium carbide. It includes a burden-receiving shaft and a melting furnace arranged below the shaft and including a heating means. A passage opening is provided between the shaft and the melting furnace, which passage opening serves to introduce the burden present within the shaft into the melting furnace.

Plant for treating and melting metals, metal compounds and/or metal

A plant for metallurgical treatments, in particular for melting or melt-reducing metals, metal compounds and/or metal alloys, or for producing calcium carbide, comprises a shaft receiving a burden, a melt collecting space disposed laterally of, and below, the shaft, as well as at least one burner arranged laterally of the shaft. In order to enable the accurate process control of the metal melt and the controlled smelting of the burden, the burner is arranged in a combustion space connecting the lower shaft end with the melt collecting space and designed as a plasma burner. The combustion space is located at a level above the melt collecting space and including a combustion space bottom, which is plane, or preferably rises, relative to the shaft and enters into the melt collecting space by an overflow edge that separates the metal melt from the burden.

Plant to be used for metallurgical treatments of metal compounds and/or

A method of recovering copper from oxidic and/or silicate copper ores by way of pyrometallurgy. With this method, the copper ores are melted in a reaction zone heated by plasma jets and maintained at a temperature of at least 1,500.degree. C. At this high temperature, the thermal decomposition of the oxidic or silicate copper compounds occurs, whereas no such decomposition of accompanying metal oxides takes place. The furnace used to perform this method includes a refractory lining of carbonless material. The reaction furnace and, thus, the reaction zone are sealed relative to the atmosphere to prevent oxygen from entering thereinto. An inert gas is used as plasma gas.

Method of recovering copper and furnace for carrying out the method

An auxiliary plasma arc fed by an auxiliary circuit serves for igniting a plasma arc, fed by a main circuit, of a plasma burner provided in a metallurgical furnace vessel. To increase the service lives of the burners, the electrode of the plasma burner and the melting stock charged in the furnace vessel are applied to the auxiliary circuit, with the main circuit switched off, and an auxiliary plasma arc is ignited between the plasma burner and the melting stock, whereupon the plasma burner is moved back from the melting stock, thereby lengthening the auxiliary plasma arc, and subsequently the main circuit is applied to the plasma burner and to the melting stock, and the plasma arc is ignited.

Method of igniting a plasma arc as well as an arrangement for carrying

In order to melt particulate material in an electric furnace with the help of at least one electric arc burning between a burner electrode arranged in the lid of the furnace and a bottom electrode arranged in the bottom of the furnace, the material is introduced into a space surrounding the electric arc. It is melted by the radiation heat of the electric arc and is collected in a melt bath covering the bottom part of the furnace. In order to attain a high energy exploitation and to prevent the material to be melted from being extracted, a fixed bed of the material to be melted is formed in the space surrounding the electric arc, which takes its root on the bottom part of the furnace and peripherally surrounds the electric arc. The material is melted on the side of the fixed bed facing the electric arc. The fixed bed is moved approximately radially towards the center of the furnace to an extent corresponding to the melted material volume. The material to be melted is charged between the fixed bed and a shell externally surrounding the fixed bed.

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Neuhofen, Austria

Heinz Muller