Glencore Technology’s ISASMELT™ team have introduced what they say is the world’s first portable furnace using the same unique top-submerged lance technology of a full-scale ISASMELT. The ISASMELT F600 will enable operations and universities to test in a day and on location, what used to take months using an external provider.
“Operation is straightforward. Oxygen enriched air is injected from the lance to produce a turbulent bath in which the feed is reacted. When required, the lance is removed and the furnace tilted to remove the product through the front spout. The off-gas from the vessel and any fume from the tapped product is drawn away using a bespoke off-gas system. Shipment and installation are also simplified. The F600 arrives in a shipping container, pre-tested and partially disassembled into five crates. Once assembled, it’s just three metres at its highest point, so it can be installed anywhere.”
Unusually for what is essentially a furnace, Glencore Technology have announced the F600 is available for purchase at $450,000 and that hire options are also available. ISASMELT Technology Manager Dr Stanko Nikolic said: “The F600 is a big enabler for operations all around the world. It’s been designed to be easy to use yet highly flexible. It’s pre-commissioned, so there are no surprises. And yet it’s customisable, so it’ll perform R&D test work on any process.”
He suggested that clients, as an owner-operator, could now replicate their existing smelter and test sustainable operation with new feed materials, reducing risk and keeping all the know-how. “The F600 is flexible enough to enable a lot of objectives to be achieved. For example, you can create a new flowsheet. You can replicate your smelter. You can test new orebodies and feeds, like tailings and slags. Or you can easily enhance a university’s capabilities,” said Dr Nikolic. The key factors, he said were that it allows sites to test new processes and feeds, it provides clarity before and during various stages of a project and it’s affordable and easy to use.
Glencore Technology’s ISASMELT process provides an innovative, high intensity, yet low cost submerged lance smelting process that is easy to operate. It can be used for a range of applications including primary and secondary copper smelting and copper converting, primary and secondary lead smelting, primary nickel smelting and converting, and tin, zinc and precious metals smelting. As of 2021, 22 plants were in operation in 11 countries, along with three demonstration plants located at Mt Isa.
