Abstract
DC arc furnaces were first used industrially for the reductive smelting of chromite fines to produce ferrochromium thirty years ago. Since then, they have been used for a variety of applications, including the smelting of ilmenite to produce titania slag and pig iron, the recovery of cobalt from non-ferrous smelter slags, and the smelting of nickel laterite ores to produce ferronickel. The power of these furnaces has increased from 12 MW to 72 MW for ferrochromium, and to 80 MW for ferronickel. The largest of these furnaces requires two electrodes to carry sufficient current to generate this much power. A review is presented of various DC arc furnaces in use, along with a discussion of the likely ways in which furnace power might be increased further in the future.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Humphry Davy, “VII. Additional Experiments on Galvanic Electricity”, Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts (Nicholson’s Journal), London, Vol.IV, October 1800, 326–328.
Sir Humphry Davy, Elements of Chemical Philosophy: Part 1 Vol.1 (London: J. Johnson and Co., St Paul’s Church Yard, 1812), p.85 and Plate III, Fig.18. https://archive.org/details/elementschemicaOOdavygoog
English patents, No. 4208 of 1878 and No. 2110 of 1879.
R.T. Jones and T.R. Curr, “Pyrometallurgy at Mintek”, Southern African Pyrometallurgy 2006, Edited by R.T. Jones, SAIMM, Johannesburg, 5–8 March 2006, pp. 127–150. http://www.mintek.co.za/Pyromet/Files/2006JonesMintek.pdf
R.T. Jones, T.R. Curr, and N.A. Barcza, “Developments in Plasma Furnace Technology”, High-Intensity Pyrometallurgy, The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, 4 February 1993, London. http://www.mintek.co.za/Pyromet/Files/PlasmaDev.pdf
D. Sager, D. Grant, R. Stadler, and T. Schreiter, “Low cost ferroalloy extraction in DC-arc furnace at Middelburg Ferrochrome”, (Infacon 12, Helsinki, 6–9 June 2010), SAIMM Journal, Vol.110, No.12, December 2010, pp.717–724. http://www.pyrometallurgy.co.za/InfaconXII/803-Sager.pdf http://www.saimm.co.za/Journal/vll0nl2p717.pdf
M. Gous, “An overview of the Namakwa Sands ilmenite smelting operations”, Southern African Pyrometallurgy 2006, Edited by R.T. Jones, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Johannesburg, 5–8 March 2006, pp.189–201. http://www.pyrometallurgy.co.za/Pyro2006/Papers/189_Namakwa.pdf
H. Lagendijk and R.T. Jones, “Production of ferronickel from nickel laterites in a DC-arc furnace”, Nickel-Cobalt 97, 36th Annual Conference of Metallurgists, Sudbury, Canada, 17–20 August 1997, pp. 151–162. http://www.mintek.co.za/Pyromet/Laterite/Laterite.htm
C.P. Naude and M.D. Shapiro, “Implementation of the first commercial scale DC smelter for ferronickel production from low grade laterite ores—technology building blocks and lessons learned”, Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, vol.110, no. 12, December 2010. pp.725–732. http://www.saimm.co.za/Journal/vll0nl2p725.pdf
Mining Journal, “Xstrata’s Koniambo produces first nickel”, Mining Journal, 11 April 2013. http://www.mining-journal.com/exploration~and-development/xstratas-koniambo-produces-first-nickel
I.J. Barker, “Some considerations on future developments in ferro-alloy furnaces”, Southern African Pyrometallurgy 2011, Edited by R.T. Jones & P. den Hoed, SAIMM, Johannesburg, 6–9 March 2011, pp.1–13. http://www.pyrometallurgy.co.za/Pyro2011/Papers/001-Barker.pdf
N.A. Barcza, I.J. Barker, M.S. Rennie, and P.J. Brereton-Stiles, “The application and scale-up of AC and DC smelting furnaces for ferro-alloys”, 60th Electric Furnace Conference Proceedings, Vol. 60, Warrendale, PA: Iron & Steel Society, 2002. pp. 425–437. http://www.mintek.co.za/Pyromet/Files/2002Barcza.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society)
About this paper
Cite this paper
Jones, R.T. (2014). DC Arc Furnaces — Past, Present, and Future. In: Mackey, P.J., Grimsey, E.J., Jones, R.T., Brooks, G.A. (eds) Celebrating the Megascale. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48234-7_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48234-7_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48591-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48234-7
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)