Application of theoretical and physical models to smelting and refining processes

The mathematical modeling of the kinetics of metal/slag/gas reactions which occur in pyrometallurgical processes is very important in providing an insight into the coupled reactions that take place between the large number of components present among the reaction phases. A generic computer code was developed (in Pascal, called SMAK), based on the coupled reaction model proposed by Robertson et al. A new approach to kinetic modeling using free energy minimization to calculate the equilibrium condition at each interface, is also described. Unit operations, representing the different phases and interfaces in this approach, were connected together using the METSIM software. The kinetic model was applied to several metallurgical processes such as counter-current refining of low-carbon ferromanganese, zinc slag fuming (SMAK) and simultaneous de-S/de-P of pig iron (METSIM).;Physical modeling of a counter-current reaction launder (CCRL) for metals refining was performed to study the fluid flow and dispersion characteristics of the CCRL. This work was conducted in a 200 cm long (L) by 20 cm wide (W) channel, using tetrachloroethylene to model 'metal' and water to model to 'slag'. A thermal tracer technique was used to measure the eddy thermal diffusivity...