Operation of slags and their valorisation are one major topic in the metallurgical industry. Different phases within the slag have influences on the slag properties, which requires fundamental knowledge on the system to consider effective measures to reach the individual optimisation targets. Solid phases like spinels in slags have an impact on viscosity, resulting in operational issues, increased metal losses and other effects in daily operation. In this document an overview on spinel-containing slags of the non-ferrous metallurgical processes is given, with focus on operation in liquid state. It shows a summary of the current state of experimental and modelling work in this field done by different research groups. The importance of studies on thermodynamic properties and phase diagrams to solve practical operational issues is outlined.
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