The practice of copper matte converting in China

Abstract

By October 2018, there are 35 copper smelters under operation in China, with an annual output of 9860 kt refined copper. In copper matte converting, P-S converters are still used in 20 copper smelters in China, and the annual capacity of refined copper in these smelters is 5530 kt, accounting for 54.06% of the total. In the last two decades in China, many improvements in the P-S converting have been made, including the automatic monitoring and intelligent controlling. Besides the P-S converting, other converting technologies developed later, such as, the Kennecott-Outotec flash converting, the bottom blowing converting, the Ausmelt converting, the continuous converting using a Vaniukov furnace (for slagging) plus a furnace with multiple non-submerged lances (for copper making) and the continuous converting using a furnace with multiple non-submerged lances, have also been used successively in China.