Air Granulation of Mattes and Slags—A New Tool in Pyrometallurgy

Pyrometallurgical processing requires the handling of metallics and slags within integrated smelter flowsheets. Such handling is typically done through slow cooling methods, such as casting, or through rapid methods such as water granulation. Examples for metallics handling include casting into pits or into casting machinery. Such methods bring about risks related to molten materials handling, dilution via excavation of pits, or machinery down-time and consequently curtailed production time. Examples of water granulation for metallics and slags include disintegration technology with impinging water jets or pond-type cooling baths. For metallics as well as slags, such granulation methods present an inherent risk of explosions, which are managed through engineered safeguards. As is noted, although these methods have been practiced for centuries, they are not ideal tools for the metallurgist as they continue to present risks. The advent, development, and commercialization of large-scale atomization technology by Ecomaister Korea, now known as UNECO, have, however, created a new tool for metallurgists that permits the granulation of molten materials such as metals, mattes and slags without the use of water. The absence of water and the rapid processing of these molten streams, in turn, creates the potential for energy recovery and reintegration from molten streams into metallurgical flowsheets. Thus, atomization technology creates new possibilities for the processing of metals, mattes, and slags and the recovery and reuse of their energy in nickel and copper smelter designs. We elaborate on practiced examples of atomization technology and its advancing use in metallurgy.