Design and Operational Improvements at the Olympic Dam Flash Furnace

Olympic Dam (OD) smelts copper concentrates through the Direct-to-Blister process. The flowsheet was commercialized in 1989 however the current plant has been in operation since 1999 and consists of a feed preparation plant (FP), flash furnace (FF), acid plant (AP), electric slag cleaning furnace (EF) and two anode furnaces (AF). Developments over the last 25 years has primarily been focused on improving the maintainability and operability of the plant with the goal of safely and sustainably increasing furnace campaign life. The operation has targeted design improvements in historically difficult to maintain areas, i.e. furnace internal refractories. With the target of either minimizing the impact of the process on the furnace or increasing the amount of maintenance that can be safely executed between furnace campaigns. The staged rollout of Composite Furnace Module (CFM) type cooling elements in high wear regions of the furnace has significantly decreased the wear rate of refractories within the furnace [5]. Improved monitoring of sidewall refractory condition through imbedded thermocouples in the refractories has increased the operations understanding of factors that influence freeze lining stability. Installation of additional burners and improved management of furnace binding springs during furnace downtime has resulted in the ability to maintain negligible hearth growth. Improved design, operation and monitoring of the OD flash furnace has allowed the safe and sustainable extension of campaign life from 3 to 6 years.