RT journal article
T1 Thermal Modeling of the Port on a Refining Furnace to Prevent Copper Infiltration and Slag Accretion
A1 Jiménez-Espadafor Aguilar, Francisco José
A1 Vélez Godiño, José Antonio
A1 Torres García, Miguel
A1 Gallardo Fuentes, José María
A1 Díaz Gutiérrez, Eduardo
A2 Máquinas y Motores Térmicos
K1 refining furnace
K1 copper infiltration
K1 thermal modeling
K1 high-temperature heat transfer
K1 model fitting
AB Fire refining of blister copper is a singular process at very high temperatures (~1400 K), which means the furnace is exposed to heavy thermal loads. The charge is directly heated by an internal burner. The impurities in the charge oxidize with the flux of hot gases, creating a slag layer on the top of the molten bath. This slag is periodically removed, which implies liquid metal flowing through the furnace port. To address its malfunction, a re-design of the furnace port is presented in this work. Due to the lack of previous technical information, the convective heat transfer coefficient between the slag and the furnace port was characterized through a combination of an experimental test and a three-dimensional transient model. Finally, the original design of the furnace port was analyzed and modifications were proposed, resulting in a reduction of the average temperature of the critical areas up to 300 K. This improvement prevents the anchoring of the accretion layer over the port plates and the steel plate from being attacked by the copper.
PB MDPI
SN 1996-1944
YR 2021
FD 2021-11
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26119
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26119
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 10-nov-2026