GB378008A - Improvements in copper refining methods, apparatus and products - Google Patents

Abstract

378,008. Electric furnaces. AMERICAN METAL CO., Ltd., 61, Broadway, New York, U.S.A.-(Assignees of Heuer, R. P. ; 237, Montgomery Avenue, Haverford, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) May 1, 1931, No. 12940. Convention date, June 5, 1930. [Class 39 (iii).] In a method of refining copper by treating molten copper with carbon submerged beneath the surface of the copper, the deoxidation takes place under conditions of freedom from contamination with combustion gases and substances containing hydrogen, cuprous oxide is practically eliminated from the copper and the deoxidation is continued to change carbon dioxide in the copper into carbon monoxide so as to unsaturate the metal with carbon dioxide. In refining copper cathodes, the cathodes may be first desulphurized by roasting without melting in a furnace A, Fig. 1, in contact with combustion gases. The desulphurized metal after melting in a reverberatory furnace 17 passes into a deoxidation furnace B through a closed trough 29, Fig. 2, heated by a burner 30, a gate 31 holding back the slag. The furnace B comprises a casing rotatably mounted on rollers 37 filled with carbonaceous material which is forced down by plungers (not shown) operating in tubes 32, 33. The furnace may be heated electrically by electrodes 23, 24 or by any means that does not introduce combustion gases into the furnace. In ordinary working, the furnace is rotated slightly to cast the metal as the level of the pouring spout 36 is above that of the metal in the furnace. For this purpose a gear driving band 39 engages a rack 40 driven by a screw 41. The metal is cast into vertical moulds 46, Fig. 1, on a casting wheel moving in either direction, the stream of molten copper being surrounded with a non- oxidizing gas such as carbon monoxide. Specification 351,740, [Group XII], is referred to.