GB417903A - Process for reduction of ores, and furnace for carrying out the process - Google Patents

Abstract

417,903. Metallurgical furnaces. ANDERSEN, G., 8, Palµgade, Copenhagen. Dec. 16, 1933, No. 35454. Convention date, Dec. 29, 1932. [Classes 51 (i) and 51 (ii).] In the reduction of ores in a furnace 2 having an annular rotary hearth 6, the ore, preferably admixed with solid reducing material, is spread in a relatively thin layer on the hearth 6 which traverses first a heating zone in countercurrent to heating gases and then a zone in which the charge is cooled without exposure to atmospheric air. The heating gases may be generated by the combustion, in a chamber 19, Fig. 2, of liquid, gaseous, or pulverulent fuel supplied by a burner 20, or the heating may be effected by a stream of compressed air which sweeps over electrodes, Fig. 6, or electric resistance elements, Fig. 7, disposed in the chambr 19. The charge material is supplied from a hopper 15 by a rotary feeder 16 which is driven, through a chain 18, from the hearth driving mechanism 9, 10. The treated material is removed from the hearth and deposited in a sealed watercooled hopper by a studded roller 25 and a fixed scraper member 24, the latter also serving to deflect the heating gases upwardly through the charging device and prevent their entry to the cooling zone of the furnace. A pipe 21 and fan 22 are provided to enable the heating gases to be recirculated through the furnace if desired.