US3803335A

US3803335A - Apparatus for refining metals

Info

Publication number: US3803335A
Application number: US00309933A
Authority: US
Inventors: V Esjutin; J Naryshkin; J Novikov; V Cherednichenko; G Orlov; A Semenov; A Ivannikov; S Ryzhkin; A Klevakin; N Voronkov; A Raznitsyn; D Gavrilenko; N Kleschenko; I Onaev; S Suturin; Z Taziev; S Senjuta
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-11-27
Filing date: 1972-11-27
Publication date: 1974-04-09
Anticipated expiration: 1991-04-09

Abstract

An apparatus for refining metals having a vacuum chamber for receiving the refined metal and provided with a central longitudinal column surrounded by a cylindrical multilayer perforated screen and evaporating plates. A heater is mounted along the column axis and is provided with cooled current feeders. In the bottom portion of the cylindrical vacuum chamber of the apparatus there is positioned a condensate collector. The condensate collector represents a cylindrical vessel mounted coaxially with the vacuum chamber and having a conical upper portion. The current feeders of the heater are mounted in the lower portion of the vacuum chamber and connected with the heater through graphite rods penetrating through the cylindrical wall of the condensate collector.

Description

United States Patent .1191

Esjutin et al.

[ APPARATUS FOR REF INING METALS [76] lnventors: Vladimir Sergeevich Esjutin, M.

Tulebaeva ulitsa, 187, kv. 4; Zhavdat Sharafutdinovich Taziev, ulitsa Timiryazeva, 97, kv. 29; Sergei Julievich Senjuta, ulitsa Dzhandosova, 164, kv. l7; lbragim Abilgazievich Onaev, ulitsa Kalinina, 65, kv.- 23, all of Alma-Ata; Serafim Nikolaevich Suturin, ulitsa Savvy Kozhevnikova, 2, kv. 22, Novosibirsk; Demyan lllarionovich Gavrilenko, ulitsa Dolgaya, 30, Odessa; Nikolai Stepanovich Kleschenko, ulitsa 3 Olovozavodskaya, 8, kv. l l, Novosibirsk; Nikolai Arsenievich Voronkov, ulitsa Anikina, 21, kv.

' l2, Novosibirsk; Alexei Fedorovich Raznitsyn, ulitsa Sovetskaya, 7, kv. l 12, Novosibirsk; Semen Alexeevich Ryzhkin, ulitsa 2 Olovozavodskaya, l6, kv. l2, Novosibirsk; Alexei Alexeevich Klevakin, ulitsa 2 Obogatitelnaya, l 1, kv. 6, Novosibirsk; Alexandr Efimovich Semenov, ulitsa Zorge, 133, kv. 33, Novosibirsk; Alexandr Stepanovich Ivannikov, ulitsa Nekrasova, 3, Krymskaya' Oblast; Vladimir Semenovich Cherednichenko, ulitsa R. Zorge, 181, kv. 108, Novosibirsk; Gennady lvanovich Orlov, ulitsa Vatutina, 27, kv. 20, Novosibirsk; Jury Anatolievich Naryshkin, ulitsa Bljukhera, 7, kv. 55, Novosibirsk; Jury Petrovich Novikov, ulitsa Vertkovskogo, l4, Novosibirsk, all 7 14 1 Apr. 9, 1974 22 Filed: Nov. 27, 1972 211 App]. No.: 309,933

Primary Examiner-Roy N. Envall, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Holman & Stern [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for refining metals having a vacuum chamber for receiving the refined metal and provided with a central longitudinal columnsurrounded by a cylindrical multilayer perforated screen and evaporating plates. A heater is mounted along the column axis and is provided with cooled current feeders. In the bottom portion of the cylindrical vacuum chamber of the apparatus there is positioned a condensate collector. The condensate collector represents a cylindrical vessel mounted coaxially with the vacuum chamber and having a conical upper portion. The current feed- ,ers of the heater are mounted in the lower portion of the vacuum chamber and connected with the heater through, graphite rods penetrating through the cylindrical wall of the condensate collector.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENIEDAPR .9 I974 3.803335 SHEET 1 [IF 2 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the refinement of metals, and more particularly to continuous-operating apparatus for refining non-ferrous metals.

Known in the art is an apparatus for the continuous refinement of metals through the distillation of lowboiling impurities from the alloys being refined in a vacuum plate column having a central heater, which column is surrounded with a multy-layer perforated screen and provided with barometric metal conduits to supply the metal to the apparatus and to discharge the distillation products therefrom.

The disadvantage of the known apparatus is in the constructive complexity and unreliability of the discharge unit for the liquid condensate and in the current-supplying network to the heater, which leads to increased electric power consumption during the refinement process.

Additionally, the known apparatus is unable to provide a durable and continuous refinement of metals and has a comparatively low effectiveness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the construction of apparatus for refining metals which provides a durable and continuous operation.

Another object of the invention is to increase the specific effectiveness of the refinement process and to improve the quality of the obtained metal.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved by providing an apparatus for refining metals through the distillation of low-boiling imprurities in a vacuum, comprising a cylindrical vacuum chamber with a column longitudinally mounted therein which is surrounded with a cylindrical multi-layer perforated screen and has open evaporating plates and a heater mounted along the column axis and provided with cooled current feeders, a condensate collector which is mounted in the bottom portion of the vacuum chamber and connected with a metal conduit for discharging the condensate, and a cooling means mounted under the vacuum chamber and having a metal conduit for discharging the refined metal, wherein, according to the invention, the condensate collector represents a cylindrical vessel coaxially mounted with respect to the vacuum chamber and having a conical upper portion which houses a part of the heater, the current feeders being mounted in the lower part of the side wall of the vacuum chamber and connected with the heater by means of graphite rods penetrating through the cylindrical wall of the condensate collector.

Such a construction of the apparatus provides for a durable and continuous operation and makes it possible to increase the specific efficiency of the refinement process with a consequent improved quality of the obtained metal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The following example illustrates the specific embodiment of the apparatus for refining tin from lead and bismuth according to the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of the apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section on II-II of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The apparatus consists of a cylindrical vacuum chamber l, a cover 2 and a bottom 3.

Inside of the chamber 1 there are mounted annular plates 4 for a preliminary heating of the metal being refined, and plates 5 mounted on the base 6 one above the other for evaporating impurities from the metal. The plates 4 and 5 are manufactured from an electrode-grade graphite.

Each of the plates 4 and 5 is provided with an annular groove for the flow of the metal being refined. Each of the plates 4 and 5 has a branch-pipe with an opening for discharging the metal to a subsequent lower plate. Each of the branch-pipes is so disposed as to provide on the plate a certain metal layer. The four upper plates 4 are closed and are designed for heating the initial metal being charged into the apparatus for heating the initial metal being charged into the apparatus up to the temperature which provides an intensive evaporation of the low-boiling impurities. The plates 4 and 5 are made of electrode-grade graphite. The plates 4 are heated by a graphite heater 7. The graphite heater 7 represents a rod positioned in the inner space of the annular plates 4 and 5 and having a longitudinal slot and a thickening in its lower part designed for connecting the heater with current feeders 8. The heater 7 is fixed and fed with electric power in the following way: into the lower thickened part of the heater 7 there are screwed threaded graphite rods 9, into which there are in turn screwed the water-cooled copper currentfeeders 8 provided with an electric insulator 10.

Inside of the working space of the chamber 1, be tween the plates 4 and 5 and the walls of the chamber 1, there are mounted heat-insulating screens 11 and 12 representing perforated cylinders which are used to reduce the heat losses and to provide a partial condensation of metal vapours.

A part of the screens 11 positioned in the zone of high temperatures and aggressive vapours of tin is manufactured from graphite. The screens 12 mounted nearby the walls of the chamber 1 are made of sheet steel. All the screens 11 and 12 have inter-overlapping openings 13 disposed in a chess order to pass metal vapours to the condensation zone. All the screens 11 and 12 are provided with covers 14 which are also made with perforations.

To form condensate of the vapours of volatile impurities in a liquid state, inside of the chamber 1 there is mounted a cylindrical condenser 15 provided with a cover and made of steel.

In the bottom part of the vacuum chamber 1 there is positioned a condensate collector 16.

The condensate collector 16 represents a cylindrical vessel positioned coaxially with respect to the vacuum chamber 1 and having a conical upper portion 17.

In the cylindrical portion of the collector 16 there is disposed the lower part of the heater 7.

The collector 16 is made of steel and protected from the action of the liquid condensate with a graphite lining 18.

On the lining 18 of the conical portion 17 of the collector 16 there rests the base 6 of the plates 4 and 5. The lower part of the collector 16 is connected with a metal conduit 19 similarly lined with graphite and designed for discharging the condensate.

The conical portion 17 of the collector 16 is provided with an opening for a graphite pipe 20 which is used to discharge the refined metal from the lower evaporating plates through a graphite pipe 21 into a cooling means 22 to reduce the temperature of tin from l,300C up to 350-300C. Besides, the walls of the collector 16 serve as an additional condenser.

The cooling means 22 represents a set of graphite plates 25 housed in a metal cylindrical casing 26. The plates are cooled by means of a coiled pipe 27 mounted at the outer side of the casing 26 and fed with water or air. The pouring of the refined metal and the condensate is accomplished from

ladles

28 and 29.

The heating network of the metal conduit 24 and the ladle 28 is switched on only at the begining of the operation and then it is switched out, since the metal flow from the apparatus maintains the necessary temperature.

The apparatus operates as follows. The tin being refined from lead and bismuth is fed through the metal conduit 23 to the upper plate 4 and heated in the first four closed plates up to a temperature from 1,200 to 1,350C at which lead and bismuth start evaporating. Then the tin successively flows on the evaporating plates 5. Due to a residual pressure in the apparatus, the lead and the bismuth contained in the tin are gradually evaporated while the tin flows down on the plates 5. The refined tin is fed from the lower plate 5 through the graphite pipes and 21 to the cooling means 22, where the tin flows on the cooled plates 25, its temperature dropping to 350400C, then it is decanted into the ladle 28 and therefrom it is distributed into pigs. The vapours of lead and bismuth and partly of tin are primarily condensated in the liquid state on the screens 11 and 12 and partly on the condenser 15, therefrom the vapours flow down into the collector 16. From the collector 16 the liquid condensate is fed to the metal conduit 19 and then it is discharged into the ladle 29. Therefrom the condensate is distributed into pigs.

In the tests of the present apparatus for refining tin the following technological data have been achieved.

The contents of lead and bismuth may be reduced from the initial amounts of about l.5l.l weight per cent and 0.3-0.1 weight per cent in black tin to about 0.04-0.02 weight per cent and 0.01-0.005 weight per cent, respectively, at a temperature between about l,300 to 1,350C and a residual pressure in the chamber of about 0. 1-0.3 mm Hg. The daily efficiency of'the vacuum apparatus is about 14-18 tons of tin per square meter of the evaporating surface of the plates. In the refining of black tin with the use of the apparatus according to the invention, the direct recovery of tin is not less than about 98-99 weight per cent of pure metal.

The condensate contains about 50-60 weight per cent of tin. The remainder involves lead and bismuth depending on their contents in the initial black tin.

The construction of an apparatus for refining metals in accordance with the present invention may provide a reliable operation of the apparatus and an increased specific efficiency thereof. Besides, it may provide an improvement in the quality of the obtained metal and a reduction of the invenstments of the production.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for refining metals by vacuum distillation of low-boiling impurities from a melt, comprising: a vertical cylindrical vacuum chamber; column means mounted in said chamber substantially along the central axis thereof, said column means having a plurality of intercommunicating evaporating plates disposed stackwise along its axis whereby unrefined metal melt delivered to an upper one of said plates moves successively to a lower one thereof; a multilayer perforated cylindrical screen substantially concentrically disposed around said column means in said vacuum chamber for condensing thereon vapors of the impurities of the melt contained in said evaporating plates; a condensate collector means for collecting the condensate formed on said screen and positioned in the lower part of said vacuum chamber coaxially therewith, said condensate collector means comprising substantially a cylindrical vessel having a metal conduit connected to its lower end for permitting egress of said condensate therefrom and a funnel-shaped upper portion which faces the direction of the incoming condensate from said screen, connected to its upper end; a heater mounted along the axis of said column means for heating said unrefined metal delivered to said evaporating plates and causing said' vapors of the impurities of the melt to be condensed on said screen, said heater having a lower portion located in the upper portion of said cylindrical vessel; a plurality of current feeders mounted in the lower part of the side wall of said vacuum chamber; a plurality of electrically insulated graphite rods operatively connected to said lower portion of said heater and passing exteriorly of said condensate collector means substantially at the upper portion thereof, and operatively connecting respective ones of said plurality of current 1 delivery from its lower end to a ladle.

Claims

1. An apparatus for refining metals by vacuum distillation of low-boiling impurities from a melt, comprising: a vertical cylindrical vacuum chamber; column means mounted in said chamber substantially along the central axis thereof, said column means having a plurality of intercommunicating evaporating plates disposed stackwise along its axis whereby unrefined metal melt delivered to an upper one of said plates moves successively to a lower one thereof; a multilayer perforated cylindrical screen substantially concentrically disposed around said column means in said vacuum chamber for condensing thereon vapors of the impurities of the melt contained in said evaporating plates; a condensate collector means for collecting the condensate formed on said screen and positioned in the lower part of said vacuum chamber coaxially therewith, said condensate collector means comprising substantially a cylindrical vessel having a metal conduit connected to its lower end for permitting egress of said condensate therefrom and a funnel-shaped upper portion which faces the direction of the incoming condensate from said screen, connected to its upper end; a heater mounted along the axis of said column means for heating said unrefined metal delivered to said evaporating plates and causing said vapors of the impurities of the melt to be condensed on said screen, said heater having a lower portion located in the upper portion of said cylindrical vessel; a plurality of current feeders mounted in the lower part of the side wall of said vacuum chamber; a plurality of electrically insulated graphite rods operatively connected to said lower portion of said heater and passing exteriorly of said condensate collector means substantially at the upper portion thereof, and operatively connecting respective ones of said plurality of current feeders with said lower portion of said heater; and means operatively associated with said vacuum chamber for cooling and collecting refined metal delivered from said evaporating plates after said vapors have been evaporated from the unrefined melt delivered thereto.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for cooling and collecting refined metal includes cooling means having an upper end connected to said lower one of said plurality of evaporating plates for drawing off the refined metal therefrom, said cooling means appropriately cooling said refined metal prior to delivery from its lower end to a ladle.