USRE11345E - Robert f - Google Patents

Description

A B. P.. NENNINGER. Y Y PROCESS 0E TEEATING MATERIALS GONTAINING METALS.

No. 11,345." A EeiSsuedJlune 13, 1893.

'. ters Patent No. 426,465, granted to me April'1` UNITED STATES lPATEnVr OFFICE.

ROBERT F. NENNINGER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR l'lO EDWARD I ILL, OF SAME PLACE.

PROICES-S OFVTREAYVIIJNG MATERIALS CONTAINING METALS.

SPECIFICATION formingzpart of Reissued Letters Patent No. 11,345, Vdated .Tune 13, 1893.

' Original No. 488.898,dated December 27, 1892. Application forreissue tiled 4May '1, 1893. Serial No. 472,631.

To aZZ whom,v it may concern.;

of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes ofTreating Materials Containing Metals, of which the following is a specification.

My invention refers to a new and improved process of treating materials containing metals, such as ores containing sulphur, ormaterials such as jewelers sweepings to which sulphur ,in any desirable form (sulphide, sulphite or sulphate) has been added,and 'it consists essentially in passing such materials together with the fuel through a smelting stack with closed top and two tiers of bla'sttuyeres,4

by which arrangementa melting and reducing zone is formed 4between' the upper and lower tier of tu'yeres, and a reducing zone at and below the lower set of tuyeres, thus exposing the materials in their descent first*` to the action of a melting and reducing zone, then to the action of a melting and oxidizing zone, then allowing the gaseous products of combustion and any metallic' fumes which may be suspended therein, to separate from the molten mass and to'pass off over the sur` face of the molten mass, which collects in a hearth and arranges'itself according to specific gravity, separately drawing off the slag,l

and such matte,'speiss and metal as may have collected and subjectingthem to subsequent treatment in the usual manner, or, as in the case of matte, by repeating the yabove described process. Such metallic fumes as may have passed off with the gaseous products of combustion are collected in a condenser.

In carrying out my process I use by prefer-` ence apparatus such as shown in the annexed drawing, and consisting of a smelting furnace such as shown and describe in United States Letters Patent No.v 432,280; granted to me July 15, 1891, combined with a condenser such as shown and described in United States Let- 29, 1890. I f l v In the annexed drawing A represents the smelting furnace, C the condenser, B a fluev leading from the hearth of the furnace to the ing the fumes which may escapefrom the condenser. The furnace'A consists of a stack l opening over its entire cross-sectional area 'into a reverberatory hearth E. Thestack is 55 providedwith two tiers of blast tuyeres a,a, f and b b. The hearth E has a cinder tap c, and tap-holes f and g for metal and for matte respectively. Any desirable number of taps for slag, speiss, matte and metal may be pro- 6o vided. Blast may be directed into the matte through one or more tupyeres h. As shown inthe drawing a series of muflies i is placed within the Hue B connecting the reverberatory hearth E with the condenser C, which muflles may be used for calcining materials collected from the condenser, or for other purposes. The condenser C'consists essentially"v of an outer stack j and an inner perforated stack 1r, the flue B opening into the annular 7:: spacel between the two stacks j and c. A Y series of sprinklers m arranged atthe top of the annular space Z and of the chamber n delivers a shower of VWater into the annular space and into the chamber n which, as indicated inthe drawing, isfilled with coke. The bottom of the annular cham ber Z forms a gutter communicating with a cistern r, which may be provided with filters. The upper end of the chamber n communicateswitha suc- 8o tion blower o, which discharges the gases into the pipe p, from ,which bags g are suspendedfor collecting solid matter carried olf by the gases in the Well known manner. p i

I shall now proceed to describe my process as applied to materials 'containing volatile and non-volatile metals, sulphur and precious metals. The material orrore with properuxes is charged into the furnace A in alternate layers with fuel (preferably coke), or it may be 9o blown into thefuel charge through v the upper tier'of tuyeres. In descending the charges first pass through a melting and reducing Zone, more or less carbon monoxide being formed between-the upper and lower set of tuyeres; in xtheir-'further descent through the stack they then pass through a melting and l oxidizing zone near and belo'wjthe lower set y of tuyeres,.the remaining carbon and the carf 1' bon monoxide being burned to formcarbon roo .f-dioxide, while mbre or less' of the sulphur and fmetallic fumesare'likewiseburned. kBeneath this oxidzing zone the gaseousV products of A combustion are allowed to separatefrom the moltenI l mass (slag,speiss, matte and metal), rwhich arranges` itself i n layers according to .S-speciic gravity int he hearth E while the 4gases and fumes pass over the moltenl mass, keepf it hot, and are directed tothe condenser C through il-ne B. When the charge contains l precious metals' b ut'n'o copper Iprefer to have ro a lead bath in thehearth and to blow air into eironmatte through the tuyere h so as to loxidizethe iron and to takeup thepr'ciousmetalsby the lead bath,th e iron oxide' being taken up by the slag; part of the precious 15. metals willv passol with,the fumes and is collected'in thecondense'r. Orescontainin g copper but notin suiiicient quantity for bessemerizin g arered need to metallic copper partly v in the oxidizing zone near the'lower tier of 2o `tuyeres,'partly through the action of airblown intofthe matte through the tnyere h', The metallic copper takes up'the greater part of Q the precious metals. ySuch speiss, matte ndv vmetal `as may be tapped fromv the hear' h E z 5 are subjected to further treatment in the usual manner, or thejmatte may be treated again by my process. Y The gases and f u mes passing through the condenser C are met by sprays of water inthe chambers l andwand are then 3o drawn ot by the fan o and discharged intoa series of .bags q where the remaining solid matter is collected, while the gases pass throughl the pores.v The water sprayed into the cham' berslandn absorbs-the sulphurous acid in the 35 gases and the. greater part of the solid matter,

more or less of which is dissolved by the sulphurousacid,particularlyzinc,whilesomezinc sulphite forms an insoluble hydrate and is c01- lected with' the sediment, which may also con- 4o`tain -oxide ef lead', sulphate of lead, &c. 'The water from the chambers land n collects in the gutter at the bottom of the chamber land carrieswith it the sediment into a cistern r (shown in dotted lines at bottom of condenser).

The sediment is separated from the liquid by "filtration cr by il'ter presses and the clear -liquid pumped`-back into` the condenser until a suicient concentration.oliv the salts is reached, when it is Ypumped into tanks/for.

crystallization.- The sedimentcollected-from the condenser and from thebags may be fur- ,.ther treated in any suitable manner for extractingsuch'preciousmetals asmay be contained therein, and for producing therefrom pure lead,zinco r oxides of the same. Sul,-

phates or sulphites may be calcine'd in the Itis evident that according to the nature of the materials to be treated and of the products to be obtained one or more ofthe various step'sabove described forcarry'ingout my invention may be omitted, such as blowing inteY the matte, collecting the fumes, or collecting vprecious metals ina lead bath. By my process I am enabled to smelt ores containing sulphur withoutY previous roasting.

It will be "noticed that in my process the gases, fuel andmaterial to be smelted travel in the same directionV in the stack, andare subjected withinvthe stack to the action of air blast'at two different levels, and the gases are separated at"the bottom from the moltenA mass, as distinguished from other well known processes where the lgases and solid matter travel inopposite directions, and where the Agases are separated at the top from the fresh charge. 1

W'hat I claim as my invention is- The process of treating materialscon'taining volatile or non-volatile metal and sulphur, which consists-in exposing such materials while descending in astack together wit-h fuel to the action of air blast at two different levels, causing the gaseous products of combustion to travel downward with the descending maand molten mass below lboth air -blasts and after exposure tothe second and lower air blast, substantially as described; Inftestimony whereof I have hereunto set 4my handthis 19th day of April,A. D. 1893. I ROBERT- F. N ENNINGER. Witnesses:

' A. FABER DU FAUR, Jr.,

-KLAS, H. 'Ilumvs'rnnu 8s terialsand separating them from the charge

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