Designing Smelting Furnaces to Meet Process Requirements

Pyrometallurgical furnaces are not conventional structures that fall directly under a single designDesign code. Engineering companies attempt to apply appropriate safety factors for stresses and temperatures to vessel shells, refractoryRefractories, and cooling elements. The furnaceFurnace components must be designed to function together to avoid plastic deformation, erosionErosion, corrosionCorrosion, and fracture. Thermal cycling, intense heat loads, and required designDesign loads are not typically found in design handbooks or codes. The loads can vary significantly as the refractory lining wears. Historical analysisAnalysis of vessel performance under similar operating conditions and processesProcess are key for developing design loads and limits for heat, stress, corrosionCorrosion, and movement. Advancements made in furnace designDesign over the past several decades are highlighted.