Influence of Slag Viscosity on Copper Matte Entrainment Volume by a Rising Bubble Through Immiscible Liquids Interface

In the settlement zone of the copper smeltingCopper smelting furnace, SO2 bubblesSO2 bubbles will be generated due to the insufficient oxidization of copper matte concentrate by injected oxygen-rich air in the reaction zone, entailing mass transfer in the liquid–liquid system by a rising bubbleRising bubble penetrating through the liquid–liquid interface. Different operating conditions between the bottom blown furnace and side blown furnace lead to different slag and matte viscosityViscosity. To investigate the copper smeltingCopper smelting slag viscositySlag viscosity effect on the matte entrainmentMatte entrainment volume, cold model experiments using high-speed imaging techniques and high-temperature experiments were carried out. Results show that the lower liquid entrainment volume increases with the decreasing upper liquid viscosityViscosity and increasing bubble size. Higher slag viscositySlag viscosity and more SO2 bubblesSO2 bubbles generated in the side blown furnace probably deteriorate the matte entrainmentMatte entrainment in the slag phase, while matte viscosityViscosity exerts slight influences due to the stable viscosityViscosity variation.