FLASH SMELTING - A WORLD BEATING FINNISH PROCESS.

The normally separate roasting and smelting rections are replaced by combined roasting, smelting, and partial converting in one furnace. The furnace consists of three sections - reaction shaft, settler, and uptake. The dried concentrate is burned in finely divided suspension in the shaft of the furnace and the heat generated by the exothermic reactions can be used for smelting the charge. The high grade of the matte makes the converter blowing time shorter which means that the size or number of the converters can be reduced compared to conventional smelters. Two ihnerent characteristics of the process are energy economy and minimum sulfur emissions.