Extractive Metallurgy Division - Autogenous Roasting of Low Grade Zinc Concentrate in Multiple Hearth Furnaces at Risdon, Tasmania

The operations of the Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australasia Ltd. involve the preliminary roasting of zinc concentrate from Broken Hill, New South wales, at a number of acid-making centers on the Australian mainland. The partially roasted material is shipped to the Tasmanian plant where it was formerly re-roasted prior to leaching,' but this practice was gradually abandoned in favor of the flotation of leach residue for the recovery of a concentrate containing about 22 pct sulphide sulphur and known as secontlary or Risdon concentrate.2 This change, together with increased zinc production, called for new furnaces at Risdon for the roasting of 10-50 tonst of secondary concentrcite and 90 tons of new concentrate per day. The war situation made it imperative that construction be commenced without delay and to save time it was decided to base the design on that of Skinner type furnaces which had been built in South Australia twenty years earlier. This involved some sacrifice of desirable features but did not prevent the incorporation of provisions which had enabled small Herreshoff type furnaces to roast secondary concentrate autogenously. The roasting rate in existing furnaces was 10-12 Ib sulphide sulphur per sq ft of hearth area per day, and eleven hearths, 20 ft in diam, were provided in the two new furnaces in anticipation that they would prove capable of the autogenous roasting of 130-140 tons of concentrate per day from 28-29 pct sulphur down to 4.5-5 pct, with an oxidation rate of 11-11.5 lh S/S per sq ft of hearth area per day. It was soon realized, when the first of the furnaces went into operation, that a much better performance than this might be given, and the purpose of this paper is to show how a treatment rate of 100 tons per furnace day, and oxidation rates approaching 15 lb S/S per sq ft per day have been reached. Furnace Design General specifications for the design were based on the results of experience with several other types of furnace and on the special operating conditions