Center of Engineering Maintenance of Production, Polar Division of “Norilsk Nickel” MMC, Norilsk, Russia

A. N. Maslovskiy, Processing Engineer
N. V. Negrey, Chief Specialist
A. I. Yurev, Executive Officer, e-mail: yurevai@nk.nornik.ru

Nickel Plant, Polar Division of “Norilsk Nickel” MMC, Norilsk, Russia

A. N. Smirnov, Chief Engineer of Smelting Shop

Industrial testings confirmed the possibility of usage of ash slags, formed from the combustion of Kayerkan coal strip mine hardcoal, as fluxing agent in content of ore-thermal smelting charge. Content of oxides, aluminosilicate and considerable content of silicon oxide in ash slags made it possible to consider their usage in the composition of ore-thermal smelting charge as fluxing agent. At the same time, complex chemical composition of ash slags had not earlier made it possible to make a prior conclusion about their influence on the smelting process during their involving into processing as fluxing agent. In connection with this, the smelting shop of Nickel Plant carried out the industrial testings for estimation of possibility of application of ash slags of gas-generating plant in the content of charge of ore-thermal furnace as fluxing agent. Ratio of weight fraction of ash slags to sandstone has been previously defined by calculation method for the purpose of carrying out of researches from the percentage of SiO₂ in fluxing materials. Burdening of fluxing components was carried out from ingrained ore and sandstone with ash slags of gas-generating plant in the ratio of sandstone+ash slags:ingrained ore ≈ 1:1. The smelting process was carried out according to the technological instruction of production stage on processing of ore raw materials and aglomerate in ore-thermal furnace of smelting plant of Nickel Plant. There is substantiated that qualitative indices of smelting products do not become worsen by the replacement of sandstone, which is used nowadays as slag-diluting flux in ore-thermal smelting process, with ash slags, containing 30% of SiO₂, 10% of Al₂O₃ and 35% of C in the ratio of 1:20. This substantiation makes it possible to do the following operations:
— involving the anthropogenic raw materials, which make a negative anthropogenic influence on all elements of environment, into the secondary processing;
— decreasing of specific consumption of sandstone.
These operations are very important for increasing of ecological and economic efficiency of metallurgical industry.

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