05/6/2004 -
Extractive Metallurgy of Copper, Fourth Edition (2002)
edited by W.G. Davenport, M. King, M. Schlesinger, and A.K. Biswas
ISBN 0-08-044029-0. Pergamon, New York. 2002. Hardcover. 452 pages. $120.
The fourth edition of this classic book has been eagerly anticipated since the previous edition in 1994. The copper industry has changed in the intervening years, and this volume accounts for these by changing the contents accordingly. For example, the Ausmelt /Isasmelt process which was emerging in the previous volume, now has its own chapter, whilst diminishing processes like electric and reverberatory furnaces are relegated to an Appendix.
The layout of the volume follows the previous editions with the chapters in the same order as a copper production flowsheet. Pyrometallurgical processes form about half the volume due to their predominance in copper production. The increasing use of hydrometallurgical processes is reflected by an increase in the space devoted to them compared with the previous edition. The remaining quarter of the book consists of chapters on the concentration of ores, production, environmental aspects, recycling, an overview of the economics of copper and a very comprehensive index.
The pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy parts are preceded by fairly short chapters which cover the chemical and physical principles upon which the commercial processes are based. These chapters could usefully be expanded to give a more thorough coverage of the principles thereby making the volume a bit more accessible to undergraduate students.
There are chapters on the four major smelting technologies, Outokumpu, Inco, Noranda, and Ausmelt/Isasmelt. These are all similarly structured with descriptions of the furnace, typical operation and control strategies, impurity deportment, and future trends. The furnace description is comprehensive and gives detailed construction data about refractories, burners, tapholes and gas offtake arrangements. Operation and production data is presented for smelters from around the world and these give a good overview of the range of operating conditions used. Although each chapter has its own summary, it would be nice to have a comparative summary of the four processes and their strengths and weaknesses.
After smelting comes converting, with chapters covering batch and continuous converting processing. The loss of copper in slag and its minimization is examined, and four different methods are discussed. The increasingly important direct smelting to copper and the Mitsubishi continuous smelting and converting processes are then examined. Again, these chapters have a similar arrangement to those covering smelting.
After the chapters covering the processing of sulphides to metal are completed, the crucial subject of capture and fixation of sulphur in the off gases is examined in considerable detail. A range of options are discussed, although acid production is predicted to remain as the major process.
The crude metal is then fire refined, and a chapter discusses the chemistry of the process, the choice of hydrocarbon and subsequent casting into anodes. The final purification of the metal is discussed in an electrorefining chapter covering principles and operational practices.
Three chapters then cover the increasingly important hydrometallurgical route of leaching, solvent extraction, and electrorefining. Each chapter has a short introduction to the process followed by sections which briefly cover principles and more extensive information about practical applications. Five heap leach operations have detailed design and operating data presented for all three stages of the process. These give an excellent overview of the typical parameters considered in hydrometallurgical copper recovery and the interdependency of the leach,
Purification, and recovery stages. The economically important treatment of anode slimes is placed in an appendix.
The recycling of copper has been split into two chapters, collection/processing and chemical metallurgy. The first chapter examines the material cycle for copper, grading of scrap, and physical treatments required before reprocessing. The chemistry and actual processing of secondary copper is covered in the second chapter. The final, refined metal can then be melted and cast into a suitable product for final sale. The technology and equipment for melting and casting are discussed in a short chapter along with the grades and quality of the products.
The final chapter discusses the economics of copper production covering the range of technology contained within the book. The production costs are mainly for the pyrometallurgical route, but the hydrometallurgical route is covered in less detail. The effects of ore grade and process choice are examined from an economic viewpoint and areas where cost savings may be made are identified.
All chapters have further readings recommended in addition to specific references. The references are primarily from the proceedings of the Copper ’99 conference. The importance of the quadrennial Copper conferences is clear, and the foreword directs readers to the proceedings of Copper ’03 for more recent updates.
In summary, this is an excellent book which needs to be on the shelf of anyone working in the extractive metallurgy of copper. The volume is extremely comprehensive and gives an excellent overview of the complete range of processes currently used in copper production. Probably the only weakness is the shortness of the chapters on the principles of pyro and hydrometallurgy.
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