Radiometric Temperature Measurement of Copper Concentrates in Flash Smelting Conditions Simulated at Laboratory Scale Coupled With a Macroscopic Chemical Reaction Model and Automated Mineralogical Characterization

The study of flash combustion of copper concentrates has been traditionally approached from the phenomenological perspective by describing the physicochemical transformation at the particle level. Few works have focused on analyzing and modeling the behavior of flames produced by a cloud of particles under equivalent flash smelting furnace conditions. The present work aims to demonstrate the ability of non-invasive optoelectronic instrumentation to determine the temperature of the flame formed in a copper concentrate burner in flash smelting conditions at laboratory scale with a Drop Tube furnace. The temperatures measured with the optoelectronic system (Radiometric Temperature) were compared with the temperature obtained by the mass and heat transfer balance through global reactions of a set industrial copper concentrates (Measured Temperature). According to the mineral-chemical characterization of flash smelting products at a laboratory scale made with an automated mineralogy equipment, the radiometric temperatures are highly correlated with those calculated through the macroscopic chemical reaction model.