Aspects concerning the formation of flue dust in the primary copper industry

While valuable elements such as copper and precious metals primarily remain in the heavier, denser products, others such as zinc and lead preferably accumulate in the lighter dust fraction. The deteriorating ore concentrate quality also leads to the introduction of new elements to the copper production system which can cause problems in the process control as well as in the handling of environmentally toxic compounds [1].

This paper explains the formation of flue dust and sets a focus on the differentiation between a physical and a chemical fraction. While mechanically carried along particles form the first section, latter one can be explained in a different way. Due to the high process temperature in primary copper smelting furnaces, certain compounds evaporate and recondense in the following off-gas system.