Advanced solutions for productive pyroprocessing

Pyroprocessing is a broad team that refers to any high-temperature process used to treat materials. This may be the thermal treatment of minerals and metallurgical ores (pyrometallurgy) but also includes processes such as cement production, the processing of spent nuclear fuel, ceramics production, and brick making. 

Pyrometallurgy is a field within extractive metallurgy that describes the thermal treatment (pyroprocessing) of ores and concentrates to facilitate the recovery of valuable metals and minerals. Key pyrometallurgical processes include calcining, roasting, smelting, and refining. 

Pyroprocessing works by heating materials to high temperatures, typically over 800°C, to induce chemical or physical changes in the material. In pyrometallurgical processes, this thermal treatment allows extraction of valuable metals and minerals from certain ores and concentrates. 

Ores requiring pyroprocessing – or pyrometallurgical processing – include hematite and magnetite iron ores, chalcopyrite and bornite copper ores, sphalerite zinc ores, cassiterite tin ores, galena lead ores, laterite and sulphide nickel ores, and spodumene lithium ore (roasted).

FLS supplies a range of pyroprocessing equipment, including flash dryers and heaters, gas suspension calciners, rotary kilns, shaft kilns, multiple hearth furnaces, rotary dryers, and smelting and refining technologies, such as Pierce-Smith converters, anode furnaces, ladle/transfer cars, and ladle tilters.