Monitoring, repair, and safety practices for electric furnace matte tapping

Abstract

The smelter at Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, located in Sudbury, Ontario, operates a single AC electric furnace. This furnace treats nickel sulphide concentrates produced by Glencore and third-party feeds, and as such its performance is critical to the company's nickel supply chain. Currently the plant has two shutdowns per year in order to carry out significant repairs on the matte tap-holes. Improved monitoring systems that enable better prediction of tap-hole wear have been a continued focus. The electric furnace is an essential part of the smelter flow sheet, requiring planned tap-hole maintenance together with robust systems to manage to this plan. The ability to meet our goal of zero harm depends on ensuring that safe practices are in place. Detailed procedures and cool-down practices have been implemented to ensure that the required matte chemistry and temperature criteria are met prior to a shutdown for tap-block maintenance. A major repair of the furnace will take place in 2015. During this rebuild, the sidewalls and matte endwall will be replaced. There is work underway to improve wall and matte end performance in an attempt to extend the time between rebuilds. This paper reviews the approach taken.