Research Of Prolonging Life Span Of Zinc Refining Column

The output of Zinc ingots,which was NO.1 in the world,was 1950kt in 2000.The main way of smelting Zinc is hydromeltallurgy,but the ISP(Imperial Smelting Process)is still very important,because this technology has good adaptability to the material.It is suitable to deal with mixture material which is difficult to be separated. ISP is adopted by Shaoguan Smelter.67%out put is Zinc.At present,the annual output of Shaoguan Smelter is 150kt/a.Zinc refining column is key equipment in Zinc refining.The life span of the column has influence to the production efficiency and cost.In our country,it is not so long as that of some developed countries.This paper analyses the factors which have influence to the life span of Zinc refining column.They are the stability of materical feeding,the stability of temperature in combustion chamber,the hitches during production and the efficiency of eliminating the hitches and so on. A series transforms have been done to increase the life span.A balance equipment is used to stablee the material feeding.Simulating the column can improve its structure. Improving the quality of gas is adopted to stable the temprature in combustion chamber.Special chutesare used to prevent liquid Zinc from seeping into combustion chamber.Condenser and caft formed bricks were transformed to decrease the hitches.Adding aluminium to materical as additive and using spray gun filled with guniting,the column with bad condition can be repaired in time.After great efforts,production has been stabled,hitches have been decreased.At the same time,the labour intensity has been decreased and working environment has been improved,automatic level has been increased .Output of zinc refining column haas been increased by 18% per column in per day.Life span of lead column has been increased from 17 months to 27 months and that of cadmium column has been increased from 20 months to 24 months.Grent progress has been made.