Authors: S. Broek, B. Rogers
The Minerals Society, San Francisco, February 17, 2009
Abstract
In this paper, the sulfur balance in a modern prebake type smelter is shown. From this we learn how sulfur is released and where it makes most sense to use technology to reduce future emissions. While sulfur emissions occur at various points in a smelter operation, this paper focuses on the abatement of emissions in the cell fumes where the sulfur emission is in the form of sulfur dioxide (SO2). Why additional equipment is needed to achieve low SO2 emissions is discussed. Then a brief review is presented whether the additional equipment should use a dry injection/scrubbing process or a wet scrubbing process.
Finally,
the paper examines wet scrubbing processes and reviews some of the available technologies in this category. This paper is intended to provide an informative overview on this particular aspect of smelter operations.
