Authors: C. Walker, S. Kashani-Nejad, A.D. Dalvi, N. Voermann, I.M. Candy and B. Wasmund
European Metallurgical Conference, EMC 2009, Innsbruck, Austria, June 2009
Abstract
A paper by Walker et al. [1] at the 2008 ALTA conference presented a future RKEF ferronickel
facility that would utilize a high capacity (240 t/h calcine, 120 MW) rectangular electric furnace
and the most productive rotary kilns available to date. At the time, kiln capacity did not match the
furnace capacity and to support the operation of two 120 MW furnaces, three rotary kilns were proposed.
This paper reviews recent developments in kiln technology and combines FLSmidth Inc. and
Polysius AG plans for higher kiln capacity together with the high capacity furnace concepts developed
earlier. The result is a smelter utilizing one kiln and one furnace which treats 240 t/h of calcine
and produces 36,000 t/y of Ni contained in ferronickel from ore containing 2% Ni. Such a
plant, with the minimum number of large operating units, would achieve minimum capital and operating
costs per tonne of ferronickel production. The plant could also be twinned to double the
capacity to 72,000 t/y of nickel. The technological improvements outlined in this paper would substantially
reduce the capital and operating costs of nickel laterite facilities, and would significantly
improve their productivity, energy efficiency and environmental performance compared to the existing
operations. Furthermore, many of the concepts presented could be retrofitted to kilns and
furnaces in existing RKEF plants to achieve the benefits discussed.
