Oxygen removal from blister copper by copper oxide formation

Abstract

In this study, an alternative approach is proposed to remove oxygen from blister copper through copper oxide formation. The addition of fl uxes promotes both the copper oxide formation and oxygen reduction in molten copper. Fundamental aspects of this proposed process are described in this article. Three different fl uxes (Na 2 O-SiO 2 , CaO-Na 2 O, and FeO-Na 2 O-SiO 2 ) were tested at the laboratory scale. This work showed encouraging results with oxygen in copper being reduced to industrial specifications without the conventional hydrocarbon reduction step. This approach could be used industrially to remove oxygen from blister copper prior to anode casting and points to a new concept in deoxygenation of copper.