Method and the results of investigating the energy effectiveness of firing an anode furnace

The aim of an anode furnace is to melt and preheat the charge (blister or converter copper and copper scrap) to the required temperature and to refine it in order to obtain anode copper. The control system of firing the anode furnace ought to warrant a minimization of the consumption of fuel, meeting however, the requirements concerning the furnace atmosphere and overpressure. In the conditions of an anode furnace it is most convenient to evaluate the effectiveness of the process of firing, basing on the degree of fuel utilization, which expresses the ratio of heat passed by the combustion gases into the furnace chamber to the consumption of the chemical energy of fuels. The paper contains an algorithm of determining the degree of fuel utilization (a measure of the energy effectiveness of firing the anode furnace) making use of the least squares adjustment method. The results of coordinating the balances of substances and calculations of the energy characteristics for all the phases of the operations of an anode furnace in one of the Polish copper mills have been presented.