Sustainable Mining and Metallurgy

Aiming at the problem that the refractory material loss of a precious metal smelting electric furnace is too fast, which greatly affects the production efficiency, a three-dimensional multi-physical field coupling simulation model was constructed to simulate and analyze the electromagnetic field and temperature field in the electric arc furnace, so as to clarify the heat transfer mechanism in the smelting electric arc furnace and optimize its water cooling design. By comparing the calculation results of Maxwell and Comsol electromagnetic field simulation software, the accuracy of the calculation was ensured. The results show that the magnetic induction intensity on both sides of the electrode is the largest in the upper part of the molten pool electrode, and gradually decreases from the inside to the outside. In the lower part of the molten pool electrode, the magnetic induction intensity gradually increases from the inside to the outside. The heating power density is mainly concentrated in the electrode area, and the heating power in the molten pool accounts for about 98% of the total heating power. The furnace wall temperature gradually decreases with the increase of the distance between the furnace wall and the molten pool. Aiming at the problem of high temperature on the upper outer wall of the copper water jacket, a solution to optimize the design of the copper water jacket was proposed. By increasing the distance between the two copper water jackets, the temperature of the local high point of the furnace wall is reduced from 452℃ to 277℃, and the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the water jacket cooling water is increased by 9.45%, which reduces the consumption of refractory materials and enhances the production efficiency.