The smelter building at Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex, Iran, houses two reverberatory furnaces and five Pierce-Smith converters. Under normal operating conditions SO2 emissions fill the building, posing a major health problem for all workers in the building, and reducing their ability to maintain the plant._x000D_
The converter fume extraction system was analysed using plant measurements, engineering modelling of the entire system and CFD modelling of the extraction hoods._x000D_
By applying fundamental engineering concepts, a user-interactive computer program was developed that enabled plant engineers and operators to gain a detailed understanding of the system. In conjunction with plant measurements, the model quantified the amount of inleakage throughout the system, identifying it as a significant contributor to the poor extraction performance. Furthermore, it enabled investigation of the effects of hood gates, converters on line, hood dampers, flue insulation, electrostatic precipitator (ESP) operation, and inclusion of an acid plant. The model gave unprecedented insight into the operation of a counterintuitive buoyancy-driven extraction system._x000D_
FORMAL CITATION:Solnordal, C, Witt, P, Manzoori, A, Namavari, H, Niknejad, E and Davari, M, 2004. Whole-of-system analysis using CFD to reduce emissions of fugitives gases inside a copper smelter building, in Proceedings Metallurgical Plant Design and Operating Strategies 2004, pp 277-296 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).