Arc furnace smeltering system & method

Abstract

An industrial scale smelting system that processes large quantities of ore in a production manner for recovery of a plurality of elements in useful quantities using a furnace system and a plurality of electrowinning processes with the option of raw material recovery and recirculation capabilities.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of using a smelting system comprising a furnace system and an electrowinning system for extracting elements from ore, comprising the steps of:
 obtaining ore comprising a plurality of different elements and/or comprising a plurality of different naturally occurring element compounds;   preparing the ore for transportation and input into the smelting system;   inputting at least one feed chemical into the furnace system;   inputting the prepared ore into the furnace system;   heating the ore and the at least one feed chemical in the furnace system to convert the plurality of different elements and/or the plurality of naturally occurring element compounds in the inputted ore into a corresponding plurality of different chemical compounds utilizing the input feed chemical;   outputting the different chemical compounds from said furnace system into the electrowinning system comprising a plurality of electrowinning tanks, wherein each one of said electrowinning tanks is configured to extract a different desired element from a different subset of the different chemical compounds output by the furnace;   operating each one of the electrowinning tanks to extract the desired element in each respective electrowinning tank; and   outputting the desired elements each from an output of a respective one of the electrowinning tanks.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said different chemicals output by said furnace system are input into each one of the electrowinning tanks in series. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said electrowinning system releases the feed chemical or a compound thereof for recirculation in the smelting system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said feed chemical converts the plurality of different elements and/or the plurality of naturally occurring element compounds in the inputted ore into a corresponding plurality of different chemical compounds that are chemical salts of the element compounds. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said feed chemical includes chlorine for converting the plurality of different elements and/or the plurality of naturally occurring element compounds in the inputted ore into a corresponding plurality of different chemical compounds that are chloride salts. 
     
     
         6 . The smelting system of  claim 5  wherein the feed chemical including chlorine is provided by a chlorinating subsystem, which recirculates chlorine provided from the electrowinning subsystem. 
     
     
         7 . The smelting system of  claim 6 , wherein said chlorinating subsystem includes a chloralkyli chloride generator. 
     
     
         8 . The smelting system of  claim 6 , wherein said chlorinating subsystem includes a water condensation section. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said furnace system is comprised of a first furnace configured to receive the prepared ore comprising a plurality of the element oxides and receiving a first feed chemical including hydrogen for stripping a substantial portion of the oxygen from the oxides for outputting a plurality of different elements; and wherein said furnace system is also comprised of a second furnace for receiving the plurality of different elements and receiving a second feed chemical for outputting the plurality of different chemical compounds that are chemical salts of the various elements to the electrowinning system. 
     
     
         10 . The smelting system of  claim 1 , wherein the prepared ore is input into the furnace system as a liquefied feed stock. 
     
     
         11 . A method of using a smelting system comprising a furnace system and an electrowinning system for extracting elements from ore, comprising the steps of:
 obtaining ore comprising a plurality of different elements and/or comprising a plurality of different naturally occurring element compounds;   preparing the ore for transportation and input into the smelting system;   inputting at least one feed chemical into the furnace system;   inputting the prepared ore into the furnace system;   heating the ore and the at least one feed chemical in the furnace system to convert the plurality of different elements and/or the plurality of naturally occurring element compounds in the inputted ore into a corresponding plurality of different chemical compounds utilizing the input feed chemical;   outputting the different chemical compounds from said furnace system into the electrowinning system comprising a plurality of electrowinning tanks provided in series, wherein said electrowinning tanks are configured to extract the different elements from respective chemical compounds output by the furnace;   operating each one of the electrowinning tanks to extract the different elements; and   outputting the different elements separate from each other from respective outputs of the electrowinning tanks.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said electrowinning system releases the feed chemical or a compound thereof for recirculation in the smelting system. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said feed chemical converts the plurality of different elements and/or the plurality of naturally occurring element compounds in the inputted ore into a corresponding plurality of different chemical compounds that are chemical salts of the element compounds. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said feed chemical includes chlorine for converting the plurality of different elements and/or the plurality of naturally occurring element compounds in the inputted ore into a corresponding plurality of different chemical compounds that are chloride salts. 
     
     
         15 . The smelting system of  claim 14  wherein the feed chemical including chlorine is provided by a chlorinating subsystem, which recirculates chlorine provided from the electrowinning subsystem. 
     
     
         16 . The smelting system of  claim 14 , wherein said chlorinating subsystem includes a chloralkyli chloride generator. 
     
     
         17 . The smelting system of  claim 14 , wherein said chlorinating subsystem includes a water condensation section. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said furnace system is comprised of a first furnace configured to receive the prepared ore comprising a plurality of the element oxides and receiving a first feed chemical including hydrogen for stripping a substantial portion of the oxygen from the oxides for outputting a plurality of different elements; and wherein said furnace system is also comprised of a second furnace for receiving the plurality of different elements and receiving a second feed chemical for outputting the plurality of different chemical compounds that are chemical salts of the various elements to the electrowinning system. 
     
     
         19 . The smelting system of  claim 11 , wherein the prepared ore is input into the furnace system as a liquefied feed stock. 
     
     
         20 . A method of using a smelting system comprising a furnace system and an electrowinning system for extracting elements from ore, comprising the steps of:
 obtaining ore comprising a plurality of different elements and/or comprising a plurality of different naturally occurring element compounds;   preparing the ore for transportation and input into the smelting system;   inputting at least one feed chemical into the furnace system;   inputting the prepared ore into the furnace system;   heating the ore and the at least one feed chemical in the furnace system to convert the plurality of different elements and/or the plurality of naturally occurring element compounds in the inputted ore into a corresponding plurality of different chemical salts utilizing the input feed chemical;   outputting the different chemical salts from said furnace system into the electrowinning system comprising a plurality of electrowinning tanks provided in series, wherein said electrowinning tanks are configured to extract the different elements from respective chemical salts output by the furnace;   operating each one of the electrowinning tanks to extract the different elements;   extracting the feed chemical from additional material output from said electrowinning system for use for the inputting of the feed chemical into the furnace system; and   outputting the different elements separate from each other from respective outputs of a the electrowinning tanks.   
     
     
         21 . A method of extracting elements from an ore, comprising the steps of:
 pulverizing an ore containing a plurality of intermixed metallic elements and/or metal alloys;   heating the metallic elements and/or metal alloys to convert at least some of the elements into a respective salt of each one of the metallic elements and/or constituents of the metal alloys;   outputting the salts into an electrowinning subsystem; and   electrowinning the salts using the electrowinning subsystem in a manner to chemically break down the salts into the respective metallic elements separated from each other for output by the electrowinning system.