Pyrometallurgy, the branch of extractive metallurgy that utilizes heat to extract and purify metals, relies on a variety of furnaces designed to achieve the high temperatures and controlled atmospheric conditions necessary for chemical transformations. 1 These furnaces are engineered to handle different types of ores and processes, from initial thermal treatments to final metal refining (Hydrometallurgy and Pyrometallurgy Battery Recycling | SK Tes, n.d.).
Below are the types (families) of furnaces used in pyrometallurgy:
Shaft Furnace: These are vertical furnaces with the charge added at the top and removed at the bottom, while gas is blown into the bottom and exits the top. The solid charge must consist of particles coarse enough that they will not be blown out of the furnace by the gas. An iron ore blast furnace is a typical example of a shaft furnace.
Muffle Furnace: This type of furnace is used when the material being heated should not be contaminated by the heating fuel. This is accomplished by enclosing the material in a chamber, with the fuel burned outside of the chamber.
Hearth Furnace: Hearth furnaces allow the burning fuel to come in contact with the material being heated. This allows very high temperatures to be reached. This type of furnace includes reverberatory furnaces and rotary kilns.
Electric Furnace : Electric furnaces heat the charge by running a massive electrical current through it (the larger furnaces use approximately 20,000 amps at 50 to 500 volts). These work by immersing electrodes in the charge.
What other furnace is used for pyrometallurgical processes? Comment below!
Reference:
Hydrometallurgy and Pyrometallurgy Battery Recycling | SK tes. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://www.sktes.com/news/the-difference-between-hydrometallurgy-and-pyrometallurgy
