During copper smelting, metallic accretions grow on the waste heat boiler ’s (WHB) walls. They are created due to the accumulation of flue dust particles suspended in the process off-gas with a rapid temperature drop from about 1400 to 350oC. Flue dust and accretions are made of compounds that resemble very rare minerals or new, undescribed phases. This association might prove vital in recreating conditions characteristic of the WHB, which could provide data necessary to improve the metal extraction process. In order to reach this goal, a number of flue dust and accretion samples were examined. SEM microscopy combined with MLA mapping and XRD analysis were used to identify the phase composition and structure of flue dust and accretion samples. Several copper and iron oxides (e.g. delafossite CuFeO2 and spinels) were identified. The samples examined are abundant in sulphates, including anhydrite, langbeinite and various copper-bearing components. Arsenates with copper and/or aluminium cations were identified as well. The analysed phase association shows similarities to minerals present in fumaroles. Some phases like alarsite Al(AsO4) or kamchatkite KCu3(SO4)2OCl are characteristic of a volcanic field on Kamchatka. The results of this study allow to observe the relation-ships between fumarolic phases and to describe the conditions in the WHB.
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