pyrometrii

Pyrometrii, the term used for pyrometallurgy, refers to the branch of extractive metallurgy that uses high-temperature processes to extract and purify metals from ores, concentrates, and scrap. The core operations typically include roasting or calcination to drive off volatiles and convert materials to oxides or sulfides, followed by smelting to reduce oxides to metal, and refining or converting to achieve a desired composition and form. Fire-based refining may follow smelting, using oxidation and reduction to remove impurities.

Common equipment includes furnaces designed for high-temperature processing, such as blast furnaces, reverberatory furnaces, and smelting reactors. In practice, various processes are used for different metals: copper production often begins with roasting and smelting of sulfide concentrates to produce matte copper, then refining to blister and finally to copper metal; ironmaking uses coke-driven reduction in a blast furnace to produce pig iron, which is converted and refined into steel. Other metals such as nickel, zinc, lead, and tin are produced through related pyrometallurgical routes like smelting and refining.

Environmental and economic considerations are central to modern pyrometallurgy. The processes are energy-intensive and generate slag and gaseous emissions (for example SO2 and CO2). Modern plants employ gas cleaning, energy recovery, and process integration to reduce environmental impact. Pyrometallurgy is typically contrasted with hydrometallurgy (aqueous chemical methods) and electrometallurgy (electrolytic methods), though combined approaches are common in contemporary mining and refining operations.