Boliden Harjavalta

Acid Plant Database March 1, 2011

Owner	Boliden Harjavalta Oy
Location	Suurteollisuuspuisto Industrial Park Harjavalta Finland
Background	Formerly - Outokumpu Oy 1944 - Copper factory moved from Imatra to Harjavalta 1945 - Start of the Outokumpu copper factory 1947 - Start up of the Kemira sulphuric acid plant 2004 - Boliden Harjavalta Oy founded
Website	www.boliden.se
Plant	Harjavalta Smelter
	R5	R6	R7
Coordinates*	61º 19' 4" N, 22º 6' 57" E (site)
Type of Plant	Liquid SO₂ Plant	Metallurgical	Metallurgical
Gas Source	Copper - Outotec (Outokumpu) Flash Furnace and Pierce-Smith Converters Nickel - Outotec Flash Furnace Direct Outokumpu Nickel (DON) Process Flash Furnace Gas (Combined): 27.5% SO₂, 0.6% SO₃, 7.6% O₂, 54.9% N₂, 5.7% H₂O, 4.4% CO₂ Copper Converter Gas: 7.7% SO₂, 0.04% SO₃, 13.3% O₂, 77.9% N₂, 1.0% H₂O, 0.1% CO₂
Plant Capacity	4500 MTPA⁽¹⁾ Inlet GCL: 75,000 Nm³/h to gas cleaning	500 MTPD⁽¹⁾ Inlet GCL: 45,000 Nm³/h Inlet Converter: 69,400 Nm³/h, 8.5-13.5% SO₂	1230 MTPD⁽¹⁾ Inlet GCL: 126,000 Nm³/h Inlet Converter: 194,000 Nm³/h, 6.8-12% SO₂
SA/DA	-	DA	DA
Emissions	-	SO₂: 1.6 kg/MT	SO₂: 0.7 kg/MT
Status	Operating	Operating	Operating
Year Built	-	-	1995
Technology	-	MECS	MECS
Contractors	-	-	-
Remarks	Hg removal process (Thiosulphate) on flash smelting gas stream only		-
	Total Heat Recovery: 50 MW⁽¹⁾
Pictures
General	Boliden Harjavalta comprises two plants – the smelter in Harjavalta, which produces anode copper, and the refinery in Pori, where copper anodes are refined into copper cathodes. At the Harjavalta smelter Boliden Harjavalta also carries out nickel smelting on a tolling basis. The cities Harjavalta and Pori are situated on the western coast of Finland and are at some 30 kilometers' distance from each other. The number of personnel is approximately 415. The company has a long and creditable tradition starting from the first copper smelter, established in eastern Finland in 1936. It was transferred to Harjavalta during the final stages of the World War II. Today's most used metal recovery method, the flash smelting method, was developed at Harjavalta and implemented in 1949. The copper refinery in Pori has been operating since 1941. The Harjavalta copper smelter has the nominal annual capacity of 160,000 tonnes of copper. Most of the copper produced is cast into copper anodes for further refining into pure copper cathodes. Sulphur is recovered and sold as sulphuric products. The nickel smelter of Boliden Harjavalta, operating on a tolling basis, produces nickel matte for customer needs. The copper anodes are transported by train from Harjavalta to the copper refinery in Pori to be refined into cathodes. The nominal annual capacity of the copper refinery is 125,000 tonnes. Besides copper cathodes, the copper refinery produces e.g. gold and silver.
References	(1) Kuivala, A., Poijärvi, J. and Virtamen, H., "Expansion of Outokumpu Copper Production\|, Copper 95-Cobre 95 International Conference, Volume III - Electrorefining and Hydrometallurgy of Copper, pp. 59-69. (2) Proposal for Deletion of Hot Spot No. 7: Outokumpu Harjavalta Metals Oy, Harjavalta Plant, March 7, 2003
News	January 30, 2009 - The prevailing weak market situation is causing Boliden to implement a reduction in copper metal production at its smelters in Sweden and Finland in the first quarter. "This is an extreme situation that affects the whole industry, and it is hard to predict how the market is going to develop. The demand for copper and the by-product sulphuric acid is weak," says Svante Nilsson, SVP for Business Area Market. The reduction, which will be implemented with immediate effect, will see copper metal production cut by approximately 17,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2009.

MTPD - Metric Tonne per Day STPD - Short Ton per Day
MTPA - Metric Tonne per Annum STPA - Short Ton per Annum
SA - Single Absorption
DA - Double Absorption

* Coordinates can be used to locate plant on Google Earth


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