Boliden - Ronnskar

Acid Plant Database October 30, 2023

Owner	Boliden Mineral AB
Location	SE-932 81 Skelleftehamn Sweden
Background	Formerly - Outokumpu Oy
Website	www.boliden.se
Plant	Rönnskär Smelter
	Plant No. 1	Plant No. 2	Plant No. 3
Coordinates*	-	64° 40' 8" N, 21° 16' 26.5" E	64° 40' 9.5" N, 21° 16' 17.5" E
Type of Plant	Metallurgical
Gas Source	Copper - Fluid Bed Roaster - Outotec (Outokumpu) Flash Furnace - Electric Smelting Furnace - Converter Lead - Kaldo Plant
Hot Gas Cleaning	Roaster: Hot ESP - Evaporative Cooler - Bag House - Coolers Electric Smelting Furnace: Evaporative Cooler - Hot ESP Converters: ? - Waste Heat Boiler - Evaporative Cooler - Hot ESP Kaldo Plant: Scrubber - Fan
Wet Gas Cleaning	Mixing Tower - Washing Tower No. 1 and 2 (parallel) - Coolers (vertical shell and tube HX) - (Sulphuric Acid Plant) - Wet ESP - Dryer - Carbon Filters - (SO₂ Plant No. 1) - Wet ESP - Selenium Filter - (SO₂ Plant No. 2) - Wet ESP - Selenium Filter
Plant Capacity	Sulphuric Acid: 600,000 MTPA Liquid SO₂: 50,000 MTPA
SA/DA	SA	DA	DA
Status	Shutdown	Operating	Operating
Year Built	1953	1965	2000
Technology	-	-	-
Contractor	-	-	-
Remarks	-	1985 - plant converted to double absorption	-
	- SO₂ Plant No. 1: Built in 1971, 168 STPD - SO₂ Plant No. 2: Built in 1977, 384 STPD
Pictures
General	Liquid SO₂ plants associated with facility. No. 1 plant started in 1971. No. 2 plant replaces No. 1 plant in 1977. The Rönnskär smelter in northern Sweden extracts base metals and precious metals from concentrates of copper and lead as well as from recycled materials. It also extracts considerable amounts of zinc clinker and sulphur products. The smelter is an integrated metallurgical complex, which extracts high-purity metals at low cost and with minimal environmental impact. Proven technology combined with experienced personnel results in high availability. The main products are quality approved on the London Metal Exchange. Rönnskär is located in Skelleftehamn, approximately 20 kilometres east ot the town of Skellefteå in northern Sweden. The first copper ingot was cast in 1930. Today, Rönnskär is one of the largest copper smelters of its kind in the world. It is also one of the largest plants for the recovery of base metals and precious metals from recycled materials, such as electronic and metal scrap, residues and slag. The production capacity is 230,000 tpa of copper.
References	-
News	October 27, 2023 - Sweden-based Boliden has taken what it says is a significant step toward a greener future with the launch of Low-Carbon Sulphuric Acid. The new product increases Boliden’s collection of low-carbon offerings, joining the likes of Low-Carbon Zinc, Recycled Zinc, Low-Carbon Copper and Recycled Copper within the Green Transition Metals portfolio. Sven Hjelmstedt, Director Sales at Boliden, says: “Our long-term work with sustainability empowers Boliden and our clients to create products with significantly lower carbon footprints. We support our clients’ sustainability goals and support them in reducing their Scope 3 emissions, contributing to an improved environmental performance for their industries.” Low-Carbon Sulphuric Acid showcases Boliden’s strong commitment to sustainability, the company says. It has a minimal carbon footprint, measuring less than 25 kg of CO2 per tonne – well below the EU average. What sets Boliden apart is that the company produces sulphuric acid from the same raw materials used to produce metals using a green energy mix, making it highly resource and CO₂ efficient, compared with the majority of global sulphuric acid production, which mainly relies on raw materials from oil refining. Hjelmstedt added: “For clients, the benefits are twofold. Low-Carbon Sulphuric Acid helps reduce their carbon footprints while providing a sustainable product independent of fossil fuels. This is particularly valuable for industries reliant on sulphuric acid such as the global fertiliser and wood-based product industries.” December 13, 2018 - A metals company will expand capacity at a Swedish copper smelter that consumes substantial volumes of printed circuit boards.Sweden-headquartered Boliden announced it will invest 350 million Swedish krona (about $38.5 million) in its Rönnskär copper and lead smelter. The sprawling facility in northern Sweden produces copper, zink clinker, lead, silver and gold from virgin ore and a variety of recycled inputs, including scrap PCBs.Investments in the converter aisle and sulphuric acid plant in 2019 and 2020 will boost the facility’s capacity to process raw materials by 12 percent, according to Boliden. Commissioning of the new capacity is scheduled for early 2021.Boliden describes Rönnskär as a world leader in electronics recycling. The facility primarily recovers copper, gold and silver from PCBs. The smelter processed nearly 85,000 short tons of scrap electronics last year. That weight accounted for 9.5 percent of all copper-bearing inputs, both virgin and recycled, at the facility.Boliden has made or is planning to make a number of expensive improvements at Rönnskär. Those include construction of a new deep repository for hazardous waste, a new sulphuric acid plant and a new silver-zinc separation project. June 20, 2018 - Outotec has agreed with the Sweden-based mining company Boliden on the design and delivery of an absorption section to be built for the sulfuric acid plant at the Rönnskär smelter. The order has been booked in Outotec's 2018 second quarter order intake. Typically orders of this size and scope are valued at over EUR 10 million. The Boliden Rönnskär plant is one of the world's most efficient copper smelters. The new absorption section designed by Outotec will be able to process the future gas volume from the upstream smelting process with high energy recovery. Outotec's deliveries will take place in the second half of 2019. "We are extremely pleased that our long-term partner Boliden awarded us this order. Outotec's advanced absorption solution will safeguard the future capacity of the sulfuric acid plant and meet all of the current and planned European environmental requirements", says Kalle Härkki, Head of Outotec's Metals, Energy & Water business unit. September 4, 2009 - Boliden will not raise copper production to full capacity until treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and sulphuric acid prices and demand improve. The Swedish company has been hit hard by the combination of low TC/RCs and poor demand for sulphuric acid, which are both major sources of revenue. “We could live with low TCs if there were good acid prices,” Boliden president business area smelters, Svante Nilsson, told MB this week. “No decision has been made to start up full copper production as yet,” he told analysts in a presentation at its Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden on Wednesday. Any decision will be based on TC/RCs and sulphuric acid demand, Nilsson said. Spot copper TC/RCs are below $20 per tonne/$2 per lb compared with a benchmark of $75/7.5 cents. 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


Sulphuric Acid on the Web^TM	Technical Manual	DKL Engineering, Inc.