Patent ID: 8318081

Claim:
A direct smelting plant for producing molten metal from a metalliferous feed material using a molten bath based direct smelting process, the plant comprising: (a) a fixed direct smelting vessel to hold a molten bath of metal and slag and a gas space above the bath, the vessel including a hearth and a side wall, the side wall including: (i) a lower cylindrical section, (ii) an upper cylindrical section that has a smaller diameter than the lower cylindrical section, and (iii) a transition section that interconnects the upper and lower cylindrical sections; (b) a solids feed assembly to supply solid feed material, including metalliferous feed material and carbonaceous material, from a solid feed material supply location away from the vessel into the vessel; (c) an oxygen-containing gas feed assembly to supply an oxygen-containing gas from an oxygen-containing gas supply location away from the vessel into the vessel, the oxygen-containing gas feed assembly including (i) a gas injection assembly including a plurality of gas injection lances configured to extend downwardly through openings in the transition section of the side wall of the vessel, each gas injection lance being directed down and away from a central vertical core of the vessel and configured to direct a stream of gas into the gas space above the bath and towards the lower cylindrical section of the side wall of the vessel, and (ii) a gas delivery duct assembly extending from a gas supply location away from the vessel to deliver the oxygen-containing gas to the gas injection assembly; (d) an offgas duct assembly to facilitate flow of offgas from the vessel; (e) a metal tapping assembly to tap molten metal from the bath during a smelting operation; and (f) a slag tapping assembly to tap slag from the bath during a smelting operation.