Patent ID: 8323375

Claim:
A method of operating a converter in the production of a metal selected from the group consisting of copper, iron, lead and zinc, comprising the steps of: loading the converter with a starting material comprising said metal, the metal in the starting material being chemically bound at least in part to sulfur; maintaining a temperature within a converter interior space, which is above the melting temperature of the starting material; and supplying an oxygen-containing process gas into the converter interior space through injection nozzles arranged in the walls of the converter, wherein the process gas supplied through the injection nozzles comprises (a) carbon dioxide, and one selected from the group consisting of (b) oxygen and (c) air, wherein an exhaust gas is produced, which exhaust gas comprises sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, and wherein at least a portion of the carbon dioxide in the process gas originates from the exhaust gas of the converter.