This paper presents the idea of increasing the effectiveness of slag decopperisation in an electric furnace in the "Głogów II" Copper Smelter by replacing the currently added CaCO3with a less energy-intensive technological additive. As a result of this conversion, one may expect improved parameters of the process, including process time or power consumption per cycle. The incentives to optimize the process are the benefits of increasing copper production in the company and the growing global demand for this metal. The paper also describes other factors that may have a significant impact on the optimization of the copper production process. Based on the literature analysis, a solution has been developed that improves the copper production process. The benefits of using a new technology additive primarily include increased share of copper in the alloy, reduced production costs, reduced amount of power consumed per cycle and reduced time it takes to melt. At the conclusion of the paper, the issues raised are highlighted, stressing that mastering the slag slurry process in electric furnaces requires continuous improvement.

Discusses an attempt to optimize the operation of an electric furnace slag to be decopperisation suspension of the internal recycling

process for the production of copper. The paper presents a new method to recover copper from metallurgical slags in arc-resistance electric

furnace. It involves the use of alternating current for a first period reduction, constant or pulsed DC in the final stage of processing. Even

distribution of the electric field density in the final phase of melting caused to achieve an extremely low content of metallic copper in the

slag phase. They achieved by including the economic effects by reducing the time reduction.

Production processes at KGHM are complex and require from customers products of constantly higher quality at relatively lowest prices. Such situation results in an increase of the importance of optimisation of processes. As products and technologies change rapidly, technologists at the plant in Głogów have less time to achieve optimisation basing on own experiences. Analysing a particular process, we can e.g. detect occurring disturbances, find factors having an influence on quality problems, select optimal settings or compare various production procedures. Analysis of the course of production process is the basis of process optimisation. One optimisation in case of the process of decopperisation of flash slag can be a change of a technological additive to a less energy-consuming one, and its final result can be an improvement of the productivity index, a change of the relation between final effects and born expenditures, as well as optimisation of production costs.

This article presents results of studies on multicriteria optimisation in the decopperisation process of flash smelting slags coming from the process of decopperisation at the "Głogów II" Copper Smelter. Measurements of viscosity were conducted using a high-temperature viscometer manufactured by Brookfield company. An addition in the form of calcium fluoride has an advantageous influence on decreasing the liquidus temperature of slag, and the effect of decreasing viscosity at the participation of calcium fluoride is significant. A motivation to conduct studies on viscosity of decopperised slags is an optimisation of the process of decopperisation at an improvement of this process parameters, i.e. the time of melt per one production cycle and consumption of electric power in the whole process. The efficiency of optimisation of the process course depends not only on an accepted criterion of the quality of controlling, a type of technological parameters, but also, to large extent, on characteristics and features of these parameters. CaCO3 currently added to the process of decopperisation efficiently decreases viscosity of flash slag, at the same time has influence on an increase of the yield of copper in alloy, but on the other hand, it increases the mass of slag, artificially under representing concentration of this metal. The article is completed with a conclusion of discussed issues, stating that a search for a new technological addition is still necessary,