Outotec has fully equipped facilities and experienced staff in Pori Research Center. The company offers high quality analytical services, method development and technical support such as instrumentation and maintenance.
Mineral technology
Material handling (solid and powder), such as crushing, grinding, sieving and drying, are done both at laboratory and pilot plant scale. For ore chemistry, the Pori Research Center offers laboratory scale flotation cells with electrochemical monitoring. To measure physical properties of material the following equipment are in use:
- Laser-Particle –Sizer to determining particle size distributions
- Sorptometer to measuring the specific surface area of powders
- Gas bycnometer to specific density measurements of powders
In addition analytical services have several analyzers for mineral technology.
Hydrometallurgy
Hydrometallurgical experimental research includes e.g. pressure and atmosphere leaching, purification, filtration, solvent extraction, reduction, oxidation and neutralization tests.
For these purposes the company has both laboratory and pilot plant scale equipment, which can be used for batch and continuous pilot tests. All hydrometallurgical devices can be equipped with instrumentation and data collection systems.
Outotec has a HydroCopper® demonstration plant, which has facilities for making demonstration runs. Demonstration plant is also available for other continuous hydrometallurgical test runs.
Pyrometallurgy
Outotec has decades of experience in different pyrometallurgical tests and test runs and several pyrometallurgical equipment for different purposes. The most significant pilot plant scale equipment are as follows:
- Mini flash smelting furnace, capacity 100-200 kg/h
- Pilot flash smelting furnace, capacity 1000-3000 kg/h
- Pilot electric furnace, capacity 500 kg/h
- Pilot rotary kiln, capacity 1000 kg/h, T 500-1500 °C
- Batch type sintering machine, batch size 15-20 kg, max T 1350 °C
- Steel sintering machine, capacity 2*200 kg/h, max T 1350°C
- Pelletizing discs, diameters 400 and 2000 mm
- Steam dryer, heating surface 18 m2
- Gas atomization unit, volume of melting crucible is 3-8 dm3
In addition the Pori Research Center has several different laboratory scale furnaces such as induction furnaces, chamber furnaces, tube furnaces, rotary kilns and the following special equipment:
- Thermoanalyzer
- Thermobalance
- Vacuum/Atmospheric induction furnace for smelting and casting of samples
- Also granulating facility
Special laboratories
To support mathematical modeling (CFD) we have the laboratory of fluid dynamics where validation tests can be carried out by using three-dimensional scale models. Laboratory has also good facilities for development work of agitators and mixing reactors. Laboratory of electrochemistry is widely used in hydrometallurgy, electrolysis and material testing.
See also the main equipment in pilot scale in Frankfurt