The Pilot Plant Research of Laterite Reduction Smelting in Electric Furnace

300 t of laterite nickel ore was smelted by a 1 000 kVA circle electric furnace in Shenyang pilot plant.Slag foaming could commence if the reductant coal addition to the ore is less than 4%(dry wt),the Ni content in the produced ferronickel was between 16% and 22%,ferronickel grade increased while the reductant coal addition decreased.The Ni recovery in the electric furnace was 94.4% with the nickel partition coefficient of 100.Power consumption of the electric furnace could decrease with the prolongation of the experiment time.