This is an electronic reprint of the original article.

The effectivity of present copper smelting technologies have their roots in industrial and laboratory-scale experience accumulated over the past decades. Since the early 1960s, the tools for improving the processing conditions and smelting vessel design included scale modelling and manual computing of homogeneous multicomponent equilibria. The scale models were isothermal, room temperature constructions where water or air was used as medium and dimensionless numbers ensured scale down and scale up similarities. Today, numerical modelling has opened new insight into the high-temperature process modelling where chemical reactions and their heat sinks and sources can be included in the simulations. The utilisation of advanced modelling techniques promises to enhance the understanding and efficiency of copper smelting processes, paving the way for more optimized industrial applications. These advances are crucial for improving the performance of smelting facilities and reducing environmental impacts associated with copper production. This study highlights the transition from traditional methods to contemporary numerical approaches in smelting technology, underlining the importance of research and development in the metallurgical field.