Search Documents

By Taufiq Hidayat

Accurate description of complex phase equilibria provide the foundations for the improvement of non-ferrous pyrometallurgical smelting and recycling processes. Recent advances in microanalysis and experimental techniques enable accurate phase equilibria characterisation. Quantitative microanalytical techniques including Electron Probe X-ray Microanalysis and Laser Ablation ICP-MS enable the concentrations of major and minor elements present in different phases in samples to be accurately measured providing data that cannot be obtained using bulk chemical analysis techniques. High-temperature equilibration experiments coupled with the subsequent analysis of elementary reactions at micro- and macro-scales ensure the attainment of equilibrium conditions, and therefore, ensure true phase equilibria information is obtained. Examples of the application of the improved methodology on the investigation of phase equilibria of low-order and complex, multi-component gas/slag/matte/metal/solids Cu2O–PbO–ZnO–Al2O3–CaO–MgO– FeO–Fe2O3–SiO2–S systems and the distribution of minor element are provided. The experimental study is closely integrated with thermodynamic database development for the above system. Example of implementation of the research outcomes into industrial operations is demonstrated.

By J. Phillip Mackey

A whole new group of non-ferrous pyrometallurgical processes with the ability to utilize tonnage oxygen and capture sulphur dioxide were developed and commercialized over the period 1940s–1980s. Many of these earlier process developments were undertaken with limited knowledge of the process chemistry and influence of key process variables; in many cases, piloting helped provide much new physico-chemical data, but gaps remained. The second generation versions of these technologies of today provide all the primary copper, nickel and lead produced worldwide by pyro-metallurgical smelting. Further, process development has continued and a new generation of copper and lead smelting technologies have also been developed in China since the 1990s. The older reverberatory and blast furnaces have been progressively replaced by the newer technologies—a good example being the introduction in 1992 of the copper IsaSmelt technology at the Mt. Isa smelter in Australia where the former fluid bed roaster and reverberatory furnaces were replaced by a single new smelting unit, together with an acid plant for sulphur dioxide collection. The development of these new technologies was made possible by investment in fundamental and applied research. The lesson for the future is, in order to sustain these improvements, continued investment in research and development capability is required—to do otherwise is to risk obsolescence and lack of competiveness in the world market. Dr. Peter Hayes at The University of Queensland is one of the many researchers and process engineers who have contributed to the fundamental understanding of metallurgical processes over this period of rapid change in technologies. The present paper briefly outlines some of the many contributions Peter Hayes has made to the understanding of kinetics, mechanisms and phase equilibria in metallurgical systems, and metallurgical process development.

By Dale A. Zuck

Recovery of aluminum metal from drosses? is a major factor in the recyclability success story enjoyed by the United States aluminum industry. Today's modern dross processor uses the latest technology to maximize metal recovery at the lowest cost while complying with all environmental laws and regulations. Most dross processors, however, pay little attention to the resulting saltcake, the end residual of dross recyCling, and rely on landfills for .disposition of this material.. The alternative is to recycle the saltcake, but the success of this technology is dependent on the development of reliable outlets for each of the saltcake constituents. This paper discusses the evolution of an aluminum dross oxide processing technology that ,produces an economically attractive source of alumina for the production of portland cement.

Jan 1, 1995

By Dachun Liu, Baoqiang Xu, Bin Yang, Yong Deng, Heng Xiong, Xiumin Chen

"In this paper, vacuum distillation technology has been employed to study the possibility and regularity of separating copper and enriching lead, silver and other valuable metals from copper- based multi component alloys. The result of experiment indicated the practicability of vacuum distillation dealing with copper base complex multi-component alloy to separating lead and silver, when the vacuum distillation temperature was 1637K, distillation time was 60min; residual gas pressure was 20-30Pa, the removal rate of silver was 95.86%, of lead was 99.63%; the evaporation rate of copper was 0.745%. The removal rate of arsenic, antimony and tin respectively were 83.09%, 48.12% and 24.54%. Vacuum distillation method is applicable for dealing with the copper-based multi component alloys, silver and lead can realize effective recovery.IntroductionCopper generally go with lead mineral, therefore, to remove copper from lead becomes an inevitable link in lead smelting. Dross from removed copper usually contains lead, arsenic, antimony, tin and noble metal silver. In abroad, soda ash-iron dust is adopted to process copper dross of this kind. The outcomes of this process are lead matte, wet lead, scoria smoke dust etc[1~5] The dominant components of all the outcomes are copper and lead. Moreover, in the process of tin smelting, copper contained by-products are produced, such as, crude tin alloy, tin lead electrolytic anode slime and so on. Copper content of all the products are ranging from few percentages to several tens percentage. Those products, no matter merge into main producing process, or separate treatment cost losses of valuable metal. For one hand, the containing of copper of outcomes from pyrogenic attack is less than 50%, for the other hand, a lot of valuable metal need to be processed, which increase the cost of retrieve."

Jan 1, 2013

By Vladimir Panjkovic, Ostrovski. Oieg, Campbell Cripps Clark, John Truelove

"Effects of properties of raw materials and blast on the performance of an iron bath reactor have been examined by a mathematical model. The model consists of three modules: 1) chemical reactions in the gas phase and heat transfer from gas to droplets ejected from the bath; 2) heat losses from the vessel and radiative heat transfer from the freeboard to the bath; and 3) heat and mass balances for the bath. The following parameters of the process are calculated: coal, ore, flux and oxygen consumption, post-combustion ratio and heat-transfer efficiency, temperature and composition of the off-gas, and slag and metal chemistry.IntroductionOne of the anticipated advantages of smelting reduction over conventional ironmaking is the use of lower-grade raw materials. In this work, the effect of-properties of raw materials on the performance of an iron-bath reactor is examined with a numerical model. The model is also used to assess the effect of properties of the blast (flowrate, temperature and oxygen enrichment) and ejected droplets (generation rate, size and ratio of total weights of slag and iron droplets) on the key parameters of the process. In the process coal, oxygen, ore (which may be partly prereduced) and fluxes for specified slag composition are charged to the bath. Slag and iron droplets are ejected from the bath into the gas phase, where they are heated before returning to the bath. Iron droplets undergo decarburisation and reoxidation with CO2 and H2O. Dust is also generated from the bath, and oxygen or preheated air for post combustion is injected from the top of the vessel.The model consists of three modules: 1) reactions in the gas phase and heat transfer from gas to droplets ejected from the bath; 2) heat losses from the vessel and radiative heat transfer from the freeboard to the bath; and 3) heat and mass balances for the bath. The structure of the model and the data exchange between the modules are shown in Fig. 1. The following parameters of the process are calculated: coal, ore, flux and oxygen consumption, postcombustion ratio (PCR), heat transfer efficiency (HTE), off-gas temperature and composition, slag and metal chemistry, and rates of decarburisation and reoxidation of the iron droplets."

Jan 1, 1996

By Larry Southwick

This Peirce-Smith Converting Centennial symposium is celebrating the contributions of two men, William Peirce and E.A.C. Smith, in advancing technology allowing the copper industry to realize its full potential. However, theirs is representative of a larger story: New, simpler technology releasing the stranglehold of older, more complicated technology, new developments in vessel configuration and design finding alternate routes around dead ends in operability, advances in technique and concepts removing roadblocks of cycle time and capacity, and overall innovation opening up vast new reserves around the world to those companies willing to embrace those improvements. Our story is also one of personalities, stubborn smeltermen versus the innovators, those inside the industry versus those from outside. It is a story of an initial borrowing from the steel industry, but also Peirce and Smith, from the refining end of the copper business, taking the ideas of Baggaley from Pittsburgh’s steel and airbrake industry, who built on what Hollway, Manhès and David, Douglas, and others had done in smelter tests, further to compete with the previous primacy and closely held expertise of the copper smeltermen in Wales. These advances have been well recorded in photographs taken over the last 150 years. A number were submitted especially for this symposium. Many others were published in the mining and metallurgy press of the times. Several mining schools also retained copies of photos either taken during field trips, or donated to the school by alumni and operating companies. This presentation will provide a selection and discussion from these sources of “converters in action”, describing the various designs, operations and developments depicted. The focus here will be on the first roughly 60 years of copper converter development, from Bessemer’s days at the dawn of this new idea, up to and slightly past the time of initial adoption of Peirce and Smith’s designs.

Jan 1, 2009

By Mark Osborne, Ray D. Peterson, C. Edward Eckert

"The theoretical melting energy requirement for a typical hypoeutectic aluminum-silicon alloy is approximately 520 BTU/lb. It has been demonstrated, however, that even a state of the art secondary processing-automated lost foam casting operation can exceed this value by at least an order of magnitude when the actual thermal energy input from melting to solidification is monitored. Metal transfer and holding operations constitutes over 65% of this expenditure. The authors present relative benchmark energy expenditure information by unit operation for an offsite melting/lost foam casting line with a daily throughput in excess of 100,000 lbs. Efficiency improvements through optimization of the current process, and anticipated energy values at the culmination of a U.S. Department of Energy sponsored project to develop, integrate and demonstrate an advanced melting, transportation, and dispensation system will be cited.IntroductionThe size of the U.S. aluminum remelt pool was approximated to be 14.21 billion kg (31.27 billion pounds) by a recent study?, with the engineered castings (foundry) sector accounting for 3.25 billion kg (7.16 billion pounds) or 23% of that total. This study considered overall process yield and all major contributors to scrap. The values cited, therefore, are more meaningful than simply tabulating annual pounds shipped by sector.The foundry sector consists of Sand Castings, PM Castings and Die Castings categories appearing in Figure 1. All other categories comprise the wrought alloy sector. Wrought alloy production enjoys an energetic benefit from both scale and a relatively continuous operation. Many foundry operations, however, operate in batch mode at less than design metal throughput with characteristically longer melt holding periods. Since any detention of molten metal beyond melting represents an overhead use of energy, melt holding (secondary) energy expenditures can appreciably inflate melting energy requirements in the foundry."

Jan 1, 2009

By George P. Demopoulos

In this paper the production and stability of crystalline scorodite (FeAsO4·2H2O) is discussed both on the basis of previously published work as well as recent work performed in our laboratory. The production of scorodite, especially from arsenic-rich and iron-deficient sulphate solutions offers a number of operational advantages such as high arsenic content, stoichiometriciron demand, and excellent dewatering characteristics. In addition to hydrothermal production of scorodite the work done over the last 10 years in our laboratory has determined that it is feasible to produce scorodite by step-wise lime neutralization at 90°C. The atmospheric scorodite possesses the same structural and solubility characteristics with the hydrothermally produced scorodite. Long term equilibration tests (up to 66 weeks) in the pH range 5 to 9 and temperatures from 22 °C to 75 °C revealed scorodite to undergo slow incongruent dissolutionyielding a highly metastable nano-sized 2-line ferrihydrite phase. The equilibrium arsenic concentration with this phase was 0.35, 0.96 and 5.87 mg/L at pH 5, 6, and 7 respectively at 22°C. In the presence of gypsum slightly lower concentrations were measured, this being more pronounced at pH>7. It was tentatively deduced that a Fe-Ca-AsO4 association (in the form of a phase resembling the mineral yukonite) contributes to the lowering of As concentration. Finally thermodynamic calculations determined that scorodite is stable in the presence of ferrihydriteunder oxic conditions up to pH 6.75 at 22 °C or higher pH at lower temperature and gypsum-saturated solutions. Keywords: Scorodite, Crystallization, Arsenic, Solubility, Stability, Precipitation, Disposal, Extraction, Processing, Metals, and Environment.

Jan 1, 2005

By A. Broussaud

An original methodology has been developed for steady state simulation of selective grinding and mineral liberation in rod and ball mills. Three fundamental aspects of the methodology are presented successively : modeling ore texture, modeling grinding and its selectivity, and modeling mineral liberation. The methodology for modeling ore texture includes the conversion of 2D data into 3D reconstructed information and the use of the BILCO coherent material balance software. The models for grinding Simulation are classified into three levels, corresponding to three levels of available experimental data. All models account for grinding selectivity and for variations of engineering para-meters and operating conditions. An algorithm has been introduced to forecast mineral liberation, compatible with accurate simulation of selective grinding, which generates reasonable results.

Jan 1, 1987

By T. W. Turk

In May 1984, Davy McKee Corporation was awarded a contract for engineering design, procurement assistance, project management and startup services for two gold recovery plants? in the People's, Republic of China (PRC). The basic design of these two projects was to be accomplished by a combined effort of the Chinese and Davy McKee Corporation (DMC). The, design goals were to provide a state-of-the art plant while maintaining Chinese standards and design practices whenever possible. Chinese-manufactured equipment was to be used as much as possible. This paper discusses the project organization and procedures developed to accomplish the design goals, the process selection and design, and the selection and procurement of equipment outside of the PRC. Design development for grinding, leaching and carbon adsorption, and gold recovery are discussed in detail. The major goal of process selection and design was to provide common criteria for both plants. Equipment .sizing and selection was identical for carbon-in-leach adsorption, gold recovery, acid washing, and carboo regeneration for both plants. Of special importance is the design of the wastewater treatment system. Due to the cl0se proximity of a major population area, slurry discharging from these mines must be treated to meet drinking water standards. The process development and design of this system is also discussed in detail.

Jan 1, 1989

By F. A. Myzenkov

The technology developed by the authors uses new methods for raw material smelting in electric furnaces, a new autogenous method and apparatus for subliming smelting for antimony trioxide production and separation of antimony and gold. Concentrate produced from the ore deposits in Yakutia has the following average contents of main constituents, % by weight: 29.4 Sb, 1.2 Fe, 13.1 S, 40.0 SiO2, 0.2 As, 2.6 CaO and 45 g/t of Au. Unlike the technology used abroad a new autogenous method makes it possible to increase considerably specific capacity and reduce gold losses with antimony trioxide by several times. At the same time mineralogical composition of trioxide has improved considerably ? it has mainly a cubic base with prevalence of senarmontite. The content of a main component (Sb2O3) in the final product has increased from 99.0% up to 99.6% which means better quality and makes it suitable for use in special technologies. Despite a lower antimony content of the concentrate (29.4% as compared with over 33% as common in the world practice), an antimony recovery of 85.3% into a commercial-grade product has been achieved, as well as a gold recovery of 96.65% into a gold-antimony alloy. The technology for processing gold-antimony materials developed and introduced at the Ryaztsvetmet plant is unique in the world with respect to gold recoveries.

Jan 1, 2006

By Markus A. Reuter, Robert Matusewicz

"Consumer products are a complex man-made mixture of sometimes in excess of 50 elements. In order to recover these complex mixtures of elements either as metals, compounds or energy requires versatile technology in physical separation but also smelting and energy recovery. This paper explores this by referring to the innovative application of Top Submerged Lance (TSL) technology and associated theoretical and environmental aspects to process (recycle) post consumer materials and industrial intermediate products and residues. A diversity of applications has been tested in Ausmelt’s pilot plant in Dandenong and many have gone to commercial scale globally. This paper reviews the varied applications ranging from e-waste recycling, lead and NiCd battery recycling, metals recovery from slags, zinc leach residue processing, electric arc furnace (EAF) dust, Municipal Waste Incinerator bottom ash processing, carbon containing residues such as retort ashes and spent pot liner from the aluminium production process as well as use of the technology for materials such as automotive shredder residue (ASR) and plastics. Introduction The modern resource cycle is a link between primary production of metals linked to the recycling of post-consumer goods. The sometimes complex combinations of materials and metals in consumer products such as televisions depicted by Figure 1, does require a range of technology to recover materials, metals and energy for reuse and/or recycling in an economically feasible as well as environmentally friendly manner."

Jan 1, 2008

By Peng Lv, Shiqian Liu, Bin Xu, Qian Li, Yongbin Yang, Tao Jiang

The treatment process of a low-grade refractory gold ore containing sulfide minerals and carbonaceous matters was studied in this work. The gold extraction of this ore by all-sliming cyanidation was only 11.75%. Hence, a pretreatment was necessary. In this paper, a flotation-preoxidation-cyanide leaching process was developed. The concentrate from the flotation procedure was processed using different preoxidation methods. A concentrate containing 34.08g/t of gold with the gold recovery ratio of 81.20% was obtained by flotation. After roasting, microwave heating or alkaline pressure oxidation, the gold cyanidation ratio reached 82.37%, 81.26% and 71.09% respectively. Roasting was an effective, reliable and mature technique to oxidize sulfide minerals and carbonaceous matters. Roasting and microwave heating both produced dangerous environmental pollutants while alkaline pressure oxidation was eco-friendly.

Jan 1, 2015

By Wilhelm Wendt

About five years ago we showed that it is possible to use the spectral in- formation in the light emitted by the off-gas flame of a PS converter for on-line production control. Very recently measurements have been performed using improved optical equipment and data evaluation software, resulting in both improved accuracy and the establishment of new optical process parameters. Using the optical signals the slag heats could be stopped at a predetermined Cu content of the white metal with an accuracy of +0.2% Cu m the range 74-78% Cu. A good correlation was found between the slag composition and optical data, providing a possibility for on-line monitoring of the SiO2 content of the slag. The measurements indicate the possibility of predicting the optimum end-point of the copper-making stage and having real time information on the impurity removal. Factors influencing the optical parameters, such as blowrate, Pb content, temperature etc. will be discussed.

Jan 1, 1993

By L. R. Verney

About 75% of the market economy countries's supply of cobalt is produced in Central Africa by Zafre and Zambia. Zafre alone accounts for more than 55% and has the resources and capacity to increase output significantly at any time so its dominant position is unlikely to be challenged in the foreseeable future. Other producers from domestic resources are Canada, Australia and South Africa; and Cuba, probably the most important producer outside of the Market Economy countries. Belgium, Norway, France, Japan and Finland produce cobalt from imported materials. While there are "cobalt ores", inMorocco, USA, Canada and the USSR, the mineralisation is complex and cobalt extraction is costly. In ZaPre and Zambia cobalt is a by-product of copper; in Canada, Australia, France, and Cuba it is a by-product of nickel; and in South Africa it is a by-product from the production of Platinum Group Metals. Thus the levels of cobalt production are inevitably related to the production of other primary metals. While some cobalt is produced by predominantly pyrometallurgical methods most of the world's cobalt is produced hydrometallurgically. The existence of large hydro-electric power plants and the mineralogy of the copper and cobalt concentrates encouraged research and development in Zafre of the recovery of copper and cobalt by electrowinning from sulfate solutions; much pioneering work was carried out, which lead to construction of the two largest copperlcobalt hydrometallurgical plants in the world, at Shituru and Luilu. Similar systems were adopted in Zambia. In Canada high pressure hydrometallurgical processes based on the sulfate system were developed and adopted in Australia, the Philippines, Finland and South Africa. Meanwhile developments in chloride hydrometallurgical extraction of nickel and cobalt lead to its use in the extraction of cobalt in Norway, France and Japan.

Jan 1, 1988

By Jewel A. Gomes

Keywords: Electrocoagulation, arsenic removal, fuel cell, windmill, energy simulation, combined Fe-Al electrode assembly Arsenic contamination of well-water in different countries has caused signs and symptoms of arsenic poisoning. Although several physicochemical treatments are presently used for the removal of arsenic compounds from drinking water, an electrochemical treatment, electrocoagulation, is a promising processing technology and currently is the most efficient (above 99% removal) and environmentally friendly technique, particularly if combined with alternative energy sources. Wind and fuel cell technologies can be considered the most promising developmental clean power sources. We will discuss new insights into the materials processing mechanisms and show the coupling of electrocoagulation with fuel cells and simulated wind energy sources. Different electrocoagulation plate materials were considered, along varied currents from the fuel cell to produce maximum arsenic removal. Coupling these technologies will remove carcinogenic arsenic from water sources, and will exhibit efficient usage of these energy sources by producing pure water for human and agricultural consumption.

Jan 1, 2005

By L. A. Mills

After three years of experience in operating the pilot plant for the Noranda Continuous Smelting Process, the decision was made, in March 1971, to build an 800 ton per day commercial plant at Noranda, Quebec. The de- sign and layout of the plant is discussed and the installed equipment described. Experience previously gained in the pilot plant is mentioned when it has been used in the choice of equipment or plant layout. The full- scale reactor was started up in March 1973 and the operational datacollected and the experience acquired during the first 30 months of operation are described. This includes operation to produce both high grade matte and copper. Areas discussed include refractory wear, fuel consumption and throughput of copper concentrates. Changes made to original equipment and methods of operation are discussed, together with the reasons. The ad- vantages of using solid fuels to handle inert materials and to maximize converting air flowrates and concentrate throughputs are described. Relative efficiencies of oil and natural gas are compared. The addition of oxygen from a 94 ton per day oxygen plant to the reactor converting air was started in August 1975 and the initial operating results are included.

Jan 1, 1976

By Gernot Schenker

With the shut-down in the mid-1970s of the last shaft furnaces in the Harz Smelter Plant the long tradition of the Primary Lead Smelter in Oker came to an end. A continuation of the concern was nevertheless possible as a result of the timely commencement with the development and construction of lead production from secondary raw materials. Then as today, the most essential secondary raw material is lead accumulator scrap with over 80 % of the raw material pallet. Already in the 1960?s a method of reclamation lead battery scrap was developed and successfully carr.ied out by Preussag. In 1983 this process was fundamentally modified, also for environmental protection reasons within the framework of a rehabilitation programme of the existing plant. Today Metaleurop's HarzMetall GmbH in Oker is equipped with a modern secondary lead smelter which includes all environmental protection installations required by law. Besides processing battery scrap, the. smelter is in a position to process a ?multitude of other lead bearing residues in an economically useful way, whose waste disposal would otherwise be impossible due to the ever-increasing environmental protection laws or only be achieved at great expense.

Jan 1, 1990

By Jay S. Gunasekera

Since great emphasis is being placed on the manufacturing science and processing science programs in the Department of Defence and other government research agencies and industries; currently, extensive research on computer aided design(CAD)/ computer aided manufacturing (CAM)/ and computer aided engineering (CAE) is being conducted at Ohio University (OU) . OU has invested over a million dollars in CAD/CAM hardware and software. Design and analysis packages like ALPID, NIKE, STREAM, SHEAR, POLY_FLON, RINGROLL have been developed or modified at OUusing finite element method, finite difference techniques or enhanced slab analysis. Packages like ABAQUS, FLUENT, and NASTRAN have been extensively used.

Jan 1, 1990

By Tang Chaoho

Laboratory research on the reducing and matte smelting of Jamesonite concentrate has been carried out. The influence of the process conditions such as the smelting temperature, the amount of pyrite cinder (the agent of fixed sulfur) and the amount of additives on the smelting process have been studied. Under the optimum condition the direct recovery ratios of antimony and lead are 83.26% and 68.50% respectively. The ratio of fixed sulfur is 98.97% but more than 15% lead and 30% silver remained in the ferrous matte. The key problem to be solved of this new process is how economical and effective is the recovery of silver and lead in ferrous matte.

Jan 1, 2003