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By Du Sichen, S. Seetharaman, A. Jakobsson

"In the Present paper, the principles of oxygen potential measurements have been discussed along with the design details for oxygen sensors that are used in copper industry. A description of some of commercial probes is presented along with their salient features. The application of these sensors in flash smelting, converter and casting sections of copper production are discussed along with their implications on process optimization.I. IntroductionThe high temperature galvanic cells have come into prominence on account of their numerous applications in both fundamental as well as applied measurements. Since the inception of the oxygen-ion conducting electrolytes like ZrOrCaO·by Kiukkola and Wagner [1], the oxygen concentration cells have been extensively used in laboratories as well as in industries. In metal-production technology, these cells have been used to monitor the oxygen potentials in metallic, slag as well as gas phases and also to control and styr metallurgical processes. The pioneer among the various industrial users of such cells is the copper industry. To-day, high temperature solid electrolyte cells involving oxygen ion conducting electrolytes have become an integral part of copper pyro-refining and continuous casting. In the present paper some of the applications according to the industrial processes are described including the developments that are going on in the European scene."

Jan 1, 1997

By Zhi-xiang Cui

Dongying Fangyuan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. has developed a new technology to produce anode copper from concentrates through only two furnaces. This new technology is called the Two-Step Copper Smelting Process. This paper presents the commercial application of the Two-Step Copper Smelting Process and its operating conditions. The key features of the Fangyuan Two-Step Process are as follows: (1) feed materials, including concentrates and flux, are mixed without pretreatment and fed into the Submerged Lance Smelting (SLS) furnace; (2) high grade white metal (WM) produced by the SLS furnace is transferred via WM conduit into one of the two Submerged Lance Converting and Refining (SLCR) furnaces; and (3) the two SLCR furnaces blow alternatively to maintain continuous operation of the whole production chain. The new smelter started operation in October 2015 with a processing design capacity of 1.75 Mt/year of mixed feed and has been operating for over 30 months.

By R. Shimpo

Equilibrium calculations by a computer may sometimes fail in giving solutions when the system includes a large number of components and more than three phases, and especially when no definite information about stable phases is given. An improved method of calculation is presented in which the number of phases need not to be initially fixed, phases can appear or disappear in the course of' calculation and a new method is combined with the Newton-Raphson method to obtain solutions easily. The improved method is applied to the copper smelting operation and all the successive stages of the operation are successfully simulated.

Jan 1, 1983

By Xie Zhang, Chongyang Zhao, Qingyun Huang, Bing Xie, Xiaopeng Zhen

"Extracting vanadium from vanadium containing hot metal into vanadium slag by BOF is the main vanadium production process in China. In this paper, the influence of Si content in hot metal on the quality of vanadium slag is analyzed. Synthetic vanadium slag with different SiO2 content were melted at 1673 K and then cooled to 303K at the cooling rate of 3?/min. Optical microscopy, SEM, EDS and XRD were used to analyze the mineralogical phases and crystallization behavior of vanadium slag. The results show that vanadium slag mainly contains spinel phase and silicate phase; V is enriched in the spinel phases while Si is concentrated in Fe2SiO4 CaFeSi2O6 and (Fe,Mn)2SiO4 as silicate phase. The melting point of slag increases gradually with the addition of SiO2; whereas viscosity decreases with an addition of 15~19% SiO2 and increases with an addition of 19~27% SiO2.IntroductionVanadium is an important element which is used almost exclusively in ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. The major vanadium products include FeV, V2O5, V2O3, VN and Al-V-Ti alloy. Furthermore, vanadium slags are mostly produced by oxidizing the elements in V-containing hot metal during a duplex refining process. Therefore, the process of removing vanadium from hot metal has its significance on the subsequent process[1].The extraction of vanadium is greatly affected by the mineralogical composition of vanadium slag[2], the distribution of the elements between the spinel and silicate phases and its physic-chemical properties. These characteristics of vanadium slag have been studied in some details. It has been reported that Si mainly exists mainly in the form of silicate which wraps the spinel crystals while small amount of Si stands as phosphorus quartz or diopside[2]. Chen et al.[3, 4] points out, when SiO2 content in vanadium slag increased every 1%, V2O5 decreased 1.48%. Moreover, silicate phases would embarrass the oxidation of V-containing spinels through decreasing the exposing probability[5]. Meanwhile, melting point and viscosity of vanadium slag has been greatly influenced by the SiO2 content. Therefore, this work attempts to analyze the above-mentioned questions systematically."

Jan 1, 2012

By M. Jortikka

The smelting process of the old reverberatory furnace including its capacity has been improved over the years in different ways eg. with oxy-fuel burners, parallel reactors with the reverb or with various modifications of the reverb furnace itself. The future reverb modifications with old concepts are difficult or impossible as the increased copper losses in slag call for separate slag treatment and particularly the process modifications do not solve the environmental issues but instead mean unavoidable high capital and operating costs in gas cleaning and sulphur recovery. During the last decades improvement in process performance and increase in capacity of copper flash smelters has been achieved easily by substituting the pre-heated process air by highly oxygen enriched air. The flash furnaces of today, however, are inherently designed to operate with high oxygen enrichment. Further process improvement with a view to production costs and capacity increase as well as to the more stringent environmental requirements is possible with even higher oxygen enrichment. This, apart from the advantages it generates, requires improvements in and careful design of the feed system, concentrate burner, furnace cooling and the off-gas line as well as adaption of the flash converting instead of the conventional Peirce-Smith converters. A logical answer even for the revamping of the reverb smelters in the future is the total replacement of the reverb furnaces with flash smelting together with flash converting. This paper discusses the possibilities for future process improvements of the existing flash smelters taking into account the process concepts, equipment modifications and capital aspects not forgetting the environmental issues. The revamping of the PASAR smelter in Philippines is introduced as an example of a recent success story.

Jan 1, 1994

By Z. R. Llanos

This paper presents a review of industrial and experimental processes for the recovery of molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, cobalt and aluminum from spent hydrotreating or hydrodesulfurization catalysts. Numerous processes have been developed in a laboratory and pilot scale. However, worldwide, there are only four well established commercial facilities currently in operation. The installed capacity of these facilities exceeds the availability of spent catalysts and may be sufficient to assimilate future increases of spent catalysts. Despite liability risks; significant quantities of spent catalysts are still being landfilled. Changing regulations that may affect the future handling and disposal of spent catalysts are also reviewed.

Jan 1, 1995

By Klaus Bauckhage

Phase-Doppler-anemometry (PDA)-measurements have to be taken from representative measuring positions from inside the spray cone, helping - with the support of simulated data of improved process models - to describe the multiphase flow situations within the spray cone - and accordingly to that - the heat transfer conditions for the rapid cooling and (partly) solidifying melt droplets before their impact onto the substratddeposit. Simulations and PDA-measurements thus give the base to confirm the hypothesis of the existence of a semisolid mixed-layer and it's influence on the resulting material structure during compaction. The dispersed particles in the spray cone exhibit a cooling and solidification process within a split of a second, which leads - as far as the particles solidify - to a dendritic structure with very short dendritic arm spacings. This causes within the particles extremely short distances for the following equalizing diffision processes taking place on a high temperature level (between liquidus and solidus) in the semisolid mixed-layer of the deposit and explaining the short residence times within this zone of only seconds up to a few minutes. This and the fact that the globular structure of the mushy zone (in the semisolid mixed-layer) leads to an unidirectional crystallization process over very short distances also explains the chemical and morphological ,homogeneity of the sprayed material. The dynamics of these process steps, the very special buffer function of the mixing layer during parameter variations as well as the controlled cooling process of the preform in order to avoid hot cracks influence the quality of the material. Due to the necessity of measuring and controlling the particle bound mass-, momentum- and enthalpy- fluxes to the deposit the PDA-technique has been adapted and modified in order to receive in-line and (in the future) also on-line data from the dynamics of the multiphase flow conditions within the spray chamber.

Jan 1, 1999

By Paul Van Negan

During the last decade, MHO has continued to diversify the feed. of its Hoboken smelter. The range of feed materials including larger proportions of precious metals has been extended and the production of minor metals has been developed. These diversifications have required further improvements at the smelter. Attention has been particularly focussed on an increase of productivity, compliance with emission standards and achievement of the highest recoveries of valuable elements. The assaying and sampling facilities have been considerably expanded and the different processing steps of the smelter are now also systematically controlled and managed by simulation models. The charge preparation at the sinter plant, returns handling, sinter conditioning and corresponding ventilation systems have been completely renewed. The annual smelting requirement is now achieved with two blast furnaces instead of three. This is the result of rebuilding and enlarging one of the furnaces and, of a completely new concept of the charge proportioning and charging systems, together with oxygen enrichment and blast air preheat. Ventilation capacity has also been drastically increased. A 7 MVA electric furnace for cleaning the slag from both blast furnaces. contributes to improving the overall metal recovery.

Jan 1, 1990

By M. Pakala, Z. Fan, Ray Y. Lin

Deposition of hard chromium coatings using electrodeposition is accompanied by emission of hexavalent chromium mists which is a carcinogenic. Hence alternative chromium deposition technologies are being investigated. Sputter deposition is a strong candidate to economically deposit hard chromium coatings in an environmentally friendly way. Chromium coatings of 2-3 µ m thickness were deposited on plain carbon steel coupons using RF magnetron sputter deposition. Depositions were carried out with 0 to 22 vol% nitrogen in the plasma. Structure of the coatings was studied using x-ray diffraction analysis With increasing nitrogen contents, formation of the two nitride phases was observed. The pure chromium phase was detected in coatings with up to 7% nitrogen in the sputtering gas. The solid solution of nitrogen in the pure Cr phase coating was identified by shifts of Cr x-ray diffraction peaks to higher d-spacing. The microhardness of the coatings deposited at a substrate temperature of 200°C showed an increase in hardness with increasing nitrogen content from 600 kgf/mm2 (5.9 GPa) at 0% nitrogen to I250 kgf/mm2 (I2.25 GPa) at 9.5 % nitrogen and a subsequent decrease in hardness to I 100 kgf/mm2 (11 GPa) beyond 9.5 % nitrogen in the sputtering gas. This corresponds to the formation of the hard Cr2N phase, at 9.5 % nitrogen, and CrN phase, at I5.7 % nitrogen. The reported bulk hardness values of Cr2N and CrN are I600 kgf/mm2 (I5.7 GPa) and I 100 kgf/mm2 (11 GPa) respectively. For pure Cr phase coatings, there is a slight increase in hardness for coatings deposited at 7. I % nitrogen from that without nitrogen in the sputtering gas. This could possibly result from the solid solution strengthening of the Cr lattice by nitrogen. For films deposited at 200°C, phases of the deposited films seem to be the overwhelming factor in controlling the microhardness.

Jan 1, 1998

By M. Tangstad, H. Mølnäs, J. D. Steenkamp

"Temperature affects several aspects of pyrometallurgical systems, including thermodynamics and reaction kinetics. Reliability of temperature measurements in laboratory and plant applications is thus important from process, safety and financial perspectives. This case study briefly introduces different techniques utilized for temperature validation, and demonstrates temperature validation on laboratory scale utilizing the wire-bridge method. Pt/Ptl3Rh thermocouple hot junctions were constructed by mechanically connecting thermocouple wires through a pure metal bridge consisting of copper, gold, nickel or palladium wire. When heating the wire-bridge thermocouple alongside a regular Pt/Ptl3Rh thermocouple, temperature offsets were quantified as the wirebridge thermocouple short-circuited at the melting points of the pure metals. At the melting points of gold (1064°C) and palladium (1555°C), average measured temperature offsets were -2.1°C ± 2.3°C and 0.2°C ± 0.4°C, respectively. Results from the copper and nickel wire-bridges were inconclusive. The paper concludes with a discussion on the potential industrial applications of the technique.IntroductionThermocouples are probably the simplest of all temperature sensors, but are widely utilized due to simplicity, versatility and ability to handle a variety of experimental conditions and industrial applications. Additionally, thermocouples are often the only option in research laboratories requiring high temperature measurements, and a high level of reliability is usually required from thermodynamic, kinetic as well as safety points of view.The study presented here originated from a test program where the compatibility between different types of carbon-based refractory materials and industrial slag produced in silicomanganese furnaces were investigated on a laboratory scale utilizing the static crucible test[l]. Due to the nature of the silicomanganese production process, the compatibility tests were to be conducted at 1600CC[2]. Details of the experimental set-up utilized for the compatibility tests are discussed in the Experimental Set-up and Method Statement section later in this paper."

Jan 1, 2012

By Caisa Samuelsson

Experimental studies in laboratory-scale equipment have been carried out to study the vaporisation from dust generated during the copper converting process. In the present work the vaporisation of Zn, Pb, As, Sb, and Bi from a dust collected in the electrostatic precipitator after the copper converter were studied. The results show that Pb, Bi and As were vaporised to a high degree from the dust at a temperature above 900°C in a gas containing N2, SO2 and a small amount of H2. The vaporisation was high for these elements also in a gas containing N2, SO2 and 02 at temperatures above 1120°C. In an earlier study, thermodynamic calculations showed that it is possible to selectively condense metals at high temperature' in a gas atmosphere generated during a copper converting process. The present study was carried out to verify the thermodynamic model. The results indicate that it should be possible for a selective condensation of Zn at high temperature. The temperature required for a selective condensation of Zn is dependent upon the gas atmosphere, e.g., the oxygen potential.

Jan 1, 1998

By Ling-yun Yi, Yuan-bo Zhang, Bing Hu, Zhu-Cheng Huang, Zhen-yuan Liao

"Nucleation and growth mechanism of iron crystal grain in coal-based shaft furnace direct reduction process by microwave heating were investigated by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope and EDX. The results indicate that microwave has selectivity on various minerals which absorb microwaves. The high temperature in certain area of pellets and thermal stress on the interface of minerals are formed, results in the wustite grain smashed along the joints, and iron crystal grains turned out a spherical shape obviously. The iron crystal nucleus is formed firstly at the edge of wustite, on the interface between grains and in the holes in pellets, and grows gradually while reduction carries on from surface layer to inner core. Microwave heating promotes the rate of transportation and accumulation of the iron crystal grain, increases growth rate of iron crystal grain and contributes to formation of dense iron-jointed crystal texture eventually.IntroductionMicrowave energy as a new energy, which selectively heating materials through internal energy dissipation, has the advantages of heating uniformity, high thermal efficiency, fast heating, clean and pollution-free compared to conventional heating motheds. Microwave energy also has obvious superiority in increasing productivity. Thus, it has been widely used in many areas, including electronics, food processing, chemical, medicine, environmental protection, and family life etc [1]. As a rapidly developed green metallurgical method, microwave heating also has been widely recognized by areas of grinding, pretreatment, pre-reduction, drying, furnacing, metal extraction, and waste materials processing and utilization. Some research achievements are gradually putting into practice, showing great potential in chemical and metallurgical industry [2-3]."

Jan 1, 2011

By B. C. F1intoff, R. G. Bradburn, E. Groiss

"The concentrator at Brenda Mines Ltd. treats a copper - molybdenum porphyry ore with current head grades of 0.185% Cu and 0.036% Mo. The consistently low head grades provided the driving force to explore methods of improving plant productivity. Computer based process control was recognized as one means of addressing this objective. Over the period from 1974 to 1982 a control system evolved which now extends to every area of the mill. Control strategies are built on elements of classical, modern and rudimentary expert control. In addition, the control system has often served as a catalyst for other technological developments. The economic returns associated with the system are very significant and it has played an important role in the mine's survival in times of poor metal markets. This paper presents an overview of the computer control system at Brenda.PreambleOne can scarcely avoid picking up a trade magazine or newspaper today without seeing some reference to technology and its potential impact on North American business. _A recurring theme is the need to apply technology to raise our standard of plant automation in the manufacturing and process industries. The general thesis of these articles has been concisely captured in the mutually exclusive set:AUTOMATE or EMIGRATE or EVAPORATEProcess control is one form of automation that has been successfully exploited by various sectors of these industries. In minerals and metal processing the wide scale adoption of process control technology has, until recently, been largely limited to a few companies - most of whom have a history in the area dating back to the early 1970’s. However, there is definitely an increased and much broader interest in process control as a technology which can improve performance, productivity and profit.The economic hardships that were visited on the mining industry in the early 1980's are not easily forgotten. It is the authors' conviction that the mining industry must move to implement proven technology, in particular process control, in order to be well postured for the next (inevitable) down cycle.In pursuing the technical and trade literature, one can discover a number of example of the successful utilization of process control systems in mining and related applications. In the text which follows, the authors describe the process control efforts undertaken in the Brenda Mines Ltd. concentrator."

Jan 1, 1989

By Vladimir Mindin

Simulation of complex equilibria is usually done in the P-T-X coordinates, where "Xu is the amount of individual chemical components in the system. This approach is not productive in some very important cases: (i) investigation of "open" systems, (ii) determination of coordinates (trajectories) of mono-variant points, among others. To solve these and some other problems, we use the idea of chemical potentials of elements (CPE) of the system. A system of different coordinates axes (CPE-axes ) leads to a new strategy of simulation, observing the results of the simulation, and to efficient technology of compressing and storage the data of the simulation.

Jan 1, 1994

By Stéphane Bourg

The SCRREEN project gathers more than 50 European initiatives, associations, organisations or independent experts working on Critical Raw Materials (CRM) into a long-lasting network including stakeholders, public authorities, and civil society representatives. SCRREEN contributes to improve the CRM strategy in Europe by (i) mapping primary and secondary resources and substitutes of CRMs, (ii) estimating the expected demand of various CRMs in the future and identifying major trends, (iii) providing policy and technology recommendations for actions improving the production and the potential substitution of CRM, (iv) addressing specific waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and other End-of-Life (EoL) product issues related to their mapping and treatment standardization, and (vi) identifying the knowledge gathered over previous years and making the data accessible to those beyond the project. As a first step, SCRREEN worked at providing stakeholders with a comprehensive analysis of the current use of the CRM, the mapping of potential primary and secondary resources, and identification of the key technologies used in their production. Substitution profiles, analysis of European business and policy issues pertinent to CRMs, and an identification of the standards, policies, and regulatory frameworks concerning these CRM was also completed. In a second step, to be conducted between mid-2018 and mid-2019, SCRREEN will provide guidance for improving the CRM market in Europe by identifying opportunities from research, development, and innovation (R&D&I) that could reduce the supply and/or economic risks around the most relevant CRM for Europe.

By B. Bichel

For the last 70 years, molten blister copper has been transferred by rail in hot metal cars from the Copper Cliff Smelter to the Copper Cliff Copper Refinery (ex Ontario Refining Company) where it was processed in two (2) reverberatory anode furnaces by poling with logs, cast on four (4) wheels, and then electrorefined. This practice was modernized in 2001 with the installation of two (2) rotary anode furnaces at the. Copper Cliff Smelter which employ steam and. natural gas for reducing and which provide a significant reduction in emissions. A new casting shop with a single anode casting wheel is used to cast regular and stripper constant weight anodes which are transported by truck to the Copper Cliff Copper Refinery for anode preparation and electrorefining. This paper provides an overview of the copper circuit at the Copper Cliff Smelter and a description of the CDN$31 million capital project.

Jan 1, 2002

By Dmitri Nassyrov, In-ho Jung

"All relevant thermodynamic and phase diagram data in the CaO-Fe10-CaF2 system were critically reviewed. One set of model parameters describing the Gibbs energy of all phases has been obtained as a result of critical evaluation of the available data and optimization of the model parameters. The Modified Quasichemical Model was used to describe the interactions in the liquid phase. All calculations were performed using the FactSage thermochemical software.IntroductionSlags contaimng CaF2 are of significant interest to the steelmaking community. Notable examples of slags containing significant amounts of CaF2 include Electro-slag Remelting (ESR) slags [1] and mould flux for continuous casting [2]. The role of these slags is, among other things, to refine steel by absorbing inclusions and dissolved impurities. During slag-steel interaction, some iron from the steel will inevitably get oxidized and form iron oxides which will dissolve into the slag. With this in mind, it is important to understand the interaction between CaF2 and Fe,0 for accurate prediction of slag composition and process optimization. A thermodynamic optimization of the CaO-FetO-CaF2 was thus undertaken."

Jan 1, 2013

By Hiromichi Ohta

Precise thermal properties of molten materials are essentially required for analyzing the metal production process. These properties are also important as a clue to consider the dynamic structure of liquid materials. However, it is difficult to obtain the precise thermal diffusivity values of molten oxides at high temperature because of the experimental uncertainties arising from the bubble formation or the severe separation of radiative and conductive heat components. Recently a novel laser flash method has also developed for measuring thermal diffusivity of molten oxides at high temperature. In this new technique, the sample is melted in a metal crucible and heated to the desired temperature. A single laser pulse is flashed on the bottom of the metal crucible and the infrared ray irradiated from the same bottom surface is measured for obtaining the temperature decay, from which the thermal diffusivity of the liquid sample can be estimated. The usefulness and validity of this new laser flash technique have been confirmed by obtaining the thermal diffusivity values of silicate melts in the wide temperature range between 773 and 1673 K.

Jan 1, 2003

By G. Barbery

The models for particle composition prediction that have been put forward are limited to simple textures and lead to an independance of grade with respect to particle size in broken ore. A presentation is made of a modification in texture description; binary textures, in which each subeonstituent has its own breakage characteristics are introduced. The calibration of the textural model can be made using heavy liquid separation results. The application to the case of coal is presented. Coal washability data present spe¬cial difficulty due to the distribution in the specific gravity of coal, which must be taken into account. Coal s.g. distribution is taken as a generalized exponential distribution. Model calibration is then possible and is shown to be in good agreement with experimental data.

Jan 1, 1987

By Eric Pirard

Theoretical studies carried out on shape analysis supply mathematical tools to analyze the influence of grain shapes on ore beneficiation. In the case of statistic images like those encountered in applied mineralogy parametrical and harmonical analysis methods are used. It is important that the shape parameters are adapted to the specific processes involved in ore beneficiation, while remaining easy to manipulate. The inertia parameters are considered in the scope of granulometric and gravimetric processes It appears that they are able to distinguish between the resulting products where very popular shape parameters are not. The measured statistics are analyzed through discriminant analysis procedures in order to estimate the importance of morphological differentiation and the aptitude of shape parameters to account for this.

Jan 1, 1989