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By Keuncheol Choi, Yonghack Lee

"The new lead smelter based on the QSL technology was started operation from May 1992 at Onsan Refinery of Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. The smelter is designed to treat not only various types of lead concentrate but also secondary materials coming from the zinc plant without special pretreatment.Shortly after the start-up of the operation, it has demonstrated that the smelter have a capability to treat wide range of raw materials. Continuous modifications and improvements of the plant are still under way to increase the feed rate and also the ratio of secondary materials to the feed.In this paper, the operating experience and results of QSL smelter, especially the injection of gases and coal to the melt, will be presented with major operation parameters and data.INTRODUCTIONThe QSL lead smelter based on new injection technology was commissioned at the Korea Zinc's Onsan plant from May of 1992. After starting the operation, the QSL lead smelter faced various kinds of mechanical and metallurgical troubles. However, these were gradually worked out by the continuous improvements and efforts.At present, the QSL lead smelter is operated stably at the total feed rate of 57 tonnes per hour with an increased amount of secondary materials."

Jan 1, 1996

By Shabnam Sabah, Geoffrey Brooks

In oxygen steelmaking, splashing and droplet formation play a key role in the kinetics of the process. Though splashing has been studied by previous investigators, there is only limited understanding of how different cavity modes affect splashing. Therefore, a cold model study (at various lance heights and gas flow rates) has been carried out focusing on the issue of cavity modes and how it affects splashing phenomenon. Analysis using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was carried out on cavity oscillation that showed that frequency and amplitude of oscillation was highest in penetrating mode. Measurements of splashing over a range of conditions showed splashing greatly reduced when cavities went from splashing to penetrating mode. The results were validated and compared with plant data and previous model investigations.

Jan 1, 2014

By F. J. Tavera

Recently Jameson cell technology has gained acceptance in both mineral and non-mineral applications, mainly because of the high degree of contact between the involved phases in the downcomer, fact that leads to an efficient collection performance. The key for an acceptable performance of the downcomer operation depends on the stability of the jet zone, the mixing zone, and the plug flow zone. in this work the behaviour of the downcomer of a laboratory Jameson cell is reported, as a function of gas hold-up, superficial gas velocity, superficial liquid (or slurry) velocity, and length of the operating zones. The presence of carbon is evaluated in terms of its effect on the gas hold-up and bubble surface area flux. The influence of the downcomer operating conditions on the gas-liquid disengaging cell is presented. Keywords: Jameson cell, downcomer, gas hold-up, mixing, plug flow, conductivity.

Jan 1, 2003

By Toru H. Okabe

As part of a systematic study on the thermodynamic properties of complex nitrides, phase equilibria of the system Li-M-N (M Mg, AI, Ga) at 900 K were investigated. An attempt to determine the thermodynamic properties of complex nitrides was made by using the galvanic cell method, which utilizes LiMgN as an electrolyte under nitrogen atmosphere. The electromotive force (Emf) of ilie cell at temperatures between 800 and 1100 K was measured. Whilc the Emf of the cell at 900 K was measured to be 0.137 V, data discrepancies of ±0.03V were found. It was difficult to determine temperature dependence of ilie Emf. The Gibbs energy change for the reaction, 113 LbN (s) + 1/3 Mg3N2 (s) = LiMgN (s), at 900 K was determined to be tJ.Gor (LiMgN) -13.2 (±2.9) kJ/mol. Using thermodynamic information on ilie binary nitride from literature, the standard Gibbs energy of LiMgN was derived to be AGO f (LiMgN)= - 121 kJ at 900 K. The thermodynamic stability range of nitride was discussed by constructing isothermal chemical potential diagrams that provide a better understanding of ilie stability region of the LiMgN phase. The diagram was found to be in good agreement with the isoiliermal phase diagram determined by ilie alloy equilibration meiliod. Although the obtained data includes large uncertainties, the results provide a better understanding of the iliermodynamic stability of nitrides. The potential application of this complex nitride to nitrogen chemical sensors or a medium for controlling nitrogen potential is also shown.

Jan 1, 2003

By Xinghui Meng

The recovery of platinum and palladium from automotive catalysts has been investigated by leaching in iodide solutions with oxidants including oxygen and iodine in an autoclave. An ammonium salt was presented in a neutral leaching solution as a key leaching reagent to achieve high recoveries of the platinum group metals (PGM). The effect of temperature, and concentrations of oxidants and of ammonium salt on the recovery of PGM was examined. Under the experimental conditions studied, the recovery of platinum and palladium was found to be greater than 95%. An economical assessment of this process has also been examined and discussed.

Jan 1, 1995

By Kosei Morita, Osamu Nakano, Katsuhiko Nagai, Kazuhiro Mori

"The Sumitomo Toyo Smelter and Refinery commenced its operation in 1971 with three Peirce- Smith (PS) converters. “2 hot – 1 blowing” operation was practiced, that is one of two available converters was blowing and the other was standby in a hot state while the third converter was under repair. After several improvements, the stack time ratio reached around 90%; and processing 5 batches a day became possible.As a result of the expansion program of the Toyo smelter and refinery that started in 2001, the converter operation pattern was shifted from “2 hot – 1 blowing” to “2 hot – 2 blowing” with the installation of second converter blowers and an additional ladle crane.In 2005 a, the fourth converter was installed and “3 hot – 2 blowing” operation began. Also, with improvements experienced in the anode furnaces and the anode-casting wheel operation, today, the number of cycles has been increased up to more than 8.5 a day.The treatment techniques of fugitive gas containing sulfur dioxide from converter furnaces have been gradually reinforced, and the fixation rate of treated sulfur is currently being maintained at more than 99.9%. This paper introduces the operations described above, and the improvements in environmental management techniques for the Toyo PS converter operation."

Jan 1, 2009

By Florian Kongoli

The liquidus surface of multicomponent slags is an important parameter in various smelting and converting processes. It helps not only to optimize the slag, chemistry of current processes and their fluxing strategies, but also to determine the availability of new slags for more advanced technologies. In a series of our previous publications, the liquidus surface of some multicomponent iron oxide slags has been quantified at several constant oxygen potentials and the effect of the latter, ignored until that moment, was quantified along with the effect of some minor components. In this work, the liquidus surface of some iron oxide slags is quantified at constant CO2/CO ratios. This is a new convenient way for the quantitative description of the slag liquidus surface and the effect of several fluxes, especially in those processes such as slag solidification, where oxygen potential changes continuously. This type of diagram also describes more dynamically the effect of oxygen potential, clarifies the relation between CO2/CO ratio and oxygen potential in terms of the liquidus surface, which is not widely understood by metallurgist today, and reduces the gap between laboratory work and industrial experience.

Jan 1, 2002

By Chetan P. Malhotra

This paper describes an online control system and simulation environment for reheating furnaces. The system can be configured for implementing manual control as well as automatic control using either look-up tables or online model predictions. The simulator is also used for offline generation of optimized normal operation and delay setpoints for look-up tables and generating ideal heating curves for model-based control. Finally, it is employed to compare the performance of the above control strategies over a typical period of operation of a pusher-type reheating furnace. Keywords: Reheating furnace, control strategy, model-based control

Jan 1, 2003

By Sridhar Seetharuman

Sulfur and oxygen dissolved in nickel and cupronickel melts can be removed as gaseous oxides of sulfur by a vacuum treatment. Presented in this paper is a new matched thermochemical diagram that permits direct evaluation of the equilibrium partial pressure of SO, as a function of temperature over an alloy of specified composition. The matched thermochemical diagram consists of a central plot which shows the integral Gibbs' energy of mixing for the binary system S-O2, at different temperatures. The central plot is flanked on either side by terminal plots of the chemical potentials of oxygen and sulfur, as functions of temperature, for different alloy compositions. By projecting the chemical potentials of oxygen and sulfur from the terminal plots on to the central diagram, the equilibrium pressure of SO2,can be directly read on the nomograms on the central plot at different temperatures. The matched thermochemical diaerams are - useful in assuring the efficiency of vacuum refining.

Jan 1, 1993

By Satoshi Yamashita, Noboru Masuko

"Newly prepared bipolar membrane is promising to become a key material of an electrolyser for a production process of strong reducing solvent. This research is basic research for using bipolar membranes as electrolysers of reducing agents, Cr(II), TI(III) and V (II) on the laboratory scale. In this report, a bipolar membrane was tried with an electrolyser, reducing chromic chloride to chromous chloride. An analysis of mass balance demonstrates advantages of it over the former electrolyser equipped with an anion and/or. cation exchange membrane. The effects of current density and concentration of Cr(lll) on the reduction rate of Cr(II) and the current efficiency were examined No deterioration of the bipolar membrane resulted from the electrolytic reduction of Cr(III). IntroductionRecently, bipolar membrane that was the development subject for a long time in the industry of ion exchange membranes has met the stage of the practical application at last [l]. The expectation of the application to the hydrometallurgy field increases. We took up the manufacturing of the strong reducibility solvent as part of the application of bipolar membrane to hydrometallurgy technology. This laboratory has much experience in the electrolytic reduction of Cr (II) aqueous .solution such as chromous sulfateusing bipolar membrane were compared in theory to chromous chloride aqueous solution manufacturing of the strong reducibility solvent. The advantage of applying bipolar membrane by substituting ion exchange membrane is described, and the experimental result is reported."

Jan 1, 2000

By Alicia E. Ares, Carlos E. Schvezov

In the present work it was observed the nucleation and growth of grains in the equiaxed zone of metal matrix composites (MMCs) samples directionally solidified wit the presence of columnarto- equiaxed transition (CET) in the samples. In order to do so, first, it was defined the difference between the real temperature at a given instant, which it is used in the analysis, its variation and furthermore, the variation in the solid fraction with time between the beginning and the end of solidification. It was determined a growth law assuming a lineal variation of equiaxed grain radius as a function of time, and also, it was expressed a law of grain density as a function of time, considering the presence of SiC and Al2O3 particles in the matrix. Finally, the results obtained were validated with measured values of grain density at each position of the thermocouples in the equiaxed zone of the solidified samples.

Jan 1, 2015

By C. L. Lin

Transformation of linear grade distribution to volumetric grade distribution has been used to estimate the actual mineral liberation during wet, batch, ball mill grinding of a copper ore. The degree of liberation based on the multicomponent-multisize grinding liberation model using volumetric grade is lower than the apparent degree of liberation estimated from using King's linear intercept model.

Jan 1, 1987

By M. Nilmani, J. Sofra

The transverse distributions of the solids discharge velocity and mass flux at the discharge end of vertical and inclined lances were measured in order to detennine the transverse distributions of the axial momentum flux, which is a dominant factor influencing the penetration behaviour of particles into melts during submerged injection. The effects of gas velocity (10 - 30 m/s), solids loading (5 - 10), lance length (0.15 - 1.0 m), lance inclination (vertical downward - horizontal) and particle density (2500 - 8900 kg/m3 ) were investigated, while the lance diameter and particle size were fixed at 10 mm and 220 µm respectively. The particle velocities and mass fluxes were measured by image analysis of particles illuminated in a laser-generated light sheet aligned vertically through the axis of the lance at the discharge point. The particle discharge velocity profiles for vertical downward flows were synunetrical about the centre-line of the lance, with the maximum velocities occurring at the centre-line. The velocities increased with increasing gas velocity, increasing lance length and decreasing particle density in accordance with previous observations. The transverse mass flux profiles were also synunetrical for vertical downward flows, however at the lower gas velocities the peaks in the profiles were displaced from the centre-line of the lance by a fractional diameter of about 0.15. The particle discharge velocity profiles become increasingly asynunetric as the lance orientation was changed from vertical to horizontal, with higher particle velocities present near the top wall of the lance. The mass flux profile also became asyrrunetric as the horizontal orientation was approached, however in this case, the profile became biased towards the bottom of the lance. The effect was much more pronounced for a gas velocity of 10 m/s than for 30 m/s, showing the relatively stronger gravitational influence as the velocity was reduced.

Jan 1, 1996

By S. Yabe

The reinforcement of the annual copper production capacity to 330,000 metric tons has been attained at Saganoseki Smelter & Refinery in 1991, which is one of the largest and most efficient custom smelters in the world. Many operational improvements and technology developments have realized the increase of smelting and refining capacity without adding main facilities to the existing process. The blister copper refining and anode casting process is composed of two 400 tonnes anode furnaces and one double-wheeled casting machine with the capacity of 80 tonnes per hour. The great innovations in this process such as the finding of essential issue on the extending of anode-mould life and the development of a new anode-mould casting machine have raised the operation efficiency by 14% Now, the process is producing 38,500 tonnes per month of best quality anode in well- controlled working condition, and anode productivity per worker increased by 52%. The progress in extending anode-mould life, the mechanism of the new anode-mould casting machine and the increase of efficiency in butane reduction, that were the principal parts of many technological improvements, are described in the present paper, including some operation results.

Jan 1, 1993

By W. G. Davenport

This chapter shows how flash furnace industrial oxygen and oil requirements are affected by different: (a) product temperatures (b) conductive, convective and radiative heat losses (c) electrical energy inputs (d) hydrocarbon fuels. The calculations of the chapter are all for production of 65% Cu matte from pure CuFeS2 concentrate. Blast temperature is? 298 K throughout.

Jan 1, 2001

By M. Tomita

One of the most essential factors for a custom smelter to strengthen its competitive power is to Improve its comparative standing in purchase of concentrates from the world market. It is especially critical for Japanese smelters who depend almost 90% of their raw materials on import. In order to accomplish this breakthrough, the development of the new technology which enables us to treat concentrates containing higher Impurities is inevitable. Nippon Mining Company Ltd. made an intensive research on processing complex ore for three years from 1979, and successfully developed an original hydrometallurgical process to treat converter dust for eliminating impurities from the copper smelting circuit. The commercial plant was constructed at the Saganoseki Smelter & Refinery in 1982, and its nine years operation has been satisfactorily proven the advantages of the technology. The concept of this process and its operational performance are discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By M. D. Light

An intelligent control system (ICS) is being developed for ferrous iron oxidation by Thiobacillus ferroxitdans. The ICS provides computerized data acquisition and' control of process variables (temperature, Eh, pH, dissolved oxygen arid carbon dioxide concentrations and dilution rate) to maintain the ferrous iron oxidation at the highest possible rate. The ICS uses fuzzy logic for analysis of data inputs and implementation of control strategies. T:his paper provides preliminary information on the development of the ICS and? its operation.

Jan 1, 1991

By Denise C. R. Espinosa

The amount of secondary batteries are increasing about 15% by year. Among these batteries, it can be highlighted the NiCd ones, due to their high consumption. In Brazil, the consumption of NiCd batteries grown quickly in the last 5 years, due to the dissemination of cellular telephones and other electronic devices. The first step of a process to recycle spent NiCd batteries is the pretreatment through unit operations of mining treatment. The aim of this work is to define a physical pretreatment to conditioning the waste to a pyrornetallurgical recycling process of spent NiCd batteries used in cellular telephones. Batteries were disassembled by hand to release the different components. The studied batteries are basically composed (by weight) of: 78% nucleus, 18% plastic case and 2% circuits. The grinding of the batteries was performed by knife mill and also by hammer mill. After grinding the material was screened and submitted to a magnetic separator.

Jan 1, 2001

By Mark Jolly, Nasim Soleimanian

"During the last 20 years CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) has been used as a tool to aid furnace designers and manufacturers to improve energy efficiency and effectiveness of glass furnaces. However as the models are maturing the effect of feeding equipment used to push the raw material into the furnace has not been included in the process models. This paper investigates the effects of batch pattern in the melt space caused by charging equipment on the energy efficiency of the furnace focusing on the melting zone. A simple batch patterns sensitivity study has been performed using purpose built software (Glass Furnace Model-GFM). It is concluded that in order to further reduce the energy consumption of the furnace it is necessary to model the batch charging process in more detail to find more opportunities for improvement.Introduction Glass manufacturing is a conservative industry which applies to all the four major segments (float glass, container glass, fiberglass, and specialty glasses). Risks due to the high capital investment, very long service life of the furnaces, and the demand for high performance and quality from the outset translates into evolutionary progress rather than revolutionary. The main problem facing glass manufacturers are the financial cost of manufacture, its impact on the environment, and mounting pressure imposed by the authorities for greener manufacturing and reduction in emissions.The main energy intensive activities involved in continuous glass manufacturing are: the need for high temperature to create and maintain the viscous flow, homogenisation of glass melt (melt residence time), and maintaining the two to achieve continuous output of glass at the right quality. The high temperature and long duration of homogenisation has resulted in the design oflarge furnaces, which have high energy consumption, low specific performance, and high C02 emissions. As an example in the container glass sector the most efficient furnace has a specific primary energy consumption of 3.8 GJ /tonne of glass at a level of 50% cullet in the batch. Even very small improvements in efficiency by optimising operation would have a high impact [1-14]. Given the conservative nature of the industry and the costs involved in experimental data gathering, CFD modeling of the process has been used extensively during last two decades to not only improve our understanding of the process but also as a tool in predicting possible optimisation windows, e.g. Glass Furnace Model ( GFM), a commercially available piece of software that has been developed to optimise furnace operation."

Jan 1, 2013

By A. M. Blount

In 1983, a final ruling of the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) specified that chemicals containing >0.1 % of a carcinogenic substance or > 1 % of a substance hazardous to health must be labelled. Amphiboles of the fibrous or asbestos-type must be quantified at levels of 0. I % whereas the status of non-fibrous types is not finally determined at this time. Tremolite and actinolite can possibly be measured to 0.1 % by XRD, but anthophyllite cannot be so measured. Recently the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) has designated quartz as a suspected carcinogen, and its quantity must be measured to the 0.1 % level. Thus, it has become Increasingly important to be able to detect and quantify minerals in bulk samples down to low or "trace" levels. It has been found that minerals needing to be quantified can often be concentrated by microcentrifuge and counted by means of polarized-light microscopy. For example, amphiboles in talc samples can be separated by using a heavy liquid (thallium formate-malonate) of density 2.810. Talc floats, and amphiboles sink. After centrifuging, the denser particles are removed from the bottom with a Pasteur pipette and placed in a clean centrifuge tube. Distilled water is added to the tube containing the denser minerals and the tube centrifuged again. After several washings with distilled water, the sample is removed along with a drop of water to a clean glass slide. A drop of 1 .584 refractive index liquid and a cover glass are placed over the dried sample. The slide is scanned for particles greater than 5 um in length and having an aspect ratio greater than 1:3. These are checked for refractive index, sign of elongation and extinction angle to differentiate them from talc particles on edge and other minerals. Amphiboles have all indices greater than 1.584, and talc has all indices equal to or lower than this value. Alternately the heavies at the bottom of the centrifuge tube can be filtered through a nucleopore filter. After the filter has been washed with distilled water and dried, a 1.584 refractive index liquid renders the filter transparent in two of the four extinction positions so that a count of amphibole particles can be made directly on the filter. The refractive index-density method which is so useful for talc powders should be equally useful for other nonsoluble industrial minerals.

Jan 1, 1989