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By Sang-Su Lee

This paper shows the application of the porous plug system in the Mitsubishi continuous copper smelting and converting process. This system has already been adopted and utilized in the steel industry to enhance productivity. Recently, some copper smelters have adopted this system but the results have not been satisfactory. The porous plug system was installed at the anode furnace in December 2001 to reduce the oxidation time and decrease the oil consumption. A good effect was that the nitrogen stirring of the melt through porous plugs improved the melt heat transfer. As the result of the enhancing heat transfer the oil consumption and the build-up inside the furnace were actually decreased. But until now the oxidation time has not been sufficiently reduced. In the future, further research and tests are needed in order to increase the productivity and save costs.

Jan 1, 2003

By H. -Peter Sattler

The laser sorting technique for replacing the handpicking of the non-ferrous metal scrap from auto shredders was first introduced 1990, The process is based on the use of atomic emission spectroscopy induced by lasers to identify the scrap particles and sort them with adequate systems into main fractions of Al-, Zn-and Cu-alloys, stainless steel and lead, In the meantime the handling technique for the scrap, i.e. the singling and sorting technique as well as the analytical detector were further developed for more efficiency and higher reliability, i,e. less maintenance, minor sorting errors etc. These developments were mainly based, on and initiated by operational experiences from the startup phase of a first production plant. Part of the on going research work was the development of an ,aluminium detector which makes it the first time possible to sort mixed aluminium scrap automatically into specific alloy fractions.

Jan 1, 1995

By J. Partinen

Drying is a unit process which has numerous applications in metallurgical process industry. Kumera Technology Center, being a worldwide equipment and process supplier, has developed sophisticated solutions for both direct and indirect drying. In conventional direct drum drying, the energy is taken from combustion of fossil fuels, requiring energy input and emitting considerable amount of off gases. In modem copper smelters, thermal energy from the off gases is recovered in waste heat boilers making the steam available. Using that steam as the energy source for concentrate drying, the total volume of off gases can be considerably reduced and releasing of harmful combustion gases into the atmosphere can be avoided. Kumera Technology Center has recently developed and promotes a new steam drying process for drying of copper concentrates. In the development of the new dryer, Kumera's approach has been to combine the best properties of both the steam dryers and the drum dryers. In the design special attention has been paid to overcome problems of excessive wear and clogging and to reduce the required maintenance operations. In this paper the environmental issues and energy consumption related to both direct and indirect drying processes are discussed. The estimated operation costs and emission levels are compared, based on calculations and the data collected from industry. Finally, the development project of the Kumera Steam Dryer is briefly reviewed

Jan 1, 1999

By Magdalena Regel-Rosocka

Extraction of zinc(II) from hydrochloric acid solutions is discussed. The literature on the extraction of zinc(II) in the presence of iron(III) and iron(II) with various basic and solvating reagents has been reviewed. It was found that tributyl phosphate (TBP) is the best compromise, and permits both effective extraction of zinc(II) and its stripping with water. The process was confirmed in a continuous laboratory mixer-settler circuit.

Jan 1, 2003

By Nobuhiro Ishikawa

The in-situ observation of the effect of impurities on the reduction process of iron oxides by C in TEM was carried out. A few wt% of CaO or AbO, was used as impurities in FeO was prepared. Some precipitates grew into the C layer expect for using 3.0wtCa. The reaction between FeO and carbon was much different from using pure FeO at about 800-1 lOOK. The rate of reaction became much slower including Ca and almost no reaction was happened with the concentration of CaO up to 3.0wt%. On the contrary, AbO, had ahuost no effect on the reaction. The results indicated that Ca suppressed the reaction and the effect of Al was much less. The precipitates which grew into C layer accompanied almost no Ca and AI. Only Fe was detected in the precipitates.

Jan 1, 2008

By Moto Goto

Today, Pierce-Smith converters, coupled together with various types of smelting units, are used in most of the world's smelters. However, due to the "batch" processing nature, and problems associated with fugitive emissions during the transfer of melt and blowing stages, this arrangement will unlikely be adopted in future smelters. Modern day alternative processes include the Mitsubishi Process, Outokumpu Flash Smelting and Flash Converting Process, the Noranda Process, and the Ausmelt Process, but only the Mitsubishi Process is a "truly continuous" smelting and converting operation, producing a constant flow of blister without tapping, and is economically proven by long term commercial operations. This paper reviews recent advances in modern continuous converting technologies, with a special section devoted to operation of the "first standalone Mitsubishi C-furnace" coupled together with a Noranda Reactor, at Port Kembla Copper Pty. Ltd. in Australia.

Jan 1, 2003

By E. Gutierrez-Miravete

Hot pressing processes are widely used to shape metallic, ceramic, and glass components. The process is an essential step in manufacturing ceramic fibre-glass matrix composites. The paper describes the use of computer simulation by the particle method, to the analysis of the deformation and flow of glass during hot pressing. The hot glass is represented by an assembly of interacting particles which deform in response to the applied pressure. The results, which should be regarded as complementary to continuum-based studies, provide useful insight about the hot pressing process.

Jan 1, 1990

By John J. Friel

Digital imaging systems are particularly useful in microscopy, because they make it possible to extract information not readily accessible by manual methods and to display that information clearly. Computer-aided imaging systems analyze, process and compare images, and of these, image analysis is most useful in materials science. Image analysis quantifies the microstructure by making measurements on the entire field or by measuring the size and shape of features individually. Even true surface area can be calculated. Modem image analyzers make thousands of measurements in seconds, leaving the investigator to interpret the data and relate them to process and material properties. Image processing, which may be necessary to prepare an image for analysis, includes everything from simple contrast transforms and kernel filters to complicated processes such as grain boundary reconstruction using artificial intelligence. An example of image comparison is point-by-point screening of X-ray maps of different elements to extract phases. In all of these operations, the computer makes a large number of measurements in seconds and returns information that could not be realistically obtained by manual methods.

Jan 1, 1992

In the new flowsheet for Inco Limited's S02, Abatement Project at the Copper Cliff, Ontario operations, a copper/nickel sulphide flotation concentrate will be flash smelted, then converted to Bessemer matte. As in current practice, this will be slow-cooled and separated into components by magnetic separation and flotation. The copper content will emerge as a chalcocite concentrate (impure Cu2S), containing some nickel. This copper sulphide will be converted to copper metal.

Jan 1, 1993

By Neil Smith

Mineral processing plants typically procure a range of industrial services from contractors. Their satisfaction and value received is directly affected by how the services are procured, rationalized and delivered. Conventional purchasing strategies often focus on price rather than on optimizing the service relationship between supplier and customer. The nature of this relationship may have the greatest potential to reduce costs and enhance production. It has been documented that a service involves simultaneous production and consumption. A high degree of customer involvement is often necessary for a successful outcome and the expectations and attitudes of the customer can positively or negatively affect delivery of the service. This indicates that the customer can enhance or diminish their own satisfaction and value received and the supplier cannot act alone for best results. The Optimax? Program for industrial services is a service delivery framework whereby a customer and supplier work together to raise the efficiency of the service exchange. The Optimax? Program is intended to help the customer optimize costs and maximize production by connecting the customer and supplier through shared information and objectives. This paper will review the basic nature of services, provide a couple of examples of conventional procurement strategies for services and outline the features of the Optimax? Program. A Case Study showing recent results from implementing the Optimax? Program will be included.

Jan 1, 2006

By Lakshman D. Jayaweera

Today's rapidly developing and changing technologies and industrial products and practices frequently carry with them the increased generation of materials that, if improperly dealt with, can threaten both public health and the environment. Mercury is an element that poses great problems in the many forms in which it is to be found in the mineral processing industry. These forms are often contained in hazardous wastes and residues which may be unstable, and in which the contained mercury has value. This paper presents some of the stabilisation and recovery methods which are based on hydrometallurgical techniques and thermodynamic stability considerations.

Jan 1, 1994

By Yong Hack Lee

Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) dust is generated when scraps are treated in the electric arc furnace and usually classified as hazardous industrial waste in most countries. EAF dust usually contains 15 to 25% of zinc and 3% of lead. It is usually treated in rotary kiln (Waelz process) or landfilled after a solidification and stabilization treatment. Numerous methods have been proposed as the EAF dust treatment technology, but few of them are in operation as a commercial scale except the Waelz process. Korea Zinc performed a plant test in which 600 tons of EAF dust was treated using TSL (Top Submerged Lance) technology. The TSL technology is a low cost, proven technology for processing zinc-bearing residues. The EAF dust was first de-chlorinated and fed to the TSL furnace. Finally, clean slag satisfying toxicity criteria was generated and valuable metals such as zinc and lead were recovered as fume oxide. The fume oxide was de-halogenated by sodium carbonate and sent to zinc refinery to recover zinc and lead. The recovery of zinc and lead was 90% and 93%, respectively. Most of the dioxin in the EAF dust was discomposed so dioxin less than the Korean regulation limit was detected in the offgas, which proves that the TSL technology is the best solution to treat EAF dust.

Jan 1, 2006

By Peijia Lin

Wheat straw was chemically modified by alkaline treatment followed by succinylation and sodium carbonate treatment for the use of cadmium and nickel adsorbent. The adsorption efficiency was calculated in different conditions. The experimental parameters were solution pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time and initial metal concentrations. The biosorbent was analysed by FTIR (Fourier- Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) to investigate the changes of surface functional group. The maximum adsorption percentages of cadmium (>99%) and nickel (>98%) were achieved using 5 g/L adsorbent with 50 mg/L initial metal concentrations. The adsorption kinetic study showed that the reaction was pseudo-second order kinetics and the adsorption isotherm was well fit by the Langmuir adsorption model. The dynamic column study indicates that modified adsorbent has a better adsorption capacity towards cadmium than nickel.

By Qingwei Qin, Ping Xue, Guangqiang Li

Ausmelt furnace slag contains about 0.9% Cu (mass %). With increasing the amount of Ausmelt furnace slag, the recovery of copper from it will produce an enormous economic yield. The recovery of copper by floatation from slow cooled Ausmelt furnace slag was studied in this paper. The phases and composition of the slow cooled slag were analyzed. The factors which affected the copper recovery efficiency such as grinding fineness, pH value of flotation medium, different collectors and floating process were investigated. It was shown that the size distribution of the primary grinding and secondary grinding of middling were 75% for particles less than 0.074mm and 82% for particles less than 0.043mm respectively. The closedcircuit experimental results with butyl xanthate as collector in laboratory showed that the copper grade reached 16.11% and the recovery rate of copper reached 69.90% and the copper grade of tailings was only 0.2%.

Jan 1, 2015

By J. M. Floyd

"Top submerged lance furnace developments started in CSIRO in the early 1970s and was given the name Sirosmelt. In the early work the technology was developed for tin smelting and processing tin slags but once a small pilot plant was established other slag processing applications were soon recognised and evaluated for various copper, nickel, zinc and cobalt-containing slags. The process was tried for copper smelting and converting, which was proven in the small pilot plant in 1978. In the same year the first commercial application of the technology was established for the recovery of tin from slags at Associated Tin Smelters, Sydney. Work on lead smelting was initiated by the CSIRO team in the late 1970s and laboratory work led to pilot plant trials by Mount Isa Mines.In the second decade of the technology the focus of development became commercial acceptance of the technology through marketing, development and application by Ausmelt and Mount Isa Mines; the former commercialising and developing the technology for a wide range of applications, while the latter concentrated on its own commercial needs of copper and lead smelting. This decade saw a number of commercial plants built in Australia, with considerable interest becoming evident from other parts of the world. Towards the end of this decade Mount Isa also entered into the business of marketing of the technology through rights dating to the joint work with CSIRO in the late 1970s.So far, after five years, the third decade of the technology has been characterised by diversification of applications of the technology to areas outside the non-ferrous and precious metals production industry. The waste processing and recycle industry and the iron and steel industry have recognised that the top submerged lancing system is a new type of reactor with many significant features which provide new opportunities for processing a range of materials under good environmental controls in a cost effective manner.I hope this audience will excuse my boldness in talking about the third decade of the technology when we are only half way through! I am aiming in this paper to not only talk about the past, but to try illustrate the future directions which I envision."

Jan 1, 1996

By P. D. Nolan

Smelters operating under pollution control orders have become increasingly dependent upon the reliable operation of sulphuric acid plants and no factor affects the long term reliability of those plants more than efficient gas cleaning. The sources and characteristics of contaminants in smelter of fgases and the conventional approaches to removing these contaminants to accepted levels are discussed. New technology is described which offers advantages of lower capital cost, lower operating cost and reduced space requirements over the conventional approaches. This new technology has been developed by LAB s.a. and is licensed for metallurgical gas applications by Chemetics International Company.

Jan 1, 1983

By D. J. Wang

Based on the thermodynamic arid kinectic aspects, the vaccum distillation processes for the separation and recovery of metals from wastes are analyzed. As to the separation criteria, The separation coefficient and equilibrium composition relation between vapor phase and liquid phase are the bases of recovery of metals by vacuum distillation, The vaporization rates and condensation mechanisms are also discussed. Some experimental results which deal with metals-containing wastes are described and the performances of a new kind of horizontal vacuum furnace are introduced, which demonstrate that , vacuum distillation may be a prospective technique for circulation and regeneration of some non-ferrous metals from industrial wastes.

Jan 1, 1996

By R. P. King

The central idea presented in this paper is straight forward. Some fairly obscure mathematical techniques are presented from the fields of integral geometry and stereology and these techniques are shown to provide workable quantitative relationships from which the liberation spectrum of an ore after comminution can be determined. The experimental data that is required can be obtained very accurately and conveniently by image analysis of polished sections of the original ore. This quantitative mineralogical analysis provides a bridge that can link the worlds of the mineralogist and the mineral process engineer. This paper has been written to introduce this quantitative approach to a wider audience in the hope that the approach will be used more widely and that the basic linear intercept analysis data will be measured for a wider range of mineralogical textures. This could lead to a more comprehensive characterization of typical mineral ores that will be of considerable use in practical mineral processing.

Jan 1, 1991

By Angus Hellawell

The application of the common tangent principle to free energy - composition surfaces is considered. It is shown that the construction requires that single phase surfaces on either side of a two phase volume must always exhibit the same sign of curvature - contrary to that shown in many published phase diagrams. In general, these curvatures will be such that the surfaces are mutually concave towards the more stable phase. A number of examples are discussed.

Jan 1, 1991

By Z. Smieszek, Z. Szota, P. Gajowski

"A new method for measuring the total quantity of suspensions contained in the electrolyte during copper electrorefining has been developed by the Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals, Gliwice. Electrolyte purity, and the suspensions content in particular, is of essential importance for the quality of electrolytic copper produced during the process. Suspensions contribute to the increase of slime impurities in electrolytic copper and increase losses in noble metals. Up to now, the laboratory method has been used for the· process control which provides analytical results with considerable time delay. Therefore, it is useless for the process control.The measuring method developed enables continuous measurements of a suspensions content directly within the stream of the flowing electrolyte. The principle of measurement is based on changes in optic properties of the electrolyte with varying suspensions content.1. IntroductionIn copper electrorefining, it is essential that the final product quality be maintained. If suspensions are present in electrolyte, the content of slime impurities in electrolytic copper, (such as Pb, Ag, Bi, Sn, Sb, and As), increases which can result in the occurrence of the so-called slime dendrites on cathodes, thus debasing the quality of the product. As a normal suspension content in electrolyte, the contents in the order of several mg/l are considered, usually not more than 5-6 mg/l, while contents exceeding 20 mg/l are referred to as an alarm state. Suspensions present in an electrolyte are usually a light fraction of anodic slime whose main components are metallic silver, lead sulphate, complexes of antimony and arsenic, and sometimes even calcium sulphate; they are mainly composed of very small particles of lead sulphate and antimony complexes. Sometimes - - in case of alarm states - - the so-called ""wandering slims"" can be observed, which are composed mainly of arsenic and antimony complexes. These ""wandering slims"" make a serious technological disturbance. In normal operating conditions of the electrorefining plant, an increase of suspension content can result from such reasons as crack of filter cloth in a slime filter, turbulent flow of the electrolyte, anodic passivation, aeration of the electrolyte, and improper servicing of an electrolytic tank. It is necessary to continuously control the suspensions content in electrolyte for proper electrorefining."

Jan 1, 1989