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By S. R. B. Cooke, H. S. Choi, I. Iwasaki

Oleic acid is the chief ingredient of fatty acids used as collectors in nonsulfide flotation. With a few notable exceptions, the various quantities of saturated and other unsaturated acids comprising the remainder are usually unspecified. There have been occasional investigations to determine the collecting ability of these other acids and their effect on collection with oleic acid, but much remains to be done in this field. Hukki and Vartiainen, on the basis of tests using palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids and an impure linolenic acid, concluded: "The collecting power of fatty acids used in flotation increases with increasing unsaturation of the hydrocarbon chain." ' Their work was concerned mainly with the response of ilmenite to the foregoing collectors, although tests were also made with magnetite, pyrite, hematite, and rutile. Cooke and Nummela, employing an almost identical technical procedure to evaluate flotation of hematite, magnetite, and goethite with various fatty acids, including oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids of the highest purity obtainable, found: "The effectiveness of 18-carbon unsaturated fatty acids, as collectors for hematite, decreases with increase in the number of non-conjugated double bonds." 2 Vn the foregoing investigations, collector efficacy was measured on the basis of reagent addition in moles per liter. Sources of fatty acids which may be used as collectors are legion, but provided the oleic acid content is high enough, cost is normally the determining factor. Usually this restricts severely the purity of the collector in terms of its oleic acid content. Within the past year or so users of crude oleic acid have become somewhat more discriminating, apparently realizing that some of the organic acid impurities may exert deleterious effects upon certain separations. Marine fish oils have been used as collecting agents, particularly in the earlier days of froth flotation. Currently their use is restricted in this field to relatively minor applications, although they are cheap sources of fatty acids. In an effort to increase the range of uses for fish oils, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded contracts to study these materials as sources of new products suitable for commercial development. Funds for these investigations were provided by the Saltonstall-Ken-nedy Act of 1954. One such contract was awarded to the University of Minnesota School of Mines and Metallurgy for the purpose of investigating the use of fish oil fatty acids and their derivatives in ore flotation. Besides the esters of various saturated aliphatic acids and of palmitoleic and oleic acids, fish oil also contains esters of monoethenoid and polyethenoid acids with 20, 22, and 2 carbon atoms. The basic purpose of the investigation was to determine whether the longer-chained unsaturated acids possess collective properties superior to those of the C,, monoethenoid oleic acid, the C16 monoethenoid palmitoleic acid, or the saturated C,, stearic acid and its shorter chain homologues; whether highly unsaturated acids have merit as collectors; whether rela-

Jan 1, 1960

Jan 1, 1951

Jan 1, 1896

Jan 1, 1897

By A. S. Michaels, M. C. Porter, A. Stancell

Previous laboratory studies have demonstrated that the injection of small quantities of reverse wetting agents during water displacement can increase oil recovery from unconsolidated porous media.9 In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to determine more fully the effects of reverse wetting treatments and to clarify the mechanism by which increased oil recovery is effected. Water-oil displacements were performed in beds of 140-200 mesh silica sand. Hexylamine slugs (injected after 0.25 pore volume of water throughput), when adequate in size and concentration, were effective in promoting additional oil recovery. Their effectiveness increased with the quantity of amine injected. However, slugs of sufficient size and concentration to stimulate oil production at water flow rates of 34 ft/day did not do so at 4 ft/day. Visual studies in a glass grid micromodel have shown that the stimulation of oil production, via ayueous hexylamine, is a result of transient changes in the oil wettability of the pore walls. if the amine slug is of sufficient size and concentration to induce significant changes in the adhesion-tension, large continuous oil masses will be formed. if the superficial water velocity is high enough to result in rapid desorption of the amine, a favorable "wettobility gradient" may be established across the masses; under such conditions, high oil mobility is observed, and increased oil recovery results. INTRODUCTION It is generally agreed that the efficiency of oil displacement by water in porous media is limited in part by capillary forces which cause the retention of isolated masses of oil — resulting in the so-called "irreducible minimum oil saturation". Recent estimates10 indicate that there are about 220 billion bbl of petroleum in United States reservoirs which are not economically recoverable with present techniques (such as water flooding). This amounts to almost five times the known recoverable reserves. It has been recognized for some time that a suitable alteration in the water-oil interfacial tension and/or the contact angle, as measured between the water-oil interface and the solid surface, should result in better displacement efficiency. Surface active agents can be used as interfacial tension depressants to accomplish this objective,1,2,7 but unfortunately, the additional oil recovery is seldom commensurate with the treatment cost. In contrast to interfacial tension depressants, the effect of contact angle alterations on water-oil displacements has received relatively little attention in the literature. It is known that the wettability affects the displacement process.3,4,11 Displacements in water-wet systems generally result in lower residual oil saturations than those in oil-wet systems. The effect of "'transient" wettability alterations concurrent with the displacement process have been investigated by Wagner, Leach and coworkers,4,11 wherein it has been demonstrated that the establishment of water-wet conditions during water flooding of oil-wet, oil-saturated porous media is accompanied by significant increase in oil displacement efficiency. Michaels and Timminss studied the effects of transient contact angle alterations resulting from chromatographic transport of reverse wetting agents through unconsolidated sand. It was demonstrated that chromatographic transport of short-chain (C4 through C8) primary aliphatic amines can improve oil recovery and that the recovery increases with the quantity of amine injected (i.e., with either the amine concentration or the volume of the slug injected). Circumstantial evidence indicated that the increased displacement efficiency resulted primarily from transient changes in wettability of the porous medium. In the Present investigation. additional information has been obtained on the effects of reverse wetting treatments and the mechanism by which increased oil recovery is accomplished. Hexylamine slugs of varying size and concentration were chromato-

Jan 1, 1965

MIXED emotions were produced by the announcement that the buildup of weapons will be stretched out till mid-1954 instead of the previous 1953 deadline. Reason: government assistance programs will be tougher to get but there will be easement in materials allocations. Earlier in February, DPA had announced that tightening up on regulations governing rapid tax -amortization would become effective March 1. In the future, DPA will have to certify amortization contracts for all construction and permanent installations costing more than $100,000. This action was necessary according to DPA's James F. King, so that new industrial expansions already approved could be assessed in the light of the changing critical mineral picture. When DMPA inherited the backlog of government assistance, requests from DMA, it moved in fast. The results of DMPA's work is described in the article on p. 351 by James K. Richardson; The speed with which these requests were approved and the lengthening of the military program have made a reappraisal of the critical mineral list necessary. It looks as though the consumer industries will be getting more metal soon and, led by steel, there is an industry push toward the abandonment of CMP. Relaxing of materials controls appears imminent but discontinuing CMP is in the "let's talk this thing over" stage.

Jan 1, 1952

By W. C. Coons, E. H. Rennhack, R. A. Perkins

THE constitution of Ti-N alloys containing up to 17.5 wt pct N has been investigated by Palty, Margolin, and Nielsen.1 Their results, which confirmed earlier work

Jan 1, 1969

By Society of Mining Engineers of AIME

An error has been noticed in one of the figures in the 1974 Jackling Lecture "The Henderson Ore Body-Elements of Discovery, Reflections" by Stewart R. Wallace, published in SME Transactions, Vol. 256, No. 3, September 1974, pp. 216-227. The horizontal scale shown on Fig. 5 of this article is incorrect. The horizontal and vertical scales should be equal, i.e., the horizontal distance shown as 1000 ft should be 2000 ft.

Jan 1, 1976

By K. N. Han, H. Lee, M. C. Fuerstenau

An investigation of the recovery of finely-divided cassiterite and silica particles less than 1 µm (1200 mesh) in size has been carried out using packed and fluidized beds. The bed particles used included cassiterite and silica particles ranging from 44 to 210 µm (325 to 70 mesh). Effects of various system parameters on the recovery and selectivity of cassiterite fines were investigated. System parameters included pH of the slurry solution, superficial velocity, slurry concentration, and bed particle sizes. High recoveries of cassiterite fines were obtained at pH 4.0 and slow slurry flow rates. In a packed bed system, recovery of cassiterite fines was greater than 95%, while that of silica fines under the same conditions was about 35%. Although the total recovery per pass is not as good as the packed bed, the fluidized bed system exhibits good recovery in general and an excellent selectivity of cassiterite fines. There is an optimum superficial velocity, vo, for the rate of fine particle uptake and the apparent rate constant has the form of Kvo1/2- K'vo, where K and K' are system constants.

Jan 1, 1985

By AIME

THE history of the Mine La Motte area covers a greater period of time than any other mining operation west of the Mississippi, for it was almost exactly four centuries ago that the white man first visited the region. In May 1541 a few men from the party of Fernando de Soto traversed the place looking for silver which they understood the Indians had found in the vicinity. Some historians say that De Soto himself visited the place sometime later. No other white man came through again until the early 1700's. In 1712 King Louis XIV of France granted to Antoine Crozat a charter for transacting all business and government in the vast domain of the New Continent stretching from the Gulf of Mexico northward indefinitely. This

Jan 1, 1947

By Joseph W. Richards

The Ashio copper-mine of the Furukawa Mining Co. is situated 18 miles from Nikko, and 109 miles north of Tokyo, near the center of Japan. The mine-waters are run over scrap-iron, whereby most of the copper is precipitated as cement-copper, leaving iron sulphate with some copper sulphate in solution. After using in the wet concentrating ore-dressing plant, the waste water contains clay and ore-slimes. The only avenue of disposal of this water is the Watarese river; but as this flows through valleys in which the water is used for irrigating the rice-crops, it is necessary to purify and clarify the water before discharge. The water amounts to from 600 to 700 cu. ft. (from 17 to 20 cu. m.) per minute, and averages about 0.00028 per cent. of copper, representing more than 18 tolls of copper per month. The water carries H2SO4, FeSO4, Fe2(SO4)3, CuSO, and other metallic sulphates in solution, and clay, ore-fines, slimes and basic iron sulphates as suspended matters. To purify and clarify the water, precipitation by milk of lime has been used, in three different ways, as follows: I. First Method, Copper not Recovered. Milk of lime was run into the water, and the mixture run through six settling-ponds, and then through a sand filter into

Jan 1, 1913

By Christopher C. Barton

Each variable known to affect laboratory measurement of fracture-energy and fracture-toughness is reviewed. Specific examples are cited where each of the variables have been isolated.

Jan 1, 1982

(Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons introduced by members.) No. 488.-Mining engineer, member, technical graduate, married, age 38, desires position of superintendent or assistant superintendent. Has had 15 years' practical experience as miner, millman, machinist, surveyor, engineer, foreman, and superintendent in the West, Southwest, and Mexico. Speaks Spanish. Now employed as superintendent of copper property in Southwest. Can give the best of references. Minimum salary $250. Available after Sept. 1. No. 495.-Member, age 36, married, technical, 10 years'. all round

Jan 12, 1918

By J. Birkinbine

Extended discussions, by inviting attention to problems affecting the conservation of natural resources, have encouraged investigations as to their sufficiency, with the general result that the more thorough the examination, the less cause appears for anxiety as to the exhaustion or serious depletion of these resources.

Jan 1, 1915

By R. W. Raymond

By the death of Bergrath Prof. M. F. Gaetzschmann, which occurred on the 18th of February, in the 95th year of his age, at his lifelong home in Freiberg, Saxony, the Institute loses one of its earliest and most eminent honorary members, and the profession of mining and engineering one of its most influential and useful representatives,

Jan 1, 1896

Jan 1, 1939

By David M. Hopstock, Jose M. Pastrana

The magnetic susceptibilities of samples of natural and artificial hematite and natural goethite were measured by the Faraday method as functions of temperature, magnetizing field strength and particle size. All samples showed weak ferromagnetism, which accounted for large variations in susceptibility with field strength and particle size. Three probable sources of the weak ferromagnetism were identified.

Jan 1, 1978

By AIME AIME

THE following is the discussion of a paper, with the same title, by N. L. Alison, which appeared in our February issue: E. F. Tillson commented that while the fundamentals are well presented it would have been of interest to him to have had the author add some of his own experiences with fan installations. A. W. Hesse remarked concerning the use of the forward curved blade fan on the surface at a metal mine which has, ordinarily, but few airways, that the farther they are driven, the higher the resistance rises, and less air will be delivered, as the water gage will remain constant with a consequent loss in quantity. D. Harrington added that the metal mines do not or¬dinarily install fans until the mine is well developed, so changes are relatively slower after fan installation than at a coal mine.

Jan 1, 1930

POSITIONS VACANT (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons.) Advertising Manager for Machinery Manufacturing Company. Must have technical training. No. 94. ENGINEERS AVAILABLE (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons introduced by members.) Member, technical graduate in Mining, Chemistry and Metallurgy, Post-graduate, Royal School of Mines, Freiberg, Saxony, Germany and Columbia School of Mines. Aged 37, 14 years' experience in teaching mining metallurgy, chemistry and assaying. Available now. Willing to go anywhere. No. 278. Member, aged 33, mining engineer, 88 years' experience, desires position as mine safety and efficiency engineer with coal company. Best of references on request. No. 290.

Jan 5, 1916

ALTHOUGH the first colonists in the area that is now the United States, whether Spanish, French or English in nationality, were usually keenly interested in the possibilities of mineral wealth, it is a curious and interesting fact that none of them happened upon the mineral deposits that eventually were to make this the greatest mineral-producing country; up to 1800 it would probably have been rated as rather poor in minerals. Spanish explorers traversed the southeastern United States with- out finding the Appalachian gold deposits that aroused so much interest in the early nineteenth century; Coronado sought in vain for the seven golden cities of Cibola; and the important gold deposits of California were not discovered until the political sovereignty of the region had passed from Mexico, which had held it for three centuries. The French also held Canada for nearly two centuries (and the British for another century) without finding the mineral deposits in Ontario and Quebec that now are so important. Though they knew of the copper of the Keweenaw peninsula, the lead ores of Wisconsin and Missouri, and the coal of Illinois in the seventeenth century, these deposits were all too remote for exploitation. In the area held by Great Britain, iron smelting was planned at Jamestown as early as 1619 and was actually begun at Lynn, Mass., in 1643. The industry grew slowly, at first, but had reached considerable importance before the Revolution. Commercial bituminous coal mining began about 1750 in Virginia but anthracite mining in Pennsylvania was not started until 1800. As a result there was naturally little interest in the technical aspects of mineral production here before 1800 by any except the few people who were actually engaged in it. Students of natural science were much interested in minerals, however. The activities of those who rank as geologists are so thoroughly covered in

Jan 1, 1941