Search Documents

By Batric Pesic

Gold dissolution with bromine was studied by using the rotating disc technique. Geobram TM 3400 was used as a source of bromine. The parameters studied were: rotating speed, Geobrom 3400 concentration, pH, temperature, sulfuric and hydrochloric acid concentration, and the concentration of various cations (copper, iron, zinc, aluminum, manganese, potassium and sodium) and anions (chloride, bromide, sulfate, nitrate, and iodide) According to the Levich plot and activation energy, gold dissolution was controlled by a chemical reaction rate. Copper, iron, and manganese in their highest oxidation states, aluminum, zinc, sodium and potassium did not have any effect on gold dissolution rate. The presence of manganous ion dramatically decreased the gold dissolution rate. Kinetic performance of bromine, in the form of Geobram TM 3400, was compared with performance of cyanide and thiourea.

Jan 1, 1990

By D. P. Cook, M. I. Bloch, J. A. Dantzig

"In this article, we describe a combined experimental and computational program to study the filling of automotive wheels during low pressure die casting. Experiments are performed by placing thermocouples into the mold walls of a production caster for the Ford F 113 wheel to measure the temperature profiles in the die during processing, and to infer the filling pattern. Computational models are also developed using a 36° section of the wheel pattern, taken directly from CAD data files. We use these models to simulate the filling and heat transfer processes. Comparison between experimental and computational results are presented, demonstrating the viability of this procedure.IntroductionAutomotive companies are using increasing amounts of aluminum in production vehicles: While the main driving force is improved fuel economy through weight reduction, replacing steel wheels by aluminum also offers the potential for improved vehicle performance by reducing unsprung mass. For these reasons, many new vehicles are now supplied with cast aluminum alloy wheels, and the aftermarket for these wheels continues to grow.The most common production process for these wheels is low pressure die casting. The process is subject to numerous defects, including microporosity, cold shuts, cold folds, misruns and inclusions. Scrap rates at the caster of the order of 10% are not uncommon. Many wheels also have large production runs, into the hundreds of thousands of wheels per year. Thus, the cost savings from even small reductions in scrap rate have the potential to be quite significant.Most of the defects are associated with the filling and solidification processes in the mold. The molds are air cooled, and the placement and sizing of cooling passages is currently as much art as science. The ultimate goal of this project is to improve that situation, by implementing simulation procedures that enable engineering design methods to be used in die and process specification."

Jan 1, 2000

By H. Masuda

The lijima Zinc Refinery started operation in 1972, and has today an annual capacity of 200, 000+-Zn. The hematite process was employed for the first time and the ideal of waste-free refinery has been pursued for 30 years. In recent years, however, only half of the hematite produced would be sold to the cement industry and hence a reduction of arsenic level has been necessary in order to sell the entire amount produced, The arsenic cementation process with zinc powder, developed through a long time laboratory research was found among some options as the best for the hematite process. The construction work started in 2000 and the facility was put into operation in 200 I. As a result in the same year all hematite were sold to the cement industry. The outline of this project, present operations and technical issue are reported in this paper.

Jan 1, 2003

By Richard Elliott

Current methods for producing low-carbon manganese alloying materials for the steel industry are energy intensive and costly. To enable wider implementation of high Mn steel alloys, a novel solid-state Mn ore reduction strategy is therefore being investigated. This solid-state process, modelled on existing Direct Reduced Iron technology, employs a methane-containing atmosphere to reduce Mn ore pellets to a metal carbide. These pellets may then be smelted, yielding a Mn-rich master alloy. It is well established that CH4 is a suitable reductant for Mn ore powders; however, the reduction behaviour of industrially relevant Mn ore pellets by CH4 is poorly understood. The present work reports the results of an investigation undertaken to address this knowledge gap. The results of this study highlight the significantly different reduction behaviour exhibited by the Mn ore pellets relative to the ore powder under similar conditions and suggest that the diffusion of CH4 into the pellet interior is the limiting factor in achieving complete reduction.

By Tracey Brommer, Britt Elin Gihleengen, Elsa Olivetti, Randolph Kirchain

"Increased demand resulting from the economic and environmental advantages of recycling secondary materials has constrained secondary material supply. As a result of constrained supply, the conventional strategy to maximize recycled content in an individual aluminum alloy must be expanded to maximizing total recycled content in a given production period. This work compares the performance over a two week period of an actual remelter for two strategies; a sequential charge-by-charge optimization framework and an integrated approach that explicitly incorporates the production schedule. Optimizing across the entire two week production is found to increase recycled content and minimize primary and alloying material additions. It is expected that as the scrap material market continues to be constrained by high demand, longer term batch planning strategies that can optimize material allocation will deliver improved performance.IntroductionIntensifying economic and environmental pressure to incorporate secondary aluminum into products is pushing remelters to explore additional strategies and tools to increase recycled content. Aluminum remelters are exploring alternative sources of secondary materials because of constrained secondary material supply and relatively high primary and secondary material cost [1]. Computational models, such as blending models are a tool that could help industrial remelters mitigate supply and cost challenges and thereby increase recycled content. In particular, computational tools can help manage the incorporation of new raw materials of variable quality. Blending models find many industrial applications and have been explored for over sixty years originating with the classic nut-mix problem dating back to 1950’s [2]. Blending models optimize the raw material input to make a desired product subject to a series of constraints such as product specifications and material availability. Deterministic and linear blending model formulations are presently implemented in some industrial aluminum remelters [3]. The primary reluctance of aluminum remelters against computational model implementation is the incapability of their blending models to reflect the intricacy of industrial remelting conditions [4]. For example, to reduce calculation time, industrial aluminum blending models usually optimize a batch plan for a single alloy and are not formulated to optimize several products simultaneously. Since such a model does not include knowledge of subsequent charges in the optimized batch plan, the resulting batch plans tend to deplete the “cleanest” secondary materials leaving the more uncertain and compositionally challenging materials for later charges. As a result, a remelter may override the calculated batch plan or leave certain scrap materials out of the material input to conserve these materials for alternative products scheduled for later production. This work explores an alternative aluminum charge planning tool that can optimize across an extended production schedule and compares it to a heuristic sequential optimization strategy reflecting an industrial remelter."

Jan 1, 2012

By Andreas H. Vassiliou

Organic materials are major constituents of the ore in several uranium deposits. Some of these deposits have been described as "urano-organic" because, the organic materials are believed to have provided the dominant control for the accumulation and deposition of uranium and are directly and intimately intermingled with the uranium. The nature of these urano-organic deposits has been problematic in terms of (a) the origin of the associated organic materials and (b) the specific form of' occurrence of uranium. The organic materials in urano-organic deposits have been genetically related to both coal and petroleum or their progenitors or deriva-tives. Analytical data presented here (infrared, chemical. D.T.A.) suggest that coaliferous materials or related plant derivatives represent the main source of the organic fractions in practically all major urano-organic ores analyzed from the Colorado Plateau and other areas. Recognition of the specific form of occurrence of uranium in urano-organic deposits has been problematic mainly because the uranium is usually in an extremely fine-grained and disseminated state in the organic matrix. Electron microprobe and X-ray diffraction analyses presented here show that fine-grained uranium minerals, specifically uraninite or coffinite. are disseminated in the organic matrix as the predominant form of uranium in most major deposits; however. the presence of true organo-uranium compounds is also suggested for some deposits.

Jan 1, 1981

By Suguru Kohno, Yoshihiro Momose, Masakazu Honma, Tokirou Kamosawa

Copper metal surfaces have been examined by an extremely sensitive surface analysis technique called temperature programmed photoelectron emission (TPPE). The surfaces were ultrasonically cleaned and subsequently abraded by a screw in organic solvents and water. The TPPE apparatus is composed of a Geiger counter with Q gas (He+ iso-C4H10). The curve of photoelectron emission (PE) intensity vs. wavelength from 300 to 170 nm, termed PE spectrum, was repeatedly measured at different temperatures in the temperature- increase process from 25 to 350°C. The number of emitted electrons in a PE spectrum (PE total count) increased, reached a maximum at-250°C, and decreased with increasing temperature. With the surfaces cleaned alone in the liquids the maximum PE total count decreased in the order C3H70H > (CH3) 2CHOH > C2HpH > CHPH > H2O. With the mechanically abraded surfaces in the liquids the maximum PE total count changed as a function of the abrasion period and the maximum tended to appear at higher temperature with increasing abrasion period; the maximum value at 10-min abrasion decreased in the order H2O > CHpH > C2HPH > (CH3) 2CHOH > n-C3HpH. It was suggested that the TPPE behavior can be related to the acid-base interaction between the alcohols and the abraded metal surfaces and the presence of a contaminant over layer on the surface. From the XPS analysis of the 01 s spectra it was suggested that the chemical change of the adsorbed oxygen to oxide oxygen with temperature plays a substantial role in the appearance of the maximum PE total count.

Jan 1, 2000

By W. K. Tolley

The Bureau of Mines is investigating hydrometallurgical processing techniques to recycle metals from semiconductors and other advanced materials. Cadmium and tellurium were recovered from CdTe scrap produced in the manufacture of infrared optic devices. Sulfation, ferric chloride leaching, and oxygen-pressure leaching have been tested. Cadmium dissolution was achieved using oxygen-pressure leaching in dilute sulfuric acid. However, no satisfactory scheme for dissolution of the higher valued tellurium has been devised. Leaching the ground CdTe for 75 min at 110°C in 1.1M H2S0, under 120 psig 0, yielded 99.5% Cd extraction. Tellurium remained in the leach residue as TeO, and elemental tellurium; residual cadmium was less than 0.5%. The cadmium in the leach liquor was purified of coextracted metals such as gallium and iron by adjusting the pH. The cadmium was recovered as cadmium sulfate crystals by evaporating the solution. Recovery of by product metals, notably gallium, is possible.

Jan 1, 1991

By M. Bhattacharya, A. Dutta, P. Barat

"Pinning of dislocations at nanosized obstacles like precipitates, voids and bubbles, is a crucial mechanism in the context of phenomena like hardening and creep. The interaction between such an obstacle and a dislocation is often explored at fundamental level by means of analytical tools, atomistic simulations and finite element methods. Nevertheless, such studies fail to predict the effect on the overall plasticity on account of insufficient information about the underlying statistics of this process comprising a large number of dislocations and obstacles in a system. Here we propose a new statistical approach, where the statistics of pinning at idealized spherical obstacles is explored by taking into account the generalized size distribution of the obstacle along with the dislocation density within a three-dimensional framework. The application of this approach has been demonstrated for dislocation pinning at nanovoids in neutron irradiated type 316-stainless steel.IntroductionPresence of nanoscale obstacles like precipitates, voids and bubbles play a crucial role in determining the deformation behavior of a crystalline solid on account of the interactions between the line defects and such localized obstacles. In the context of the glide motion of dislocations, the obstacles can offer resistance to a moving dislocation, thereby causing a hardening effect [l-3]. In some other cases, inclusions like voids and bubbles can affect the rate of dislocation climb through diffusive [4] and non-diffusive [5] mechanisms. Over the last few decades, numerous studies have been performed to gain an insight of the dislocation-obstacle interactions at a fundamental level. These include the interactions responsible for the hardening effect, in addition to those pertaining to the non-conservative motion of dislocations.Although the elementary mechanisms of the various dislocation-obstacle interactions have been vastly explored and understood by means of analytical theory and numerical simulations, it remains difficult to quantitatively understand their effects on the macroscopic deformation behavior. This is due to the fact that their influence on the gross plastic deformation of a bulk sample would be the collective outcome of a large ensemble of such interactions. As a result, it becomes infeasible to predict the bulk deformation behavior of a material until the statistics of pinning of the dislocations at the localized obstacles is available. In the context of precipitate hardening, some well known attempts to extract the pinning-statistics were made by Friedel-Fleischer [6] and Mott [7] by analytical means, which were later tested through simplified 2-dimensional in-silica modeling [8]."

Jan 1, 2014

By Shaik Jeelani, Esperidiana A. B. Moura, Vijaya K. Rangari, Roberta A. Lima, Rene R. Oliveira

This work present the preparation and characterization of biodegradable nanocomposites based on aliphatic-aromatic copolyester (PBAT)/polylatic acid (PLA) blend reinforced by TiO2 nanoparticle. The biodegradable polymeric nanocomposites were prepared by melting extrusion process using a twin-screw extruder machine. The influence of the TiO2 nanoparticle addition on mechanical and thermal properties of PBAT/PLA blend was investigated by tensile and impact tests, SEM, DSC and XRD analysis and the correlation between properties was discussed.

Jan 1, 2015

By James D. Navratil

Although liquid membranes have several advantages over conventional liquid-liquid extraction, problems such as membrane instability remain. In order to solve these problems, we have combined an electrostatic field with the principle of liquid membranes and developed a novel reactor system for rare earth recovery. Our cylindrical reactor, filled with extractant and diluent, is divided by means of a perforated cylinder into an outer annular extraction cell and an inner stripping cell. Below the extraction and stripping cells are two settlers for the aqueous solutions. The design of the reactor permits the organic solution to flow freely through the special perforated cylinder and the added feed and strip solutions, outside and inside the perforation, respectively, to be completely separated.

Jan 1, 1990

By Brent W. Madsen

The acid-ferric sulfate leaching of low-grade sulfide copper mine waste provides more than 10 percent of the U.S. supply of new copper, but recoveries and leaching rates are very low. In Federal Bureau of Mines research to improve the leaching process, experiments on 5- to 10-ton lots of mine-run ore were more revealing than bench-scale tests on fine ore. This report discusses the results obtained by leaching run-of-mine and minus 6-inch plus 112-inch samples of low-grade chalcocite-bearing mine waste. The samples were leached for 461 days and 61.6 and 37.7 percent of the copper was extracted from the minus 6-inch plus -112-inch and run-of- mine samples, respectively. A mixed kinetics model was applied successfully to the leaching of the sample with the fines removed where bulk solution transport was not rate controlling. The model, when applied to the run-of- mine ore, gave somewhat higher predicted copper extractions than experimentally determined. Subsequently, oxygen was introduced into the run-of- mine ore, leaching continued for an additional 312 days, and an additional 53.0 percent of the copper was extracted. Before the leaching experiment was dismantled and the residue sampled, the ore was treated with sulfur dioxide and its permeability was improved markedly. The results of each of these procedures are interpreted in relation to the attendant condition of the test.

Jan 1, 1976

By Peter Hayes, Evgueni Jak, Ata Fallah Mehrjardi

Modern analytical tools, such as electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPMA), are used in experimental characterization of phase equilibria and microstructures of complex slags. Integrated thermodynamic computer packages, such as FactSage, are used to provide more accurate descriptions of complex slag systems. These advanced methodologies have been applied to characterize dynamic steady state freeze linings in slag systems using submerged cold finger probes at controlled laboratory conditions, establishing the effects of bath chemistry, temperature, heat extraction rate and bulk fluid flow. It has been found that stationary freeze lining deposit interface temperatures at steady state conditions can be lower than the bulk slag liquidus temperature, and that stable operation below the liquidus is possible. A conceptual framework has been developed to explain the phenomenon and the range of interface temperatures that can be obtained in dynamic steady state conditions. These findings have important implications for the design of freeze linings and possible improvements to high-temperature metallurgical operations.

Jan 1, 2014

By Jun Li

Rate processes of silver cyanidation were studied with the objective of understanding the reaction mechanism. The research was divided into three sections: anodic dissolution of silver in cyanide solutions, cathodic reduction of oxygen on silver surfaces and the direct leaching of silver in oxygenated cyanide solutions. The charge transfer steps plus the diffusion of reactants from bulk solutions to the silver surface were identified as rate-limiting and the rates of both anodic and cathodic reactions can be calculated using the Butler-Volmer equation and Fick's first law. Based on mixed potential theory and the results of electrochemical studies, a comparison of the rate obtained from direct leaching with that predicted from the calculation is made. Calculated results agree well with the experimental data.

Jan 1, 1992

By L. Becze, S. J. Hock, G. P. Demopoulos

"Regeneration of HCl from chloride solutions is commercially practiced by high temperature (800-900 °C) pyrohydrolysis associated with high energy consumption and capital cost. As an alternative to pyrohydrolysis a novel low temperature ( <200 °C) non-autoclave hydrolytic process has been studied in this research work, which comprises two steps. In the first step, ferrous chloride is oxidized by oxygen at 1;150 °C, followed by hydrolytic decomposition of ferric chloride to coarse hematite particles and superazeotropic hydrochloric acid (8-9M) operated at approximately 180 °C. This paper provides a summary of the laboratory results related to both oxidation and hydrolysis and presents a newly designed conceptual process flowsheet.IntroductionRecovery of base, noble and rare metals from ores and secondary materials (slags, dusts, residues) by chloride-based hydrometallurgical processes holds a lot of promise if a low cost HCl process becomes available. This is particularly so due to the high activity of HCl or more accurately activity of hydrogen ion [1] in concentrated chloride media and the formation of chlorocomplexes allowing for effective leaching under atmospheric leaching conditions and simultaneous ease of metal separation. However, during leaching significant amount of iron, which is associated with most of ores and secondary materials, goes into the solution. Hence, the obtained leach solution has to be treated to convert iron chlorides into easily filterable iron oxide and simultaneously produce concentrated hydrochloric acid. Apparently the critical operation of these processes is the regeneration of the lixiviant (HCl). Currently in the industry, its regeneration is accomplished by high capital and intensive pyrohydrolysis which operates at 700- 900 °C. Aimed at lowering the operational cost of pyrohydrolysis a process called PORI [2] was developed and tested in pilot plant scale in the 1970s for the purpose of treatment of pickle liquors without, however, resulting in industrial application."

Jan 1, 2011

By Godwin M. Beene

Large scale mining operations started in Zambia in 1913 and rapidly expanded during the post 1930 period with the opening of several mining and processing plants on the present Zambian Copperbelt. As a consequence of poor tailings dumps design methods at the start of the mines, and in view of stringent Government Legislation pertaining to environment in the recent years, Nkana Mine has developed a unique method of dump construction at its current tailings depository, Tailings Dam 15A. This method has enabled the revegetation of the dump retaining walls while construction is still in progress, a situation which was not possible on the older dumps. Cowdung has proved to be a superior fertilizer for providing plant nutrients on the tailings. The new method of dump walls construction and walls rainwater runoff drainage system has almost eliminated tendency of gully formation which is common on older dumps, as rainfall on the Zambian Copperbelt comes in intense thunderstorms. The decanted water from the dump is discharged to the natural environment in a controlled fashion after ensuring that it meets the Zambian Government Statutory requirements.

Jan 1, 1999

By N. S. Narayanan

Monazite, one of the major sources of rare earths, is normally opened by digestion with hot concentrated caustic soda solution. Caustic digestion dissolves phosphate and leaves a hydrated mixed metal oxides cake containing thorium, uranium and rare earths. By leaching this cake with hydrochloric acid at pH 3.0 to 3.2 bulk of the rare earths are preferentially removed and separated. The slurry left after removal of major portion of rare earths contains all the thorium and uranium present In the feed monazite. In addition this slurry also contains substantial quantities of rare earths. Solvent extraction tests were carried out to develop a process to separate rare earths, thorium and uranium present in the mixed chloride solution obtained by dissolving the above slurry in hydrochloric acid. Based on these tests a solvent extraction flow sheet was developed with di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphonic acid mono 2-ethyl hexyl ester as the extractant. The details of experimental work and results obtained are discussed and a flow sheet for processing monazite Incorporating the new process is suggested.

Jan 1, 1997

By Thomas Frost

In this time of market globalization, many industrial companies are including detailed arbitration clauses in their international contracts, in order to avoid the potential costs, delays, and uncertainties of litigation in foreign courts. Arbitration is less expensive and more flexible, procedurally, than court proceedings, and arbitral awards enjoy much greater international recognition than judgments of national courts. More than 134 countries have signed the 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, known as the "New York Convention", which facilitates the enforcement of arbitral awards internationally. There are several other similar arbitration conventions that provide for the enforcement of cross-border arbitral awards. Additionally, arbitral awards are not subject to appeal, whereas judgments of national courts are routinely subjected to a lengthy appeals process, and there are very few viable bases to challenge arbitral awards. This discussion will review key considerations in drafting arbitration clauses, including choice of law and choice of forum considerations; issues surrounding the selection of arbitrators; the discovery process; presentation of evidence; and enforcement of arbitral awards.

Jan 1, 2006

By Li Cheng

The SKS copper smelting process was jointly developed by Shuikoushan Mining Corp. and ENFI (Beijing Central Engineering and Research Institute for Non-ferrous Metallurgical Industries) in China. It is a new bath copper concentrate smelting process with oxygen enriched air. The pilot plant testwork was completed successfully in 1993. SKS has demonstrated to be an advanced bottom blown smelting process. This technology got the First Class Prize of Scientific and Technological Progress awarded by CNNC (China National Non-ferrous Metal Industry Corp.) in 1994. The SKS process has significant capital and operating cost advantages. Its environmental and industrial safety and hygiene performance represents a substantial improvement when compared to conventional technologies. The technology has generated great interest in the Chinese metallurgical industry. Feasibility studies and basic designs have been carried out to incorporate in retrofit and green field smelter projects in China and abroad. This paper describes the history of the pilot plant operating data (50 tonnes dry feed/day), and discusses the features of the SKS technology, its application and possible future trends.

Jan 1, 1999

By M. Zamalloa

Slag foaming is an important phenomenon in many metallurgical processes. It creates large surface areas for multi-phase reactions to take place. In other applications, it protects electrodes and improves the energy efficiency by reducing radiation from hot surfaces. However, it may also be a source of serious disturbances. To control and optimize the use of slag foams, an extensive knowledge of the factors controlling the foam formation and stability is required. Slag foaming experiments were carried out using synthetic FeO-CaO-Si02 slags at temperatures ranging from 1200 to 1350 "C. A data acquisition system was used to continuously measure the foam height, gas flow rate, bubble frequency and temperature. The experimental results show that the gas injection rate has a strong effect on the behaviour of slag foams. At high flow rates and rapid bubbling, unstable foams with short decay times were created. The addition of P20, favours the foam formation and stability by lowering the surface tension of the slag. The average foam life increases with decreasing basicity (CaO/Si02). It is proposed that this is attributed to the increase of the surface viscosity due to surface adsorption of a thin film of silica, retarding the drainage of the liquid films.

Jan 1, 1992