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By Patricia J. Rand, Kailish Narayan

Atlantic Richfield Co. began operating a commercial uranium solution mining project in April 1975, in Live Oak County, Tex., 10 miles southwest of the town of George West. The operation is designed to produce 250,00 lb of U308 per year and is jointly owned by Atlantic Richfield Co., Dalco, and U.S. Steel. The proprietary process employed in this operation consists of injecting an alkaline leaching solution into the ore-bearing formation through a pattern of injection wells. The uranium-bearing solution is then removed through producing wells using submersible pumps in central production wells. The produced solution is pumped through a pipeline to the plant area where the uranium is extracted. The barren solution is refurbished and returned to the pattern area for reinjection. The injection field and plant site are located in the drainage of Spring Creek, a small intermittent stream tributary to the Nueces River. Land use in the area is primarily agricultural cattle ranching and farming---but several producing gas fields are present in the areas as well. A nine month enviromental baseline study was conducted on the property beginning in Feb. 1975. Plants and animals of the Clay West area were identified and representative terrestrial and aquatic communities were analyzed. Physical and chemical parameters of the soils were described and analyzed. The surface and underground waters were analyzed chemically; radionuclides, heavy metals, nutrients, and pesticide concentrations were measured in the creek sediments; bacteriological measurements were made in creek water and sediments; radionuclide and chemical levels in plants and animals, both terrestial and aquatic, were measured. These studies, though not required by existing, state or federal laws, were considered necessary to assess the existing conditions before operations began on site. The in-place leaching technique for uranium mining eliminates the enviromental disturbances associated with open pit or underground mining. No grinding and crushing of ore is needed, nor are large tonnages of waste tailings produced. Surface subsidence is not expected since less than 5 lb of uranium is present per ton of rock and even complete removal of such small amounts should not cause subsidence. Solution mining has fewer environmental problems than conventional mining. Members of the Texas Water Quality Board recognized the differences which exist and have recently formulated new environmental control procedures which apply specifically to solution mining. Some of the solution mining activities which are of particular concern are discussed in the following pages. Process Description The produced uranium-bearing solution is pumped through a pipeline from the pattern area to the plant area. The first pattern area consists of a nest of 125 fluid injection, production, and monitor wells [(Fig. 1)]. Injection wells have 4-in. casings and are spaced 50 ft apart on a square grid. Production wells have a 6-in. casing and are located in the center of each square. A block flow sheet of the plant is given in [Fig. 2]. The produced solution goes through parallel trains, each consisting of a carbon column and an ion exchange column in series. The carbon column removes any sand present in the produced solution and the ion exchange column extracts the uranium. The depleted solution is treated with chemicals and returned to the field for reinjection. The uranium retained in the ion exchange column is removed periodically with a sodium chloride solution. Uranium-bearing solution from the ion exchange column is passed through a charcoal column for removal of impurities and then to a precipitation tank where the uranium is precipitated as yellowcake slurry. The yellowcake slurry is clarified, filtered and dried to produce a granular yellowcake product. Environmental Considerations Sources of waste solutions to storage reservoirs, the backwash reservoir and atmospheric discharges are shown in the block flow sheet [(Fig. 2)]. These waste solutions pose a relatively small problem and are adequately controlled by conventional means. There is one area, however,

Jan 1, 1978

By W. A. Scheuch, J. Walter

Ordinarily secondary copper, unless electrolytically refined, is reclaimed directly as foundry ingots used in the manufacture of copper-rich alloy castings. This use does not require the elimination of the impurities to the degree required if the recovered'metal is to be used for electrical purposes where a high electrical conductivity is of prime importance. However, as a part of the general policy of reusing its own scrap and by-products wherever possible, the Western Electric Co. at its Hawthorne Works is recovering its secondary copper as wire bars which are delivered to its own rod and wire mill and there processed into wire of high electrical conductivity. This departure from the usual recovery scheme has been accomplished through the careful classification and sorting of the material entering the furnace charges and the careful control of the subsequent melting and refining in a reverberatory furnace. Tests conducted over a period of approximately four years have shown that the quality of wire bars produced from selected secondary copper is equal to that of wire bars produced by the electrolytic refineries. The interest which has been exhibited in the process by those who have seen it has prompted the following general description. It is the authors' opinion that the recovery of secondary copper will become more and more an important factor in the copper production industry. The description is largely of the refining furnace and its operation, but it must be remembered that careful classification and sorting of the scrap materials to eliminate impurities are just as important as the furnace operation toward obtaining a satisfactory final product. Classification and sorting do not lend themselves easily to description; they must, just be done. It should also be recognized at the outset that constant intelligent supervision is requisite to the success of the process because there are so many ways in which impurities can find their way into the final product. Secondary Copper Used for Wire Bars Only clean secondary copper of the grades known to the trade as Numbers 1 and 2 are melted for wire-bar manufacture. This material, supplemented by that obtained from various manufacturing processes

Jan 1, 1930

By J. S. Woodward, F. B. Plummer

The measurement of the rate of flow of liquids through sands dates back to 1856, when H. d Arcyb, a French physicist, carried out his classic experiments on the flow of water through sand layers. The earliest recorded data on relationships of pressure to flow of fluids through porous rocks in this country are those of Newell 23 in 1885. The first comprehensive studies of flow were made in 1898 by King15, who measured the rate of flow of water and air through consolidated and uncon-solidated sands and published the results. From 1900 to 1920 there appears to have been little interest in permeability. In 1920 the increase in demand for oil led the U. S. Bureau of Mines to begin a series of experiments to determine subsurface relationships of oil and water and the characteristics of their flow. Mills18 studied the relationship of flow of liquids to text- and structure of the sands, and Melcher17 in 1925 made a quantitative study of effect of changes in pressure on rate of flow of crude oil through Oklahoma oil sands. Since 1930 the importance of flow measurements to production of oil and gas has been emphasized by a large number of excellent investigations. Among these the works of Fettke9.10, BarbI.2, Cloud6, Nutting24-", Bot-set4, Nevin22, Tickell32.33, Fancher, Lewis and Barnes8, Moore, Schilthuis and Hurst19, and Wyckoff, Botset and Muskat"-39 have contributed much to our knowledge of the technique of permeability measurements and to the laws of liquid and gas flow through porous sands. The application of their work has led to the establishment of laboratories for measuring the permeability and porosity of oil sands by most of the large companies. All the investigations, except those of Wyckoff, Botset and Muskat, and Moore, Schilthuis and Hurst deal with linear flow; that is, flow in a more or less straight line through a given cross-sectional area of sand. Three years ago, at the University of Texas, experiments were started to measure radial flow of liquids through sands; that is, flow from all directions toward a central opening—the conditions that operate in a

Jan 1, 1937

By H. H. Spain, R. C. Rumble, H. E. Stamm

This paper presents a reservoir analyzer study of the performance of the Woodbine formation in the East Texas basin. The study was made possible by the compilation of available information on the configuration. thickness and the pressure drawdown of the formation. The investigation was made of the pressure variations in the basin incident to production from the several Woodbine reservoirs. In addition, the apparent compressibility of Woodbine water was evaluated so that the potential water yield of the formation could be determined. The distribution of permeability of the Woodbine sand and the interference between producing areas were also investigated. In conjunction with this basic study of the Woodbine sand, an acceptable match of the production-pressure relationship in the East Texas Field was established on the analyzer. INTRODUCTION When production is taken from a reservoir contiguous to an aquifer, the resultant pressure gradient causes a water influx into the reservoir. For some years it has been the practice to predict the performance of water drive reservoirs with mathematical equations that relate the water influx into reservoirs to their pressure behavior. A rigorous solution of these equations is quite complex: hence, the conventional method requires the simplifying assumptions that the formation have constant thickness, permeability and poiosity, and that it have a known and regular shape. It is necessary to use performance records of the reservoir in question to determine the equation constants that make the results of the mathematical calculations duplicate the reservoir history. The values of the constants determined in this manner sometimes differ so greatly from theoretical or measured values that the constants appear unreasonable. The equation constants comprise such factors as the thickness, porosity and permeability of the formation, and the viscosity and compressibility of water. Usually the thickness, porosity and viscosity are known within a reasonable degree of certainty. whereas the formation permeability and the water compressibility are known with considerably less certainty. Hence. permeability and compressibility values are arbitrarily selected that will make the mathematical equations duplicate the reservoir behavior. In many reservoir studies the value of the compressibility of water thus selected has exceeded the reported value by a factor of from severalfold to manyfold. Whether this excessive value results from the inadequacy of the mathematical approach to take into account the shape irregularities and the heterogeneities of the aquifer, or is due to some type of formation compaction and decrease of porosity has not been established. Because of the significance of the potential water yield of formations with reference not only to oil reservoirs but to water resources as well, it is very important that a representative value for the effective water compressibility be determined. One of the best known examples of a field for which it has been possible in the past to predict the future reservoir pressure is the East Texas Field. Until about 1943 it was possible by means of mathematical equations to duplicate past pressure behavior and to predict with a high degree of accuracy the reservoir pressure of the field. Since 1943, however, the calculated pressures have deviated progressively from the observed pressures to such a degree that in recent years, it has

Jan 1, 1951

By James W. Shaffer

Aluminum is the most abundant metallic element of the earth's crust and is a constituent of nearly every type of rock (Clark, 1924, p. 13). The sources of aluminum and aluminous material most commonly used by modern industry are the bauxitic raw materials consisting of bauxite, bauxitic clay, and aluminous laterites. These are mixtures of hydrated aluminum oxide minerals and mineral impurities. End Uses Bauxite is used as an aluminum ore and in the manufacture of refractory products, aluminous chemicals, and abrasives. Other raw materials are used for aluminum ores, but their use is minor compared to bauxite. Refractory products made from bauxite are synthetic mullite, high-alumina fire bricks, castables, monoliths, cements, and ramming mixes used by the iron, steel, and cement industries. Chemicals made from bauxite are aluminum sulfate and sodium aluminate for water treatment and aluminum chloride used in refining crude petroleum. Among the abrasive products made from bauxite are coated abrasives, sharpening stones, and grinding wheels. Special grades of bauxite are used in the decolorization and clarification of raw sugar and lubricating oils. Bauxite has been used for road surfacing but mainly because other material was not more readily available. Perhaps the oldest use of bauxite and aluminous laterite is for a building stone. Ancient temples and more recent structures in India have been made from these and some varieties are suitable for decorative stone. Geology Mineralogy and Properties – Bauxite is a mineral raw material composed principally of one or more hydrated aluminum oxide minerals and impurities of silica, iron oxide, titania and elements in minor or trace amounts. The hydrated aluminum oxide minerals are gibbsite, boehmite and diaspore. Corundum is not included as a bauxite mineral although it does occur in some bauxite deposits. Boehmite and diaspore are both alumina mono-hydrates and have essentially the same composition, but diaspore has a greater hardness and a higher specific gravity because of a more tightly bonded and compacted atomic structure. Gibbsite is an alumina trihydrate mineral. Properties of bauxite minerals are shown in [Table 1].

Jan 1, 1975

By A. E. Bellis

There is a wide difference of opinion among rifle experts in the matter of barrel steel, and the relative importance to the life of the barrel of the steel's composition, heat treatment, structure, and physical properties. In order to promote discussion, which it is hoped may' lead to the discovery of the source of some of the traditional beliefs on the subject, the results of some tests are presented here, with data on heat treating, physical tests, and erosion. The detailed metallographic study of this steel is given in another paper.l The conclusions from these tests should be capable of wider application than their direct bearing on the barrel-steel problem. The Government specifications for barrel steel for model 1903 rifle (Springfield) call for carbon 0.50 to 0.60 per cent., manganese 1.00 to 1.29 per cent., silicon under 0.25 per cent., sulfur under 0.06 per cent., phosphorus under 0.08 per cent. The minimum physical requirements are: Tensile strength, 110,000 lb. per sq. in. (7733 kg. per sq. cm.); yield point, 75,000 lb. per sq. in (5472 kg. per sq. cm.); elongation, 20 per cent.; reduction of area, 45 per cent. Material fulfilling these requirements gives practically no failures when proof-fired, with charge of 70,000 lb. per sq. in. pressure, which is 40 per cent. in excess of the service charge. The turning and drilling operations show up any seams or laps such as accidentally occur even in the best heats of open-hearth steel, so that faulty stock is practically all eliminated before proof-firing. These physical requirements are met either by rolling billets at a proper temperature down to the form of tapered barrel blanks or by heat treating bars that have been upset to cnlarge the breech section. The transformation temperature of this steel, on heating, is around 1350" F. (732' C.), varying somewhat with the composition and the rate of heating. The actual treatment of the barrel blanks, as carried out by different manufacturers, gives four kinds of barrels, which will be called A, B, C, and D, for convenience. A barrels result from heat treating upset blanks by quenching at

Jan 1, 1920

By L. D. Fetterolf, G. T. Mahler, W. M. Peirce, R. K. Waring

Until recently, the only commercial method of producing magnesium has been fused salt electrolysis, despite a considerable amount of experimental work on the direct reduction of magnesium oxide. In this early work, a number of investigators demonstrated that magnesium oxide would react with any one of several reducing agents to produce magnesium vapor, but that the mixture of magnesium oxide and reducing agent must be heated to a high temperature even in a vacuum. In particular, it was demonstrated that silicon and aluminum are effective reducing agents and that when either of these is used the magnesium vapor can be condensed to massive metal. In spite of this knowledge, no successful commercial reduction process was developed, at least in this country, because of the operational difficulties imposed by the requirement of high temperature and vacuum and because of the high cost of the reducing agent. The outstanding experimental work done by Pidgeon, who carefully reviewed all of the known methods of making magnesium and then selected ferrosilicon reduction, overcame some of the operational difficulties. The process developed by Pidgeon comprises briquetting a mixture of calcined dolomite and reducing agent, preheating the briquets to about 600°C. in an externally heated alloy retort, reducing the MgO with silicon in an evacuated horizontal alloy retort heated externally to about II50 C., and condensing the magnesium vapor to a solid in a cold extension of the retort projecting beyond the front of the furnace. A major advantage of Pidgeon's process is that the retort is not cooled down between charges. Earlier investigators had used apparatus that necessitated cooling and reheating of the retort between charges. Early in January 1942, when the War Production Board was considering the Pidgeon process for quickly increasing the production of magnesium, The New Jersey Zinc Co. offered to have a research investigation of the process carried on, with the hope of assisting in its further development. This offer was accepted, and a two-retort pilot plant was built at Palmerton and put in operation on Jan. 29,1942. An intensive investigation of certain phases of the process was carried out in the ensuing four months. This investigation was completed in the last part of May 1942) and the pilot plant was then shut down. Subsequently, The New Jersey Zinc Co. was requested to have further development work done on the process, and a more extensive investigation was undertaken in August 1942 under contract with the War Production Board and under the supervision of the War Metallurgy Committee. This paper describes the ,phases of the investigation that are thought to be of sufficient general interest to merit publication.

Jan 1, 1944

By Henry J. Welge

The approximate methods which are now in use for calculating oil displacement from reservoirs by gas-cycling or gravity-drainage at constant gas pressure, or by water flooding, make use of fundamental relationships derived by Leverett' and Buckley and Leverett.2 The mathematical equations needed are derived by applying Darcy's law to the flowing phases, and by material balance considerations. ln general, any treatment of this type gives. for any particular exploitation time considered, a plot of oil saturation against distance in the reser-voir. The oil recovery must then be obtained by integrating in some manner the area under the plot. A useful analytical method has been derived for computing the average saturation, and hence the oil recovery. Use of this method simplifies the calculations because it makes unnecessary any numerical integrations. and even the saturation distribution plots are not needed. A further advantage of the method is that knowledge of the relative permeabilities is required only for a limited and intermediate saturation range. In both the Buckley and Leverett method and the method discussed here, a linear sand section is assumed, and in the case of gas drive the gas pressure is assumed sufficiently constant both with respect to reservoir position and time so that changes in gas density. solubility, or reservoir volume factor are negligiklle. Thus, the exploitation contemplates oil displacement as by an immiscible phase. Examples are given to illustrate how the new method can be used. INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This paper treats a simplified method for computing oil recovery when the oil is displaced, from the reservoir sand by a fluid which, within the limits of accuracy desired, can be assumed to be incompressible and immiscible with the oil. The method makes use of two basic relations originally developed for the case of water displacing oil. However, the case of gas displacing oil saturated with gas at a constant (or nearly constant) pressure may also be considered a displacement by an immiscible fluid. This is possible for the reason that the concentration of the gas in the oil never changes if tile pressure is fixed. consequently, any additional free gas must remain undissolved in the oil, and so must act essentially as an immiscible phase. For convenience, the cape of gas drive will be considered first. Both of the two basic relations needed refer to a linear reservoir, or one which may be somewhat idealized so that a constant cross-section is exposed to fluid flow. Further, the displacing phase is injected at one end, or face; of the reservoir, while the produced fluids are understood to emerge at one point only. which is the opposite face of the reservoir. As indicated in Fig. 1, the reservoir may he inclined by some angle 8. The first of the required equations may be derived by applying Darcy's law to both displacing and displaced phases, and subtracting the two equations. The result for water drive has been given previously, as Equation (13) of the reference by

Jan 1, 1952

By W. B. Boggs, J. N. Anderson

Originally, the copper produced at the Noranda smelter was shipped in the form of blister bars to the Laurel Hill refinery of the Nichols Copper CO, New York. In 1930 a refinery was built at Montreal East to refine Noranda copper and copper from the Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting Co., at Flin Flon, Manitoba. After investigation of the probable costs of making anodes at Noranda and at Montreal, it was decided to make them at Noranda rather than to continue to make blister bars there. Fuel is a major item of expense in making anodes, and since less fuel would be required in making them from molten copper than from blister bars, a lower anode-furnace cost could be expected at Noranda than at Montreal. Further, the expense connected -with making blister bars at Noranda would be eliminated. The cost of treating anode and wire-bar furnace slags is a serious item in a refinery, and it was found that the cheapest method would be to ship such slags back to Noranda. With the anode furnace at Noranda, much less anode-furnace slag would be made at the refinery. Against these savings effected by making anodes at Noranda must be set the high operating cost of an anode furnace at Montreal, using only tank-room scrap and the Flin Flon copper. This furnace would be handling a comparatively small tonnage and would have a high cost per ton. The usual equipment for making anodes from liquid copper consists of either a stationary reverberatory furnace or a tilting Tacoma-type furnace together with an anode wheel of the Clark or Walker type. The reverberatory type of furnace has been developed from the furnace used in the old Welsh process of smelting and refining copper, while the tilting furnace is a development of the holding furnace, which is essentially a Peirce-Smith converter without tuyeres and provided with burners. Refining as carried out in either of these furnaces is a batch process; that is, several converter charges are accumulated and then refined and cast. Colonel H. H. Stout recently developed in Arizona a so-called

Jan 1, 1934

By A. L. Marshall, F. J. Norton

The object of this investigation was to make a comprehensive study of the degassing of molybdenum in order to determine how rigorous a treatment was necessary to completely remove sorbed gases from molybdenum electrodes in vacuum tubes. Some work has also been done with tungsten, nickel, iron and carbon. As a logical development of this work it has been shown that the gas is present throughout the body of the metal and a study has been made of the solubility of nitrogen in molybdenum and tungsten and the rate, of diffusion of nitrogen through molybdenum has been calculated. Tests were made on molybdenum from all the commercial sources and no difference was discovered in the nature of the gases present, the amounts or the ease of removal. The reason for this was apparent when a study was made of the manner in which gases are absorbed by gas-free molybdenum. It is necessary to heat molybdenum to 1760°C. in a vacuum of the order of 0.001 micron for a time which varies lineally with the thickness, in order to obtain a condition in which no further gas is evolved by the sample. A sample so degassed can be handled and subsequently assembled in a tube and then degassed readily. The gases obtained from molybdenum are carbon monoxide and nitrogen, the nitrogen being the more difficult to remove. Apparatus and Technique The apparatus is shown in Figs. I and 2. It consisted of two units, a degassing system and an analytical system. Each had a bake-out oven, as shown surrounding the systems in the sketches. The system , will be traced, starting from the sample in the degassing system. A water-cooled quartz chamber surrounded the sample. The high-frequency coil, which heated the sample, extended only around this chamber and was cooled by an air blast. High-frequency power of 1800-meter wave length was obtained from a self-rectifying oscillator circuit with a maximum power input of 20 kw. A graded seal connected the quartz to the rest of the apparatus, which was of hard glass. The temperature of the molybdenum sample was observed by an optical pyrometer through an optical window about 40 cm. distant from the sample. Since the object viewed under these conditions was not a black body, true temperature was not observed, but the so-called "brightness temperature." The correction of this to true temperature is discussed in a later section. The apparatus was taken apart just above the graded seal; the quartz chamber was slipped off, washed with nitric acid, water and alcohol, and dried by an air stream. The old sample was removed by unscrewing the lower nut, and the new

Jan 1, 1944

By Thomas L. Kesler

IF all of the 14 million tons of kaolin produced in Georgia through 1949 had been mined from a single deposit 20 ft thick, it would represent a mined-out area of less than 1 sq mile. This measure of depletion is in such strong contrast with the large size of the area shown in Fig 1, from which most of the output has come, that there has developed an optimistic outlook concerning future supplies of kaolin equal in grade to that already mined. Dozens of mines are widely but not evenly distributed within this area, which consists mostly of parts of Twiggs, Wilkinson, and Washington Counties. There are scarcely half a dozen kaolin mines elsewhere in the state that have been appreciably productive, although the areas in which they occur may have good possibilities. Most of the efforts to find new deposits, therefore, will be confined to the area shown in Fig 1, for it is here that the industry has established its facilities, and prospecting is encouraged by relatively numerous outcrops and opened deposits of kaolin. The Ounulgee and Oconee Rivers drain the area. They and their main tributaries have flat, swampy flood plains covered with alluvium and for the most part thickly wooded. The divides between these streams are intricately dissected by the minor tributaries, which are spring-fed in steep-walled, cirquelike heads. Gullying and undercutting are active along the streams but are partly controlled by unusually dense vegetation. The mean altitude is about 350 ft above sea level and locally the relief ranges up to 200 ft. The area is near the inner margin of the Coastal Plain, and is underlain by Cretaceous and Tertiary formations. Its general location is shown in black in Fig 1. The division between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont Plateau is actually a very sinuous line, the fall line, marking the extent to which erosion has stripped the Coastal Plain sediments from the southeastward- sloping surface of the crystalline rocks of the Piedmont.

Jan 1, 1952

By Carl E. Swartz

ALTHOUGH a number of articles appeared during the war advocating the use of cadmium in lead-tin solders, very little information of value can be found in the literature regarding the properties of solders containing cadmium. In most of the published articles the cadmium seems to have been considered merely as a partial substitute for tin in a tin-lead alloy rather than as an essential constituent of a ternary alloy. The primary object of the substitution of cadmium for tin was to lessen the amount of tin required, at a time when the latter was scarce and high-priced, and thus to produce a cheaper solder. While this object was accomplished, the new properties resulting from a change from a binary lead-tin alloy to a ternary lead-tin-cadmium alloy were not given proper consideration in many cases. For the past few years, the American Smelting & Refining Co. has been marketing a very considerable amount of cadmium in the form of lead-tin-cadmium alloys for use as solders for certain special purposes, and the successful use of these solders suggested that if more extensive knowledge were available concerning the properties of lead-tin-cadmium alloys of various compositions their field of usefulness might be materially extended. The investigation described in the present paper was undertaken to obtain this information and, by means of tests under conditions approaching those of practical use, to determine the suitability of cadmium solders for various purposes. CHARACTERISTICS AND REQUIREMENTS OF SOLDERS IN GENERAL General Physical Properties.-When cast into bars, solder should present a smooth and bright appearance free from oxide inclusions and bubbles. Ductility should be as great as possible without sacrificing tensile strength, and vice versa. Hardness and specific gravity are not of any great importance. Melting Characteristics.-The melting or solidification range is important. This statement applies both to the extent of the range and to the actual temperature at which complete solidification occurs. A rather narrow solidification range is desirable in soft solders in order that solidification may take place quickly. The solder should have high fluidity at temperatures only slightly above its melting range. For a

Jan 1, 1928

By H. I. Najarian

This paper is a companion piece to the description of the electrothermic process that begins on page 141. It will be confined to a brief story of the development. of the Weaton-Najarian vacuum condenserf at this plant, together with up-to-date design and operating data. The Josephtown smelter was designed primarily for production of zinc oxide. However, the development of a method for production of zinc metal had always been under consideration, and accordingly one of the original eight units of the elcctro-thermic furnaces built in 1930 was set up to produce metal. The design of this furnace was identical with that of the oxide furnaces except that in place of oxide tewels opening into oxide manifolds, conventional conical clay condensers—similar to condensers used in horizontal retort smelting—were installed around the periphery of the furnace and in several tiers vertically for condensing the zinc vapors. The early experimental work in trying to condense zinc out of the mixtures of zinc vapor and carbon monoxide gas from the electrothermic furnaces indicated that, while the gases from electrothermic smelting would condense in surface-type condensers, the formation of blue powder was excessive and condenser efficiency low. Furthermore, operating a large unit of electric furnace with several hundred small condensers, with attendant high labor cost and unfavorable operating conditions, did not appeal to us. We also realized that a single unit of surface condenser capable of condensing 12 torg tons of metal per day would be of huge dimensions and possibly difficult of control. So we took as our aim the development of a method whereby a single condenser unit of reasonable dimensions would condense zinc, in one step, from the large volume of gases that the electric furnaces produced. We set about searching for knowledge on zinc metallurgy and design of zinc condensers in particular. Our study of the prior art focused our attention on the oft-repeated statement by earlier experimenters, that the most efficient way to condense metallic vapors, such as zinc vapors, was to bring the vapors into "intimate contact" with molten metal; but the methods offered for securing this "intimate contact" in any practical manner left much to the imagination. We were handicapped by not having some-one on the Josephtown smelter staff who could lay claim to being an expert zinc metallurgist and could give guidance from actual experience on the practicability of various schemes that haunted our imagination. Laboratory Experiments However, we had an expert ex-steam engineer in the person of George I?. Weaton, manager of the Josephtown smelter, who had had long experience with steam-jet condensers and would reiterate his belief at every opportunity that the logical and the most efficient way to condense zinc would be with a jet-type condenser. We became intrigued by the possibilities of a zinc con-

Jan 1, 1944

By F. Morgan, M. Muskat, R. G. Russell

Core experiments with radioactive tracers are reported in which an artificial radioactive material, radiovanadium, was used in aqueous solution in a study of the mobility of connate water. Sandstone cores saturated with active water were first oil-flooded to simulate virgin sand conditions in which the pores are filled with oil and connate water. They were then subjected to flooding with inactive water. Measurements were made of the activity of various portions of the effluent as well as the activity of the core after the flooding process was completed. In additional experiments the distribution of activity along the core was measured during the flooding process. In still other experiments direct flooding tests were made on cores fully saturated with active water. In all cases it was found that after injecting into the core a volume of inactive water equal to a pore volume, the effluent contained more than 80 per cent of the active content originally in the core. It is felt that these results imply a high degree of mobility of the connate water when subjected to flooding, although at least a partial contribution of the effect of tracer transfer within the core cannot be definitely excluded. The implications of this result with respect to water-flooding, core analysis and electric logging are discussed. A better approach to determining the connate water saturation of oil-producing rocks, by measuring the fluid content of core samples at the surface, is by the use of crude oil or oil-base muds as the coring fluid. Although water flooding is of considerable importance in the recovery of ail, comparatively little is known with certainty about the role played by the connate water during the operations. Two possibilities exist. Either the connate water is retained in the formation while the flood water sweeps past, or it is pushed along to a greater or lesser degree by the flood. Thus far no explicit recognition in terms of quantitative studies appears to have been given to the displacement of connate waters by the intruding extraneous waters, although such a possibility might be important in determining the efficiency of the oil -displacement process in water-flooding operations, especially in argillaceous rocks. On the other hand, it is a common observation that the first water produced with the oil as a result of water-flooding is definitely saline.*.' Similar questions regarding the mobility of the interstitial water arise in the quantitative description of the advance of edge-water drives. In the interpretation of the water saturations determined from core analyses, when coring with water-base muds, it is generally assumed that the drilling fluid merely adds to the connate water without displacing the

Jan 1, 1947

By d&apos, L. Berenbaum, F. Heurle, R. Rosenberg

The structure of aluminum films obtained by evaporation was studied by electron microscopy, mostly by replica techniques and X-ray diffraction. The resistivities and stress conditions of the films were also determined. Film properties were studied as a function of source selection, substrate type, residual pressures of oxygen and water vapor, substrate temperature, and rate of growth. The formation of abnormal localized growths and whiskers resulting from annealing treatment subsequent to deposition was investigated. Films deposited onto single-crystal substrates were found to be epitaxially 0riented; for such films, relative orientations between films and substrates were determined. ALTHOUGH wide use has been made of evaporated aluminum films for the formation of conducting lines on semiconductor devices, relatively little has been reported concerning the structural characteristics of such films.1"9 The purpose of this study was to obtain an overall view of the dependence of these characteristics on film deposition and subsequent annealing conditions, which were similar to those used in silicon planar technology. Accordingly, most of this study was carried out using oxidized and bare silicon wafers as substrates, although some work was also done using alkali halide, magnesium oxide, and mica substrates. However, the main concern remained pragmatic. Emphasis was given to the study of the effects of deposition and annealing conditions on film characteristics such as structure, resistivity, and stress. I) EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES The films which were investigated in this study were deposited in 18-in.-diam glass chambers which were connected to the usual type of trapped diffusion pumps filled with silicon oil. Through the use of liquid-nitrogen-cooled Meisner traps and titanium sublimation pumps placed inside the deposition chambers, the pressure could be lowered to the lower portion of the 10- I Torr range and little increase in pressure would occur during the deposition cycle. Unless described otherwise, the substrates were 1-in.-diam p-type silicon wafers having a resistivity of 10 ohm-cm. The wafers were oxidized in wet oxygen at 975°C followed by a short dry-oxygen exposure at the same tempertture to a total oxide thickness of approximately 6000A. The wafers, backed by a layer of gallium, were mounted onto molybdenum discs brazed to a copper block.10 The latter was heated by imbedded commercial cartridge heaters. The substrate temperature could be maintained to within +10°C of a prescribed temperature during film deposition. The search for a satisfactory source for the controlled evaporation of aluminum has led to the use of 1-in.-diam crucibles" machined from rods of a commercially available, refractory composite* of Bn and

Jan 1, 1969

By G. Vaux, M. L. Fuller

AN apparatus and procedure for the determination by X-ray reflection of preferred orientation of crystals in rolled metal with the Geiger counter X-ray spectrometer was described by Schulz.' This is an excellent procedure and we have used it continually for several years. In our use of the procedure, two modifications have been made and used during most of this period. One of these provides for automatic scanning and recording of the reflections, and the other makes possible the application of the procedure to coarse-grained specimens and permits measurement of almost all orientations without resort to the transmission technique. The automatic scanning and recording are accomplished by a motor drive of the inner ring of the Schulz apparatus (see R, in Fig. 2 of his paper and R2 in Fig. 1 of this note) in synchronism with the chart recorder of the North American Philips 90" X-ray spectrometer. A rate of 10" per min is used. A scan of 180" is obtained corresponding to poles on the stereographic projection whose locus is a great circle. The modification for coarse-grained material is accomplished by allowing a larger area of the specimen to contribute to the X-ray diffraction. In the Schulz apparatus the incident X-ray beam is confined by a slit system to rays in the plane of the spectrometer. Schulz demonstrated that this restriction of the X-ray beam permits a survey of the X-ray reflections without correction up to about 80" on either side of that specimen position in which the specimen is perpendicular to the plane of the spectrometer. This is the angle + of rotation of the inner ring R2. One of these slits is horizontal and extends across the X-ray source side of the specimen. In the modification this slit is removed, thus permitting greater divergence in the X-ray beam and the irradiation of a larger area of the specimen surface. Fig. 1 shows the apparatus with the motor drive and with the slit removed. Discontinuities in the recorded X-ray intensity plot due to the few participating crystals in coarse-grained metal are much lessened. The increased divergence does not cause reflections from other crystal planes to enter the Geiger counter slit. An important advantage of the original Schulz scheme is thus lost and a system for correction is required. To do this, a compact of atomized copper powder was prepared and tested by the original Schulz method for the absence of preferred orientation. The horizontal slit was then removed and a curve recorded showing the variation of intensity with angle +. In our arrangement the intensity was uniform within the range + equals ±30°. Beyond this the intensity fell off rapidly reaching zero at ±90°. The curve thus produced is then used to correct measurements made on preferred orientation specimens. In practice this is accomplished by constructing from this calibration curve a family of curves which, as a transparency, can be superimposed on the recorder chart to read corrected intensity directly. Not only does this method permit the handling of coarse-grained material but it also makes possible the plotting of intensities almost to the circumference of the stereographic pole figure projection. Thus, nearly the entire pole figure can be plotted without the necessity of using the transmission technique. Moreover, intensities are much greater, an advantage when surveying crystal planes of poor reflecting power.

Jan 1, 1954

By M. Muskat, F. Morgan, R. G. Russell

Core experiments with radioactive tracers are reported in which an artificial radioactive material, radiovanadium, was used in aqueous solution in a study of the mobility of connate water. Sandstone cores saturated with active water were first oil-flooded to simulate virgin sand conditions in which the pores are filled with oil and connate water. They were then subjected to flooding with inactive water. Measurements were made of the activity of various portions of the effluent as well as the activity of the core after the flooding process was completed. In additional experiments the distribution of activity along the core was measured during the flooding process. In still other experiments direct flooding tests were made on cores fully saturated with active water. In all cases it was found that after injecting into the core a volume of inactive water equal to a pore volume, the effluent contained more than 80 per cent of the active content originally in the core. It is felt that these results imply a high degree of mobility of the connate water when subjected to flooding, although at least a partial contribution of the effect of tracer transfer within the core cannot be definitely excluded. The implications of this result with respect to water-flooding, core analysis and electric logging are discussed. A better approach to determining the connate water saturation of oil-producing rocks, by measuring the fluid content of core samples at the surface, is by the use of crude oil or oil-base muds as the coring fluid. Although water flooding is of considerable importance in the recovery of ail, comparatively little is known with certainty about the role played by the connate water during the operations. Two possibilities exist. Either the connate water is retained in the formation while the flood water sweeps past, or it is pushed along to a greater or lesser degree by the flood. Thus far no explicit recognition in terms of quantitative studies appears to have been given to the displacement of connate waters by the intruding extraneous waters, although such a possibility might be important in determining the efficiency of the oil -displacement process in water-flooding operations, especially in argillaceous rocks. On the other hand, it is a common observation that the first water produced with the oil as a result of water-flooding is definitely saline.*.' Similar questions regarding the mobility of the interstitial water arise in the quantitative description of the advance of edge-water drives. In the interpretation of the water saturations determined from core analyses, when coring with water-base muds, it is generally assumed that the drilling fluid merely adds to the connate water without displacing the

Jan 1, 1947

By Robert D. Pehlke, Kazuhisa Okajima

The activity of zinc in dilute liquid lead alloys containing small additions of silver and gold has been measured using a multielectrode galvanic cell with a fused chloride salt electrolyte. The range of temperatures studied in the Pb-Zn-Ag system was 550" to 670°C and in the Pb-Zn-Au system was 680" to 800°C. The interaction parameters between zinc and the precious metals in the respective temperature ranges are ThE lead-rich corners of the Pb-Zn-Ag and Pb-Zn-Au ternary systems are of considerable industrial importance. The use of zinc additions for the desilvering The results of this investigation have Provided a senzi-quantitative determination of the liquidus phase boundaries in the lead-rich corner of these ternary diagrams. of liquid lead either by the Parkes process or by the more recent Williams continuous process is an important refining phase of lead production.1 Several in-ve~ti~ations~-~ have been carried out on the Pb-Zn-Ag system with the hope of improving the efficiency of refining lead in this manner. The addition of zinc also provides a means for separating gold from lead. Since gold is eliminated more easily than silver, a two-stage removal of gold and silver is possible.8'7 The thermodynamic interactions between zinc and these precious metals in dilute solution in liquid lead

Jan 1, 1968

By L. A. Willey

Although the interierometric method for the determination of length changes was devised by Fizeau more than three quarters of a century ago, it has not achieved the widespread use in the metallurgical field that its precision and simplicity would seem to warrant. The interferometer and the basic principle are both very simple. When optically plane surfaces held at a very slight angle to each other are illuminated by monochromatic light, rectilinear, equally spaced interference fringes arc formed. Each fringe corresponds to a defiuitc thikness of the wedge formed by the optical flat.;. The difference in wedge thickness between two consecutive fringes is cqual to one half the wave length of the illuminating light. Instruments for vicwing the intertero~ncter have passed through a number of modifications. Outstanding among the improvements were those Abbe. in 1884. His improved instrument permitted micrometric mcasurements to the order of one-hundredth of the width of an interference fringe (i.e., lengths were measured to the order of one two-hulldredth of the mave length of light ). It also permitted the consecutive use of light of several wave lengths. which made possible the determination of the order number of any fringe and therefore the absolute thickness of the wedge at any point. The Abbe dilatometer and methods of measuretment, including corrections to he applied for the change of index of refraction with change in tempcrature and barometric pressure in an air wedge, have been thoroughly described by Pulfrich.' Pulfrich2 made further improvements in the interference measuring apparatus. His instrument embodied all the features of the Abbe dilatometer but was made more versatile by its complete mechanical separation from the interferorneter. The introduction of an Amici prism in the piece permitted the simultaneous observ tion of the whole set of fringe systems developed in the interferometer from the visible light of a geisler tulle. .Also, the introduction of a direct-vision, reflecting prism made it possible to set the fringes parallel to the two vertical fiducial line. of the instrument without the necessity of rotating the interierometcr. Interferometric methods employed ill this country have been developed and dcscribed by Priest, Pelers and Cragoe," Austin,5 Merritt,= Saunders,? and Nix and MaNair. Since none of these authors used the type of instrument that was employed in the present investigation, they Will not be discussed here. This paper will be limited to the description of the interfernmetric apparatus and method used at the Aluminum Research Laboratories and to the presentation of data so obtained. Apparatus and Procedure A general view of the dilatometer, not including equipment for controlling and

Jan 1, 1945

By Sam N. Dewitt, Albert S. Trube

This paper presents a discussion of the pressure maintenance operations which were begun in the New Hope Field. Franklin County. Texas. in 1944. The project has required the injection of extraneous waters at depths from 7.300 to 8.000 ft with intake well-head pressures up to 4.000 psi in three different reservoirs — the Bacon. Hill. and Pittsburg. Records of oil and water production. water injection and the GOR have been kept for each reservoir and reservoir pressures were taken at regular intervals. These data indicate that the Bacon Reservoir had no apparent water encroachment up to the time of water injection. However. the Pittsburg and Hill reservoirs had some natural water influx hut not sufficient to prevent pressures from declining below the bubble point. The Bacon and Hill reservoirs responded almost immediately to water injection. while the Pittsburg which is the least permeable. has shown good pressure response only since .August, 1948. The principle objective of the project has been to increase ultimate recovery. Success of the project to date also has resulted in reduced lifting costs. Esti- mates based on the initial water breakthrough patterns indicate that the primary objective of substantial additional recovery will he accomplished, and there is a possibility that the original estimates elf oil recovery with pres-sure maintenance will he exceeded. INTRODUCTION This pressure maintenance project was one of the earliest primary pressure maintenance programs to he attempted on a multiple zone field. There are three producing reservoirs into which water is being injected for the purpose of maintaining pressure and increasing the ultimate recovery- from each. This paper is limited in scope to al1 account of the development of the project. the pressure production relationship prior to the injection of water and the effect of water injection on the producing reservoirs. Also discussed are the nature of the injection system and the indicated results on initial water break-through in the Bacon Reservoir. FIELD CONDITIONS The New Hope Field, which is located about 12 miles northeast of Winusboro, Franklin County, Texas, is an elongated symmetrical anticline containing four known oil reservoirs. The reservoirs are of the Trinity group of the Comanchean or Lower Cretaceous period and are found in Table I. The oil productive portion of each reservoir is not present in all of the producing wells because their areas and positions vary with respect to one another. Fig. 1 shows the relative position of the four reservoirs and illusIrate? how some wells could penetrate all four, while others are restricted to three. two. or perhaps one. depending on structural location. The first three reservoirs contain undersaturated oil. The deepest. the Elledge, has a primary gas cap. Although this reservoir covers a considerable area of the field. it has a very thin section and a low order of permeability. Elledge producing wells have generally been characterized by an early increase in GOR, making it necessary to recomplete them in other reservoirs. (At present. one well is completed in the Elledge. which is still producing.) Because of the difficulties en-countered in producing oil from this reservoir. and the small quantity of oil actually present. future attempts at producing it will probably be on a salvage basis during the later life of the program. For this reason, the remainder of this report will be confined to a discussion of the Bacon, Hill and pius-burg reservoirs.

Jan 1, 1950