Search Documents

By Marc W. Bodine

Insoluble residues from three sequences of Paleozoic marine evaporates (Retsof salt bed in western New York, Salado Formation in southeastern New Mexico, and Paradox Member of the Hermosa Formation in southeastern Utah) are rich in trioctahedral clays. Chlorite (clinochlore), corrensite (mixed-layer chlorite-trioctahedral smectite), talc, and illite (the only dioctahedral clay) are the dominant clay minerals; serpentine, discrete trioctahedral smectite (saponite), and interstratified talc-trioctahedral smectite are sporadically abundant. These clay-mineral assemblages differ chemically and mineralogically from those observed in most continental and normal marine rocks, which commonly contain kaolinite, dioctahedral smectite (beidellite-montmorillonite), illite, mixed-layer illite-dioctahedral smectite, and, in most cases, no more than minor quantities of trioctahedral clay minerals. The distinctive clay mineralogy in these evaporate sequences suggests a largely authigenic origin. These clay minerals are thought to have formed during deposition and early diagenesis through interaction between argillaceous detritus and Mg-rich marine evaporate brines.

Jan 1, 1985

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period of Oct. 10, 1917, to Nov. 10, 1917. ABEY, HIROSHI Min. & Met. Engr.. Mitsubishi Co., Tokio, Japan. BARNETT, WALTER W., Assayer & Chem., Seoul Min. Co., Tul Mi Chung, Chosen, Korea. BATES, WILLIAM S Min. Engr., Anaconda Copper Min. Co., Butte, Mont. BENDELARI, ARTHUR E Mgr. of Mines, Eagle Picher Lead Co., Picher, Okla. BERKEFELD, PAUL C Mining Engr., 2901 Piedmont Ave., Berkeley, Cal. BILLINGS, It. S Mgr., Sheep Trail Pyramid Mines Co., Kingman, Ariz. BILLWILLER, C. J., JR Mgr. Nitrate Agencies, Ltd., Iquique, Chile. BLUM, EDWARD H., Engr., Asst., to Pres., The Atlantic Refining Co., 3144 Passyunk Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. BORDEN, GAIL, Vice-Pres. & Treas., American Safety Explosive Co., 50 East 42d St., New York, N. Y. BRESLIN, THOMAS F Min. Engr., Cebu, Cebu, P. I. BURKE, JAMES M., Efficiency Engr., Calumet & Hecla Mining Co., Calumet, Mich. CANTON, WILLIAM R Met., Nevada Consolidated Copper Co., McGill, Nev.

Jan 12, 1917

[PRESIDENT GEORGE OTIS SMITH, District 4 WASHINGTON, D. C. PAST PRESIDENTS SAMUEL A. TAYLOR, District 3 PITTSBURGH, PA. E. DEGOLYER, District 0 NEW YORK, N. Y. FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT W. H. BASSETT, District 1 WATERBURY, CONN.]

Jan 1, 1928

Page McGREGOR, A. G.-Features of the New Copper Smelting Plants in Arizona. Discussed by L. D. Ricketts, E. P. Mathewson 2145 HOWARD, L. O.-The Basic-Lined Converter in the Southwest. Discussed by Walter Douglas, E. P. Mathewson, Kuno Doerr 2145 SAMUEL, J. MOORE-Determination of Dust Losses at the Copper Queen Reduction Works. Discussed by Walter Douglas, E. P. Mathewson, S. J. Jennings, C. E. Arnold, A. G. McGregor, L. D. Ricketts 2148 MORSE, H. W., AND TOBELMANN, H. A.-Leaching Tests at New Cornelia. Discussed by H. W. Morse, Lawrence Addicks, G. D. Van Arsdale, S. J. Jennings, F. S. Schimerka, C. G. Grabill, F. N. Flynn, Stuart Croasdale 2151 LAIST, FREDERICK, AND ALDRICH, HAROLD W.-The 2,000-Ton Leaching Plant at Anaconda. Discussed by F. N. Flynn, E. P. Mathewson 2159 ADDICKS, LAWRENCE-Possibilities in the Wet. Treatment of Copper Concentrates. Discussed by F. N. Flynn 2160

Jan 12, 1916

By James M. Winston

When I began my career (the first assignment was mucking the "drainage" ditch) an experienced miner told me, "Remember son, happiness is a journey, not a destination. . . ." If you missed the 100th Anniversary of AIME in New York this year, you are missing the journey. There are not enough superlatives to describe the event. Especially since New York is "known to have it all." An Indefinable Plus There was a little something different at this meeting. I cannot explain what, but there seemed to be more of everything. There were more wives there this year-what a pleasure to see all the lovely women mingling through the conference- which was reflected through our own attire and mannerisms. In fact, everyone looked so great, we checked to see if it really was a convention of miners. You wives keep coming to all of the events, because so much is added by your presence.

Jan 1, 1971

By Samuel S. Wyer

The following abbreviations have been used in the text: Cassier's, Cassier's Magazine. Eng. Lond., The Engineer (London). Eng. Mag., Engineering Magazine. Eng. News, Engineering News. Eng. Rec., Engineering Record. Eng. and Min. Jour., Engineering and Mining Journal. Engng., Engineering. Jour. Assn. Eng. Soc., Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies. Engr., The Engineer (Chicago). Jour. I. and S. I., Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute. Jour. F. I., Journal of the Franklin Institute. Mar. Eng., Marine Engineering. Mem. Soc. Ing. Civ., France, Memoires de la Socie'te' des Inge-nieurs Civils, France. Pract. Eng., Practical Engineer. Proc. Engs. Soc. of W. Pa., Proceedings of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania. Proc. I. C. E., Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers. Proc. I. M. E., Proceedings Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Trans. A. I. M. E., Transactions of the American Institute Mining Engineers. Sci. Am., Scientific American. Sci. Am. Sup., Scientific American Supplement. Zeitschr. d. V. D. Ing., Zeitschrift des Vereines Deutscher Inge-niezcre.

Jan 1, 1906

By R. C. Ferguson, B. Bernstrom

R.C. Ferguson (District Manager, Hardinge Company Inc., Hibbing, Minn.) — In the opening paragraph of Mr. Bernstrom's paper he stated that the Cascade mill performance information is preliminary. With the completion of the 1962 operating season, more reliable performance information became available. The main bearings, which had been damaged, were reconditioned at the factory. New Gatke bearing bushings with a 120° are of contact were supplied. Provision was made to introduce high pressure lubricant at two points in each bearing. New spherical bearing balls that operate in spherical seats were aligned at the factory and held in place by several setscrews to aid in installing the bearings in the field. The screws were not loosened prior to, or during, operation; therefore, the bearings operated as rigid bearings. The lubricant cooling system was changed to the cooling tower type to provide lubricating water of a suitable temperature. Another refinement consisted of installing a device to add a set percentage of soluble oil to the make-up water.

Jan 1, 1963

By L. S. Cates

THE war is now behind us. We in the mining industry feel a just pride in the part that our industry and our men and our products played in defeating the enemy on the fighting fronts around the world. In five years of mobilization and actual combat, our mines and oil wells produced over 3 billion tons of coal, a billion tons of petroleum, 500 million tons of iron ore, 21/4 million tons of lead, 31/2 million tons of zinc, 5 million tons of copper, 14 million tons of bauxite, 17 million tons of sulphur, 68 million tons of salt, and 3 million tons of potash. It was an unparalleled performance. But what of today? Why the present low production and high costs? Among the black clouds in the mining sky none are so black as that presented by the labor situation. We know it is the result of the legislation and the interpretation of that legislation in the past ten or fifteen years. Since the passage of the Norris-LaGuardia Act in 1932, we have had nothing but a succession of laws, regulations, and decisions that have intensified the strength of the unions and made the operators of the mines and the sources of their financing prartirally impotent

Jan 1, 1946

By U. C. Tainton

IN reviewing progress in zinc metallurgy during the last year or so one is reminded of the premise on which H. G. Wells based his "Food. of the Gods," namely that growth does not and cannot take place smoothly and steadily, but occurs in a series of bursts and intermissions: "It is as if every living thing has to accumulate force to grow, grows with vigor only for a time, and then has to wait for a space before it can go on growing again."

Jan 1, 1937

By W. C. Lilliendahl, G. Meister

Uranium metal with a purity of about 99.9 pct was produced on a large scale by fused salt electrolysis with a material efficiency of about 90 pct. The material efficiency depends mainly on bath composition, electrolysis temperature, electrode smothering, and elutriation during washing of the powder. RESEARCH and development work on fused salt electrolysis carried on by the Westinghouse Lamp Div. Bloomfield, N. J., was done under the Manhattan District Corps of Engineers and later under the Atomic Energy Commission for the commercialization of uranium production for the first atomic pile at the University of Chicago in 1942. From the conception of the atomic bomb project it was recognized that metals with impurity levels having little metallurgical significance would be required. Permissible impurity levels were based on neutron absorption. Of particular significance was boron, which could not be present in amounts exceeding 1 ppm. The electrolytic method as developed in 1930 by Driggs and Lilliendahl,1,2 and later improved, yielded uranium of very low boron and other deleterious impurity content. No other method was capable at that time of producing uranium metal of the required purity.' The low boron content of uranium produced by the electrolytic process resulted from the availability of the reactants which were low in boron content, and from the inherent elimination of boron in the fused salt bath. Since the heart of any electrolytic process is the electrolysis cell, this paper will deal with the development of the original bath composition for the efficient production of uranium from a batch process to one of continuous operation. Emphasis also will be placed on other factors which will affect the material efficiency of the process. With the laboratory cell the material efficiency of uranium powder recovery in the early electrolysis was relatively low, about 35 pct based on the ratio of uranium recovered to uranium added. This early process also had other defects. The electro- lytic bath could not be used continuously. After three runs from a freshly charged crucible, the deposit showed a tendency to slip off the electrode as it was raised from the bath. This condition necessitated pouring the charge every fourth run and preparing a new bath. It was assumed at that time that this condition was caused by the increasing fluoride concentration with each addition of uranium salt, which adected the mobility of the uranium ions. Experimental The electrolysis cells differed in size only. They were of the floating cathode type. The laboratory cells were 21/2 in. ID and 6 in. deep and operated at 30 amp and 5 volts. Production was about 150 g metal powder per 8 hr. The plant cells (5 units) were 9 in. ID x 21 in. deep and operated at 1800 amp at 12 volts. The total production unit was designed to produce 250 lb of uranium powder per 8 hr day. Because of the tendency of uranium fines toward spontaneous combustion, material efficiencies were based only on the recovery of useful coarser metal which could be safely handled. The reported efficiencies are of particular significance only as related to the same group of experimental procedures. At the start of the project no changes were contemplated until previous data could be definitely confirmed. Therefore, the first experiments were with the 50 pct CaCl2-50 pct NaCl mixture. The material efficiency of uranium deposition as a function of the number of electrolyses is shown in Table I. In Table I, the decrease in efficiency at 800°C with number of runs is apparent and confirmed the earlier data. Operating at 900°C enabled the number of runs to be doubled, but before pouring the charge the efficiency of recovery became poor. This test indicated that the improved efficiency might have been caused by an increase in the fluidity of the bath.

Jan 1, 1958

WELL known member of the Institute, Henry Krumb, survived the Japanese earthquake and has written a most interesting description of his personal experience to a friend in New York, an extended excerpt from which we publish, by permission, below. Not having been written for publication it has increased value as a human document in its vivid description of personal impressions and sensations in the midst of such a catastrophe. The earthquake was the most terrible experience I have ever passed through. We arrived at Miyanoshita, Friday, Aug. 31, about 6 p.m., having left Yokohama about 2:30 that afternoon by automobile. It was a most beautiful ride, although rather warm, but not unusually so, as it has been uncomfortably hot ever since we arrived in Japan. The first part of this automobile trip was along the old highway from Kyoto to Tokyo, which is lined with fine old pine trees. There are 52 villages along this highway and we saw real Japanese country life: naked children, both boys and girls, and men wearing nothing but gee-strings. The country on either side was intensively cultivated, the green rice fields and lotus ponds making a most beautiful sight. The occasional hills were all re-forested with young pines. In places the road runs close to the ocean beaches. The last part of the trip was up a steep mountain road, cut out of the side of the mountain. On one side of the road, in the gulch below, was a roaring river. The road crosses this river several times. Miyanoshita is beautifully located on the side of a mountain about 400 ft. above this river at an altitude of 1400 ft. The grounds of the hotel are laid out in Japanese style, small lakes with fish, waterfalls and dwarf trees making a very pretty sight. On the morning of Sept. 1, after walking around the garden and the hotel, we went to our room and I started to write up a few notes. Mrs. Krumb was reading a guide book. A few minutes before noon she came over to the table where I was writing and said that it was about lunch time. Just at that moment hell broke loose. It was the first earthquake I have ever experienced and I did not immediately realize what was happening. The building was shaking as a mine office might shake when heavy blasting was going on near by. Mrs. Krumb, having experienced many earthquakes, stepped to the open door between our room and the bathroom and called to me to get out from under the chande-lier. The plaster was commencing to fall and a large wardrobe fell over. I then knew what was happening and ran to the win dow. Before I reached it a large chunk of plaster from the ceiling hit me on the head and cut my forehead and nose. Mrs. Krumb ran for the other window just as the marble mantelpiece and the dresser fell. Without any hesitation, she jumped out of the win-dow and I followed suit out of the other. Luckily neither of us sprained an ankle-we had jumped 8 ft. We started to runaway from the building but had not gone more than 25 ft. when a second shock or rather a continuation of the first became so violent and the ground under our feet was trembling so that it was almost impossible to stand up without holding on to a tree. The ground seemed to have become liquid and rocked violently, it seemed to me in a vertical direction. In some later shocks the movement was more horizontal. About this time Mrs. Krumb saw the blood on my face and commenced to break down, but only for a moment: As soon as she saw it was not serious she was all right and during the following days stood the experiences and hardships as well as the best of them:

Jan 11, 1923

By S. G. Lasky

EVENTS during and since the war indicate that the nations of the world are trying to initiate an era of international co-operation. Definitions and objectives include social, economic, and human considerations no less than political considerations. The mineral resources of the world and the absolute and relative position of each nation enter into this situation. The possible use of armed might, the application of sanctions, the international flow of commerce, the ways in which this flow may encourage or hamper international well-being, and the influence of international and domestic well-being upon one another are all matters that must take mineral resources into account. If the United States is to act wisely and forthrightly in such matters we must be thoroughly informed as to our position with respect to mineral resources. What is the mineral position of the United States? A variety of widely conflicting opinions are held in authoritative and intelligent quarters: (1) For practical purposes our mineral resources are already exhausted.

Jan 1, 1946

Prof. Henry M Howe, New York: It is extremely probable that this efflorescence of silica is due to the liquation either of silicon or of a silicide, and the subsequent oxidation of the silicon to silica. As Mr. Fackenthal says, it is very hard to see why silicon should liquate from an iron containing so little silicon, and it seems more probable that some silicide of some volatile element has liquated, and has dissociated on reaching the air, and that the volatile element has volatilized, leaving the silicon to oxidize to silica. The volatile elements present which might thus liquate in combination with the silicon are sulphur, zinc, and lead. It is hard to see why sulphide of silicon should have liquated from an iron containing so little of either sulphur or silicon. At first, one naturally thinks that either the zinc or the lead present in this furnace might have liquated as silicide. It is true that they are both volatile at the temperature within the furnace, but then the vapor-tension* of each of them within

Jan 1, 1901

By J. F. Gallie

From the standpoint of exploration and new discoveries, South Arkansas had a discouraging year in 1944. In January there were 73 untested drilling blocks, and 60 additions were made during the year. Of the total, 65 were condemned by dry holes on or adjacent to them, while 5 proved productive. The latter resulted in the discovery of the Salem Church, Calhoun Wilks, and Strong fields, and the extension of the Village field to the southeast. The year ended with 63 untested blocks, 41 of which were scheduled for tests to the Smackover lime, the state's deepest oil-producing formation. Geophysical activity in 1944 totaled 164 crew weeks, of which 110 were seismic, 43 gravity, and 11 radioactive (Fig. I), in contrast with 674 crew weeks reported for 1943, of, which 563 were seismic and in gravity, Five seismograph and two gravity crews were engaged in exploration in South Arkansas during January 1944. but only two seismograph crews were working there at the end of the year. In addition, exploratory core drills were used for a total of 38 weeks during the year. The year's few discoveries, none of which is considered as having added appreciably to state reserves, were the meager results obtained in the drilling of 62 wildcat wells 2000 ft. or deeper. Of this total (a detail of which appears in Table 2), 42 were drilled to the Smack-over lime or below, The average depth of the 62 wells was 5384 ft., as compared with 4992 ft. in the preceding year, while the average depth of the 42 wildcats in the lime was 5913 ft. in 1944. Fig. 2 has been prepared to show all , wells penetrating to the Reynolds oölitic lime. The 1944 dry holes are circled lightly, while discoveries are heavily circled and shown as producers. Smackover lime fields, producing from the Reynolds oolitic lime member, are indicated in black, and the locations of dry wildcat wells drilled prior to 1944 are also shown. Table 3 provides a listing of all Smackover lime wells drilled through the end of 1944. Production for the year was slightly more than in 1943, totaling 29,282,747 bbl., as compared with 27,521,943 bbl. for the preceding year. The increase was 1,760,804 bbl., or 6.4 per cent, bringing production to a peak exceeded only in the 1923 to 1928 period of flush production from the older shallow fields, principally Smackover. The increase was largely attributable to additional development in the Dorcheat-Macedonia, Atlanta, Fouke, Stephens-Smart, Haynesville, and Village fields, little production deriving from 1944 discoveries. These six fields accounted for loo of the 122 field wells drilled during the year. Annual and cumulative production for the producing life of the state are presented graphically in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 has been prepared by the author to show the producing ages and present known productive limits of all fields in South Arkansas. Production data, as usual, are assembled in Table 2, and provide a further breakdown of producing formations in the individual fields.

Jan 1, 1945

By A. H. Daane, J. F. Haefling

The limits of miscibility in some of the uranium rare-earth alloy systems have been determined in the temperature range 1000°to 1250°C. The solubilities of lanthanum and cerium in uranium are greater than those of the remaining rare earths by a factor of more than two. The solubility of uranium is greater in cerium, braseodymium, and neodymium than in the other rare-earth metals studied. The values found in this study are in qualitative agreement with those which might be expected if the solubility rules of Hildebrand and Scott are applicable. AS interest in nuclear reactors intensifies, many new types of fuels are being suggested in attempts to improve the economics of some of the proposed reactor schemes. To remove some of the difficulties inherent in the use of solid-fuel elements and their reprocessing, many types of liquid-metal reactors have been suggested. One of the more attractive features of several of these reactor concepts is that they include a continuous or semicontinuous process for the extraction of fission products and "bred" fissionable materials from the fuel, utilizing immiscible metal extractants. This would enable a much higher burn-up of fissionable material to be achieved and would present a very attractive economic picture. Several studies have been reported on equilibrium systems in which there exists a high degree of immiscibility between uranium and another metal that might be used as an extractant in such a processing scheme.' Two of these systems in which a high degree of immiscibility exists are those of uranium with the two rare-earth metals, lanthanum, and cerium. Since the rare earths constitute a significant fraction of the fission products, their removal is of prime importance. It is reasonable to believe that this might be accomplished by equilibrating a rare-earth phase with the contaminated uranium fuel in the liquid state. In order to make a more complete study of those systems which would be of interest either as extractants in a liquid-liquid extraction process, or as fission products formed in the fuel, the alloy systems of uranium with lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, and samarium were studied in some detail in the temperature range 1000" to 1250°C; less detailed studies were made with the other rare earths. In addition to being of value to the reactor program, the data obtained in this study should be of help in making a study of the role played by the electronic structures of metals in determining the nature of metallic solutions. The unique electronic structures of the rare-earth elements make them particularly interesting in this respect. EXPERIMENTAL The usual procedure for a solubility determination was to seal equal volumes of uranium and the particular rare earth in a tantalum crucible under an atmosphere of helium; this crucible was then sealed in a stainless steel jacket in an atmosphere of helium. These samples were equilibrated by repeated inverting of the crucibles in a furnace for 15 min at the desired temperature, left in an upright position for 15 min to permit separation of the two phases, and then quenched under a stream of water. In some runs the temperature of the furnace was held 50' to 100°C above the desired quenching temperature while inverting in order to insure good mixing. However, it was found that above 1200°C the crucibles were subject to failure and for these runs the furnace temperature was not raised above the desired quenching temperature. A small amount of tantalum was dissolved in the uranium and the rare earths in these runs, a maximum of 3 wt pct in the uranium phase at 1250°C and up to 1 wt pct in the rare-earth phase at this temperature. On cooling, the major portion of this tantalum precipitated as primary tantalum crystals. Any residual tantalum would probably have a negligible effect on the mutual solubility of uranium and the rare earths in each other. Samples for analysis were cut from each phase with an abrasive cutting wheel; the region near the interface between the two metals was carefully avoided. In the case of the rare earths with melting points above 1250°C no solubility data were taken on the rare-earth phase since this phase could not have achieved equilibrium in a reasonable length of time. (For the same reason no data were taken on the uranium phase below its melting point of 1132°C.) Equilibrium appeared to have been reached in the uranium phase in these cases although the rare-earth phase had not melted. To verify this, samples were melted together in an arc furnace similar to that described by Kroll.2 These samples were sub-

Jan 1, 1960

By Robert Glass Cleland

[PHELPS DODGE COPPER PRODUCTS CORPORATION OFFICE, 40 WALL STREET, NEW YORK 5, N. Y. OFFICERS Whipple Jacobs President Howard T. Brinton Vice-President Edgar P. Dunlaevy Vice-President Weightman Edwards Vice-President S. Allan Jacobs Vice-President]

Jan 1, 1952

[E. E. SCHUMACHER, Chairman ARTHUR PHILLIPS, Past-Chairman L W. KEMPF, Senior Vice-Chairman E. A. ANDERSON, Vice-Chairman H. A. MALONEY, Treasurer FRANK T..SISCO. Secretary 29 West 39th Street, New York 18, N. Y.]

Jan 1, 1946

By Richard Kunter

INTRODUCTION Additional work has been done on the CIP circuit at Creede, and a brief description of this work is presented in this paper. DREDGE The original dredge for the Bulldog was built by Al Hack, Inc. of Denver. The dredge cutter head is mounted on a boom made of 6-inch diameter pipe which is raised and lowered by a cable-pulley system. Maximum cutting depth is 8 feet. Slurry from the dredge flows through a floating 6-inch diameter pipe supported on 55-gallon drums which runs from the dredge to the shore and then to a trash screen and pumping system. See Figures 1 and 2. The cutter head, suction pump, winches for dredge movement, and all other operations are controlled from a small operations house located toward the rear of the dredge. All of the basic dredge equipment is mounted on a chassis about 8 ft x 16 ft in size. Additional buoyancy was originally provided by sealed 55-gallon drums supported along the sides of the chassis by a small wooden framework. Additional framework and barrels on the front of the chassis on either side of the cutter boom provided additional stability, particularly when digging in hard material. The dredge was quite stable, but two problems were apparent. For one, it could have been sunk by someone from the shore firing a rifle into all of the barrels. In prime deer-hunting and sportsman country

Jan 1, 1983

By Eugene F. Broome, Hugh A. Walls

A diffusion measurement technique based on a shear cell comprised of only two segments is described. The diffusion boundary value problem for the finite capillary geometry is solved in general for any arbitrary initial concentration profile and is subsequently specialized for the modified shear cell problem. Effects of convection and mixing at the shear interface were found to be negligible. Mercury self-diffusion coefficients were determined from -25° to 252°C. These data are in good agreement with those found by Meyer. ALTHOUGH diffusion in liquid metals has been of interest for over two centuries, the need for measurement techniques of improved accuracy and precision has become increasingly apparent as additional data have been obtained and theory has become more refined. These conditions reflect the experimental difficulties inherent in liquid diffusion measurements, in which transport by other processes, such as convection, tends to mask the diffusive transport. Frequently the disagreement between several theoretical predictions is less than that found between different sets of data obtained for a system. Moreover, as has been shown by Nachtrieb,1 diffusion data are needed over much larger temperature ranges if the functional dependence on temperature is to be known. Thus, improved techniques must be devised if experimental data are to augment fundamental understanding of the liquid state and to meet technological needs. The available techniques have been discussed elsewhere.' Of these, only the capillary-reservoir, long capillary, and shear cell techniques will be discussed briefly in terms of experimental advantages and disadvantages. These methods served to establish design criteria for the modified shear cell described here. The capillary-reservoir technique of Anderson and saddington3 has been the most widely used method in recent years. The method offers experimental simplicity relative to other methods and has been employed for high-temperature measurements. Moreover, the mathematical relationship between the measured concentration ratio and the diffusion coefficient is such that smaller values of the ratio are achieved for a specified diffusion time relative to other methods. The amplified errors between the concentration ratio and the calculated diffusion coefficient are diminished at lower values of the ratio.' The method also permits multiple determination by the simultaneous use of several capillaries. Disadvantages of the capillary-reservoir method are primarily associated with the hydrodynamic ef- fects of convection and of placing the capillary in the reservoir. These effects are most pronounced in the region near the open end of the capillary and produce an ill-defined boundary condition between the capillary and the reservoir. Such effects are not amenable to experimental or mathematical correction2 (although this has been suggested4). The long-capillary method of Careri, Paoletti, et al.5-10 involves filling one half of a small capillary tube of 150 to 200 mm total length with material of one composition or radioactivity and the other half with the second part of the diffusion couple. This arrangement eliminates the adverse hydrodynamic effects associated with the capillary-reservoir technique; however, certain other experimental difficulties are encountered in this method. The more significant of these difficulties involve the melting, expansion, contraction, and solidification of the diffusion system. The dependence in some cases of the diffusion coefficient on the capillary diameter noted by Careri et a1.7 (termed the "wall effect") has been alternatively explained by Nachtriebl as a convection effect during solidification. In mutual diffusion measurements, the convection problems associated with melting and solidification are increased because of the differences in melting points and in expansion coefficients between the halves of the diffusion couple. However, the errors caused by convection effects within this method are usually less than those in the capillary-reservoir method. Furthermore, the concentration profile needed to determine concentration-dependent diffusion coefficients by the Boltzmann-Matano analysis can be obtained from this method. Of the previous attempts to use shear cells, only the cell used by Nachtrieb and Petit11,12 appears to have yielded good data. They reduced the mechanical complexity of the conventional shear cell by using a cell comprised of only four segments. Three of these segments were filled with ordinary mercury and the fourth with radioisotopic mercury in their determination of mercury self-diffusion coefficients. The average concentration (radioactivity) was determined in each segment following a period of isothermal diffusion. These concentration values were fitted to concentration profiles obtained from the Stefan-Kawalki tables, and the diffusion coefficients were evaluated. Thus, although the number of cell segments is reduced in their method, some information about the concentration profile can be obtained in terms of the Stefan-Kawalki analysis. Moreover, their cell is suitable for measurement of diffusion coefficients at elevated pressure, as they successfully demonstrated with mercury. Consideration of the design and experimental features of the methods discussed above suggested several criteria for the new cell: 1) a ''total" capillary system, as opposed to a capillary-reservoir system, should reduce adverse convection effects; 2) such a capillary system should avoid the problems en-

Jan 1, 1969

By W. S. Sanner

Experiments were conducted to determine the quantity and purity of ultraclean anthracite that could be prepared in the laboratory, using conventional separating techniques. A low, a medium, and a high-volatile anthracite were studied. Specific gravity separation followed by grinding, screening, and refloating at lighter specific gravities yielded small quantities of material purified to 1.0% ash, as follows: from low-volatile anthracite, 0.7%; from medium-volatile coal, 1.0%; and from high-volatile coal, 2.3%. The reduction in ash had no appreciable effect on the volatile matter or sulfur content of the coal. The limited quantities of material containing 1.0% or less ash obtainable indicate that if ultraclean coal is desired, a practical approach should include the processing units as an integral part of a convc.ntiona1 dense-media washing plant. Anthracite preparation practices during much of the industry's history were geared to maximum recovery of the larger sizes, pea through egg, which were used in hand-fired, domestic furnaces. Those sizes were cleaned to meet trade requirements, and the smaller sizes were usually higher in ash content. The impression, thus, was that ash content of anthracite always increased as the sizes got smaller. It was presumed that it was impossible to wash the finer sizes to extremely low ash contents. Following World War 11, the classical domestic market began to decline and the finer sizes assumed an increasingly large share of the market. For example, in 1949l 61% of the production was still pea and larger. Fig. l2 shows that -by 1955 these sizes accounted for only 50%, and in 1965, they were only 39% of the total anthracite produced. With the reduction in the market, increased quality was demanded, especially in export markets, and an increasing number of dense-media magnetite washers were installed in new and existing cleaning plants. In 1965, the coarse coal prepared at 59 breakers in the anthracite fields was sampled by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM); approximately 50% of these plants were equipped with dense-media magnetite washers.3 Since 1950, more attention has been focused on the use of finer sizes for numerous industrial uses, including iron-ore sintering, pelletizing, foundry coke-making, cement manufacture, production of calcium carbide, and of carbon electrodes, etc. Most industrial uses require relatively clean anthracite, such as 10 to 11% ash for sintering and foundry coke, 7% for aluminum melting-pot cathode carbon, and 5% for carbide production. Hence, cleaning methods have been improved to the extent that dense-media washers, hydraulic cyclones, and flotation cells have been introduced as fine-coal-cleaning devices. It is now possible to wash the buckwheat, rice, and barley sizes (9116 X 3132-in.) to ash contents as low as 8 to 10% in dense-media devices, but washing the -3132-in. sizes to those limits presents more difficult problems, due mainly to the fineness of the material. This USBM investigation was conducted to determine the amount and purity of ultraclean anthracite that could be prepared in the laboratory, using conventional separating techniques. The goal was to reduce the ash content to a level acceptable for industrial carbon uses, including electrode manufacture, which generally requires an ash content of 1% or less. While low-ash content is of primary importance in selecting industrial carbons, the amounts of other constituents are also important, including iron, silicon, titanium, nickel, vanadium, and sulfur. They were not considered in this work, since their occurrence in deashed anthracite has been studied elsewhere.4 The results of the present investigation were used to design a flowsheet, suggesting a method for producing ultraclean anthracite as part of conventional preparation practice, using dense-media vessels, crushers, pulverizers,

Jan 1, 1970