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By J. Gartelmann, B. Zaslavsky, Y. Vojta, D. J. Chaiko, W. Mego, A. N. Rollins

"Aqueous biphasic extraction (ABE) processes offer the potential for low-cost, highly selective separations. This countercurrent extraction technique involves selective partitioning of either dissolved solutes or ultrafine particulates between two immiscible aqueous phases. The extraction systems that we have studied are generated by combining an aqueous salt solution with an aqueous polymer solution.We have examined a wide range of applications for ABE, including the treatment of solid and liquid nuclear wastes, decontamination of soils, and processing of mineral ores. We have also conducted fundamental studies of solution microstructure using small angle neutron scattering (SANS). In this chapter we review the physicochemical fundamentals of aqueous biphase formation and discuss the development and scaleup of ABE processes for environmental remediation.IntroductionAqueous biphasic extraction (ABE) is a highly adaptable separation technique that can be used in a wide range of applications. We have been evaluating various types of ABE systems for possible applications in the treatment of solid radioactive wastes (1,2), liquid nuclear wastes (3,4), and contaminated soils (5-7), and in the removal of organics from aqueous salt solutions (8). We have also conducted fundamental studies of the solution microstructure of ABE systems using small angle neutron scattering (SANS) (9).The extraction systems are generated by combining an aqueous salt solution and an aqueous polymer solution. This produces two distinct liquid layers that are as immiscible as oil and water, yet each liquid layer contains at least 70 to 80 wt % water. The biphasic systems that we have been working with consist of immiscible polyethylene glycol (PEG) and salt solutions. Some inorganic salts that promote biphase formation with PEG solutions include the sodium/potassium salts of sulfate, carbonate, phosphate, and hydroxide (10)."

Jan 1, 1996

By R. W. Bartlett

The extensive central Idaho black sand placer deposits are a potential source of rare earth elements, particularly the heavy rare earth elements that are not prevalent in commercial bastnasite deposits. These placers derive from the Idaho batholith. The geology, occurrence, and extent of these deposits are reviewed and the diverse mineral assemblages and complex mineral chemical compositions of these sands are described. Niobium, yttrium and thorium are also present in significant concentrations. The results of prior mining practice, including concentration and separation of the heavy minerals are reviewed. Technical approaches to extraction of rare earths from Idaho black sand concentrates are discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By Zhang Hengzhong

Based on thermodynamics of surfaces and a proposed two-dimensional state equation for surfaces, the relationship between the surface tension (Y) of a solution and the activity (a1) of its component (i) was derived: (1/Y)r2-.¬E (ai/Yl) The derived equation was verified with reported experimental data of water-alcohol systems and water-acetone system, the calculated results showed astonishing coincidence with experimental. Applications of the equation to the five matte systems Cu2S-FeS, Ni3S2-FeS, FeS-PbS, Cu2S-PbS and FeS-Cu22S-PbS also demonstrated that at given matte compositions the calculated surface tensions agreed with experimental fairy well.

Jan 1, 1993

By Zizheng Zhou

The separation of cobalt from other base metals can be achieved using diffusion dialysis in a two-compartment reactor separated by an anion exchange membrane. In this work, a Neosepta AFX membrane was used to study the separation of various metals in an acid-chloride solution. The separation of one metal from another was investigated on the basis of the various chloro-complex stabilities. The metals investigated included cobalt, nickel, copper(II), iron(III), aluminum, zinc and cadmium. The impact of several critical experimental conditions, including the initial metal and chloride concentration in the feed solution and their initial concentration in the receiving solution, on the separation factor and the metal transfer rate is reported in this work. Effective separation of different metal pairs was achieved under the experimental conditions.

By Yilin Fang, Alain Bonneville, Timothy. D. Scheibe, Zhijie Xu

"We present a hydro-mechanical model for geological sequestration of carbon dioxide. The model considers the poroelastic effects by taking into account the coupling between the geomechanical response and the fluid flow in greater detail. The simplified hydro-mechanical model includes the geomechanical part that relies on the linear elasticity, while the fluid flow is based on the Darcy's law. Two parts were coupled using the standard linear poroelasticity. Analytical solutions for pressure field were obtained for a typical geological sequestration scenario. The model predicts the temporal and spatial variation of pressure field and effects of permeability and elastic modulus of formation on the fluid pressure distribution.IntroductionIn order to achieve a substantial reduction of CO2 emissions and alleviate the atmospheric carbon problem, massive scale carbon sequestration is required involving millions of tons of carbon dioxide injection over several decades. The geomechanical response is important upon the injection of substantial supercritical carbon dioxide into deep geological formations. Supercritical CO2 is less dense than brine waters and the buoyancy driven flow of CO2 requires the aquifer to be capped by low permeability rock (""caprock"") to prevent the upward migration of C02 (as shown in Fig.1 ). Massive scale injection of C02 changes the overall stress state in the caprock and formation. This change leads to large deformation that can damage the caprock, create fractures, and open new flow paths for supercritical C02. Therefore, a coupled hydromechanical model becomes essential for the caprock integrity analysis."

Jan 1, 2012

By Maria K. Kojo

The interaction between various slags and a nickel concentrate containing pyrite, pentlandite, and violarite were investigated by submerging concentrate pellets in molten slags. The slags were contained in MgO-A12O3 spinel crucibles. The slag oxidizes the iron sulfides in the concentrate, resulting in a nickel matte. The amount of S02 gas formed during reaction was measured to determine the oxidation reactivity of the slags. The experimental variables included temperature, the ferric/ferrous ratio of slag, and other slag properties such as the FeO/SiO2 ratio and the MgO and NiO contents. The reactivity of the slag depended in a complex manner on its oxidizing power, viscosity, and interfacial tension. The slag composition for the greatest reactivity was determined to be Fe3+/Fe2+ = 0.3, Fe/SiO2 = 1.3, and % MgO = 2. This slag, however, caused substantial foaming. Increasing the MgO content to 10% or replacing it by 5% MgO + 8% NiO eliminated at a slight decrease in reactivity. The implications of the findings from this work in the bath smelting of nickel sulfide concentrates are discussed.

Jan 1, 1995

By Toshiki Kabutomori

In fuel cell powered automobiles, hydrogen is required to be stored in materials that have a hydrogen storage density of over 4 mass%; further, these materials should be capable of supplying hydrogen by using the waste heat from a fuel cell, which is at a temperature of 373 K, in order to match the mileage of gasoline-powered vehicles. A Ti-Cr-V alloy, which exhibits a BCC structure and forms a solid solution, is a promising candidate for onboard hydrogen storage materials. Although it has a large hydrogen storage capacity of over 3.9 mass%, the rechargeable hydrogen capacity is limited to approximately 2.6 mass%. In this study, the effects of fine pulverization of the alloy on PCT (hydrogen pressure-composition-isotherm) characteristics were investigated in order to improve the rechargeable hydrogen storage capacity of the alloy. From the PCT measurements of the finely pulverized samples of the alloy, a plateau in the absorption curve was observed to begin at a hydrogen concentration of 0.5 mass%; further, a rechargeable hydrogen storage capacity of 3.3 mass% was obtained. This was greater than that obtained from the sample that was not finely pulverized, i.e., 2.5 mass%. However, the plateau width in the desorption curve was 2.5 mass%, which was the same as that observed for the sample that was not finely pulverized. The increase in the rechargeable hydrogen capacity during absorption is attributed to the precipitation of the -hydride phase (MH~2) directly from the metal phase (phase). The precipitation of the phase (MH~0.5), which should be formed in low hydrogen concentrations, is suppressed as a result of a possible reduction in the internal defects such as dislocations, vacancies, and grain boundaries by fine pulverization and annealing of the alloy.

Jan 1, 2006

By Chris Doyle

From 1997-2000. PT INCO undertook the Fourth Line Expansion Project (FLEX) to increase annual production rates from 90-100 to 150 Mlbs Ni/year (68,000 MT Ni/yr). In 2003, PT INCO nickel production underwent a major sustainable step jump that finally exceeded the targeted rate. This paper presents the changes that led to this achievement. The focus of mining changed. Improving Ni grade was important but only if electric furnace feed met target chemistry so that on-specification slag could be produced. The intensity of diamond core drilling for exploration was dramatically upgraded, mine planning strategy was totally re- vamped and an ore chemistry quality assurance team was formed. In the processing plant, measurement systems were upgraded for better control. Teamwork between sections vastly improved. The final step jump in production occurred when the fifth hydro-electric power generator was added to the furnace grid to allow the power-starved furnaces to cruise in operation at 70+ MW. Keywords: Free cash flow, Ore Chemistry, Measure, Control, Improve

Jan 1, 2004

By Jun Lu, Min Chen, Wei-jian Su, Jian-zhong Luo, Yu-tao Lei

"In the case of treating phosphatizing wastewater containing zinc, zinc had an impact on the solution chemistry, especially on pH. Fe2(SO4)3 and CaCl2 were used as precipitators to remove phosphate from zincic phosphatizing wastewater and the optimum pH was investigated. Zinc ion had a significant effect on the optimum pH. The optimum pH ranges were 12.10(inlet concentration of 15.67mg/L, outlet concentration of 9.53mg/L), 3.04-5.50(inlet concentration of 11.97mg/L, outlet concentration of 0.44-0.26mg/L), and more than 10.72(inlet concentration of 12.24mg/L, outlet concentration of less than 0.47mg/L) under the conditions without precipitator, with Fe2(SO4)3 and with CaCl2 respectively.Introduction Phosphate coating is commonly used for protective coating of machine elements. Including oil removal by caustic washing, rust removal by acid washing, phosphatization and inactivation, the phosphatization process produces wastewater containing inorganic salt of high concentration, especially the phosphate, beyond the environmental standards and polluting environment seriously. What’s more, the wastewater from zincic phosphatizing technology also contains another pollutant, zinc. At present, Chemical Precipitation (CP) and Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) are two of most common technologies of phosphate removal. BNR, such as A/O, A2/O and UCT technology, is suited for wastewater containing organ phosphorus of low concentration and CP for wastewater with phosphate of high concentration [1]. Researches on CP treating wastewater containing phosphate of high concentration, mainly focus on adding quantity of precipitators[2-5] and coagulants[2-4] and the choice of technologies[3-9]."

Jan 1, 2008

By D. E. Larson

The U. S. Bureau of Mines has developed a image analysis methodology to correlate the energy consumed during the grinding of an ore to the mineral liberation achieved. Energy consumption values are obtained using a laboratory-scale ball mill equipped with a torque sensor, and an automated image analyzer is used to determine the liberation present in ground products. By combining liberation information with energy consumption data an appraisal can be made of the energy required to liberate the mineral(s) of interest. Results of tests performed on a complex sulfide material determined the effects of grind duration on the liberation achieved and the energy efficiency.

Jan 1, 1995

By Liangying Wen, Feng Xia, Chenguang Bai

"The situation of the Ti-V-Magnetite samples reduced with microwave has been investigated in laboratory. Firstly, the paper focuses on the heating behaviors of vanadium-titanium magnetite and characteristics of carbothermic reduction of V-Ti-magnetite in the microwave field. The effect of concentrate's size, quality on heating behaviors and reduction processes were researched. Results show that microwave heating may be a new heating resource replace of carbonic combustion reaction in reducing reaction. When the allocation of carbon is (16.7-30)%, carbothermic reduction of V-Ti-magnetite in the microwave field can proceed; with the increasing of carbon mixed, the metallization rate increases; and Fe, V can be reduced from their oxides in the microwave field; Titanic low oxide can be reduced from TiO2.1. IntroductionThe resource of Ti-V-Magnetite is abundant in the western area of Panzhihua in China, so far a mineral deposit of 4.64 billion tons have been proved up, it contains 14.75 million tons of V2O S which accounted for 87% of the vanadium and 5.93 hundred million tons of TiO2 accounted for 94% of the titanium resource respectively in China. The previous study proved that the major composition of mineral of the Ti-V-magnetite are Ti-magnetite, limonite, iron spinel, magnesium spinel etc, and the main elements of the Ti-V-magnetite in this area are Fe, Ti, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Ga, Sc etc[1] Due to the restrict of the BF-BOF process technical, during the smelting of the iron, the level of extracting the vanadium, titanium as well as other metal elements is limited. This results serious wasting of resources. To develop a new reduction process of Ti-V-magnetite is on the agenda, the microwave assistant reduction could meets this need, based on its characteristic of easy controlling of heating rate. To make use of the microwave energy to substitute the released heat sources of carbon combustion with air, use the solid phase state reduction at a relative lower temperature, make the beneficial element in Ti-V-magnetite transferred into the metal phase, then separated from the impurity. It is well worth to point out that once the microwave based reduction method has its industrial scale, it will take an outstanding position by its less release of carbon dioxide. This new environment-friendly process will play a vital role in the development of social industry and economy."

Jan 1, 2008

By Marion Dattilo

The search for an improved anode for the electrowinning of lead from fluosi1icic acid medium has led the U.S. Bureau of Mines to investigate composites. Polymer bonded metal oxide powders which may contain catalyst additions were prepared by pressing. These composites display an improved activity toward the oxygen evolution reaction over electrodeposited lead dioxide on titanium, carbon, and nickel substrates. These composite electrodes contain 5 to 10 wt. " binding polymer, with the balance being metal oxides. Lowered anodic potentials achieved using the compnsite anodes resulted in lower levels of lead dioxide deposition during electrowinning.

Jan 1, 1995

By B. Wasmund, K. Adham, K. O'Keefe, C. Lee

"Metal chlorides (e.g. iron and nickel) can be pyrohydrolysed at elevated temperatures to yield an HCl rich off-gas and a metal oxide product. Typically, the high energy requirement for pyrohydrolysis is provided by the combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel with air. Here, it is demonstrated that the use of oxygen-enriched combustion can result in lower fuel requirements and higher HCl concentrations. In addition, the oxygen enrichment can result in a smaller volume of off-gas and thus, smaller and less expensive process equipment. This new concept can be applied to both the spray roaster (SR) and the fluidized bed reactor (FBR). Similar to the aircombustion case, the oxygen-enriched process can use a direct contact venturi scrubber, to recover energy from the roaster off gas, but at a higher efficiency. The new process also uses an absorption tower for capturing HCl from the roaster off-gas, but generates a stronger HCl solution than is possible with pyrohydrolysis in air.BackgroundIn recent years, the metallurgical industry has become increasingly involved with developing methods for extracting metals, upgrading products or cleaning metallic products by using hydrochloric acid. These applications of chloride metallurgy often result in metal chloride solutions, which should be processed to regenerate HCl for reuse, and to recover the metal value as a product or by-product oxide [2, 3, 4].The pyrohydrolysis of metal chloride solutions has been done in two types of air roasters: spray and fluidized bed. The existing roasters burn a hydrocarbon fuel in air, to provide the required energy for evaporating the feed solution and to provide an elevated temperature for the chloride pyrohydrolysis to occur, according to the following reactions:"

Jan 1, 2011

By Kenneth C. Mills

Interfacial phenomena can have a dramatic effect on the separation of phases. Furthermore, since they involve surface-active materials, concentrations at ppm levels are enough to cause dramatic effects on separation processes. The effects of (i) emulsification, (ii) contact angle and wettability and (iii) Marangoni flows on phase separation are reviewed.

Jan 1, 1999

By Robert D. Pehlke

"Current continuous casting processes are going through a rapid evolution of advances and new developments. At the same time, intense efforts are being directed to the development of radical new technologies such as continuous casting of thin slabs and strip steel.Traditionally, the casting processes for steel have been anticipated by the development and implementation of processes in the non-ferrous industry. This trend is reviewed and what it may portend for steel is described.IntroductionThe continuous casting of steel has been a widely adopted process in the production of steel. The concepts for this processing go back into the early and mid 1800's; however, commerical development was delayed for a variety of reasons until the mid twentieth century.Beginning in the early 1960's, adoption of continuous casting was initiated and continues at this point in time to be accelerated. In Japan, more than 90% of the steel produced is continuously cast (1). More than 50% of the steel produced in the United States is continuously cast and this fraction continues to rise (2). Numerous examples can be cited of installations costing well over $200,000,000 which have provided a payoff in less than a year and a half. As this process has continued to be applied and its technology to increase, computer control systems have been installed. In particular, in the larger plants producing slabs, sophisticated computer systems involving the integration and networking of mini-computers, micro-computers, and mainframe including back-up systems at all levels are being utilized. Pehlke (3), and Harabuchi and Pehlke (4) have described the structure of these systems."

Jan 1, 1988

By S. Moussa

The formation of boron-doped nickel aluminides Ni3AI, (76 at. % Ni) from elemental powders by reaction synthesis using reactive sintering was studied. The process involves the mixing of elemental powders of nickel and aluminium with various wt % of boron up to 1 wt % boron. Nickel and Aluminium powders were mixed in the correct proportion to form the intended boron-doped nickel aluminide intermetallic. XRD, SEMI EDS, Image analysis and Archimedes principle; were used to study the effect of Boron addition on the final microstructure, bulk density, average grain size of as reactively-sintered nickel aluminides (boron-doped), compared with no boron addition. The results showed that at greater boron content than 0.3 wt %, a two-phase non-equilibrium microstructure of consisting of NiAI phase in NiJAI matrix was formed that have been primarily retained even after heat treatment for 5 hours at 1000 °C. Boron was present in solid-solution within both the NiAI and the Ni3AI (in greater amounts) phases.

Jan 1, 2001

By Joseph Hamuyuni, Pekka Taskinen

We present experimental results for the liquidus in the system Cu2O - CaO -Al2O3 at 1250 oC. In this study, we quantified the liquidus by the equilibration/quench/analysis technique, with Cu2O, Al2O3, and CaO as primary materials exclusively. Experiments were conducted in air at an at oxygen pressure (p) = 21.3 kPa). Equilibrated specimens were quenched in brine solution of 10 wt% NaCl. We then quantified the liquid chemical compositions by means of Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and Electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA). This study reveals inconsistences in liquidus surface of the present ternary diagram of the system here in mentioned. Differences of up to 10 wt % compositions of the species have been observed.

Jan 1, 2015

By José R. de Tenorio

The aim of the present work was to investigate the reduction process of MnO~FeO-Si02 slags by carbon-saturated liquid iron. The effect of the initial Mn content in the bath was explored. The initial Mn content was in the range of 0 up to 40 wt. %. The MnO content in the slag was kept constant at 40 wt. %. Tests were performed in laboratory apparatus. Samples of slags and bath were taken. In the first 5 minutes, it was observed a very strong reduction of FeO. This first step promoted a MnO-Si02 enrichment of the slag and a formation of CO bubbles, which increases the slag level. The increase ofMn content decreases the MnO reduction rate.

Jan 1, 1996

By Tiejun Chun, Jian Pan, Deqing Zhu, Vinicius Mendes

"Fine manganese fines are characterized by large amount and low price compared to lump manganese ores. However, fine manganese must be agglomerated as EAF (electric arc furnace) feed. In this paper, high quality fired pellets were produced by simulating grate-kiln process to supply the feed for EAF from some imported manganese ore fines containing high combined water. Manganese ore fines assaying 44.47wt%Mn, 5.89wt%Fe, 12.09%LOI and with 72.7wt% ranging between 0.5mm and 8mm, are pretreated up to the particle size of 84.7wt% passing 0.074mm by HPGR (high press grinding roller) twice in open circuit. The finely ground manganese fines were mixed with 1.2wt% bentonite, balled at 15% moisture for 7min in disc pelletizer. The drop numbers, compressive strength and thermal shock temperature of green balls reach 11 times/0.5m, 11 N/pellet and 360oC, respectively. After the green balls drying in the oven, the dry pellets were preheated at 1050oC for 12 min and then fired at 1300oC for 12 min in electric tube furnace. The compressive strength of fired pellets reaches 2621 N/pellet. Therefore, these pellets are high quality burden for blast furnace or EAF due to high mechanical strength and high Mn grade of 49.11wt% and low detrimental elements.IntroductionManganese, mainly using as deoxidizing agent, desulfurization agent and alloying elements, is widely used in the steel company. With the rapid development of iron and steel industry in China, domestic manganese ores cannot meet the requirement, resulting large quantities manganese ores import to China [1-4]. Compared to lump manganese ores, fine manganese ores containing high combined water are characterized by large amount and low price. However, they must be agglomerated as EAF (electric arc furnace) feed. There are three ways to agglomerate the manganese fine ores, sintering, briquetting and pelletizing [5-6]. Compared to the other two methods, pelletizing technology possesses the following superiorities, such as uniform size distribution of product, stabilizing chemical composition of product and lower energy consumption in producing. Therefore, pelletizing is a superior way to treat the fine manganese ores [7]. The systematic research of producing manganese oxide pellets by fine manganese ores containing high combined water was studied in this paper."

Jan 1, 2011

By Katsumi Ogi, Hiroto Uchida, Masamitsu Sato, Atsushi Itsuki

"(BTMSE)Ag(hfac) (BTMSE = trans-bis(trimethylsilyl)ethene) was chosen as a suitable precursor for the XeCl laser (308nm) MOCVD of Ag. Iso-propanol solution of (BTMSE)Ag(hfac) was used as a liquid source for the liquid delivery method, high deposition rate 9nm/min at substrate temperatures of 100°C and 120°C were obtained at the vaporizer temperature of 90°C. This deposition rate is three times faster than by conventional bubbling method and life of the source and reproducibility of the deposition were also improved. Electric resistivities of the laser deposited film shows significantly low resistivity of 10-6Q-cm compared to 1 o-3Q-cm of thermal MOCVD film. These results indicates that the laser MOCVD is one of the effective method for the preparation of the high quality silver film.IntroductionSilver films are a potentially important metallization material in electronic and photonic devises due to their lowest resistivity (1.6µ0-cm) among the metals, high optical reflectance and chemical stability. The MOCVD technique has advantages to sputtering or evaporation in the point of conformal growth and better coverage on sharp steps and narrow gaps[l-2]. For MOCVD application, silver precursors must have sufficient vapor pressure without decomposition at their evaporation temperature. To achieve stable precursor gas supply, liquid delivery of precursor material is promising[3-4] especially for materials that have not enough heat stability and high vapor pressure like silver complexes[S-10]. Several new silver complexes for MOCVD and UV irradiation effect to their MOCVD silver film quality were reported by same authors[5]. In this paper new solvent system for liquid delivery system of silver MOCVD were investigated to suite XeCl(308nm) laser MOCVD application."

Jan 1, 1998