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By Frederic Benard

THE treatment of Balbach-Thum slimes at Copper Cliff by the Ontario Refining Co, is of interest because it differs considerably from methods usually employed for the recovery of fine gold from parting-plant slimes. Owing to the comparatively high percentages of palladium and platinum, wet methods are used to remove the greater proportion of these metals before electrolytic refining in the Wohlwill cells. THE PLANT The platinum-metals department, Wohlwill room, and gold-melting room extend along the north side of the silver refinery and are separated from the parting plant by a glass partition (Figs. 1 and 2). The platinum-metals department resembles a laboratory built on a large scale, with the various pieces of equipment laid out on terraces to facilitate handling. . Because of the corrosive nature of the solutions, chemical stoneware is used throughout. Elevation of acids is accomplished by means of Mariotte bottles. On the top level are three steam-jacketed stoneware kettles of 50-gal. capacity, also a packed tower. One kettle is used for digesting the slimes while the remaining kettles are used for precipitating the gold. The dissolver is equipped with a treated concrete hood, which is connected to the flue system. Gases are drawn off through the packed tower by means of a 6-in. stoneware exhaust fan. A 15 per cent solution of sodium carbonate is continually circulated through the tower. On the intermediate level are two suction filters, one for removing silver chloride and the other for the gold sand. The filter medium consists of an asbestos pad covered with a filter paper on which is a layer of twill. On the bottom level are two rectangular cementation tanks, 24 by 48 by 24 in. deep, and a suction filter used for removing the platinum-metal concentrates. The circulating pump for the packed tower is also here. Suction is provided by a vacuum pump having a capacity of 8 cu. ft. at 20-in. vacuum.

Jan 1, 1938

By R. F. Evans, J. M. Avert

Much has been written of the glamour of magnesium from sea water, the Aladdin-like creation of a huge magnesium plant in the Nevada desert using cheap hydroelectric power from Boulder Dam; the marvels of the Hansgirg process for the electrothermal reduction of magnesium oxide by carbon, and the ferrosilicon process for producing magnesium from dolomite. This is the story of the production of magnesium by the electrolytic process, using steam-electric power supplied by a public utility, in a plant at Painesville, Ohio, 30 miles east of Cleveland on the shore of Lake Erie. The story is not without interest, since it involves several unique developments that provide the answer to a question frequently asked: How is it possible to produce magnesium metal economically at such a location as Painesville, Ohio? Basically, the answer lies in making use of facilities already in existence for the production of soda ash, which makes it possible to manufacture magnesium chloride, the principal raw material, cheaply enough to offset the high cost of electric power. To this is coupled the successful conversion of by-product chlorine into a product required for the war program. The source of magnesium for this opera- tion is the enormous surface deposit of high-grade dolomite in the region south of Toledo, within reasonable freight haul of Painesville. This same geological stratum underlies the Painesville plant, but unfortunately at a depth of about 3000 ft.— apparently too great a depth to permit underground mining to compete with the delivered cost of rock from surface quarries in other areas. The cost of dolomite obviously is an important factor, since the rock contains only some 12 per cent magnesium (20 per cent MgO) so that one dollar on the cost of stone means more than $8 in terms of its magnesium content, and more than that in terms of recoverable magnesium metal. Production of Magnesia from Dolomite In the summer of 1941, the Diamond Alkali Co. was well along with construction of a plant intended for the commercial production of refractory and other grades of magnesia from dolomite. The process to be used was designed to make maximum economic advantage of existing plant and operations by tying the production of magnesia in with the manufacture of soda ash in such a way as to make use of the lime [CaO)., value of calcined dolomite. The process finally adopted after a lengthy research and development program has much in common with the old Clerc-Nihoul process, but includes certain innovations found to be necessary or advantageous. Essentially, the process is based upon the following series of reactions:

Jan 1, 1949

By G. W. Nabor, M. Mortada

The effects of anisotropic or directional permeability on the areal sweep efficiency and the flow capacity are examined. The paper points out the importance of taking directional permeability into consideration in planning a flood. It analyzes the two-dimensional flow pattern associated with the skewed line drive for a unit mobility ratio. The direct and staggered line drives are treated as special cases of the skewed line drive. Analytical expressions are developed for the areal sweep efficiency at breakthrough and the flow capacity. They are related to the spacing between like wells, the distance between a row of injectors and the nearest row of producers, and the degree of skewness of the line drive. The latter quantity is defined such that it is equal to zero for the direct line drive and equals one-half for the staggered line drive. The areal sweep efficiency and the flow capacity depend also on the orientation of the flood pattern with respect to the principal axis of anisotropy. The paper provides a simple method for determining the areal sweep efficiency and the flow capacity for a formation in which the permeability in the bedding plane is anisotropic. INTRODUCTION Directional or anisotropic permeability is manifested by the ability of the formation to conduct fluids more readily along certain preferred directions. This situation occurs in many producing formationsl-4 and is usually attributed to depositional features in which the sand grains are oriented in a preferred direction. In some cases it results from the formation of a major and a minor fracture system. 4 Directional permeability should be taken into account in many phases of the production and exploration activities. Recognizing its existence in the formation of interest and planning accordingly can lead to increased recovery and substantial savings. For instance, the areal sweep efficiency in a water flood depends to a great extent on the orientation of the flood pattern with respect to the principal axis of permeability. Anisotropic5 permeability is specified by the directions of its three principal axes and the permeability along each axis. The principal axes of permeability are mutually perpendicular. This paper deals with the areal sweep efficiency at breakthrough and the flow capacity for formations with aniscltropic permeability. The flood pattern considered consists of alternate rows of injecting and producing wells. The rows of wells are parallel and form a developed, skewed line drive which is illustrated in Fig. 1. The staggered and direct line drives are treated as special cases of the skewed line drive. PRELLMINARY CONSIDERATIONS The formations considered in this paper are assumed to be of uniform thickness and porosity. The permeability is uniformly anisotropic, with each principal axis of permeability maintaining

By R. J. Teitel

FOUR or five years ago an investigation was initiated to study and develop basic information on llquid metal fuels for future power nuclear reactors. The objective was to find fluid forms of uranium (solutions or dispersions) in low melting alloys. A summary of the different fuels was presented in a recent article by Teitel, Gurinsky, and Bryner.' The combination of uranium and bismuth, with its low thermal neutron cross section and low melting point, is of basic interest to the development of these fuels. Most of the previous effort on the U-Bi phase diagram was done under security regulation. Ahmann and Baldwin' reported their findings on the U-Bi system in 1945. Their results indicated that the phase diagram had at least two compounds and possibly one more. UBi, and UBi were established by chemical analyses of residues after high temperature centrifugation of alloys. UBi, decomposed peritectically at1980°C and there were signs of another reaction above that. UBi melted at a very high temperature, and there were also signs of a monotectic at high temperatures in high uranium alloys. The solubility of uranium in liquid bismuth has received attention by three groups of authors: Bareis,X ayes and Gordon,' and Ahmann and Baldwin.' The latest and most widely accepted data is that of Bareis, and it is included in Fig. 1 along with new data at higher temperatures. Brewer et al." and Ferro"'' have used X-ray diffraction to determine the number and crystal structure of the compounds. Brewer identified the structure of UBi to be a simple NaCl cubic structure having a cell edge of 6.364A. The density of the compound was calculated to be 11.52 g per cu cm. Two other unindexed patterns were presented as possibly belonging to two other compounds. Ferro agreed with Brewer on the crystal structure of UBi and identified the structure of UBi, and U,Bi,. The intermetallic compound UBi, has a tetragonal cell with a = 4.445A and c = 8.908A. The density of the compound was determined and the number of atoms per cell (six atoms) was calculated. The X-ray density reported was 12.35 g per cu cm. The compound UsBir was treated in a similar way and it was reported to have a cubic structure 9.35A on an edge and to contain 28 atoms per cell. The density was given as 12.59 g per cu cm. Teitel reported that there was a compound UaBi, and no UBi, compound. (The difference in the compositions is 3.3 pct U.) This conclusion was based upon the extrapolation of some 20 tie lines in the

Jan 1, 1958

By N. Van Wingen, Norris Johnston

Laboratory flood pot testing of California sands has progressed to a considerable extent in the past 18 months. Flood evaluations have been carried out on over 200 large core samples. Many of these were heavy oil sands of high permeability and completely unconsolidated in nature. The oil frequently formed a bank, though some of the oil was recovered in the subordinate phase of the flood, by viscous drag. Flood pot recoveries as high as 1400 bbl/acre ft have been recorded. Reservoir analysis suggests a conformance factor of 0.4 to reduce laboratory recovery to probable field practice. Oils with viscosities up to 1800 cp have been successfully handled in flood pot evaluations. The shallow, loose sands are not well adapted to the application of- high pressures to offset the high viscosities. INTRODUCTION Secondary recovery may be said to have started 60 years ago when accidental floods occurred in the Bradford sand in Pennsylvania. About 1921 artificially conducted water drives came into extensive use and since that time the great Bradford field has been almost completely subjected to water flooding. During the last 30 years, most of the known medium and deeper production in California has been discovered and is being exploited by primary recovery methods supplemented in some instances by high pressure gas injection. The California area is just beginning to feel the need for secondary recovery in view of an unprecedented market demand and the rapidly rising cost of new pool discoveries. With the presently recognized desirability of secondary recovery in California, there must also be appreciated a number of serious differences between the water flooding problems here as compared to the territory east of the Rockies. California sands are generally thicker, and are frequently soft and argillaceous. The oils are often heavier and asphaltic. Much of the oil is below 15°API, occurs at shallow depth, is cool and free from appreciable dissolved gas, which results in relatively high reservoir oil viscosity. Secondary recovery is particularly beneficial where primary recovery has been poor and where no natural water drive exists. These conditions apply particularly to the heavy, shallow, clean production from soft, often argillaceous California sands so abundantly found at depths less than 1500 feet. Often, too, there is a totally insufficient supply of water of satisfactory quality to inject at a reasonable cost. Also, the crude oils are priced far below the premium Bradford crude. Although these and a number of minor problems beset the operator desirous of starting secondary recovery, great progress has been made in the past few years in finding how to adapt previous Mid-Continent and Eastern experience to water flooding in California. There are about nine projects for subsurface injection of water which can be said to classify as secondary recovery operations. Subsurface water disposal would so classify when the sand receiving the water is a nearby oil producer, as is often the case. When water is injected subsurface into a barren sand, the operation does not classify as secondary recovery. Several of the most active operators avail themselves extensively of preliminary engineering and laboratory work to guide their decisions, while others enter small scale flooding operations directly in the field. It is the laboratory work pertinent to several of the California secondary recovery projects that this paper discusses. PURPOSES OF LABORATORY FLOODING TESTS Experience in areas where water flood operations have been carried out has indicated that careful engineering planning is an important requisite for subsequent economically successful field operation. Floods that fail are more frequently those where operations were instigated without a prior engineering investigation to determine the effectiveness of the injection fluid as an oil displacing medium. Laboratory data are essential in the evaluation of an oil property for secondary recovery possibilities. Success or failure of secondary operations can under certain special circumstances be determined directly by cores and their subsequent routine analysis. This is particularly the case where flushing of the cores in the course of coring is negligible and where the results of the analysis can be compared with existing secondary recovery operations. Where these conditions cannot be' fulfilled, the application of core analysis is more limited. In such event, the results obtained by water flooding core samples in the laboratory have been found to be of prime importance. Cores may be flooded "raw" as taken from the well or in the event flushing and depletion of the cores in the process of drilling are major factors the fluid content may be artificially restored prior to the flooding. Laboratory studies should also be made to determine the suitability of the water selected for injection. Thus interaction between injected and formation water may cause precipitates to be formed which may plug the sand. Even more important, especially to California operations, is the possibility of the hydration of formation clays by the injection water. The aims of flood pot and associated tests are basically to determine the residual oil saturation after flood, the water-oil throughput ratio and to establish whether an oil bank is formed. Additional information which can be obtained from flood pot tests pertains to the pressure differential required to effect displacement, the relative permeability to oil in the oil bank and the relative permeability to water in the watered out region behind the bank.

Jan 1, 1953

Jan 1, 1919

Jan 1, 1947

By A. G. Metcalfe

Observations at temperature are used to investigate the phase changes in alloys containing more than 50 pct Co and above 1000°C. The nonsuppressible transformations in cobalt above 1120°C and in the intermetallic compound Co2Cr3 are studied. The liquidus and solidus surfaces are determined. Insufficient data is obtained to complete the constitution diagram. A REVIEW of some of the earlier work on cobalt' and on the binary systems with chromium2-4 and with molybdenum,5 showed that one likely source of differences might be attributed to the presence of phases at high temperatures which could not be retained by quenching. Consequently, the decision was made that only methods of examination at temperature should be used in this work. The correctness of this decision was confirmed during the course of the work by the investigation of the martensitic nature of the transformation in cobalt- and by the decomposition of the high temperature form of the phase Co2Cr3 on quenching.' The use of high temperature methods, including dilatometry and thermal etching led to the postula-tion of the existence of a high temperature form of cobalt with a probable hexagonal close-packed structure, transforming from cubic cobalt over a range of temperature from 1119° to 1145°C.8 One of the important pieces of evidence for this transformation was that it was observed in alloys with chromium and molybdenum which were nonmagnetic at this temperature so that confusion with magnetostriction effects was impossible. These results were not reported in this earlier paper, so that the data given here supply further evidence for the existence of a second allotropic transformation in cobalt. High temperature observations are necessarily much slower in producing results than the examination of quenched specimens at room temperature by conventional means such as X-ray diffraction or microexamination. The investigation has only covered a limited part of the field, as a result, extending from the liquidus down to about 1050°C and from the cobalt corner up to 50 pct alloying elements. The differences between the various reported diagrams for the constitution of the Co-Mo and Co-Cr systems have already been mentioned. The best available diagram in the first system is due to Sykes and Graff' which is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 shows the latest Co-Cr diagram due to Elsea, Westerman, and Manning.' A comparison reveals that these are incompatible because of the disagreement with regard to the number of allotropes of cobalt. Elsea, Westerman and Manning took their liquidus and solidus curves from Wever and Haschimoto.2 The temperature horizontal in the two-phase field beneath the eutectic was placed 35" to 39°C higher than in earlier work2,4 with a new interpretation of the nature of this transformation. This interpretation also required a peritectic horizontal at about 1470°C, which has been confirmed here for an alloy with 53 pct Cr. No investigation had been made of the ternary system until after this work had been terminated, when a section at 1200°C was published." In this work a ternary compound was found by the X-ray diffraction examination of quenched alloys. This compound contained less than 50 pct Co, and was thus outside the field investigated here. However, some reactions were found dilatometrically which could not be fitted on the diagram and are now believed

Jan 1, 1954

By L. C. Kern

This paper presents information on the use of a new propping agent (malleable aluminum particles) which has been used successfully for producing high-conductivity fractures. The conductivity of a packed fracture depends on the width of the fracture as well as the permeability of the propping material. It is significant that the flow capacity of a propped crack is often increased many fold by propping the crack with a sparse distribution of particles. However, the flow capacity of a sparsely propped crack can be limited by two phenomena: (I) crushing of the propping particles, and (2) embedment of the propping particles in the formation walls. Malleable aluminum particles exhibit interesting properties which tend to overcome these limitations. As high loads are applied to the particles they will deform slightly, rather than shattering. The deformation results in a greater bearing area against the formation wall. This reduces the stress on the particle and reduces particle penetration into the formation. The behavior of aluminum particles under load and the bearing capacities of serveral formation rocks have been measured in the laboratory. By properly using these data, as explained in this paper, the flow capacities of aluminum-propped cracks can be calculated for a variety of conditions. Aluminum particles have been used successfully in the field to prop fractures. Where high-conductivity fractures were needed, the aluminum-propped fractures have given greater well stimulation than could have been expected for conventional fracturing processes. INTRODUCTION The purpose of a hydraulic fracture treatment is to create a conductive channel from the wellbore out into the oil or gas formation. The word conductive is emphasized because we believe that the fracture conductivity (flow capacity) is one of the most important factors influencing fracturing results. Previous papers have pointed out the additional well stimulation that can sometimes be achieved by increasing fracture conductivity. Several years ago, we investigated in some detail the effect of fracture conductivity on productivity increases to be expeced from vertical fractures. Both electrical analog and theoretical studies of unsteady-state flow behavior were made. A discussion of the electrical analog equipment and some of the results of the study were given in a previous paper' by Dyes, Kemp and Caudle. Further details were given recently by McGuire and Sikora.5 Fig. 1 shows the remarkable influence of relative fracture flow capacity and length on well stimulation. Briefly, the study indicates the following. 1. High-permeability formations require high-conductivity cracks for best results. 2. The longer the crack, the higher the fracture conductivity required for best results. 3. If the conductivity of the crack is very large compared to the formation (i.e., flow is not being limited by crack conductivity), then the longer the fracture, the better will be the results. Judging from recently published articles,1,314 there is current interest in methods for obtaining high fracture conductivities. Hence, we would like to present in this paper a discussion of a new fracture propping process (use of aluminum particle) which we have used successfully to obtain highly conductive fractures. There are several factors which influence the conductivity of a propped crack. Conventional fracturing techniques frequently result in a crack completely packed with fracturing sand. For such conditions, the crack conductivity is the product of the width of the packed fracture and the permeability of the propping material. It is significant that a large increase in conductivity sometimes can be obtained by propping with particles which are distributed sparsely (less than a

By Guillermo Hileman

In March the President approved the new oil bill, .which became effective as Law No. 12161, providing among other things a contribution or tax on all producers varying from 8 to 12 per cent payable monthly. The new regulations, for chapter VI bearing on the tax feature, of this

Jan 1, 1936

By W. A. Sweet

THE furnace I am now about to describe was designed to obtain and maintain very high temperature. Knowing the cost of the gas furnace that was in successful operation here and abroad, I approached the subject with some misgivings as to my ability to attain anything like success, or even to reach a point of advancement. There seemed to be a field for a furnace of moderate cost for small mills, or where a particular heat was wanted, but the work was not enough to warrant the outlay necessary to build any gas furnace yet brought before the public. The section, Plate V, represents the furnace as I now build it for

Jan 1, 1875

By authority of the Secretary of War, and in response to frequent requests, the following suggested list of reading is issued by the War Department for the information of civilian engineers desiring to inform themselves on military subjects: These references have been selected, first, with a view to giving to engineers unfamiliar with the art of war a general survey of that sub-

Jan 1, 1916

By Guillermo Hileman

In March the President approved the new oil bill, .which became effective as Law No. 12161, providing among other things a contribution or tax on all producers varying from 8 to 12 per cent payable monthly. The new regulations, for chapter VI bearing on the tax feature, of this

Jan 1, 1936

By Major William R. King U. S. Engineer

My attention was drawn to this subject just twenty years ago this month, when I was detailed to rebuild one of the bridges in Richmond that had been burned during the evacuation. We took pos

Jan 1, 1886

Carlisle: I'm in the office of Comar Wilson in London. Comar is going to be good enough to talk about some of the very interesting things that have happened to him during a full, active, exciting life. Let's start in and find out where you were born, where you went to school, etc. Wilson: My parents lived in the heart of the Lake District in Cumberland, England. My father had about a half-interest in a small lead mine which he ran. He was quite non-technical, but he ran it.

Jan 4, 1965

Jan 1, 1965

By N. P. Weymont

A first step towards using advanced control and optimization techniques at Kaiser Aluminum's Baton Rouge Plant has been the decision to utilize digital process control equipment exclusively throughout the plant. This paper describes the philosophy and strategy which has been used to successfully implement this program for both existing plant facilities and plant expansions. Some of the problems that have been encountered include system selection, vendor support, soft- ware development, system security and system reliability. How these problems arose, were overcome and how they can be prevented in future projects is discussed. A key element of the success has been the organization of the technical, engineering and maintenance efforts and also training has been found to be extremely important. Finally, the effect of these experiences upon present thinking is discussed.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. H. Loux

THIS paper deals primarily, with the advantages realized from the adoption of methods more suitable than those previously used. The improvements noted include: (1) modification of practice in shrinkage stoping, (2) use of sublevel caving over grizzlies, (3) improved haulage and loading, (4) use of contract wages wherever possible. The Washington mine is on Jonestown Hill, one mile south of Oxford, in northwestern New Jersey. It is producing 16,000 tons of concentrates a month, which are being shipped to the Alan Wood Steel Company's furnaces at Swedeland, Pennsylvania.

Jan 1, 1933

By R. W. Raymond

I desire to call the attention of members of the Institute to a new method of plotting and determining faults in mineral deposits, suggested by Prof. Hanns Hoefer, lately of the Mining School of Przi-

Jan 1, 1882