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By Denise Freire Duarte

Desclassificações de corridas por elementos fora da faixa de especificação do tipo do aço que está sendo produzido impactam negativamente nos indicadores da empresa. É esforço contínuo os projetos de melhoria e ações implantadas para a redução dessas desclassificações. Quando uma corrida é desclassificada, há um custo para refazer a corrida perdida, ocorre um processo de reclassificação que fica em estoque aguardando aplicação, perde-se tempo e pontualidade na produção entre outros impactos. Portanto identificar a causa raiz do problema e atuar em ações efetivas e bem implantadas são as chaves para a resolução do problema e melhoramento do processo. O fósforo é um elemento que deve ser controlado pois é item de norma para atendimento às especificações pois impactam na fragilização do material. Este trabalho mostra a análise realizada na busca da causa raiz das ocorrências das desclassificações de fósforo.

Oct 30, 2017

By Gustavo Bragioni Vieira

O tema excesso de peso em veículos de carga está se tornando cada vez mais comum nos principais fóruns logísticos entre as usinas siderúrgicas embarcadoras de grandes volumes no Brasil. O aumento das autuações em todo território nacional e a consequente aplicação de multas, está gerando custos extras aos embarcadores e problemas junto ao Ministério Público pelos danos causados as estradas. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar as melhorias propostas e obtidas no processo de expedição de produtos acabados da empresa Vallourec Soluções Tubulares, no que tange a redução de multas recebidas por excesso de peso no eixo dos veículos que realizam o escoamento dos produtos acabados, aplicando ações simples de padronização, controle e redefinição de fluxos. A empresa optou por contratar uma consultoria especializada no assunto, gerando um diagnóstico dos principais problemas e, através da criação de um Grupo de Melhoria Continua (GMC), baseado nos conceitos do PDCA, organizou e implantou as principais ações de bloqueio às não conformidades detectadas.

Oct 30, 2017

By Mateus Alves Segundo Paulino

No estudo de escórias de fornos elétricos a arco (FEA), o sistema CaO-SiO2-MgOFeO se destaca em importância quando os temas são a proteção aos refratários básicos e a produção de ‘escória espumante’. A importância da obtenção da escória espumante no FEA reside no fato reconhecido de que ela traz diversas vantagens para a produção de aço, tais como: economia considerável de energia elétrica, proteção de painéis, redução de ruído, redução no consumo de eletrodos, etc. Levando-se em conta que diversos fatores ligados à composição química são de grande importância na produção e estabilidade de bolhas de CO, neste trabalho diferentes diagramas de fase são produzidos como ferramentas para a previsão da composição das escórias mais favoráveis para a formação da espuma. São consideradas na investigação algumas características relevantes encontradas no FEA tais como: basicidade da escória, temperatura de 1.600°C e teores de FeO e MgO variáveis (que refletem os diversos níveis de oxidação do banho).

Jul 30, 2018

By Jônatas Targino Araujo

As fibras de bambu são ricas em celulose, hemicelulose e lignina. Devido ás suas ótimas propriedades mecânicas conforme solicitação percebeu a abundância de celulose e sua respectiva orientação nas regiões dos entrenós, indicando elevado teor de celulose. Nosso trabalho tem o objetivo de extrair nanocelulose dessa região do bambu, desenvolvendo uma metodologia eficiente na sua produção. As nanopartículas foram obtidas por hidrólise ácida a 64% após lavagem com NaOH e branqueamento com H2O2 e NaOH. As caracterizações das amostras foram feitas com TG, DTG, IFTR e tamanho de partícula por Potencial Zeta. Foram observados dois eventos na análise DTG: um em 54°C correspondente a perca de água e em 330 °C correspondente a degradação da celulose. Os tamanhos das partículas em Potencial Zeta obtiveram picos em 257,1 nm (79,6%) e 67,9 nm (15,6%).

Oct 30, 2017

By Helênio Resende Silva Júnior

PT. Krakatau-POSCO coke making plant, located in Cilegon, Indonesia, is the results of the know-how and experience of Paul Wurth (PW) in coke making field. The plant has a capacity of 1,321,000 t/y of gross coke achieved by two coke oven batteries with 42 top charging Paul Wurth “Jumbo” ovens each. PW “Jumbo” oven with a useful volume of 78,92 m3 allows decreasing drastically the number of pushing/charging operation per day with a consequent reduction of the diffuse emissions. Gas treatment plant with a capacity of 88000 Nm3/h has been designed in collaboration with DMT GmbH & Co. KG, adopting the latest technologies with specific design know-how. PT. POSCO-Krakatau plant has been successfully commissioned and started-up in October 2013. The present paper will highlight the main technology features applied in PT. Krakatau-POSCO project for both coke oven and gas treatment plants.

Aug 17, 2017

By Laís Couto dos Santos

A corrosão é definida como um conjunto de fenômenos de deterioração progressiva dos materiais em consequência de reações eletroquímicas. Em determinadas instalações metálicas, tais processos são monitorados através de cupons de perda de massa. Quando tal fenômeno se evidencia pela formação de cavidades com pouca perda uniforme, consistindo em um processo de corrosão puntiforme, ele é denominado corrosão por pites. As normas ASTM G46-94 (2005) e NACE RP0775 (2005) recomendam caracterizar a corrosão por pites através da densidade, tamanho, profundidade e taxa de corrosão por pites. Entretanto, essa é uma avaliação subjetiva e o fator humano pode ter influência significativa na obtenção dos resultados. No presente trabalho, cupons de corrosão comerciais foram expostos à corrosão em câmera de imersão no período de três meses, tendo como fluido a água potável. O objetivo principal foi avaliar a influência do fator humano nos parâmetros de corrosão puntiforme. Foi realizada uma análise comparativa dos resultados obtidos por três diferentes operadores. As alterações encontradas se mostram significativas, entretanto, tais variações não modificaram o nível de classificação dos cupons segundo as normas.

Aug 17, 2017

By Diego Cota Marinho

O processo de dissolução da alumina em condições industriais em cubas de Tecnologia VSS Soderberg de alimentações laterais em batelada é bastante complexo, pois sofre interferência de muitas variáveis de processo como: temperatura e química de banho, propriedades físico-químicas da alumina, quantidade de alumina adicionada e massa de banho disponível. Um bom controle de adição e variáveis de processo contribuirão para garantia de uma melhor eficiência de corrente, consumo de energia e redução da quantidade lama (alumina não dissolvida) formada que se deposita no fundo das cubas e irá comprometer a passagem da corrente elétrica e consequentemente reduzirá a eficiência dos fornos. Este estudo mostra as principais variáveis que influenciam no processo de dissolução, o comportamento da concentração da alumina e temperatura do banho durante os intervalos de alimentação de 2:40 e 4:00 horas, a temperatura de entrada da alumina e as condições de cavidade devido a deposição de lama no fundo das cubas.

Oct 30, 2017

By Augusto César Lacerda de Oliveira

As demandas legais para a redução de emissões na atmosfera vêm crescendo em todo mundo para todos os produtores de veículos. Para o atingimento dessas metas a montadora está buscando reduções de peso nas carrocerias de seus veículos. Reduções de espessura em carrocerias devem ser acompanhadas de um aumento de resistência para assegurar a manutenção do seu desempenho mecânico. O módulo técnico do Modelo CSN é capaz de avaliar critérios mecânicos (cargas estáticas), critérios de desempenho dinâmicos (avaliação crash test) e, também, critérios de conformabilidade. O módulo econômico recebe as informações do módulo técnico e é capaz de prever o impacto financeiro para o cliente e para a CSN, considerando fatores como margem do mix de produtos, produtividades e carteira das linhas de produção.

Aug 16, 2017

By Andrea Taurino

Innovation means implementing a new product or a product that has undergone significant improvement over time, in terms of method, form and performance. Innovation encompasses all the scientific, technological, organizational, financial and commercial steps that need to be taken to put it into operation. Innovation combined with research and development makes it possible to perfect the product with consistency over time. Taking inspiration from the bases developed by the Austrian economist Joseph A. Schumpeter back in 1911, Danieli came up with the concept of “Innovaction” – a combination of Innovation and Action, to refer to the development and advancement of various products for the steelmaking industry, including the loop laying head for wire rod.

Aug 17, 2017

By D. F. Malan, P. M. Couto

We propose a layout design for the UG2 Reef where weak geological alteration layers are present. The collapse of the Everest platinum mine in South Africa indicated that these layers substantially weaken the pillars. The popular Hedley and Grant pillar strength formula cannot be used where these alteration layers are present. Underground investigations at Everest mine and numerical modelling of the layout were conducted using the TEXAN code and a limit equilibrium model. Simulations of a collapsed area and an intact area allowed for a preliminary calibration of the model. This was subsequently used to explore modified layouts for these ground conditions. An alternative is to compartmentalize the blocks of ore using barrier pillars. The numerical modelling predicted that the barrier pillars appear to remain stable even in the case of large-scale collapses, provided their width exceeds 25 m. Main access routes into the mine can be protected by a double row of pillars at least 15 m wide to provide a safe travelling way. As a cautionary note, these conclusions are based on the model calibration and this needs to be refined in future. Calibration of the limit equilibrium model remains a challenge owing to the large number of parameters involved.

May 3, 2023

By C. O’Donova, E. Adam, L. A. Torres-Cruz

High-profile failures of tailings dams illustrate the significant safety challenge they pose. The decant pond of such facilities plays an important role in their mechanical stability. This study investigates the feasibility of using public multispectral data collected by the Sentinel-2 satellite mission to monitor the area of the decant pond. The Sentinel-2 mission has a revisit time of 5 days and the data used herein has a spatial resolution of 10 m/pixel. We considered two water-detection metrics: the normalized difference water index (NDWI) and the near-infrared (NIR) reflectance. Implementation of the method at a South African platinum tailings dam illustrates the capabilities and limitations. Public, sub-metre resolution true-colour imagery served as validation data. There is good agreement between pond area measurements based on Sentinel-2 and the validation imagery. These results suggest the feasibility of using Sentinel-2 data to supplement the monitoring of the decant pond.

Apr 2, 2022

By M. Arlandi-Rodríguez, and A. García-Berrocal, A. Alonso-Jiménez, C. Lopez-Jimeno

Spain is a major producer of dimension stone, which is one of the most important industrial sectors in the northwest of Spain. This justifies the maintenance of these industries, although the technical and environmental requirements for their continuity are increasingly demanding. The main target of this paper is to present a new methodology in order to obtain k-ratio stress values on the basis of flat jack measurements and finite element numerical back- analysis with Rocscience© RS2 software. Continuous iterations were performed to try to find a relationship between the k₀ and the measured stress in the tunnel roof and sidewalls. It focuses on technical aspects of the method for designing mine chambers in the slate industry that were previously mined by open pit methods. The size of the chambers impacts the operating cost, and the dimensioning of a correct support ensures better efficiency and safety. Correct knowledge of the k₀ therefore is critical for the design of the support. The proposed new method entails a simplification of the classical procedure for estimating the k-ratio.

Sep 1, 2022

By V. Miguel-Silva, B. C. Afonseca

Drill-hole spacing analysis (DHSA) and optimization are becoming commonplace for uncertainty assessment and management in the mining industry. However, there is no standardized DHSA workflow, and the outputs of certain methodologies are not interchangeable. We group available simulation-based DHSA methods according to their accounted uncertainty into (i) raw uncertainty, assessed by drawing realizations from synthetic data-sets with the drilling spacings to be tested; and (ii) model uncertainty, in which these synthetic data-sets are used to assess the variation between the estimated model and the (unknown) actual value. DHSA workflows available in the literature ignore the differences between both types of uncertainty. Commonly, the DHSA algorithm is chosen without a detailed analysis of its uncertainty output, which may lead to misleading results and suboptimal decisions. While available solutions are based only on assessing raw or model uncertainty, the proposed approach simultaneously analyses both and their relationship for models at different stages of the mine. The integrated analysis results deliver more information to support decision-making than available methods. Principles, practical considerations, and discussions of the advantages of the proposed integrated analysis are presented. The approach is applied to a real gold deposit to illustrate its use.

Jun 2, 2022

By X. Chen, F. An, H. Chen, Z. Wang

The bottom drainage roadway plays a crucial role in preventing coal and gas outbursts by using underground gas drainage methods. Therefore, it is essential to select the ideal position of the bottom drainage roadway. In this paper use a combination of geological data and numerical simulation to study the ideal position of the bottom drainage roadway, we taking the gas drainage of the first workface of No. 3 coal seam in the Yuxi coal mine in China as an example. The geological study showed a limestone marker layer at an average vertical distance of 14 m from the first mining face. Using this marker layer, the bottom drainage roadway could be excavated without the risk of accidentally exposing the coal seam, and less crosscutting borehole drilling from the bottom drainage roadway would be required. Based on the needs of gas control, the layout of the bottom drainage roadway was selected as an external stagger type. Combined with the numerical simulation results, when located 20 m outside of the mining workface ‘footprint’ on the horizontal projection, the bottom drainage roadway was a sufficient distance from the stress concentration area during mining of workface 1301, which facilitated roadway maintenance. Furthermore, the length of the crosscutting boreholes is also relatively short, which reduces the amount and cost of drilling. The results of this study are expected to provide a reference for the selection of an ideal position of the bottom drainage roadway in field engineering.

May 2, 2022

By L. Zhang, Y. Zhou, H. Wang, C. Mo

Fluorination of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) by NH₄HF₂ was investigated using simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and observing the morphology and phase changes using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). The results indicate that fluorination with the involvement of oxygen begins at room temperature, peaks at 178.40C, and is completed at 2000C with the formation of only (NH₄)₃FeF₆. On heating, (NH₄)₃FeF₆ gradually releases NH₄F by the formation of NH₄FeF₄ at 2590C, then (NH₄)0.18FeF₃ at 3270C, and finally FeF₃ with minor FeF₂ at 4000C due to the partial reduction of Fe (III) to Fe (II). At 5500C, FeF₃ is oxidized to FeOF/Fe₂O₃.

Dec 13, 2022

By P. Malíková, I. Osičková, R. Sousedíková, P. Rys, J. Dvořáček, S. Heviánková

Each mining project goes through the same life-cycle, from prospecting and exploration to closure and post-closure periods. This prompts the question whether the closure of a mine constitutes the end of its life-cycle or whether the decommissioned mine can be employed for some other purpose. Best-practice references indicate that there are many viable options. In our opinion, the production of service water is one such option. Laboratory research was carried out on the water from a flooded underground coal mine in Ostrava- Karviná coal district, Czech Republic, concerning the production of service water from pumped minewater. The research proved the practical feasibility of service or process water production. Given the effect of global climate change with regard to water resources, good prospects for this additional resource can be assumed since the water has to be pumped in any case for safety reasons.

Oct 1, 2022

By F. Rwere, A. Masasire, P. Dzomba, M. Mupa

Accurate determination of platinum group metals (PGMs) and gold (Au) has always proven to be a difficult task, due to their low concentrations in platiniferous ores. The most common preconcentration technique used in analysis of these metals is fire assay with a flux containing nickel or lead. This technique can be improved by using co-collectors. Here we hypothesise that Fe, Co, and Cu can be used as co-collectors to enhance separation and preconcentration of PMGs and gold by fire assay. To test this hypothesis, geological exploration samples from Siyanda Union Mine (Northam, South Africa) were analysed by an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) for PGMs (Pt, Pd, and Rh) and Au. A control sample (certified reference material AMIS 0426) was also analysed by the same technique. The PGM and Au recoveries from the control sample ranged from 83% to 105% for all three co-collectors, with relative standard deviations less than 10% for the control sample and 7% for the geological samples. The PGM and Au recoveries by Fe and Co co-collectors were modestly higher than that of the Cu-collector. These results indicate that Fe and Co are better co-collectors than Cu, presumably due to the loss of analyte when using Cu. Taken together, Fe and Co co-collectors can be viable alternatives for analysis of PGMs and gold using the fire assay method.

Jan 2, 2022

By D. He, A. Yaacoubi, A. Baçaoui, K. Boujounoui, A. Abidi, K. El Amari

The effects of utilizing recycled tailings pond water from the flotation plant at the Mining Company of Guemassa (MCG) on galena recovery and selectivity towards chalcopyrite (RPb-Cu) , sphalerite (RPb- Zn), and pyrrhotite (RPb-Fe) were studied at bench scale. The results showed that recycling the tailings pond water in the lead circuit without addition of fresh water gave a good flotation performance in terms of lead recovery (Rpb) (75%) and selectivity towards the other metals: RPb-Cu (54%), RPb-Zn (60%) and RPb-Fe(65%). This allows the water to be recycled at least four times. However, increasing the d80 from 100 μm to 160 μm currently used at the MCG plant had a negative effect on the lead flotation performance.

Nov 30, 2022

By A. Tosun

Muckpile fragmentation formed by blasting depends on the specific charge factor, the discontinuities in the rock mass, and the rock strength. Determination of the discontinuity characteristics and rock strength is a long and difficult process. These two parameters are directly associated with the rock drilling speed. Therefore, it is the drilling speed of the machine used for the blast-hole, rather than the blasthole discontinuity characteristics and rock strength parameters, that is used in the prediction of muckpile fragmentation before blasting. Primarily, it has been suggested that the muckpile fragmentation values can be correctly determined by establishing correlations between the efficiency of the loader and muck pile fragmentation, since fragmentation is directly correlated with the former parameter. Subsequently, a correlation predicting the drilling speed of the drill machine was developed according to the discontinuity characteristics of the blasting surface and the rock strength. Finally, a correlation was developed predicting muckpile fragmentation according to the specific charge factor and the drilling speed of the drill machine The data was obtained by conducting blasting tests in two different limestone quarries.

Nov 30, 2022

By Y. Chen, D. He, J. H. Potgieter

The demand for rare earth elements (REE) is increasing rapidly owing to the emergence of new cleanenergy and defense-related technologies. China’s dominates the world production of REE. In this paper, we review the ore characteristics of four typical REE deposits in China and discuss the conventional beneficiation techniques, including gravity and magnetic separation, flotation, and hydrometallurgical processing of these ores. Some of the latest laboratory findings and industrial applications, as well as the development of novel reagents for REE processing in China are presented. The REE beneficiation technologies developed and employed in China could constitute a good case study for many other emerging projects being explored around the world.

Mar 2, 2022