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By Andrew Wessman

Keywords: Recycling, Electrodeposition, Recovery, Dilute, Dissolved Metal Ions In order to facilitate the recovery of pure metals from solutions containing a mixture of dissolved metal ions, a pulsed electrodeposition method was developed. Using this method, it is possible to selectively remove metal ions from solution based upon the electrochemical potential of the particular ion desired. The use of pulsed electrodeposition rather than direct current electrodeposition creates an electrodeposited material with better morphology, increases electrical efficiency of the process, and avoids problems with short circuiting between electrodes. Using this method, it is possible to recover dissolved metal ions in a purified form in one simple step, and therefore maximizes recovery of the metal ions while obtaining them in a saleable form. This method is likely to be useful in improving the recycling process for numerous complex metal mixtures and alloys.

Jan 1, 2005

By Sasa Djokic

In developed countries, the difference between demanded and produced quantities of non-ferrous and rare metals are compensated by secondary raw materials recycling and reprocessing of by-products from both ferrous and non-ferrous extractive metallurgy. Utilization of non-ferrous and rare metals from the metallic secondary raw materials is very significant, both for recovery of the metal value and contribution to the environment protection. Similar to all non-developed countries, the extractive metallurgy in Serbia was based on available natural resources and not so strict environment protection regulations, which was either insufficient or completely absent. Today, Serbia is at the beginning of development of efficient and economical technical and technological solutions in order to ?ecologize? technogenic systems by waste materials, secondary raw materials and degraded soils regeneration (by recycling and revitalization). Several metallurgical technogenic systems in Serbia, together with secondary raw materials classification according to their potentiality for metal extraction by using the existing technologies and expected economical and ecological effects of recycling, are discussed in this paper.

Jan 1, 2005

By Anish Kumar

Keywords: Ultrasonic velocity, Poisson?s ratio, Elastic constants A new correlation has been established between two independent elastic properties, ultrasonic shear wave velocity and Poisson?s ratio, in a wide variety of isotropic solid materials, such as pure metals, ceramics, polymers and intermetallics. It has been shown for the first time that Poisson?s ratio decreases with increase in elastic moduli, E & G and ultrasonic velocities. This new correlation between two independent elastic constants may lead to the reduction in independent elastic constants for isotropic solid materials from two to one, at least for a given alloy system with different microstructural conditions.

Jan 1, 2005

By Florian Kongoli

Converters have been playing an important role in the extraction and processing of metals ever since the first type of converter was invented about 100 years ago. Historically their operation has been mainly based on the experience of talented operators rather than on strict control and optimization technologies. However, in the new realities of unavoidable necessity to increase productivity and in the conditions of diversification of primary materials from various geographical areas, improving control and optimization techniques have become indispensable. In this paper a review of the authors? previous work in terms of improving control and optimization of converter operational practices related to magnetite content and precipitation, slag and metal blows, problematic and dangerous elements such as As, Sb etc. has been described by highlighting the advantages that the new control and optimization methods and tools bring to everyday converter practices. Several examples are given and future work is underlined

Jan 1, 2005

By Carlos Frias

The lead-acid battery recycling is a major industrial activity (more than four million tonnes recycled lead per year) that generates large amounts of toxic wastes such as lead slag, mattes and acidic sludge, besides airborne emissions. This is a waste-producer industry that needs a definitive solution to avoid its negative environmental impact and getting a sustainable lead production. That is the principal target of the CLEANLEAD technology, which properly combines both hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical routes aiming to get zero-waste production, reducing the use of energy and resources in all phases of battery reprocessing, and consequently, greatly decreasing the operating cost. There will be no toxic emissions to land, water or air, and obtained products are pure lead metal or pure lead oxide, and commercial gypsum instead of waste sludge.

Jan 1, 2006

By Melissa L. Trapani

Keywords: Copper, Taphole, Flow Instability. ?Blister spitting? is a flow irregularity where the molten blister copper stream ? or part thereof ? sprays from the taphole exit rather than following a regular flow profile to the collection box. As well as being a general ?housekeeping? issue, the unpredictable nature of the flow is a threat to operator safety. Also, the aggressive flow pattern may contribute to the mechanical wear of the taphole refractory, compromising the integrity of the taphole. This paper brings together a collection of first-hand observations and reports from process personnel, and suggests some theories as to the causes of blister spitting.

Jan 1, 2005

By Jukka Tuominen

The history of making blister copper in an Outokumpu Flash Smelting Furnace dates back to the late 1960?s, when Outokumpu first piloted the Outokumpu Direct Blister (ODB) process. The first commercial scale applications have been in use at Glogow, Poland, since 1978 and at Olympic Dam, Australia, since 1988. These applications utilize special concentrates, which are low in iron, and thus the formation of slag is also low. In 1995 the same principle was applied to smelting copper matte into blister copper in industrial scale at Kennecott Utah Copper. This application, the Kennecott-Outokumpu Flash Converting process, will celebrate its 10th anniversary of commercial scale operation this year. This paper outlines the development in efficiency and flexibility of Blister Flash Smelting processes compared to other smelting and converting options. The focus is on the economical aspects i.e. on the total feasibility of both greenfield investment projects and revamping of existing smelters.

Jan 1, 2005

By Esher Hsu

Keywords: Recycling, Consumer Battery, Fee rates On November 11, 1999, all types of spent consumer batteries are proclaimed to be collected in Taiwan. Under current recycling system, all producers and importers of consumer batteries have to pay a collection/recycling fee to the Recycling Management Fund (RMF) of EPA based upon the rate approved by EPA. Collectors and recycling plants receive subsidies from RMF according to the collected and treated amounts audited by an independent auditing organization. Collected spent consumer batteries only reached 923 tons in 2002 equivalent to 10% of the total quantity sold at the same year. How to increase the collection efficiency of used batteries becomes an important issue for EPA in Taiwan. The objective of this study is to explore current recycling system of spent consumer battery in increasing collection efficiency. Results provide some suggestions to Taiwan EPA regarding recycling route, recycling system, recycling rates, and recycling subsidies.

Jan 1, 2005

By Sayavur Bakhtiyarov

Keywords: Rheology, Viscoelastic, Oil In this paper we present the results of the rheological property measurements on viscoelastic composite materials used in oil industry. Laboratory experiments were carried out to determine important thermophysical, rheological and mechanical properties of the test materials using both the standard commercial and in-house made equipment. The composites with the paramagnetic particles (?-iron oxide) are exhibited a significant magnetic memory after magnetic treatment. The measured value of the yield stress after the magnetic treatment increased almost twice in comparison with the yield stress value of the magnetically untreated composite. The yield stress of the composite material exponentially decreases with time and reaches its magnetically untreated value after 15 hours. The yield stress also increases with the amount of the paramagnetic powder additive, and it reaches a maximum value at 8 wt-% of this additive. The obtained results provide valuable information for computer modeling of the viscoelastic fluid flow in pipes of complex geometry.

Jan 1, 2005

By Adriana Gómez

White dross is a result of the aluminum oxidation during its primary production and is mainly composed of metallic aluminum, Al2O3, with minor amounts of AlN and some other oxides. Because of the great variety of phases, the quantitative characterization is complicated. This work shows a quantitative method to determine the main phases of white aluminum drosses by means of X-ray diffraction (the Rietveld method). Nowadays the Rietveld method is maybe the most useful method for obtaining quantitative phases information in multicomponent mixtures, this method permits relatively quick quantitative phase analysis by fitting the calculated X-ray diffraction profile with the observed one. The analysis were done using powder with a grain size less than 45 µm; to obtain the suitable material size the aluminum dross was grounded by ten minutes, several times. The grounded material was screened, and the material smaller than 45 µm was taken to quantitative XRD analysis. Keywords: Rietveld Method, Characterization, Aluminum dross.

Jan 1, 2005

By Li Chen

A new process, i.e. Ball milling--Neural leaching--Oxidation calcinations--Chloridizing distillation--Hydrolysis, was designed to recover germanium from the vacuum furnace slag produced in Shaoguan smelter. The suitable process and operational parameters were determined for the practical production.

Jan 1, 2005

By Guangqing Zhang

The paper presents results of a systematic study of synthesis of titanium oxycarbide and its chlorination. Titanium oxycarbide was produced by carbothermal reduction of titania in hydrogen, argon and helium. Formation of titanium oxycarbide started at 1200°C in all gases. The reduction was the fastest in hydrogen. Formation of titanium oxycarbide in hydrogen was close to completion in 120 min at 1300°C, 60 min at 1400°C and less than 30 min at 1500°C. Reduction in argon and helium progressed at a similar rate and reached 90-95% after 300 min at 1400-1500°C. The chlorination of titanium oxycarbide was ignited at 150-200°C. Chlorine partial pressure and gas flow rate strongly affected the chlorination rate. Chlorination of titanium oxycarbide produced with carbon to titania molar ratio 2.5 at 235-400°C was close to 100% in 30 min.

Jan 1, 2009

By Preston C. Holloway

Transformational roasting involves the heating of a material along with specific additives to induce mineralogical changes in the starting material. By controlling the chemical composition, roasting atmosphere, temperature and time of reaction, the mineral transformations induced during roasting can be engineered to control the distribution of valuable, or harmful, metals and to produce new mineral assemblages that are more amenable to conventional methods of metals recovery or to environmentally safe disposal. To date, this type of process has only been applied to the recovery of a limited number of metals, but current research is looking to expand the application of these techniques to the recovery of metals from a wider range of materials. An introduction to these techniques is presented along with preliminary results from their application to metals recovery from zinc bearing wastes, such as zinc ferrite leach residues and carbon steel electric arc furnace dust.

Jan 1, 2006

By Juliana Gutiérrez-Paredes

Keywords: Slag, chromium oxide, recovery, stainless steel Experimental and theoretical work was performed to estimate the effect of slag basicity and amount of reducing agents on the reduction of chromium oxide from the slag which interacted with molten steel at 1600°C. The slag system contained CaO, MgO, SiO2, CaF2 and Cr2O3 together with Fe-alloys (Fe-Si and Fe-Si-Mg). The CaF2 and MgO contents in the slags were 10 mass % each; Cr2O3 was 25%. The amount of the ferroalloys ranged from 12.5 to 50 g per 100 g of slag. The (CaO+MgO)/SiO2 ratio was held at 1 and 2. The Cr yield was determined using both Fe-alloys as reducing agents. Some estimations were made to determine the theoretical effect of temperature, slag basicity, (CaO+MgO)/SiO2, and amount of reducing agents in the slag on the chromium recovery. The FACT (Facility for the Analysis of Chemical Thermodynamics) computational package is used to determine the equilibrium between the slag and molten steel.

Jan 1, 2005

By Pengfu Tan

Converter slag chemistry control has played an important role in optimizing converter operations. A thermodynamic model of copper P-S converter has been developed to predict the behavior of magnetite in the converter slag. Predictions of bath temperature, slag and matte compositions, and magnetite content in the slag have been validated by industrial data. The effects of fluxing strategy, returns and skim charges, oxygen enrichment, and temperature on the magnetite formation in the slag have been predicted and discussed. Some improvements of the industrial operations have been presented.

Jan 1, 2005

By J. Antrekowitsch

Keywords: residues, fluorides, chlorides, zinc, steel mill dust The recyclability of various nonferrous metal wastes often suffers from a relatively high fluorine and chlorine content. Both are inserted in most cases by the use of plastic contaminated scrap and a wide variety of different coatings. These halogens lead to poor product qualities and off gas contamination. Especially the history of zinc recovery from steel mill dusts shows, that the today common hydrometallurgical options are on their limit and therefore are not sufficient in most cases. This thermochemical study should give more information about different pyrometallurgical options, that offer both a chlorine and fluorine reduction and efficient zinc recovery, preferably in one process step. Selective evaporation in different atmospheres and conversion with the use of hydrogen are the main parts in this study. The results combined with the relatively small information available from literature should provide a basis for further investigations in this field.

Jan 1, 2005

By Junji Shibata

Keywords: Synergistic effect, Solvent extraction, Nickel ion, extractant mixture Waste solution from the Ni non-electric plating process contains 4.0 kg/m3 Ni (II), 0.1 kg/m3 Fe (III), 0.01 kg/m3 Zn (II), 48 kg/m3 SO42-, 98 kg/m3 HPO32- and 31 kg/m3 lactic acid as a typical composition. Solvent extraction, cementation, ion exchange resin and precipitation methods may be used for the treatment of this kind of solution. In this study, solvent extraction of Ni (II) is investigated by using two kinds of extractants in order to clarify the relationship between extraction equilibrium (static synergistic effect) and extraction rate (dynamic synergistic effect) for several extractant mixtures. The static synergistic effect does not take place significantly for the extractant mixtures of acidic extractants and neutral organphosphorous compounds, while a large static synergistic effect is confirmed when the extractant mixtures of acidic extractants and nitrogen-containing compounds are used. Nickel ions can be extracted in the wide pH range of 3.0-8.0 without any pH adjustment by using the several extractant mixtures. At the same time, the extraction rate remarkably increases by using the extractant mixtures of acidic extractants and nitrogen-containing compounds.

Jan 1, 2005

By Toshiyuki Kawai

Copper concentrate smelting directly in P-S converters was started at Onahama Smelter in 1983. Thereafter, the tonnage of concentrate smelted through the P-S converters increased, such that by 2002, it equaled the tonnage smelted through the reverberatory furnaces. In 2003, 56% of the total copper concentrates treated at Onahama Smelter were processed directly through the P-S converters. Technical improvements are reviewed and advantages of direct smelting in P-S converters are reported.

Jan 1, 2005

By S. Djaroudib

Keywords: iron recovery, hematite, hydrolysis, polyvinylpyridine The precipitation of hematite (Fe2O3) from ferric chloride media at ambient pressure and at temperatures below 100°C was studied as part of a program to recover a marketable iron product form metallurgical processing streams and effluents. Hematite was formed in preference to ferric oxyhydroxides (e.g. ß-FeO?OH) by controlling the precipitation conditions, especially by adding Fe2O3 seeds. The extent of the hydrolysis reaction was found to depend primarily on temperature and on the free-acid concentration. As to the latter, the controlled addition of an adsorbent of free acid, in our case the anionic resin polyvinylpyridine (PVP), was shown to allow for the nearly complete removal of iron as readily filterable Fe2O3. The hematite product typically contains = 63% Fe and = 1.5% Cl, and its composition does not change appreciably upon repeated cycling using regenerated PVP.

Jan 1, 2005

By Joël P. T. Kapusta

Although Peirce-Smith converting remains the workhorse in matte converting, the copper and nickel industries are still confronted with production hindrances such as tuyere blockage, excessive refractory wear and limits in the oxygen enrichment levels of the blast air. The knowledge acquired on high-pressure gas injection technology as well as the invention of the concentric tuyere for steelmaking led to the development of the Air Liquide Shrouded Injector (ALSI) technology for copper and nickel converting. Following a technology demonstration in 1997-98 with four shrouded injectors installed in a Peirce-Smith converter, Falconbridge Limited implemented ALSI Technology on a commercial scale in May 1999 as an integral part of its new Slag Make Converter at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The paper presents the various aspects of commissioning ALSI Technology, as well as the operating changes and injector design modifications over the five years the shrouded injectors have been in operation.

Jan 1, 2005