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By J. Y. Hwang

The relationship between coal characterization and physical cleaning has not been well understood due to the complex nature of coal. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the results of coal characterization to predict and evaluate the performance of a physical separation (e.g. flotation). Eight U.S. bituminous coals were analyzed and studied petrographically in conjunction with washability and flotation tests. The results show that grindability correlates to ash and fixed carbon contents; liberation determined directly by petrographic techniques is close to liberation determined indirectly by washability; and an ideal separation efficiency can be determined by measuring the inertinite content and the washability separation efficiency using a heavy liquid with a density of 1.4. The ideal separation efficiency was attained for most coals by packed column flotation. The ideal separation efficiency can be used for comparing process technologies and process parameters.

Jan 1, 1988

By Wentao Guo, Xuefeng She, Qingguo Xue, Jingsong Wang

By the coke gasified reaction device and online measurement high-temperature compressive strength apparatus, the variation of pore structures of coke after gasified reaction with CO2 and H2O was investigated. Research illuminating the influences of solution loss rate, temperature, and carbon species on compressive strength of coke was also carried out. The results showed that the total compressive strength was higher than for the reaction with CO2. The high-temperature compressive strength of coke decreased with the increasing of solution loss ratio or temperature after reacting with CO2 and H2O. At the same solution loss ratio, the damage of pore structure to coke strength after gasified reaction with H2O was relatively smaller and the deformation resistance was stronger when compared with that in CO2.

Jan 1, 2016

By C. G. Anderson

Throughout the world, there are many orebodies or materials which have significant value but also contain arsenic. As regulations on the transport, exposure, disposition and emission of arsenic have become more stringent; it has become increasingly more difficult to derive the values from these resources. This paper will outline the fundamentals of alkaline sulfide hydrometallurgy and its successful application to arsenic bearing ores, concentrates and materials.

Jan 1, 2005

By Stephen Chryssoulis, Stamen Dimov

Detection and quantification of precious metals (Au, Pd, Pt, and Rh) in spinels and silicate minerals is important for establishing the maximum attainable recovery by sulphide flotation. To achieve this goal subpart per billion (ppb) detection limits are required plus the ability to quantify results. Existing quantitative microbeam techniques (EPMA, PIXE, SIMS, TOFLIMS) have limits of detection in the O. l-200ppm range. Time-of-flight resonance ionization mass spectrometry (TOF-RIMS) is a microbeam analytical technique that allows for the identification and quantification of atomic species in very small quantities. It utilizes a tunable laser source for resonant excitation and ionization of a particular element of interest and has some unique features: elemental selectivity, linear response over a large dynamic range and very high sensitivity. The analysis consist of three steps: (i) the solid sample is vaporized by laser ablation to form a plume containing neutral atoms, (ii) the neutral atoms of a specific atomic element in the plume are resonantly excited and ionized by another tunable laser, and finally (iii) the ions created are mass analyzed in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. A TOF-RIMS mass spectrometer was developed at AMTEL for trace element analysis of Au, Pd, and Rh in minerals. The spectrometer was calibrated using homogeneous CANMET and NIST reference samples covering three orders of magnitude in concentration. Attained minimum detection limits (MDL=2cr of the background) are in the low ppb range.

Jan 1, 1999

By Chen Qizhou, Wang Yun, Zhu Rong

SiO2 and Al2O3 in the metallurgical slag of nickel laterite ore have great recycling values. In this work, Si and Al were extracted from the slag in NaOH based molten salts through alkali roasting and water leaching process for preparing zeolite materials. The extraction ratio of SiO2 increases with increased temperature and appropriately prolonged time, and more than 80% SiO2 can be recycled from the slag after roasting at 550°C. Si and Al from the slag are in the filtered liquor for producing zeolite materials, while Mg, Ca, Fe and other impurities remain in the leached residues. Adding Na2CO3 into the alkalin-slag roasting process can reduce the amount of pure NaOH used with minor decrease in extraction ratio of SiO2, while make better separation of Ca to avoid it getting into the filtered liquor. Adding Al2O3 into the alkalin roasting process can replace part of more expensive NaAlO2 addition that is required for preparing zeotite material, which may bring out a minor decrease in extraction ratio of SiO2 due to formation of NaAlSiO4 in the filtered residues. Quality X zeolite and 4A zeolite materials can be made from the starting liquor containing Si and Al recycled from the laterite nickel slag through alkali roasting and water leaching process.

Mar 1, 2018

By E. A. Werner, W. Liebfahrt, J. Blaha

"The influence of the composition and the microstructure on the plane strain fracture toughness of five cold work tool steels all processed via the powder metallurgical route is investigated using 3-point bending specimens. The steels differ in composition and therefore possess different volume fractions of carbides. The amount, size and distribution of the carbides in the matrix are estimated by quantitative image analysis on a plane parallel to the fracture surface without discrimination of the carbide type, since the carbides are always much harder [1,2] than the matrix, irrespective of their composition. Due to the production of the steels via the powder metallurgical route almost all carbides are spherical in shape. The mechanical in-situ properties of the matrix are characterized by indentation tests performed with an ""UltraMicro"" -indenter in a scanning electron microscope.IntroductionCold work tool steels are used as tools in applications where excellent wear resistance and high hardness are required. Examples are cutting, woodworking, thread rolling, wire and deep drawing, cold extrusion and pressing of parts at process temperatures below 200°C. For such applications the steels must show an optimum combination of hardness, wear resistance and toughness while offering good machinability. Hardness and wear resistance are controlled by the amount of carbon and carbide forming elements such as molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, chromium and niobium. These elements are present in the MC-, M6C and M7C3-carbides and are also responsible for the precepitation of secondary carbides during tempering. In this report attention is paid to the influence of the primary carbides only, while the very small ~~nm) secondary carbides will be treated as constituent of the homogeneous matrix. Increasing the amount of carbides (alloying elements) usually results in a decrease of the material's toughness which is caused by the presence of clusters and/or bands of carbides. To achieve an optimum combination of hardness, wear resistance and toughness many of the today's cold work tool steels are processed via the powder metallurgical (PM) route, which helps to prevent non-uniform element/carbide distribution because of the rapid solidification of the powders used. The resulting microstructure of the tool steel then consists of a tough matrix with uniformly distributed hard carbides· of globular shape. This shape of the carbides is also desirable instead of blocky carbides present in non-PM tool steels, since they improve the machinability of the steel. An additional advantage of PM-steels lies in the possibility to produce near net shaped tools thus lowering the costs of machining."

Jan 1, 2000

By Jagdish C. Agarwal

Although copper ranks very low in the order of abundance of elements in the crust of the earth, it has been one of the first metals utilized by mar, at his emergence from the Stone Age, about 10,000 years ago. Use of copper for weapons, tools, utensils and ornaments dates back to the twilight of history, 6,000-5,000 B.C. Native copper outcrops and the malleability of the metal explain its very early use by the cave-dwellers. The working, melting and extraction of copper from its minerals are among the oldest metallurgical achievements of the human race. The oldest complete smelting installations for the extraction of copper from its minerals, dated about the fourth millenium B.C., were recently discovered in the Timna Valley, Wadi Arabah, Israel. (1) The history of the developments of the extractive metallurgy of copper has been adequately reviewed recently. (2,3) The center of copper production migrated from the Eastern Mediterranean to Northern Europe (Mansfeld, Germany, Swansea, Wales) towards the end of the Middle Ages (1500 A.D.). The production of the metal was boosted tremendously in North America since the end of the nineteenth century (Fig. 1).

Jan 1, 1976

By R. M. Lamya

A considerable part of gold encapsulated in some refractory sulphides can be dissolved during sulphide matrix decomposition in non-complexing aqueous media. This has been concluded from laboratory results of gold extraction from pyritic and arsenopyritic concentrate containing 172.8ppm Au, into 10% hydrochloric, sulphuric and nitric acids. The degree of sulphides decomposition in the non-oxidative acids limits the gold extraction from this specific concentrate to about 10%. In the case of nitric acid, the gold dissolution follows the rapid decomposition of sulphides, reaching 32 to 42% of extraction at almost total decomposition of the sulphidic minerals. Accumulation of gold in this acidic and non-complexing solution to several ppm was not affected by the soluble products of the sulphides decomposition. An attempt to explain this gold behaviour is undertaken and some practical implications are discussed. In the investigated concentrate the "soluble gold" is mostly associated with arsenopyrite. This is consistent with the latest findings of other authors that gold disseminated in arsenopyrite can occur as cation Au3+. In a comparative test the gold extraction into highly concentrated chloride solution, in the same oxidative conditions, amounted to 92.34%.

Jan 1, 1995

By J. Rastas

The recovery of lead, silver and gold from existing and potential zinc process residues using a sulfidization-flotation method was investigated on a laboratory scale. The following residues were tested: neutral leach residue, high acid leach residue, and hematite residues. The sulfidization of lead and silver is carried out at low pH by the addition of a stoichiometric amount of sulfide at a controlled rate. To increase the particle size of the sulfides, seeding with synthetic lead and silver sulfides -is employed. The flotation is carried out at pH 2-4 using low pH-collectors such as dithiophosphates and dithiophosphinates. Special attention must be paid to the role of oxygen in the conditioning stage. The effect of different parameters on both the sulfidization and the flotation has been evaluated. Recoveries of 85-90, 90-95 and about 80 % were obtained for lead, silver and gold, respectively. Typically, concentrates containing 50-60 % lead, 3-5 kg/t silver and 10-15 git gold were produced.

Jan 1, 1990

By I. H. Gundiler

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is tasked to support The Department of Energy in the dismantlement and disposal of SNL designed weapon components. These components are sealed in a potting compound, and contain heavy metals, explosive, radioactive, and toxic materials. SNL developed a process to identify and remove the hazardous sub-components utilizing real-time radiography and abrasive water-jet cutting. The components were then crushed, granulated, screened, and separated into an aluminum and a precious-and-base-metals fraction using air-tables. Plastics were further cleaned for disposal as non-hazardous waste. New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources assisted SNL in investigation of size- reduction and separation technologies.

Jan 1, 1995

First, a classification of the various primary sources of feed materials for the production of cobalt is presented from a mineralogical point of view : sulfides, arsenides, sulfo-arsenides and oxide minerals. Each of these cate- gories will be characterized by its behaviour towards concentration methods, taking account of the presence of the associated minerals of other metals and of the nature of the gangue minerals. Then, for each category of cobalt bea- ring ores, typical flowsheets of treatment will be presented and discussed and the characteristics of the cobalt concentrates produced will be under- lined having in view their subsequent processing by pyro - and (or) hydrome- tallurgical methods.

Jan 1, 1988

By Ivan Imris

The iron production has generated many tonnes of very fine residues with high concentration of iron. In addition, during the recycling of galvanised steel scrap in the steel making processes the zinc and lead are largely concentrated in the dust. These kinds of dusts are usually dumped beside the metallurgical plants and cause environmental problems. Therefore the metal recovery from the metallurgical residues has become a major interest not only from the viewpoint of metals recycling but mainly from the viewpoint of environmental land protection. The thermodynamic analyses and laboratory experiments suggested that the metals could be recovered from metallurgical wastes by reduction roasting and by plasma smelting processes. The iron rich pellets with very high metallization may be obtained from metallurgical wastes by the reduction roasting and the inert slag and pig iron could be produced by plasma smelting processes. In both cases the iron rich products are suitable for the steel production. During the reduction roasting or plasma smelting the high volatile zinc and lead metals were removed and enriched as a secondary dust, Zn-Pb concentrate, which is suitable for processing in zinc and lead smelters. Suggested processes are commercially feasible and environmentally friendly without any solid or liquid waste.

Jan 1, 2003

By P. Aguirre

Recovery of zinc, copper and nickel from electroplating waste solutions was achieved 'by using a Pulsated Percolated Porous Electrode "3PE" reactor on a pilot plant scale. Intensity - potential curves were used to study the possibility of metal removal and to define the working potential range. The present study describes the use of the 3PE reactors in several electroplating industrial units for the decontamination of their effluents. These effluents were issued from different industrial solutions such as cyanide, sulfate, chloride and Watts baths. Using the stripping curves, deposition rates and electrical efficiencies were determined as function of the metal concentrations in these effluents. Their decontamination could be achieved to the level of few ppm of metals with reasonable current efficiencies. The recovery rates of zinc and copper were about 93 and 99 %, respectively. The. treated effluents contained less than 7 and 1 % of the initial contents of Zn and Cu, respec¬tively. This process allows the recycling of the recovered metals and leads to water saving.

Feb 13, 2014

By David Cocke

Study of surface and subsurface interfacial chemistry of metallic and similar systems has its enormous technological importance. Copper, for example, is a common component of many alloys and bulk amorphous systems. It is being increasingly studied today because of its use for electronic interconnect systems where processing is done below 200 ºC. Since several types of copper oxides exist, and the degree of their formation is dependent on temperature, perhaps characterization by EDS-SEM depth profiling and EIS might delineate one type of oxide from another. In this paper, we described our work on transformation of copper oxides with temperature ranging from 70 to 350 °C and their characterization by SEM, EDS, and XRD. We also showed the use of the phase angle portion of the impedance as a means to identify the predominant structure and the transition through Cu3O2 between the predominant stable CuO and Cu2O.

Jan 1, 2009

By R. L. Miller

An industrial wastewater, including plating wastes, is treated with sodium sulfide and ferrous sulfate to form a sulfide-oxide precipitate containing chromium and other toxic metals. Hydrocarbons, in the water, coat the sulfide-oxide particles, impeding metal recovery. Froth flotation, without reagent addition, was found to recover 93.9% of the solids from the sludge with simultaneous rejection of 89% of the water. Methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) improved recovery and potassium amyl xanthate improved both recovery and grade. The process design has wastewater feed (without MIBC) to the rougher circuit. The rougher concentrate is conditioned with MIBC and fed to a cleaner circuit to achieve a high grade concentrate. About 95% of the water is recirculated to the waste treatment plant.

Jan 1, 1992

By Kazuteru Tozawa

Surface tension, density and viscosity coefficient of acidic copper sulfate solutions simulating electrolyte solution for electrolytic production of copper have been measured and are summarized as a function of the solution composition and temperature. Nickel sulfatc is taken to be a representative coexisting sulfate that affects the physical properties of the copper sulfate electrolyte solution. The sulfates in the solutions, including sulfuric acid, increase the physical properties under consideration. Gelatin, representing organic additives for electrolyte solution, was found to sensitively affect the surface tension of the solution at low concentration of up to 200mgIL. The surface tension was markedly lowered by the addition of gelatin and the increasing concentration of gelatin led to a more pronounced decrease in the observed values. The surface tension gradually increases with time after addition of gelatin and the increase is enhanced by higher acid concentration and higher temperature. The observed change in the surface tension is considered to reflect the preferential adsorption of gelatin to the bubble-solution interface and the decomposition of gelatin due to hydrolysis to form various molecules having smaller molecular weights.

Jan 1, 2003

By Xiang Ma, Halvor Dalaker, Kai Tang, Stefan Andersson

Silicon carbide (SiC) is one of the most important non-oxide ceramic materials for many industrial applications and is mainly synthesized by carbothermic reduction of silicon oxide by coke above 2200°C. Replacing natural gas (mostly methane, CH4) for coke in SiC synthesis could considerably reduce energy consumption and CO2-emissions owing to higher carbon activity of CH4 at lower temperature. The generally accepted reaction mechanism is that SiC is synthesized through gaseous intermediate silicon monoxide, SiO. In the present study, the reaction mechanism for the SiO and CH4 gaseous mixture has been examined using atomic scale modelling. Molecular dynamics (MD) using a reactive force field (ReaxFF) has been utilized to examine the initial stages of reactions involving a gas mixture of SiO and CH4 and surfaces of SiC. The MD results revealed some interesting SiC formation mechanisms. The reaction energies of the critical intermediate species were also estimated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and the implications for the force field parameters used in ReaxFF was discussed.

Jan 1, 2015

By Herbert H. Kellogg

A model of the ISF is described. which reproduces with accuracy the "normal" operation of three industrial furnaces. The model, written in Fortran, is based on detailed heat and material balances, and the concept that the ascending gases reach equilibrium with zinc oxide and with the water-gas shift reaction. "Solution loss" of carbon in the lower shaft, and partial reoxidation of zinc vapor in the upper shaft are also essential features. For prediction of furnace behavior under altered operating conditions (blast rate, temperature, moisture content, oxygen enrichment, or injection of oil or coal through the tuyeres) the model modifies the heat loss, temperature of slag and bullion, amount of reoxidation in the upper shaft and the condenser efficiency to reflect the altered operating parameters. Model predictions for such operating conditions are in reasonable agreement with plant experience.

Jan 1, 1990

By Steven R. Izatt

IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. (IBC) has developed a mercury selective product, which can be used by sulfuric acid producers as either a polisher, or as the primary technology for mercury removal from sulfuric acid. The Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT) separations material selectively binds Hg2+, and to a lesser extent Hg+, out of concentrated sulfuric acid. Mercury output levels of less than 0.1 ppm can be attained by the MRT system. Pilot plant tests have been successfully conducted at base metal smelting operations. A large-scale commercial plant is due for commissioning in 2003. Results from these projects will be discussed.

Jan 1, 2003

By M. B. Sizgoric

Quantitative mineralogy is used in a study done on an Inco Metals Company nickel sulfide occurrence from 'the Thompson area in Northern Manitoba. The study included: a) determination of the variations in chemical composition of the ore minerals; b) determination of the liberation of the ore minerals for the various types of ore and for different feed grinds; c) assessment of the preliminary mill test results by comparing the mineral distribution in the different tailings. Preliminary mill test results had outlined three main problem areas: 1) unacceptabiy low grade concentrate with, 2) very high weight recovery and, 3) low pyrrhotite rejection resulting in a high sulfur concentrate. The mineralogical study readily explained these results by showing that: 1) between 20 and 40% of the nickel in the feeds and 55 and 75% of the nickel lost in the tailings is associated with pyrrhotite. This accounts in part for the low grade of the concentrates obtained at high recoveries: 2) hexagonal nonmagnetic pyrrhotite constitutes over 90 percent of pyrrhotite. Since hexagonal pyrrhotite floats more readily than monoclinic pyrrhotite, this could be part of the reason for the undesirable high pyrrhotite recoveries into the concentrates. Further test work to establish both the optimal grind and the best conditions for pyrrhotite rejection is therefore mandatory.

Jan 1, 1981