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By A. Siegmund, R. D. Prengaman

Lead anodes used in zinc electrowinning generally contain 0.5 - 1.0 % silver to reduce the rate of corrosion over the service life. For good quality zinc, the cathodes must contain less than 10 ppm lead. In order to reduce the lead contamination of the cathode, the lead anode must become coated with a protective layer of Pb02/Mn02. The formation of this layer may take as long as 30 - 60 days, during which time zinc production is substantially reduced and the cathodes are contaminated with lead. To improve the mechanical properties of Pb-Ag-anodes alloying elements such as calcium, strontium, barium and others are added. The production of cast lead-silver or lead-silver-calcium anodes often results in the formation of numerous holes, voids or laps in the anode surface that can initiate localized internal corrosion. Based on the experience as the major supplier of rolled anodes for copper electrowinning, RSR Technologies has developed an improved anode for zinc electrowinning. The anode consists of a rolled Pb- Ag-Ca-alloy with a controlled surface grain structure. It forms an adherent protective oxide coating within 2 - 3 days when placed in an electrowinning cell. The preferred calcium and silver contents of the alloy are 0.03 - 0.08 % and 0.3 - 0.4%, respectively. Rolling sheets significantly reduces the presence of internal porosity or laps. The lack of defects results in long anode life. The rolling also produces a uniform grain structure to which the corrosion product readily adheres, thus significantly reducing the conditioning period.

Jan 1, 2000

By Carlos G. Levi

"The principles involved in the rapid solidification of supercooled metal droplets and existing numerical models are reviewed. The limitations of these models for studying alloy solidification are discussed in terms of the effects of alloying elements on the relevant heat transfer, thermodynamic and kinetic parameters. Analysis of the enthalpy-temperature diagram reveals how the extent of rapid solidification is hindered by the addition of solute. A solidification model incorporating thermodynamic and kinetic relationships into a Newtonian heat transfer formulation is used to analyze the thermal history and concurrent solute redistribution during recalescence. IntroductionIt is well acknowledged that microstructural evolution during solidification is intimately associated with the thermal history of the liquid-solid interface. Structural parameters like chemical homogeneity, morphology and size scale of the phases can be related to the interfacial temperature and velocity. These in turn change by the interaction of the interface with the thermal and solutal fields in its neighboring environment.The thermal history of powder solidification can be conveniently described on the enthalpy-temperature diagram for a pure metal shown in Figure 1 and discussed in detail elsewhere [1). A system can conceivably follow any path of decreasing enthalpy in the supercooled region of Figure 1 (~ < 1), starting at the nucleation temperature (oN < 0) on the liquid line, and ending at some point on the solid line. A vertical path represents an isothermal transformation, of which a limiting case is solidification without significant barriers to nucleation and growth, with the interface at the equilibrium temperature TM (path one in Figure 1). A horizontal path represents isenthalpic (or adiabatic) solidification whereby the system could form an amount of solid proportional to the initial supercooling of the liquid without further heat loss to the environment. A liquid that can completely transform to solid under adiabatic conditions is said to be ""hypercooled""."

Jan 1, 1986

By H. J. Thevik, A. K. Dahle

"A mathematical model that calculates the stress development in a coherent and stationary dendritic network due to interdendritic flow is proposed. The fluid flow is assumed to be related to the solidification shrinkage, and under the assumption of no porosity formation and unidirectional solidification, the shrinkage-induced flow within the mushy zone is calculated analytically. The interdendritic melt flow exerts a force on the solid network and an analytical expression for the stress build-up in the network is developed. Parameter studies illustrating the influence of cooling conditions, mushy zone length, dendrite coherency, fraction solid, volume fraction of eutectic, and solidification shrinkage upon the stress development within the solid network are presented. Comparing the magnitude of the calculated stresses to measurements of the strength in equiaxed mushy zones shows that it is possible for the stresses to exceed the strength, thereby resulting in reorientation or collapse of the dendritic network.IntroductionInterdendritic fluid flow is at present regarded as a very important mechanism for feeding of shrinkage during solidification of metal alloys. Solidification of many alloys is often characterised by heterogeneous nucleation of the primary phase on substrates in the melt with subsequent evolution of equiaxed dendrites. These equiaxed dendrites can initially grow freely, but impinge on each other and form a continuous dendritic network, ie. dendrite coherency, quite early in the solidification process. Measurements of the dendrite coherency point have shown that the dendritic network is established at solid fractions ranging between 0.1 and 0.5, and most often around about 0.2 [l]. Depending on the alloy composition this means that as much as 70 to 80% of the volumetric shrinkage has to be compensated by flow of liquid through the interdendritic network. Interdendritic flow occurs with a much larger resistance compared to free flow of the liquid and flow of a liquid with dispersed crystals. The pressure drop associated with the interdendritic flow increases rapidly with decreasing fraction ofliquid."

Jan 1, 1999

By C. J. Newman

Prior to 1995, the smelting process at the Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation (KUCC) smelter consisted of Noranda reactors and Pierce-Smith converters. In the consideration of expansion opportunities, the existing process did not lend itself to a program geared towards processing the total output of KUCC mining and milling operations. During 1989 and 1990, a number of smelting options were evaluated. The final selection was the Outokumpu flash smelting process, coupled with the new Kennecott-Outokumpu flash converting technology. Facilities were designed and installed to process 1:0 million tonnes per year of copper concentrate, with the ability to expand to 1.2 million tonnes per year. Following the shutdown of the smelter facility utilizing the Noranda technology in May 1995, the flash smelting, furnace commenced operation in June with the flash converting furnace startup following a few weeks later. The smelter has achieved design production targets and environmental goals. Current operating rates are at or above design rates for concentrate and matte processing. Emissions are lower than the permit levels and equate to less than 3.5 kg of SO2 per tonne of copper. This paper outlines the design, construction, startup and the first two years of operation of the modernized KUCC smelter.

Jan 1, 1998

By Kenshi Kawabata, Mitsuji Ueda, Junko Umeda, Katsuyoshi Kondoh, Kantarou Kaneko

Solid-state recycling process of in-house scraps of machined magnesium (Mg) alloy wastes has been established to directly produce wrought materials via the repetitively plastic deformation by Roll-compaction (RCP) and the conventional hot extrusion. The coarse chips, wasted in machining AMX602 (Mg-6Al-0.2Mn-2Ca) cast billets used for the gate bar used in Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) of the high-way system, were employed as the input materials in this study. RCP process enabled to serve coarse Mg alloy powder consisting of refined grains and intermetallics with no re-melting. They were easily consolidated by hot extrusion, and their wrought alloys showed both homogeneously refined grains less than 1~2 µm by dynamic recrystallization and randomized texture by repetitive plastic deformation on the input wastes. These materials revealed extremely advanced mechanical properties of high tensile strength of 356MPa and high ductility of 14.8%, compared to the originally virgin materials with 270MPa TS and 5% elongation. When applying the same Mg alloy wastes via RCP process to the mass production in the company, the large-scale extruded materials also indicated the superior tensile properties. It means that this direct solid-state process is held as “Up-grade recycle of metal wastes”.

Jan 1, 2008

By R. J. Wesely

In recent years the trend in copper smelting has been to expand existing smelters to increase their throughput. New smelters under consideration are large, typically in excess of 200,000 tons per year of copper. Despite this trend to larger smelters there are a number of conditions where a much smaller smelter can be economically viable. This paper examines these conditions and outlines the process concepts for a small smelter treating from 20,000 to 100,000 tons per year of copper.

Jan 1, 2000

By Bingguo Liu, PENG LIU, Haigang Dong, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang

Parameters of technique to decarburize from spent petrochemical catalysts via microwave oxidation roasting were investigated. Decarburization process was performed on a microwave heating system. The results showed that the decarburization percentage of spent petrochemical catalysts was significantly affected by roasting temperature and sample thickness in the range studied. The decarburization percentage was 99.5% in microwave fields under the optimized conditions, roasting temperature 600 °C, roasting time 40 min and sample thickness 2 cm respectively. The residuum after microwave decarburization was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) which showed that the deposit carbon had been removed effectively.

Mar 1, 2017

By R. M. Sweetin

Detailed descriptions by operating area of the Kidd copper smelter are presented, together with accounts of complement staffing, training, and preparation activities for smelter start-up in June 1981. Concentrate tonnages smelted in the first twelve months of operation were constrained by the capacity of the furnace off-gas system. However, modifications designed and introduced over that period, plus sustained efforts by operations and maintenance personnel have resulted in stepwise improvements in smelter performance.. Consistent operation at design feed rates has been well demonstrated over the third and fourth smelter campaigns and efforts continue on further improving the continuous smelter on-line times and increasing campaign life. In November 1982., following a seventeen month preproduction period, the Kidd smelter attained full operating status.

Jan 1, 1983

By Wen-Ming Chien, Vamsi Krishna Kamisetty, Amrita Mishra, Ivan Gantan, Prathyusha Mekala, Dhanesh Chandra

"The phase equilibrium and characterization studies by using high temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) methods have been performed for binary organic thermal energy storage materials. The organic thermal energy storage materials undergo a solid-solid state phase transition before melting which stores large amounts of thermal energy. Two materials [tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane(TRIS) and 2-Amino-2-methyl-l, 3- propanediol(AMPL)] were used for this study. Binary samples of AMPL-TRIS were prepared to perform high temperature XRD characterization and DSC studies and the binary AMPL-TRIS phase diagram was developed. The high temperature solid-state phases of AMPL and TRIS were characterized as a disordered BCC structure. It was found there is virtually no solubility of TRIS in AMPL or vice versa below -75 °C. The maximum solubility of TRIS in AMPL is 11% TRIS at 75 °C. The eutectoid transformation was shown at 19%TRIS-81%AMPL composition and at a temperature of 75°C. Lattice expansion calculations on single phase of TRIS and AMPL have been performed.IntroductionThermal energy storage materials can store a large amount of heat due to the presence of thermal transitions from the orientationally ordered to disordered phases occurring before melting. These molecules (such as amine and alcohol derivatives of neopentane) can reorient as a whole about the central carbon atom to form orientationally disordered crystals (ODIC) and their spherical shape makes them reorient relatively easier. Thermal energy storage materials are becoming increasingly important as a renewable energy resource. These molecules undergo large changes in enthalpies at solid-solid transitions. The presence of these compounds with large enthalpy changes are identified as potential thermal energy materials and some of die applications are solar cell systems [1-3]. Binary mixtures have been found as a way to adjust the transition properties in addition to pure compounds [4]. Tris(hydroxyrnethyl)aminomethane (TRIS, C(CH2OH)3NH2) and AMPL, CH3C(CH2OH)2NH2) are two important thermal energy storage materials."

Jan 1, 2012

By J. M. Floyd

"Top submerged lance furnace developments started in CSIRO in the early 1970s and was given the name Sirosmelt. In the early work the technology was developed for tin smelting and processing tin slags but once a small pilot plant was established other slag processing applications were soon recognised and evaluated for various copper, nickel, zinc and cobalt-containing slags. The process was tried for copper smelting and converting, which was proven in the small pilot plant in 1978. In the same year the first commercial application of the technology was established for the recovery of tin from slags at Associated Tin Smelters, Sydney. Work on lead smelting was initiated by the CSIRO team in the late 1970s and laboratory work led to pilot plant trials by Mount Isa Mines.In the second decade of the technology the focus of development became commercial acceptance of the technology through marketing, development and application by Ausmelt and Mount Isa Mines; the former commercialising and developing the technology for a wide range of applications, while the latter concentrated on its own commercial needs of copper and lead smelting. This decade saw a number of commercial plants built in Australia, with considerable interest becoming evident from other parts of the world. Towards the end of this decade Mount Isa also entered into the business of marketing of the technology through rights dating to the joint work with CSIRO in the late 1970s.So far, after five years, the third decade of the technology has been characterised by diversification of applications of the technology to areas outside the non-ferrous and precious metals production industry. The waste processing and recycle industry and the iron and steel industry have recognised that the top submerged lancing system is a new type of reactor with many significant features which provide new opportunities for processing a range of materials under good environmental controls in a cost effective manner.I hope this audience will excuse my boldness in talking about the third decade of the technology when we are only half way through! I am aiming in this paper to not only talk about the past, but to try illustrate the future directions which I envision."

Jan 1, 1996

By L. -C. Lai

A series of LaNi5-based alloys, with partial substitution of Ni by Al, Co, or V, were prepared The gas-phase hydrogen absorption kinetics and pressure-composition-temperature curves were measured The activation became easier and the plateau pressure was reduced as Ni was partially substituted by Al Substitution with Co reduced the hysteresis as well as the hydrogenation capacity, but enhanced the absorption kinetics Vanadium is often considered as a hydride former, but when it was added to LaNi5, it was found that V occupied the B site. A small amount of substitution of Ni with V led to a higher hydrogenation capacity and faster activation rate Based on these properties, an alloys LaNia 25CO0.5V0.1Al0. 15 was fabricated as an electrode. Compared with LaNi4.85Al0.15, it was found to exhibit faster activation, higher discharge capacity, and longer cycle life. The variation of the hydrogenation characteristics is discussed based on the physical and chemical properties of the alloying elements.

Jan 1, 1997

By Animesh Jha

The carbothermic reduction of chalcopyrite has been studied in the temperature range 1073 to 1273K in presence of lime. The role of lime during the reduction process is explained and the phase equilibria leading to the metallisation of copper and iron are discussed. The effect of coal and carbon monoxide on the reduction process have been studied and the rate governing steps are identified. This investigation also cites examples of possible mechanisms of physical separation of metallic Cu from iron during the reduction process.

Jan 1, 1992

By Dale Zacherl, Andreas Buhr, Rainer Kockegey-Lorenz

"The microporous calcium hexaluminate insulating material SLA-92 has been introduced as an alternative to refractory ceramic fiber and other insulating refractory materials. Key properties associated with this product include: high chemical purity, long term high temperature stability up to 1500 °C, low thermal conductivity up to 1500 °C, and high thermal shock resistance. The properties of the new material and various applications in the steel and ceramic industries have been reported in previous papers. The current paper summarizes the industrial application experiences with innovative refractories based on SLA- 92 and discusses potential new applications in various manufacturing as well as energyrelated industries.IntroductionSLA-92 was introduced to the refractories industry in 1998 by van Garsel, et al. [1] as a new insulating raw material for high temperature applications, followed by investigations [2] of long term temperature stability for this new lightweight aggregate up to 1500°C.SLA-92 was developed as an innovative alternative to commonly used refractory ceramic fibers. It has unique properties regarding chemical purity and mineral composition and is a microporous, silica-free calcium hexaluminate (CA6 – mineral name: hibonite)."

Jan 1, 2010

By E. García-Ramos, P. Flores-Sánchez, E. G. Palacios, B. Zeifert, A. Romero-Serrano, M. Hallen-López

Chromium containing slags from stainless steelmaking may eventually be leached by acidic environments, therefore they should be treated before being stockpiled or land filled. In this work, synthetic slags were prepared and the effect of CaO/SiO2, Cr2O3, MgO and Al2O3 contents on the stability of the mineralogical species formed was analyzed. The morphology and composition of the slags were analyzed by XRD and SEM-EDS, whilst their chemical stability was evaluated by leaching with an aqueous acetic acid solution. It was found that CaCr2O4 and CaCrO4 are present in slags prepared with neither MgO nor Al2O3. The Al2O3-based slags mainly produced Ca2Al2SiO7 and the Cr(VI)-containing oxide complex Ca4Al6CrO16, whilst MgO-based slags produced MgCr2O4 as main mineralogical species. Additionally, Eh-pH diagrams for the Ca-Cr-H2O and Mg-Cr-H2O systems at 25 °C were constructed. The lowest Cr concentration levels in the leaching liquors corresponded to MgO-based slags owing to the stable binding of Cr in spinel with MgO. It was also observed in the Al2O3-based slags that increasing the slag basicity from 1 to 2 the leachability of the slags are notably increased.

Jan 1, 2008

By Yan Zeng

Lithium metal silicates (Li2MSiO4, M = Fe or Mn) composed of abundant and non-toxic elements are important cathode materials for Li-ion batteries (LIB). In contrast to solid-state or sol-gel methods, hydrothermal synthesis conducted in pressure reactors is a favorable processing route as it provides the potential for scalable production and is environmentally benign. However, the key is to control the precipitation reaction to obtain powders with desired properties to meet battery specifications. Through a systematic study, we have found that Li2MSiO4 with tunable size from 300 nm to 1.5 μm can be produced by adjusting precursor concentrations, temperature, and reaction time. Under optimum conditions, high purity Li2MSiO4 with minimum defects were successfully produced and examined as an LIB cathode. The use of complexing agents promoted the formation of unique hollow particles via the self-assembling of elongated crystals. A four-step formation mechanism is proposed based on extensive characterizations with XRD, HR-TEM, SEM, and Mössbauer spectroscopy.

By L. J. Davies

Refractories usage in furnaces for the extraction of nickel from both sulphides and lateritic ores is reviewed. Recent changes in raw materials and basic brick qualities developed to meet the increasing demands of existing and new processes are outlined. Examples of used brick examinations to establish mechanisms of wear are given. The importance of physical and chemical properties are discussed. The use of simulative laboratory testing to aid in refractories development and selection is described.

Jan 1, 1988

By V. I. Lakshmanan, R. Roy

Base metals and PGMs are currently recovered from sulfide concentrates using pyrometallurgical processes. These processes suffer from several limitations such as being capital intensive, scaling problems, S02 emissions and long delay in value recognition. Alternative hydrometallurgical technologies have so far not been successful and currently total pressure oxidation and partial pressure oxidation hydrometallurgical technologies are being evaluated. Process Research ORTECH has developed a unique hydrometallurgical process to recover base metals and precious metals using mixed chloride technology. In a first stage leach, base metals are recovered and elemental sulfur is liberated from hydrogen sulfide formed during this leaching stage. During second stage leach, precious metals are recovered using proven separation technologies. Some of the advantages of the process are the recovery of elemental sulfur from sulfide sulfur, recycle of the chloride lixiviant thereby eliminating effluent treatment steps and use of excess energy from the Claus reactor for the pyrohydrolysis step.

Jan 1, 2011

By Maneesh Singh

During the various stages of iron & steel production a number of iron-rich by-products are generated. The traditional way to recycle them back to the blast furnace has been the balling - sintering process. These by-products can also be made into cement-bonded agglomerates for use as burden material for blast furnaces. In order to improve the quality of agglomerates the effects of various processing parameters on the properties of cement-bonded briquettes have to be controlled. This paper looks into the various aspects of producing cement-bonded agglomerates and using them as burden material for blast furnaces.

Jan 1, 2003

By Federico Chavez

The process for recovering lead from battery residues used in several Mexican Plants include lead blast furnace and rotary furnaces. The formers are basically fed with recycled batteries together with the necessary additives to produce metallic lead. One of the by-products generated in the blast furnace is a dust mainly formed by lead sulfide. The rotary furnace is used to recover lead .from lead batteries, dross from the refining-alloying process and the leady fines produced in the blast furnace. This paper describes thennodynamic analysis made to the rotary furnace process to understand the effect that each component of the system has upon the lead recovery. In order to enhance the process, the influence of iron chips composition and excess coke on slag viscosity is discussed. A computer optimization program . has been developed to design the furnace charge based on material and energy balances, .together with the thennodynamic equilibrium calculation.

Jan 1, 1995

By Joseph Bloch

The hydriding of bulk metals and alloys is a gas-solid reaction in which a hydride product layer is initially nucleated adjacent to the gas-solid interface and continues to grow until a complete transformation of the parent (a) phase into the hydride phase. The combination of measurements of the overall hydriding kinetics of samples having defined shapes and dimensions, together with examinations of partially hydrided samples, enables the presentation of the reaction rate in terms of an appropriate reaction model. A common and important type of topochemical development of the hydride in bulk metals and alloys involves a hydride layer formed on the metallic surface. The continuity of the layer can affect the reaction rate. The rate of hydrogen absorption in a sample, in the presence of a hydride layer, is usually analyzed using a model combining several sequential steps in which the hydrogen is transferred from the gas phase into the reaction site. Coupling the flux equations across the layer under proper steady state conditions, results in a complex rate equation in which the steady state rate of hydrogen absorption (proportional to the hydride layer velocity) is expressed in terms of the pressure, temperature, the rate constants of the sequential steps and the critical concentrations of hydrogen in the hydride. Generally, the rate constants of the individual microscopic processes are comparable in magnitude, so that the overall rate is not controlled by any of the specific sequential steps. However, there are two limit cases related to the first stage, the adsorption, for which the general rate equation is much simpler, namely, the fast and the slow adsorption approximations. Using this limit cases, equations are derived for the steady state hydriding rate of a given system. These equations provide means to anticipate the pressure dependence of the steady state absorption rate under low pressures, close to Peq and under very high pressures. At the low pressure regime both the fast and slow absorption cases yield linear pressure dependence. For the very high pressure range, it is found that the rate become independent of the applied pressure. The rate is given then by a combination of the individual rate constants of the system and the critical hydrogen concentrations. The model is shown to apply in several real cases, such as ZrCo, LaNi5 and titanium.

Jan 1, 2002