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By Francis Vanbellen

Umicore Precious Metals Refining operates an integrated precious metals smelting and refining plant in Hoboken, Belgium. Once a smelter and refiner of complex concentrates, the plant today?s feed consists exclusively of industrial and consumer recycled products, making it the world?s largest recycling facility for precious metals. Unlike the fairy tale of the Frog Prince, it took much more than a princess? kiss to successfully realize this makeover. A completely renewed plant has been built over the past decade. The most visible technological innovation was the commissioning of the Pb-Cu smelter. Its flexibility towards very different types of feed makes it perfectly suited as main entry to the Hoboken flow sheet. A new Cu-leaching & electro winning plant and precious metals refinery make up the Precious Metals Operations (PMO) whose targets are fast throughput and maximized yields for gold, silver and the platinum group metals. The Base Metals Operations (BMO), flexibly process the by-products from the PMO, valorizing ?impurities? like indium, tellurium, selenium and others. Off gas and waste water treatments ensure compliance with strict environmental standards. Precious metals recycling is an art that goes beyond mastering a unique flow sheet. Umicore Precious Metals Refining offers a complete recycling service, taking care of sampling and assaying, metals management and logistics. The quality of this integral service is recognized through the attribution of ISO certifications for our operational activities, sampling and the environmental care. And it?s an art that follows Michelangelo?s experience: ?Art is 5% of inspiration and 95% of transpiration.?

Jan 1, 2006

By Harold R. Kokal

Lisakovsky is a 3-billion ton oolitic iron ore deposit in north-central Kazakhstan operated by Orken LLP, a subsidiary of Ispat Karmet and the LNM Group. The iron oxide minerals are goethite and limonite. The gangue occurs as discrete quartz grains and an unidentified form of colloidal silica-alumina. The concentrate produced contains about 49.5 percent iron (Fe) and 0.6-0.8 percent phosphorus (P) or 10-20 times the acceptable phosphorus level. The phosphorus is intimately associated with the iron oxide and colloidal gangue, no discrete phosphorus minerals are found, and beneficiation is not possible. Therefore, to reduce the phosphorus, a hydrometallurgical process that includes roasting followed by leaching in dilute sulfuric acid has been developed. Phosphorus extraction is 70-90 percent, with only a minor loss of iron. The process has been tested in the laboratory and in a pilot plant at 50-300 kg/h. Construction of a 900,000 t/y demonstration plant is underway.

Jan 1, 2003

By W. G. Davenport

A survey of world copper refining tankhouse .practices has been carried out. This paper compiles the results and examines changes in operating practices .since the similar 1987, 1991 and 1995 surveys. Continuing trends are the installation of ISA Process and Kidd Process stainless steel cathode technology, polymer concrete cells, anode preparation machines and automatic cranes. Instrumentation and automatic control are increasing, particularly for addition agent optimization; solvent extraction .and ion exchange techniques are being increasingly applied for electrolyte purification. The overall consequences of these changes have been 'improved cathode purities and enhanced tankhouse productivities.

Jan 1, 1999

By S. V. Subramanian

The tool material and the machine design for high speed machining are well advanced over the last decade but the steel design has lagged behind. The paper examines the design of steel in order to control the sliding tribology for high speed machining under dry machining conditions. In high speed machining of steel, accelerated chemical wear of the tool occurs once atomic contact is established at the tool-chip interface, resulting in poor tool life even with high performance tools such as cubic boron nitride. Recent research has confirmed the occurrence of nanocrystalline grains in the interfacial layer of the chip at the tool-chip contact. The volume percentage of grain boundary is increased significantly (10 to 30%) as the nanocrystalline grain size is decreased well below 30 nm. The solubility of tool material into the nanocrystalline grain boundary is two or three orders of magnitude greater than in the crystal lattice. Further the kinetics of diffusion in the grain boundary is seven or eight orders of magnitude greater than in the crystal lattice. Enhanced nanocrystalline grain boundary diffusion occurring in the interfacial layer at the tool-chip contact causes the accelerated chemical wear. Significant improvement in tool life could be achieved by engineering glassy oxide inclusions in steel, designed to self-lubricate the tool-chip interface in-situ at higher cutting speeds. Thus the control of sliding tribological condition at the tool-chip interface is key to suppress nanocrystalline layer formation at the tool-chip contact and hence prevent accelerated chemical tool wear. Sulfide inclusions are designed essentially to promote chip fracture. In addition, sulfide inclusions are designed to act as a diffusion barrier at the tool-chip interface. The application of inclusion engineering concepts to enhance the tool life in high speed machining will be demonstrated with a suitable case history.

Jan 1, 2006

By A. M. Strachan

The arising and behavioural pattern of polonium-210 in the Capper Pass & Son Limited non-ferrous metal smelting and refining circuit is briefly discussed. The process developed for the removal of polonium from lead, solder and bismuth is discussed in detail, together with the essential personnel safety and environmental protection precautions which must be taken during the refining and subsequent storage of the active dross.

Jan 1, 1992

By Batric Pesic

Adsorption of gold on activated carbon from gold bromide solutions was examined as a function of pH, particle size, carbon amount, initial gold bromide concentration, bromine concentration, temperature, and various cations and anions. pH did not have any effect below pH=6. Above pH=6, pH had dramatically negative effect. The adsorption results satisfied a first reaction order model. The reaction rate constant was proportional to the inverse of carbon particle radius. It was also proportional to the amount of carbon, and independent of initial gold concentration. Temperature had a very little effect at pH=l. At pH=8, the activation energy was a function of the extent of a reaction, increasing with the extent of a reaction. Cu, Fe, Ca, Mg, and Na cations and sulfate, chloride and bromide anions did not have any effect on gold adsorption. Bromine had a very negative effect on gold uptake.

Jan 1, 1991

By Shubin Wang

Copper(II) and nickel(II) are often recovered from ammoniacal alkaline solutions by solvent extraction using hydroxyoxime extractants: both copper(II) and nickel(II) are extracted from ammoniacal alkaline solutions and, from the loaded organic phase, nickel(II) is selectively stripped with a dilute acid followed by copper(II) stripping with an acid of higher concentration. Since a small portion of ammonia is co-extracted with copper and nickel, the extracted ammonia should be scrubbed using a dilute acid before metal stripping. In the present study, a mechanistic model has been developed in order to support design and control of this process. The equilibrium distribution ratios of copper(II), nickel(II), and ammonia at 298 K using LIX® 84-I (active component, 2-hydroxy-5-nonylacetophenone oxime) as the extractant are successfully correlated by considering the relevant equilibria. Based on these results, quantitative prediction of equilibrium distribution ratios in the process has been made possible, and suitable conditions for the efficient separation of copper(II) and nickel(II) are discussed.

By Hiroshi Nakajima, Kotobu Nagai, Toshihiro Hanamura

"Low carbon ferritic steel bars with ultra-fine grain structure was developed through a warm rolling for the first time by the present authors. They show better low temperature toughness than conventionally hot-rolled plates. Hence, the brittle fracture surfaces in Charpy tests were examined in terms of the effective grain size of fracture, compared with those of conventional QT steels. The ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures were in good accordance with those for the QT steels if referred to the effective grain size of fracture: · However, the size was a few times that of the ferrite grain. This means the grain refining is not yet fully utilized from the viewpoint of low temperature toughness. The anisotropy of· the impact properties and the annealing effect of highly dislocated structure on the toughness are also discussed in the present paper.IntroductionFor structural materials, both high strength and good toughness are required. Well-known approaches for obtaining better toughness for steels are as follows:1) Grain refining2) Addition of Ni3) Thin plate effect by cracking parallel to the rolling direction prior to crack propagation4) Contribution of metastable austenite.Among them, only the grain refining can raise the strength and improve the toughness. And it is well known that the finer the ferrite grain size, the lower the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature. For example, in the case of 0.11 carbon steel, the transition temperature decreases linearly to in d 1/2 [1 ]. However, these have been told in the regime of coarse grain size that is larger than 10 µm in diameter. There ~as .been no study dealing with the low temperature toughness in the regime of ultra-fine grain size with a diameter in the order of 1 µm."

Jan 1, 2000

By K. G. Wang, M. E. Glicksman, P. Crawford

"We formulate the mathematical solution to late-stage multi particle diffusion in finite systems. The transition from finite system behavior to that for an infinite system is established. Large-scale simulations are reported regarding the dynamics of phase coarsening. Even in the case of a small volume fraction (Vv = 10-4), the particle size distribution is broader than that for the well-known Lifshitz-Slyozov limit at zero volume fraction. We also report the first simulation studies of extremely low volume fraction, for which corresponding experiments, as well as other simulations, do not exist at present for comparison. However, in the case of moderate volume fractions (Vv = 0.1), the fiucutations in the volumetric growth rate of particles are extracted from our simulations. These simulations provide additional insight into the statistical nature of diffusion interactions, including multiparticle stochastics during microstructural evolution.IntroductionPredicting microstructure evolution in alloys remains one of the cornerstones of materials science. Phase coarsening is a common process in microstrucural evolution that leads to a decrease in the excess total interfacial energy of the system. The system typically consists of separate and identifiable units, or domains, such as second-phase particles distributed in a matrix. During phase coarsening, larger particles grow at the expense of small particles. Over time, this ""competition"" results in an increase in the average size of the particle population, and in a concomitant decrease in the number of particles.Particle size and microstructure of many cast alloys depend on similar coarsening processes. Indeed, properties of these materials, such as strength, toughness, ductility, and electrical conductivity, depend on the material's average particle size and particle size distribution (PSD). Understanding and controlling microstructures in two-phase systems are clearly of widespread technological importance."

Jan 1, 2001

By D. R. Flynn

The recovery of nickel and cobalt from electromachining sludges in the form of relatively high-purity marketable products has been investigated. The investigation has shown that a series of metallurgical unit operations can be performed to recover nickel and cobalt from electromachining sludges in the form of al kal i nickel ic hydroxide and cobalt sulfate/cobal t metal, respectively. The recovery unit operations for nickel include high pH cyanide complexation, followed by oxidation and precipitation of alkali nickel hydroxide. The resultant filtrate can be treated for cobalt recovery by neutralization and acid baking to produce cobalt sulfate. The cobalt sulfate can then be treated for cobalt recovery by electrowinning. Results from laboratory bench scale test work are discussed in terms of appropriate operating conditions.

Jan 1, 1991

By Tatsuo Inoue, Marnoru Mizuno, Toru Matsuoka, Kenichiro Abe

"The distribution of particle reinforcements and the residual stresses in metal matrix composite are simulated by considering the motion of particles and the solidification of matrix associated with temperature variation in the course of centrifugal casting process. In the analysis, a heat conduction equation including heat generation due to latent heat and also mechanical work as well as heat input from successively accumulated element on the air/metal boundary is solved by the finite element technique. After the movement of particles subjected to the centrifugal force and drag are analyzed, the residual stresses are elucidated by using a unified constitutive equation which can describe the behavior both in liquid and solid states. Results of the simulation are compared with the experimental data, and the validity and utility of the procedure is confirmed.IntroductionProcess simulation of metal matrix composite (MMC) is required to determine the mechanical properties of the materials and the efficient process and conditions of the fabrication. Properties of bonding matrix with reinforcements in the course of the processing, for example, affects the strength of the composite, while the final costs of the productions depends on the efficiency of fabrication. Therefore, the simulation of processing of MMC is prerequisite in order to clarify the mechanism to fabricate the material which has been expected to maintain high mechanical properties and the cost performance.Some techniques of processing MMC[l] have been developed so far. Among them, the centrifugal casting technique [2-5] has many attractive characteristics as processing of the MMC: The centrifugal casting technique makes the reinforcements such as particles or short fibers to be distributed in the radial direction by the centrifugal force acting on reinforcements due to the difference in density between reinforcements and matrix. Since the distribution of reinforcements affect the mechanical properties of MMC, the composite with functionally gradient mechanical properties can be provided by the centrifugal casting technique."

Jan 1, 1994

By A. McLean, Y. Uchida, M. Iwase, M. Myochin, K. Wiikimoto

"Phase diagrams of FeO-containing ternary systems could be derived from experimental data for the activities of FeO. The systems investigated are CaO-CaF2-FeO, SrO-SrF2-FeO; BaO-BaF2-FeO, CaO-CaCl2-FeO, SrO-SrC12-FeO, BaO-BaC12-FeO, CaO-A12O3-FeO and BaO-SiO2-FeO.IntroductionThe importance of phase diagram cannot be overemphasized. In a book, ""Alloy Phase Equilibria""[l], the author, Professor A Prince, states, ""A metallurgist has been defined as a person who thinks in terms of phase diagram"". Whether one accepts this statement or not, it is self-evident that an ability to interpret phase equilibria is essential to the professional metallurgists.The physical chemistry studies of iron and steelmaking process often require phase diagrams of FeO-containing slags. Iso-thermal section of the phase· diagrams of such systems can be derived from experimental data for chemical potentials of FeO. Due to the recent developments in the area of solid state electrochemistry, rapid determinations of the FeO activities have become possible. The present paper is aimed at documenting the derivation of the phase diagrams of FeO containing slags.Experimental AspectsAn electrochemical method incorporating stabilized zirconia can be used for the measurements of the activities of FeO in various slags and fluxes[2]. For the details of the experimental technique, reference should be made to reference 2"

Jan 1, 2000

By N. L. Piret

Reprocessing of low zinc-bearing residuals with a zinc content of less than 10%, originating from the iron and steel industry, has been given more and more attention in the last few years, due to the potential landfill liability and the increasing cost of disposal by dumping. Whereas, recycling of hazardous electric arc furnace dust is already being performed commercially on a large scale in the U.S., Japan and Western Europe, almost no reprocessing takes place in the case of these low grade zinc-bearing materials. In blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces dusts and / or sludges are generated at a rate of 1 to 2 % of the respective production. The technologies for the retreatment of these types of materials, either commercially available or still being developed are briefly described hereafter. They involve internal recycling, upgrading by physical separation methods, separate hydrometallurgical processing and pyrometallurgical treatment. Their scope and limitations are critically assessed in terms of technological applicability, economic feasibility and environmental compatibility. Since, the possibtlity of achieving economic profitability is unlikely with this type of material, the main criteria for acceptability of the treatment process are: generation of a iron-rich material, suitable for treatment by the iron/steel industry, acceptance of the non--ferrous metal-bearing sub-product by zinc smelters, generation of non-hazardous waste materials.

Jan 1, 1992

By T. T. Nguyen, D. R. Gunasegaram, D. Celentano

"Heat transfer rates at the casting-mold interface are believed to be substantially reduced by the formation of an interfacial gap during the course of solidification of aluminum alloys in permanent molds. In the current work, the effect of force-cooling a permanent composite mold on (i) the initiation and growth characteristics of the gap and (ii) interfacial heat transfer rates are studied. Interesting comparisons are made with the case where no cooling is employed. Casting and mold displacements are measured using L VDTs, and the mold is force-cooled by air jets.IntroductionIn a gravity casting situation where an aluminum alloy solidifies in a permanent mold, a gap initiates and grows between the shrinking casting and the expanding mold (1). It is widely believed that the formation of this gap, customarily referred to as an 'air gap', results in a substantial reduction in the heat transfer coefficient at the casting-mold interface (2), and hence is an important factor in solidification studies.The nature of the air gap formation process is thermo-mechanical. The rate of heat loss from the casting first determines the rate of solidification, which, in turn, decides when the gap initiates. The reason for this is the requirement for the solidified casting surface 'skin' to gain sufficient thickness, and hence strength, to be self-supporting. Once the gap initiates, the gap width controls the rate of heat loss from the casting, which, again, determines the rate at which the gap expands."

Jan 1, 1997

By Norimasa Yamasaki, Masao Kurosaki

"The effects of plating conditions on the crystal orientation of electrodeposited zinc were investigated by varying elecyrolyte flow rate and current density. Precipitation of the Zn (00 • 2) basal plane is promoted at lower current density and higher flow velocity. Effect of the flow velocity on the mass transport was evaluated based on the polarization measurement in which Cu was used as the tracer. As a result, it has been clarified that the crystal orientation of electrodeposited zinc can be uniquely arranged by the overvoltage (iU0.5) that can be simply calculated by considering -the current density and boundary layer thickness. At the same time, the electrode potential during electrodeposition that can be calculated by using a model based on the competitive reactions of hydrogen reduction 'and zinc reduction exhibits an extremely good correlation with the crystal orientation of electrodeposited zinc.Introduction Electrogalvanized steel sheet has better surface properties than hot-dip galvanized steel sheet, and is used in home electric appliance and automobile applications. Factors such as crystal morphology, crystal orientation and surface roughness have a large influence on its appliance, formability and corrosion resistance [1-3].Electrolysis, condition, bath composition and alloying elements are reported as factors that affect the crystal orientation of the electrogalvanized coating. Factors that can be controlled on time in the production site are electrolysis condition that-is current density and plating solution flow velocity.Some studies[4-6] report that the crystal- orientation of the Zn(00 • 2) plane is increased by promoting, the mass transfer of zinc ions in the plating solution or decreasing the concentration overvoltage, but did not investigate in detail the plating solution flow conditions in the plating cell nor quantitatively determine the effects of both current density and plating solution flow conditions on the crystal orientation of ' electrodeposited zinc."

Jan 1, 2000

By Dirk Verhulst

The Altair process employs digestion of ilmenite ore in concentrated hydrochloric acid, solvent extraction to concentrate Ti in a purified stream and spray hydrolysis to produce a TiO2 hydrate, followed by final calcining and milling. HCl gas is regenerated by pressure-swing distillation and reinjected in the leaching solution. All chloride streams are recycled. Chromium compounds generally remain in the residue. Solvent extraction provides flexibility for the removal of naturally occurring radioactive elements (NORMs) present in some ilmenites. The process was previously tested at a 5 t/day feed scale. Recent work at pilot scale (40 liter reactor) led to further improvements. Recovery of Ti in solution is now at least 90% with ilmenite ores, while crystallization at lower temperature lowers the amount of Fe in solution to about 5 g/l and improves solvent extraction, which is now conducted in columns. Higher Ti and lower Fe concentrations in the SX eluate improve the economics. A new formula for pigment production via spray hydrolysis produces a pigmentary base with a narrow particle size distribution.

Jan 1, 2003

By Xirneng Zhu

The electrochemical behavior of Pittsburgh and Illinois coal pyrite in basic and neutral borate/sulfate solutions was investigated. In the transpassive region, aggressive oxidation of pyrite occurred. The reaction products in this region were Fe(III) oxide, sulfate ion and partially oxidized sulfur intermediates. The formation of sulfur and polysulfides was identified by in-situ Raman spectroscopy. The growth kinetics of the reaction product film, resulting from transpassive oxidation of coal pyrites, were studied using chronoamperometry measurement with both stationary and rotating disk electrodes. The reaction rate was well correlated by a paralinear rate equation. The effects of electrode rotation speed, solution pH and temperature were examined. The kinetics were compared to those for mineral pyrite.

Jan 1, 1994

By J. Leon-Torres, D. M. Stefanescu, P. A. Curreri, S. Sen

"Experiments were performed under terrestrial gravity (lg) and during parabolic flights (10·2 g) to study the solidification and macrosegregation patterns of Al-Cu alloys. Alloys having 2% and 5% Cu were solidified against a chill at two different cooling rates. Microscopic and Electron Microprobe characterization was used to produce rnicrostructural and macrosegregation maps.In all cases positive segregation occurred next to the chill because of the shrinkage flow, as expected. This positive segregation was higher in the low-g samples, apparently because of the higher heat transfer coefficient.A 2-D computational model was used to explain the experimental results. The continuum formulation was employed to describe the macroscopic transports of mass, energy, and momentum, associated with the solidification phenomena, for a two-phase system. The model considers that liquid flow is driven by thermal and solutal buoyancy, and by solidification shrinkage. The solidification event was divided into two stages. In the first one, the liquid containing freely moving equiaxed grains was described through the relative viscosity concept. In the second stage, when a fixed dendritic network was formed after dendritic coherency, the mushy zone was treated as a porous medium.The macrosegregation maps and the cooling curves obtained during experiments were used for validation of the solidification and segregation model. The model can explain the solidification and macrosegregation patterns and the differences between low- and high-gravity results."

Jan 1, 1999

By S. Seetharaman

A mathematical model has been developed to evaluate the viscosities of melts at high temperatures. The viscous flow in liquid is described by the equation, {n = Aexp(AG*/RT)} based on the absolute reaction rate theory. The Gibbs energy of activation,{ AG* } is considered to be a function of the temperature as well as the composition of the melt. The model has been applied successfully to various metallic and slag systems from unary to quaternary. On the basis of this model, a relationship has been suggested to relate the Gibbs activation energy of viscosity to the Gibbs energy of mixing in binary metallic melts. The viscosities predicted from available thermodynamic data in the case of a number of binary metallic systems using this correlation show satisfactory agreement with the reported experimental values.

Jan 1, 1994

By K. Tozwa

The electrical conductivity of electrolytes for copper electrorefining and electrowinning processes has been reported by many researchers since 1911. The experimental results show that the conductivity increases with an increase in sulfuric acid concentration and decreascs with an increase in copper concentration. In pure copper sulfate solution, however, the conductivity increases with an increase in the copper concentration. After confirming the conductivity of pure and acidified copper sulfate solutions experimentally, the concentrations of hydrogen ion and free (not hydrated) water in the electrolytes were estimated and it was found that the relation between the conductivity of acidified copper sulfate electrolytes and the products of concentration of hydrogen ion and free water is linear. Accordingly, the conductivity of acidified copper sulfate electrolytes increases with an increase in sulfuric acid concentration and decreases with an increase in copper concentration.

Jan 1, 2003