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By Ian M. Ritchie

Right across the universities of the developed world, the traditional disciplines of physics and chemistry are losing ground. Extractive metallurgy, which depends so heavily on chemistry, is also contracting despite a clear need for people with this kind of training in the mining industry. Reasons for this loss of popularity are discussed in this paper. High on the list is one of image. The extraction of metals is widely seen as a dirty, polluting, sunset industry which involves working in remote and uncomfortable corners of the earth for inadequate compensation. Ways in which the image problem can be overcome are considered. It is concluded that a concerted effort needs to be made by the universities and industry to redress this situation. The importance of extractive metallurgy, both now and in the future, when a greater emphasis will be placed on sustainability and recycling, needs to be stressed. In addition, courses need to incorporate training for a career path that leads on beyond extractive metallurgy.

Jan 1, 2003

By John M. Rapkoch

In the continuing search for copper matte converting methods, commercially available and feasible choices remain Peirce-Smith Converters, Hoboken Converters, Mitsubishi Converting, Ausmelt converting, and Outokumpu/Kennecott Solid Matte Oxygen Converting (?Flash Converting?). While each alternative improves on Peirce-Smith Converters? limited fugitive gas capturing capability, the Peirce-Smith Converter is relatively easy and economic to operate and has an unmatched ability to accept valuable but difficult-to-handle material such as scrap anodes and purchased scrap copper. Recent experience with designing, building, and starting up an ISASMELT facility, applied in primary smelting of copper concentrates, has led the authors to speculate on how suitable the ISASMELT process would be for copper converting, given its low fugitive gas release and its ability to accept a variety of feed types. This paper reviews the potential metallurgical challenges posed by converting copper matte in an ISASMELT vessel and considers possible engineering and design challenges posed by the inclusion of this technology into a new or refurbished copper smelter.

Jan 1, 2006

By K. Eto, H. Akiyama, T. Iwamoto

The Hikoshima smelter carried out an expansion project in 1997 and increased its production from 59,200 t/y to 71,000 t/y. The leaching process and the casting process had production capacities of 84,000 t/y, but because of the electric power situation in Japan, the production capacity in the electrolysis process was limited to 59,200 t/y to justify the production cost. Electrolysis was the bottle neck of the plant. In order to eliminate a part of this bottle neck, and considering the electric power situation in Japan, a way to increase the production during the time when the electric power rate is low was sought. In practice, we increased the number of cells by 36, and further improved the operation procedures in the cellhouse. For example, we improved the working efficiency of the cells, improved the productivity during the night time, decreased the unit power consumption and improved labor productivity. Accordingly, this paper describes the recent operations at the Hikoshima plant.

Jan 1, 2000

By Md Sazzadur Rahman

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy studies were conducted on two organic thermal energy storage materials; Neopentylglycol (NPG) and 2-Amino-2-Methyl-1,3-Propanediol (AMPL). The ionic conductivities and dielectric relaxation times in the low temperature ordered a-phase (monoclinic for both NPG and AMPL) as well as high temperature orientationally disordered cubic y-phase are reported.

Jan 1, 2006

By N. A. McKay, J. G. Davison

"Heap leachable ore deposits from many countries have been submitted for process mineralogical evaluation and laboratory testwork. Numerous factors must be addressed and integrated by the mineralogist, geologist, metallurgist and engineer. Projects encompass grass roots exploration, preliminary petrographic analysis, predictive and process mineralogy, dye penetration analysis of rocks and thin sections, metallurgical beneficiation testwork and plant optimization studies. The significance of mineralogical factors, such as geological controls, degree of oxidation, dye amenability, liberation, deleterious minerals, refractoriness, and the impact of mineralogy on gold recovery and process considerations, will be presented.ABSTRACT ONLY"

Jan 1, 1997

By Thomas Brynjulfsen, Merete Tangstad

"Manganese ore fines, generated during mining and transportation, can not be added to the submerged arc furnace directly as they will prevent even gas flow through the burden. Low gas permeability in the burden will lower the degree of pre-reduction of ore and subsequently increase the carbon and energy consumption of the process. In order to utilize manganese ore fines in the furnace they are agglomerated into sinter, pellet or briquettes. The agglomeration process will however change the reduction properties of the ore. In this work the melting and reduction properties of sinter has been investigated.The melting temperature and melting mechanisms has been studied. The mineralogy of the raw ores and agglomerated has been found using XRD, and the composition established using EPMA(WDS). The effect of adding fluxes such as dolomite and quartz has also been investigated.IntroductionManganese metal is produced in a submerged electric arc furnace or in blast furnaces. The reduction of manganese oxide in blast furnace has in the recent years become more unusual due to the high consumption of reducing carbon material[5]. Manganese metal for alloying in steel usually contains silicon and iron, and are therefore called ferro manganese and silicomanganese.During mining, transportation and handling the manganese ore is broken up into different size fractions. The larger lump are used directly in the electric arc furnace, but the finer materials can not be added without treatment. The fine ore can disrupt the flow of CO and CO2 gas through the burden, subsequently reducing the degree of pre-reduction. The fine fractions must therefore be agglomerated into larger lumps, in order to promote gas flow. This can be achieved through a number of different processes. The agglomerate used in this work has been sintered, which means that is has been partly molten and reduced, in order to create bigger lumps."

Jan 1, 2012

By Z. R. Llanos, W. G. Deering

Gulf Chemical and Metallurgical Corporation (GCMC) has been operating facility for treatment of spent catalysts in Freeport, Texas since 1974. Recently, GCMC expanded its operations with the addition of an electric furnace for the production of fused alumina and mixed alloys. GCMC and its affiliate Sadaci, started up a new pre-treatment facility in Ghent, Belgium in 1998. GCMC is also part owner of Bear Metallurgical Corporation, a major producer of ferroalloys in the United States. This paper reviews the processes at these facilities. Changes in the management of hydrotreating and hydrorefining spent catalysts are discussed in light of recently issued federal regulations that made the majority of spent catalysts a listed hazardous waste.

Jan 1, 2000

By Wellington Pereira Inácio, Frederico Muylaert Margem, Artur Camposo Pereira, Sergio Neves

"Natural fibers are currently gaining attention as reinforcement of polymer composites for uses in engineering parts for automobile and building construction. In spite of environmental, economical and societal advantages, the natural lignocellulosic fibers are not as uniform in their dimension and properties as compared to synthetic. In recent works it was found that the variation in strength could be correlate to the equivalent diameters for several lignocellulosic fibers including the sisal fibers. In the present work an investigation on a possible correlation of the equivalent diameter with changes in density and elastic modulus was carried out. Precise measurements of the equivalent diameter, conducted in a profile projector, were correlated with the density and the elastic modulus by means of the Weibull statistic analysis. The results showed that an inverse correlation with the diameter also applies for both the density and the elastic modulus with a high degree of precision. SEM observation of the sisal fiber in structure and fracture aspects strongly indicate that defects and microfibril participation could be responsible for the inverse correlation.IntroductionAccording to Kalia [1], cellulose-based fibers are currently being pushed owing to their ""green"" image. Contrary to synthetic glass fiber, extensively used in our modem technology, these lignocellulosic fibers are renewable and can be incinerated at the end of the material's lifetime without adding pollution in the atmosphere moreover, the amount of CO2 released during incineration process is negligible as compared to the corresponding amount taken up by the plant throughout its lifetime. Even if an industrial processing equivalent of C02 release is added, the lignocellulosic fiber is considered neutral with respect to the emission of gases responsible for the global warming [2]."

Jan 1, 2012

By Gaifeng Xue, Lijun Lu, Honghui Fang, Jiannyang Hwang

"Steel slag has been stockpiled in many steel mills due to its poor performance in various construction related applications. Free lime in steel slag has been considered as a major barrier for its utilizations. Composite of steel slag and powders of granulated blast furnace slag have been found an excellent cementitious material for concrete. Portland cement is not required in this kind of concrete. Concretes with various amounts of steel slag and powders of granulated blast furnace slag additions have been investigated. Physical and chemical properties of the products were examined. High performance concrete can be obtained. Field testing of the concrete products was conducted for various applications, including buildings and pavements, and the results demonstrated the soundness of the concrete. Drill cores of field tested concrete, with ages up to 26 years, were examined for the microstructures under SEM.IntroductionIn the steel industry, a major source of the solid waste is steel slag. Steel slag has poor stability in construction applications. This is a major reason that only a small amount of steel slag has been utilized. Some of the reported applications include the land filling/creation in the sea, road base materials, soil treatment for acid neutralization and micronutrients supply, and sintering aid in the sintering plant of the steel industry [1].To solve the stability problem for using steel slag as construction materials, the common approach is to find a method capable of depressing or eliminating the expansion of steel slag. Free lime in steel slag is the major component that causes the expansion. Aging and hydration pretreatment of free lime in steel slag are the well known methods for increasing the steel slag stability. However, there has been limited success on these approaches due to that a large portion of free lime is locked in the grains during the pretreatment process."

Jan 1, 2012

By S. Kawamura, H. Inoue, Y. Maeda, H. Ohike

Kosaka smelter is a copper smelter located in Akita Prefecture in the northern part of Japan. It has treated complex sulfide concentrates for a long time. Recently, in addition to metal production from ores, the company has been working on the recycling of metals by using this metallurgical technology. Metals recovered are primarily gold, silver, palladium, copper and lead from copper scraps, electronic board scraps, silver oxide batteries, spent lead acid batteries, semiconductor chips, cellular phones, and automotive emissions catalyst. In particular, electronic board scraps and cellular phones can be valuable raw materials. These electronic scraps are fed into the flash smelting furnace after size reduction in a shredder that was introduced in 1999. Due to the growing demand for personal computers and cellular phones, the amount of electronic board scraps available for recycling increased. At present, these secondary materials are good raw materials for Kosaka smelter since the smelter is already used to dealing with complex raw materials. The recycled metals account for up between 5 and 20 percent of the total production at Kosaka Smelter. In particular, over 90 percent of the palladium in the secondary materials can be recovered.

Jan 1, 2000

By Lucas Barbosa de Souza Martins, Frederico Muylaert Margem, Nathalia Carneiro Garcia Rosa, Sergio Neves Monteiro

"A natural banana fiber extracted from the plant pseudostem has shown values of density and mechanical strength with potential for uses in engineering applications such as automobile interior parts and floating components. Moreover, natural fibers can also be used as insulating materials in packaging and building panels. In this case some thermal properties are required. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the thermal behavior of the banana fiber by means of TGA, DTG and DSC analysis. The TGA curves revealed weight loss related to release of humidity and molecular structure decomposition. Peaks in the DTG curves indicated two intervals in temperature associated with different decomposition processes. The only endothermic DSC peak found was attributed to the lignocellulosic water of hydration being lost around 121°C.IntroductionIn recent times, environmental aspects related not only to pollution caused by non-degradable synthetic leftovers, specially polymeric wastes, but also to climate changes as a consequence of industrial activities, are motivating the use of natural materials. A particular case is fibrous composites, like the fiber grass composites. These synthetic materials, made from non-renewable polymers, are practically non-degradable and contribute to global warming by the CO2 emission associated with the energy required for the fabrication process. In spite of these environmental shortcomings, fiber materials are essential for the production of many items such as insulating chests, automobile cushion, construction panels, etc. An environmentally correct alternative to replace synthetic fibers composites is the naturally existing ones extracted from plants such as ramie and sisal. These have some environmental advantages of being renewable and degradable, these banana plant provide a negative contribution to C02 emission by absorbing greenhouse gas during the plant life cycle. Banana fibers have been used since long time in simple items such as ropes and rugs. Today they are used in engineering applications related insulation in building panels [2] and finish parts in automobile interior components [3]."

Jan 1, 2012

By Gaifeng Xue, Jingxuan Zhou, Shangchao Liu

"Both COD and TOC can characterize organic pollution of coking wastewater. In theory, there is a linear correlation between these two indicators. After continuous monitoring TOC and COD of coking waste water, linear regression relationship between of these to indicators was studied with the use of mathematical statistics. And conversion equation between these two indicators was established, and using t-test method for significance testing. The results showed that the linear relationship of COD and TOC was significant. Also interval estimation of equation slope and intercept were given in the condition of 95% confidence level. A linear regression equation established can be used to indirectly convert TOC to COD with high precision and accuracy.IntroductionBoth chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) are measure of the degree of characterization for organic pollution of water bodies. The current COD standard analytical methods is Potassium dichromate titration method [1] . there are some disadvantages in this method, such as only part of organic matter in the water bodies being oxidated, the refluxed steps, a long time needed for each measurement, high cost. It is the most important that sulfuric acid silver and mercury sulfate reagents used in the measurement may easily lead to secondary pollution. In contrast, the measurement of TOC is by the method of combustion or Photocatalytic Oxidation. The result could be easily got from the instrument. There are some advantages in this way, such as easy operation, short time and little expenses for each measurement and no secondary pollution 121• In addition, the measurement of TOC has higher degree of precision and accuracy than the measurement of COD both in the determination of calibration standards and actual samples. The meaning and contrast of TOC and COD are listed in the table 1."

Jan 1, 2013

By Sergio Neves Monteiro, Nuã Simonassi, Helvio Pessanha Guimarães Santafé Jr.

"Thermoset polymers, like the polyester, become harder with increasing temperature owing to molecular crosslink formation, which is a thermal benefit for composite matrix applications. Natural lignocellulosic fibers, however, have low thermal resistance and tend to degrade with increasing temperature. Therefore, the combination of a lignocellulosic fiber, as reinforcement, with a thermoset polymer, as the matrix, results in a composite material with complex thermal behavior. In the present work, a thermal analysis was conducted on polyester composites with different amounts of coir fibers. Both TGA and DTG curves were analyzed to determine the effect of the coir fiber on the thermal resistance of the composites. It was found that the coir fiber sensibly affects the thermal behavior of the polyester matrix for fiber amounts above 10% in volume. This effect is associated with an increase in thermal degradation.IntroductionIn recent years, there has been an increase application of natural fibers as reinforcement of polymer matrix composites in several industrial sectors, with special participation in automobile components [1-3]. Figure 1 illustrates the different components of a modem BMW sedan that are fabricated with lignocellulosic reinforced polymer composites."

Jan 1, 2012

By Jr. Pomykala, B. J. Jody, E. J. Daniels

Each year, about five (5) million ton of shredder residues are landfilled in the United States. ·Similar quantities are landfilled in Europe and the Pacific Rim. Landfilling of these residues results in a cost to the existing recycling industry and also represents a loss of material resources that are otherwise recyclable. In this paper, we outline the resources recoverable from typical shredder residues and describe technology that we have developed to recover these resources.

Jan 1, 2000

By E. Yegan Erdem, Fiona M. Doyle, Alyssa A. Maich

"There is an expanding interest in synthesizing high quality magnetic nanoparticles, most notably for biomedical applications. Different processing routes have been reported for the synthesis of magnetite and maghemite. However, some ambiguity remains on their precise chemistry, intermediates, and final products, due to the structural similarity of maghemite and magnetite, and the relative ease of redox transitions during synthesis. Here we present the results of TEM, x-ray and electron diffraction, and SQUID studies aimed at characterizing the products from two different reaction systems, thereby clarifying the reaction chemistry. The first system hydrolyzed aqueous FeCh and FeCb chlorides with ammonia in a micro fluidic reactor at ambient temperature; although the reaction product displayed a uniform distribution, it included non-magnetic goethite and lepidocrocite. If the aqueous solutions contained dissolved oxygen, there appeared to be extensive oxidation of Fe(II). The second system thermally decomposed iron (III) acetylacetonate in ether. In prior studies, oleylamine has been reported to serve as both a reducing agent and capping ligand to control particle characteristics; however, our studies revealed little reduction, with maghemite dominating the reaction products.IntroductionMagnetite and maghemite nanoparticles are co=only used in ferrofluids, in medical applications, and in drug delivery. Superparamagnetic properties, along with low cytotoxicity, colloid stability and bioactive molecule conjugation capability, make these nanomagnets ideal for both in-vitro and in-vivo biomedical applications [1]. One of the major constraints on widespread adoption of nanoparticles for these applications is the amount needed. Typical batch synthesis methods produce polydispersed nanoparticles, which require further size selection procedures to isolate the mono disperse nanoparticle population needed for many applications. In order to maximize the yield of usable particles from a synthesis operation, the reaction conditions must be closely controlled. This requires full knowledge of how the reaction conditions control the various aspects of nanoparticle growth. Many methods have been used to synthesize iron oxides, including sonochemical reactions, mechanochemical synthesis, hydrolysis and thermal decomposition. This work examines the latter two methods, focusing on oxidation and reduction of iron."

Jan 1, 2012

By Mahmoud A. Rabah

"In this work, metal values were prepared from used beverage cans. The cans are made of aluminum and minor alloying metals and printed with a multi-color printing ink. A method has been investigated to remove the printed coating using organic solvents or by sand blasting technique in a rotating drum. Metal values of the cleaned cans are prepared applying combined hydro and pyrometallurgical treatments. Factors affecting the efficiency of the suggested method have been studied.The results show that the extent of removal of the printing coating is successfully performed with recyclable methyl ethyl ketone I dimethyl formarnide mixture. With sand blasting, it proceeds regularly with the inner diameter, the rotation speed of the drum, the size of the sand grains and temperature. The removed coating is stripped with the same solvent. Metal alloy(s) are prepared in two ways. In the first way, the cans are pressed into solid blocks using hydraulic press before melting at temperatures up to 1000°C using borax-sodium chloride salt mixture as a flux. The quality of the metal obtained is a function of the salt and temperature. The slag so formed was leached with mineral acid solutions. In the second way, the used beverage cans are directly dissolved in mineral acids whereby different metal values are selectively precipitated. The undissolved part is fused with sodium carbonate at 800°C and processed in the same manner. Results were explained in the light of the thermodynamic properties of the species involved."

Jan 1, 2000

By Juliana G. Gutierrez-Paredes, Gabriel Plascencia-Barrera, Fidel Reyes-Carmona

In Mexico, many tonnes of nickel from waste petrochemical catalysts are dumped every year. In order to recover all that nickel, a hydrometallurgical reactor was designed. This design was performed in a systematical fashion, which included the chemistry of the system under study, both a kinetic and mass transfer study, and finally the use of the RID function, to optimize the reactor size. It was found that the NiO leaching with sulfuric acid is well represented by a first order reaction. The mass transfer results are in good agreement with the experimental results, obtaining over 95% nickel extraction in both cases. A marketing study was also completed that determined that it is possible to make a good profit by processing this residue provided the capital cost was low.

Jan 1, 2000

By Ahmadzadegan. Arash, Anil Saigal, Michael A. Zimmerman

"In this study, the rheology of liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) melts through simplified 2-D and 3-D die geometries is simulated using Polyflow™. It is known that rheological properties of LCPs are close to long chain polymers and their directionality is close to those of small molecule liquid crystals (SMLCs). As a result, different rheological models (both viscoelastic and generalized Newtonian) for long chain polymers in Polyflow™ were investigated based on the available capillary rheometer data. By varying the parameters in these models, it is possible to adjust the effect of shear viscosity, normal stress differences and relaxations times on the rheology of the polymer. The free surface of the extrudate coming out of the die is simulated and the amount of die swell for different types of rheological models is compared. This study indicates that the Bird-Carreau model best applies to thermotropic LCP materials as quantified by die swell. Since the rheology of the LCPs affects the orientation of the crystals, the result of this simulation can be further used to predict the orientation of crystallines inside and outside the die.IntroductionAny rod like molecule or crystal tends to orient itself in the direction of shear as it moves within a flow. Since polymers consist of long chains of molecules, they experience the same phenomena when flowing in the melt condition. For most polymers, the molecules change direction and distribute uniformly in space during the solidification. However due to the higher inertia of the crystals in the liquid crystalline polymers, the oriented crystals will keep their order during the solidification and as a result the final product will show anisotropy in material properties."

Jan 1, 2012

By Adam Gesing, Ron Dalton, Richard Wolanski, Larry Berry, Christopher Stewart

As the quantity of aluminum recovered from shredder scrap continues to increase, together with increased content of aluminum in automobiles, so does the economic incentive to further upgrade shredder scrap. This upgrade will be done by sorting and recovering the aluminum by specific usable alloy compositions. The metal recycling industry infrastructure needed to deal with the increased aluminum scrap supply already exists. It is an inverted pyramid structure that in North America comprises: 3000 scrap collection yards, 200 shredders, a dozen sink-float plants and one heavy metal sorting operation. The technology for upgrading aluminum sorted from shredder scrap is already either in industrial use or in the final stages of pilot plant development. However, the current automotive aluminum recycling infrastructure will need to adjust to deal with higher volumes of the metal from aluminum-intensive vehicles that will be appearing in shredder scrap -20 years from now.

Jan 1, 2000

By Douglas M. Matson, Rongbiao Gu, Christopher San Marchi, Anil Saigal

"Hydrogen embrittles most structural metals, although the form and magnitude of embrittlement depends on the source of the hydrogen as well as the stress in the metal. Hydrogen fuel cell systems typically store gaseous hydrogen fuel at high-pressure, which provides both a source of hydrogen and high stresses in the containment materials. Understanding and measuring the effects of hydrogen on the mechanical properties of common structural metals, especially fatigue properties, is important for safe, long-term operation of such systems. This work explores the use of thermography to efficiently and quantitatively evaluate hydrogen-assisted fatigue of type 304 austenitic stainless steel. In particular, thermographic analysis was used with rotating-beam fatigue testing and shown to provide repeatable results which are in general independent of test cycle frequency while reducing test times by several orders of magnitude. The effects of hydrogen were studied by thermally precharging fatigue test specimens in gaseous hydrogen prior to thermography-assisted fatigue testing and then compared to testing of non-charged specimens. Hydrogen-precharging increased the strength of this type 304 austenitic stainless steel and increased the fatigue life by a factor of about 50-100.IntroductionThe world is facing a severe energy and environmental challenge: how to provide competitive and clean energy for its citizens in light of an escalating global energy demand and concerns over energy supply security, climate change and local air pollution. As a carbon-free energy carrier, hydrogen provides a promising vector for storing and distributing renewable energy. Hydrogen is an important industrial gas that is used extensively in many industries. However, with growing demand for clean energy, hydrogen fuel cell systems are being developed for use in consumer products, such as fuel cell vehicles, which changes the landscape for safe design of high-pressure gaseous hydrogen systems."

Jan 1, 2012