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By Gerhard Meyer

A new instrument for the determination of iron., zinc, calcium, and other metals independently directly in the fumes emitted from steelmaking processes is described. Based on the well- accepted method of X-ray fluorescence, the instrument can detect numerous metals simultaneously in the fume as well as report their concentration on a mass per unit time basis real time to a control room computer. The instrument mounts on the wall of the fume duct and can., via a small opening, directly view the hot exhaust plum inside the duct. The concentration of metal in the fume over time has been shown to change dramatically depending on process variables. Variables such as oxygen flow rate, lance height and nozzle configuration., slag condition., and episodic scrap addition can affect the presence of metal particles and fume in the exhaust. An analysis response time of 6 seconds enables better control of the steelmaking process thereby conserving primary resources and reducing environmental impact.

Jan 1, 2001

By Joseph Sofra

It has become increasingly evident that sustainable metals production in the 21st century requires producers to balance the needs of cost effective, high value production with that of responsible plant operation. This is becoming more difficult as lower grade and more complex feed materials, including recycled scrap and residues, are being processed to reduce production costs and decrease exposure to primary metal market fluctuations. One particular facet of the metals industry facing these challenges in the 21st century are copper producers, The recent steady decline in the copper price has seen the industry cut expenditure, tighten control on income streams and focus on high returns on capital investment. For these reasons copper producers are looking towards flexible technologies that can deliver high value products, with minimal environmental impact at low capital and low sustainable operating costs. Ausmelt's Top Submerged Lancing (TSL) technology for copper production is a low cost, proven technology for the processing of both primary and secondary copper materials. Both the smelting and converting operations introduce significant advantages in environmental performance, improved process efficiencies and high rates of metal recovery, Ausmelt has made significant gains in the past 4 years in establishing a strong market position for its copper technology, New installations in China, South Africa and India as well as existing operations in Zimbabwe and China have demonstrated its effectiveness. This paper reviews the application of Ausmelt Technology for both smelting and converting of primary and secondary sources, It discusses Ausmelt's design and implementation philosophy, and how this philosophy meshes with the needs of the end user.

Jan 1, 2003

By Wenbo Luo, Jilai Xue, Tiepeng Li, Jun Zhu

Sodium silicate solutions for producing silica have been ultrasound treated to enhance the precipitation process in laboratory scale. Higher precipitation rate was found with ultrasound treated solutions than those without ultrasound. The obtained SiO2 powder products were characterized using XRD, SEM, BET and laser particle size analyzer. The particle size distribution and the specific surface area of the powder products varied with the power input level and the processing time of the ultrasonic treatment. The results indicate that the efficiency of the precipitation process can be improved optimally when the ultrasound is conducted into the solutions before the nucleation stage.

Jan 1, 2015

By Michael G. King

The primary non-ferrous metals industry is the principal supplier of the minor metals selenium, tellurium and bismuth. It is also a major supplier of antimony. These minor elements are recovered from by-products of base metals production. To ensure that these elements remain available, the cost of production must be compatible with four other factors - method of production, available supply, technological niches, and product stewardship. This paper first describes the relationship between the copper industry and the production of tellurium and selenium. The more complex relationship between the lead industry and bismuth production is then discussed, followed by comments on antimony availability. Product stewardship programs are essential to the growth or certain specialized markets for these metals. Smelters and refineries of non- ferrous metals will play a major role in the recycling of scraps and wastes from these markets. Examples on how such materials can be recycled are given in the paper.

Jan 1, 1995

By Yuuki Hagio, Hiroyuki Tobo, Michihiro Kuwayama, Yasutaka Ta

"Reduction of CO2 emission is necessary to remedy global warming, however, promising approaches of CO2 separation require a large amount of energy. Molten slag, which is generated as by-product of steel production, has high temperature, but its energy has not been harnessed. To recover the thermal energy from the slag and to apply to separation of CO2 are economical and environmental conscious ways. We propose a new heat recovery system, in which, molten slag is solidified continuously on water-cooled roll and the solidified slag plates are charged into counter-current heat recovery equipment. In laboratory scale experiments, heat recovery ratio of more than 30% was acchived by controlling the thickness of slag.IntroductionThe steel industry in Japan has been working on the projects of ""Environmentally Harmonized Steelmaking Process Technology Development (COURSE50)"". COURSE50 aims at developing technologies to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 30%. One of the main technologies is to capture and recover CO2 from blast furnace gas using chemical absorbents to regenerate CO2-laden chemical absorbents by separating CO2 from the absorbents. As one of the solutions, JFE Steel Corporation has been developing sensible heat recovery process from steelmaking slag. It is effective to recover and use unutilized high temperature waste heat within a steel plant as the thermal energy required."

Jan 1, 2012

By Milorad Cirkovic, Mile Bugarin, Vlastimir Trujic

"Industrial scale testing was performed in the plant-site of Bor Company. Charging sample was from 4-5 tons for each particular test. All operations in industrial scale investigations were carried out in one furnace. For the aim of successful realization of experiments, and primarily for safety and prevention the risk of toxic contamination the working environment, a plant was designed and constructed for cooling and wet dedusting of gases formed during smelting process, zinc removal and flame refinement of molten metal. For the requirements of industrial investigations a complete plant for cooling and wet dedusting of gases has been constructed for brass scrap processing. In this plant, the original ultra-sonic water spraying devices have been installed. The efficiency of such simplified system for gas treatment has been 98,6%. Introduction Permanent development of techniques and technology causes formation the considerable quantities of secondary raw materials that are much more relevant as the raw material base for many metals. Due to a fact that large quantities of metal, are concentrated in the waste materials, large consideration is given to this topic, and numerous technologies for this waste recycling are developed in the world nowadays. High energz price and permanent increase of metal price on the world market have made that secondary raw material tretament, for the aim of various metals production, becomes more and more relevant in the world. In comparison of metal production using enrichment and metallurgical treatment of primary raw materials, the non-ferrous metals production from secondary raw materials has a range of advantages, as well as: - Low level of capital investments, - High technological recovery of qualitative secondary raw materils, - Considerably low consumption of energetic resources regarding to the treatment of primary raw materials (ore and concentrate), - Reduced consumption of unrecoverable mineral resources, - Reduced enviroment pollution [1,6]."

Jan 1, 2008

By Thomas Niehoff, Dave Stoffel

"Energy in the form of natural gas, oil and electricity is expensive and will continue to be a rare resource in the future. Recycling of metals, instead of primary production, is a logical and crucial step towards energy conservation. Energy consumption can be impacted by using advanced combustion systems for metals recycling. Air-fuel combustion has been the conventional method to melt and recycle metals. Global competitive pressures, “greenhouse” gas emissions, and high energy prices force melt shop operations to optimize energy usage and reduce overall operating costs. Oxy-fuel combustion and process technology can be applied to metal recycling operations to meet these objectives. Linde has converted several hundred furnaces from air-fuel to oxy-fuel technology and has extensive experience in optimizing the use of oxygen in furnaces. Additionally, Linde has the process knowledge necessary to avoid costly start-up issues that can accompany the transition to oxy-fuel technology. This paper will describe the benefits and potential issues for conversion to oxy-fuel.IntroductionThe furnace combustion system is the heart of a fossil fuel fired melting process and must be properly matched to the furnace to work as one cohesive unit. Furnaces vary widely in size, shape and features. Rotary furnaces are barrel-shaped and can be designed for tilting or nontilting operation. In a rotary furnace, the products of combustion create a single or double pass through the furnace prior to exiting. Reverberatory furnaces are box-shaped and can also be designed for tilting or non-tilting operation. Reverberatory furnaces are constructed of single or multiple chambers, with or without metal bath movement, and designed for continuous or batch processing. Different furnaces are used for different feedstock materials and products.Furnace combustion systems also vary in many ways. Combustion systems can be of air-fuel or oxy-fuel based technologies, or a combination of the two, resulting in an air-oxy-fuel system. Each of these types of systems has different combustion characteristics which can produce very different results. Here we will describe specific differences in melting processes and their associated energy requirements."

Jan 1, 2009

By E. Legault-Seguin

The current industrial practice in the processing of nickeliferous laterites involves the precipitation and releaching of Ni and Co to allow separation from the major impurities of Mn, Mg and Ca. A direct solvent extraction process has significant advantages over this practice, which suffers from difficult and costly precipitation steps, lower recovery and inherently complex flowsheets. The present investigation involves the examination of Cyanex 272, Cyanex 301 and Cyanex 302 as extractants for the direct extraction of Ni and Co from major impurities associated with laterite leaching, i.e. Mn, Mg and Ca. For Co extraction, Cyanex 301 and Cyanex 302 are superior to Cyanex 272, because they are able to selectively separate Co from Mn, Mg and Ca. Cyanex 272 offers complete extraction of Co from Ni and Ca, but Mn and Mg pose difficulty. Ni can only be extracted selectively with Cyanex 301, thus another extractant selective for Ni, such as Versatic 10 or Cyanex 301, is needed to recover Ni if Cyanex 302 or Cyanex 272 is used for the initial extraction.

Jan 1, 2004

By S. Ellor

The development of models of INCO's Copper Cliff operations using a computer spreadsheet program is discussed. Empirically developed metallurgical relationships were utilised. The paper concentrates on models of the pyrometallurgical processes but discusses applications such as optimisation of operating parameters, evaluation of feed changes and custom or recycle materials processing. The models were initially developed using a spreadsheet program on a personal computer. The requirements of plant engineers and process operators for significant increases in operating speed led to the transformation of some of the modules. The paper is presented in two parts: 1. The development of the modules using a spreadsheet. 2. The transformation of a module into a high speed tool for process control. The application of the technique to other pyrometallurgical processes is discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By P. A. Davidson, D. J. Short

"In this paper we describe a 'non-contact' electromagnetic nozzle suitable for sprayforming and gas atomization processes. In such processes there is a need to control the flow rate and diameter of the liquid metal jet whilst minimising contamination of the stream. This can be achieved using an electromagnetic valve, which partially levitates the jet in freespace, using a segmented cylinder surrounded by an induction coil. This valve will significantly enhance the quality of the titanium alloys and nickel-based superalloys used in sprayforming and gas atomization. This paper describes the design and test of a laboratory prototype valve based on experiments performed with liquid tin.1. Introduction In many industries there is an increasing need for clean, high quality metals and alloys based on titanium and nickel. Two important processes are: 1) Spray deposition which allows the liquid metal to be converted to a near-net shape, thus alleviating the need for subsequent forging and extensive machining and; 2) Powder production of titanium by gas atomisation.In centrifugal spray deposition of titanium (see figure 1) the metal is induction melted in a cold crucible. The crucible consists of a number of water-cooled segments, which allows the high frequency magnetic field of the coil to pass through the crucible, and into the melt. The charge is melted by the induced eddy currents. Locally at the crucible walls the liquid metal solidifies, and is contained within a. 'skull' of its own solid, thus reducing contamination from the crucible wall. Once melted the metal is poured through an electrically heated graphite nozzle and into the spray forming chamber. The principal limitation of the process to-date, however, is that it currently uses a graphite and /or ceramic nozzle to direct the flow of liquid metal to the atomizing disk and as such there is considerable risk of nozzle erosion with inevitable effects in terms of contamination of the melt stream and variability in flow conditions. In this research programme we develop a. non-contact electromagnetic nozzle, which will totally eliminate refractories and/or ceramic materials from the melting and casting process. This will greatly enhance the technological capabilities of sprayforming and gas atomization processes."

Jan 1, 1999

By James A. Sommers

Hydrolysis of NbC15 is used to recover oxide values for ceramic and metals production. Reaction of NbC15 with water is rapid, exothermic and vigorous, yielding a gelatinous slurry. In contrast, dissolution of NbC15 in 12 N HCl is endothermic, resulting in a clear yellow solution. Such solutions can be de-hydrochlorinated by controlled contact with air, to precipitate a tantalum¬rich solids, depleting the liquid of its tantalum content. In this way, cheap, useful Nb-Ta partial separation is achieved. The separation is based upon differential oxide-chloride stability. Nb2O5 with <200 ppm Ta/Nb has obtained from starting levels of 2000 ppm. Observations are made on the different types of hydrolysis.

Jan 1, 1992

By Chen Dong, Yuanling Gao, Jilai Xue, Jun Zhu, Luxing Feng

"Porous Ni-Ti alloy has many applications in a wide range of engineering areas. The porous NiTi alloys were prepared from Ti and Ni powders in sintering process under argon atmosphere. The major chemical compositions of the sintered Ni-Ti body were Ni Ti, Nh Ti4O and Nh Ti, respectively, the internal pore structures were characterized by image analysis technique, which were dependent on various processing parameters such as sintering temperature, amount of poreforming agent, forming pressure, etc. The results show that the porous alloy samples had the characteristics of uniform pore and high open porosity; pore-forming agent and sintering temperature are important factors in porous; pressure affected the sintered products' pore, by affecting the combination of alloy powder with pore-forming agent.IntroductionPorous Ni-Ti alloy materials exhibit not only excellent shape-memory and superelasticity, high yield strength and ductility, good corrosion resistance and biocompatibility, but also have low density, low stiffness, and high energy absorption rate due to their porous structures [1]. In recent years, these porous Ni-Ti alloys have found applications in a wide range of engineering areas, such as bone implants [2-4], impedance-matching connectors [5], energy-absorbing structures [6,7], separators [8] and actuators [9], etc.Pore characteristics can play very important role in determining of the performance of porous NiTi alloys. For example, when the alloys are used to repair or replace hard tissue implant material, the pore shape and size not only determine their mechanical properties, but also have great effect on the fluid transmission of human body. The pore characteristics can also influence the stressstrain behavior of the porous Ni-Ti alloy and, thus, strongly affect their mechanical properties, superelasticity, and fracture mechanisms [10].In this study, the Ni-Ti alloys with high porosity were prepared in a powder sintering process under argon gas. The pore characteristics were investigated using SEM, XRD and image analysis techniques, especially in association with the content of pore-forming agent, sintering temperature and compacting pressure."

Jan 1, 2011

By V. Ramachandran

ASARCO Incorporated, a large and diverse producer of non-ferrous metals, is involved primarily in smelting and refining of copper and lead. The Company also recovers by-product metals and chemicals produced in the smelting and refining process including selenium, tellurium, silver, gold, platinum, palladium, bismuth, antimony oxide, lead-antimony alloys, and nickel sulfate. The treatment of complex concentrates, containing high level&apos;s of impurities, also results in the production of various sludges, drosses, dusts and slags. This paper addresses the interplant and intraplant transfer of these materials between the copper and lead circuits and their subsequent treatment for maximum metals recovery. It also describes the role of ENCYCLB/TEXAS Inc., a subsidiary of Asarco, which treats Asarco&apos;s by-products, as well as hazardous and non-hazardous wastes produced by other manufacturers.

Jan 1, 1994

By T. S. Piwonka

Modeling the solidification of shaped castings has progressed beyond the initial problem of determining the correct heat and fluid flow relationships which describe the solidifying castings. Today the challenge is to describe second order effects which determine the ultimate quality of the casting. The challenges to the modeling community posed by the needs of today&apos;s foundries for models that work are discussed, with some examples of current modeling problems.

Jan 1, 1992

By Jong Hyeon Lee, Go-Gi Lee, Chang-Kyu Lee, Hong Youl Ryu, Sung-Koo Jo

This study deals with research on the reduction process of neodymium oxide by molten salt electrowinning. Neodymium fluoride and lithium fluoride electrolyte were used for feed stock of electrolyte and neodymium oxide was added as precursor. Cell current was confirmed that cell potential was applied as constant potential of 4.5V. Argon gas injection into the electrolyte was carried out to confirm convection effect on current efficiency. Applied current was gradually decreased without argon flow, but applied current was kept within a certain range with argon flow in electrolyte.

Jan 1, 2015

By Pranav Deshpande

The wear behavior of metal matrix composites differs from that of the monolithic metallic counterparts because composite materials have multiple constituents in their structures and these constituents wear at different rates. It was observed that under low wear stresses, abrasive wear prevailed. As the wear stress increases, pullout of reinforcement occurs and both abrasive wear and wear due to pullout contribute to the overall composite wear. A model of wear taking into account both types of wear has been developed. A critical pullout wear stress was suggested for each composite. Below the critical wear stress, no pullout of reinforcement occurs. It turns out that the critical wear stress simply equals to the ratio of the interfacial strength between the matrix and the reinforcement to the friction coefficient between the reinforcement and the wear counter surface. The critical wear stress is independent of the particle size of the reinforcement. From data on wear of 53% WC composites, the equation of wear for 32% WC composites was obtained. Experimental results agreed well with the predicted wear rate of this composites. This provides an excellent verification of the wear model developed by Lin and Deshpande. Wear data from Modi et al. in the literature were also perfectly fitted with the model.

Jan 1, 2006

By B. J. Jody

This paper describes a one-step thennal-treatment process, developed at Argonne National Laboratory, to remove all organic contaminants from the glass-fiber waste that is generated during the glass-fonning process. The recovcred glass fibers can then be recycled into new glass fibers or new glass products without adversely impacting the operations of the glass industry or the quality of its products. Our process involves shredding the waste to a manageable size and then processing it at temperatures below its melting point to remove the polymeric-coating layer. The glass industry generates more than 60,000 tons of glass-manufacturing waste annually in the glass-forming process alone. Recycling of this waste stream can keep this non-biodegradable waste out of the landfills. In addition, use of recycled glass lowers energy costs, by an average of about $5 per ton as compared to using virgin raw materials to make virgin glass fibers. This process will also reduce the emission of C02 by 17,400 tons a year and it will also reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides. Economic analysis of our process shows a potential payback of less than 2 years.

Jan 1, 2003

By Kai Kang, Jun Bao, Shouping Liu, Xiao Sun

Powder characteristics have a significant influence on selective laser melting (SLM) process. In this research, particle size, surface contour and the microstructure of IN718 powder used in SLM were tested, and the physical and chemical changes during heating process of the powder were investigated as well. The shape characteristic and fluid properties of IN718 powder were defined and measured. It is shows that most particles of IN718 powder exhibited nearly spherical shapes, and the particle size is about 22.95μm. On this basis, IN718 sample was fabricated by SLM process using the powder and the microstructure of the fabricated sample was investigated. The results indicated that the sample has a dense microstructure, no macro-defects but a few micropores and porosity. Compared with the powder, there was no new phase formed in the sample and melting point of the sample was little less than that of the powder.

Jan 1, 2015

By Irina V. Sokol

Alloyed steel chips and swarf formed during metal processing are looked upon as additional raw material In metallurgycal production. The manuscript presents some new methods for steel waste chips and swarf cleaning. One of them Is swarf and steel chips cleaning In ethylene tetrachloride with ultrasonic assistance and following, solvent regeneration. Thermal cleaning of waste chips and swarf provides exit gas products utilization. Catalyst Influence of metal surface on the process of thermal decomposition of liquid hydrocarbons during cleaning process has been studied. It has been our experience that the efficiency of metal waste cleaning technique depends on the storage time of the swarf. Waste chips and swarf cleaning procedures presented in the manuscript have been proved economically advantageous and environmentally appropriate.

Jan 1, 1995

Copper and gangue mineralogy constitute the most critical parameters for the hydrometallurgical processing and cost-efficient extraction of copper. Minor changes in copper-, rock-, or alteration mineralogy can severely impact the comminution efficiency, curing, agglomeration, acid consumption, copper extraction and PLS impurity loading. Further, copper leach operations, particularly in the southwestern United States, are increasingly challenged by a combination of low grades and semi-refractory copper. This paper discusses the metallurgical and economical benefits of continuous mineralogical analyses in order to establish and operate a mineralogical data base in copper leach operations. Troubleshooting for copper extraction, integration of process mineralogy into production forecasting, and process optimization will be illustrated with operational experiences from Chile and the United States.

Jan 1, 1999