Search Documents

By Paul W. Cleary

Keywords: Reactive pellets, CFD, Lagrangian SPH, Pyrometallurgy In several pyrometallurgical processes, reactive pellets are added to a melt. Heat is transferred to the pellets and reaction products such as gases, metal and slag are formed. For many pyrometallurgical processes traditional grid based CFD methods, such as using the Finite Element Method (FEM) and Finite Volume (or Control Volume methods), produce suitable predictions. However, the inclusion of solids in the bath represents significant challenges for these methods. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), a Lagrangian simulation method, is able to simulate both the fluid component of the bath and any immersed solid materials, tracking the motion of these solids, and their interaction with the fluid, including gas generation. In this paper, we will summarize the key aspects of the SPH method and will show a series of structured examples illustrating the behavior of the different physics sub-systems that are used in the model of the overall system.

Jan 1, 2005

By Nikhil Dhawan

Electronic waste (e-waste) is a collective name given to discarded electronic devices such as Television, Cellular Phones and Personal Computers. Among the heterogeneous metals present in the e-waste are the base metals: copper, aluminium, nickel, tin, zinc, iron and precious metals: gold, silver, palladium, platinum apart from several hazardous and halogens metals. Hence there is a need to recover these metals from electronic scrap by recycling and then re-use, which can meet large amount of metals demand. Hydrometallurgical processing was employed for the recovery of metals from television printed circuit board (TV PCB). Different lixiviants such as hydrochloric acid, Sulphuric acid, and nitric acid were used to understand the dissolution behavior of copper, iron and lead present in the TV PCB. Effect of increasing concentration of nitric acid was also studied. Selective recovery of tin over 95% in the form of tin oxide was precipitated. The precipitated tin oxide was identified by X-ray diffraction technique. Tin oxide of purity more than 99.9% was obtained.

Jan 1, 2009

By Yong-Moo Cheong

When the zirconium pressure tube(PT) is in contact with the calandria tube(CT) in the pressurized heavy water reactor(PHWR), the temperature gradient between the inner and outer wall of the PT results in a thermal diffusion of hydrogen(deuterium) and hydride blisters are formed on the outer surface of the PT. Since Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes have a high risk for the formation of blisters during their operation in a PHWR, there is a strong incentive to develop a method for the non-destructive detection of the blisters grown on the tube surfaces. However, because there is little mismatch in an acoustic impedance between the hydride blisters and zirconium matrix, it is not easy to distinguish the boundary between the blister and the zirconium matrix with the conventional ultrasonic methods. This study has focused on the development of an ultrasonic method to detect the hydride blisters formed on Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes. Hydride blisters were grown on the outer surface of a Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube using a cold finger attached to steady state thermal diffusion equipment. Ultrasonic velocity ratio method as well as conventional ultrasonic parameters with an immersion technique was developed to detect small hydride blisters on the Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes.

Jan 1, 2006

By Nobuaki Sato

For the recovery of uranium from spent nuclear fuel, sulfide reprocessing process, which consists of voloxidation, selective sulfurization, and magnetic separation or selective dissolution steps, are proposed. In this paper selective sulfurization of rare-earth oxides in the presence of uranium oxides was studied by thermogravimetry and X-ray diffractometry. In case of the mixture with UO2, the rare earth oxides R2O3 (R=Nd, Eu, etc.) were preferentially sulfurized by CS2 formingoxysulfides and sulfides, while UO2 remained at temperatures lower than 500 °C. When R2O3was mixed with U3O8, first, the reduction of U3O8 to UO2 occurred at low temperatures followed by the sulfurization of R2O3. The separation of rare earth elements from UO2 in suspensionsolution by the use of permanent magnet was examined. The advantage of the proposed process was also discussed by compared with current process.

Jan 1, 2006

By H. Antrekowitsch

The decreasing quality of the input materials in copper recycling leads to a higher content of impurities in the anode copper. An improvement of the pyrometallurgical refining process is therefore necessary to produce high quality anodes for the copper refining electrolysis. The behaviour of the most important accompanying elements (e.g. nickel, tin, lead, zinc etc.) at different reaction conditions has to be investigated in order to improve the metal/slag reactions as well as the vaporisation by selective oxidation in the anode furnace. Therefore the thermodynamic conditions like reaction order and the activity coefficients at the copper refining process have to be known for the optimisation of this technique. Additionally the interaction between different elements has been investigated as a function of the temperature, the content of the elements and the slag composition especially for nickel. These investigations were done at the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Secondary Metallurgy of Nonferrous Metals.

Jan 1, 2005

By J. Samir

The objective of this study is to simulate the isothermal filling up of moulds by a RTM process when adopting CV/FEM and VOF method and when also taking into account the presence of obstacles coupled to the effect of the thickness and reinforcement layers variation. The codes developed intended to ensure an optimal positioning of the injection points and of the vents and also to determine optimal injection pressures, in order to minimize the cycle times. These codes use a mesh generator proper to the team, allowing a discretization of the domain in triangular unstructured elements, with the possibility of a local refinement and inserts inclusion.

Jan 1, 2009

By Yushiro Hirai

Saganoseki smelter & refinery had operated two flash smelting furnaces from 1973, attaining 330,000 mtpy of copper production in 1989. In 1996, however, it carried out a "integration of two flash furnaces". That is, it doubled the feeding capacity to one flash furnace to shut down another furnace while maintaining the same production. Single flash furnace operation has successfully started in March 1996 accomplishing a great reduction of the total production cost. The production had reached to 350,000 mtpy in 1997, and further increased to 450,000 mtpy by executing the expansion program with single flash furnace in 1998. This paper introduces results of the single flash furnace operation and describes about an outline of the expansion.

Jan 1, 1999

By Huang Kai

By adding the solid oxalate acid powder into the solution of nickel chloride or its ammonia coordinated solution, the uniform compound particles were prepared and the precipitated particles were transferred to the mono-dispersed NiO particles by calcination. In this study, the various experimental conditions were investigated, the characteristics of the corresponding obtained particles were analyzed, and the formation mechanism of the particles was elucidated. It was found that the solid oxalate acid provided the solid-solution interface for the precipitation and induced the nucleation and growth of the product particles.

Jan 1, 2005

By S. Y. Tan

The thermal stability of fully silicided NiSi with arsenic doping on silicon was investigated. The aims of the work were to investigate the Ni silicide phase-related issues associated with arsenic dopant and thermal annealing on Ni-FUSI/HfO2/Si and Ni-FUSI/HfSiO/Si gate stacks. It was found that arsenic-incorporation demonstrated some improvement in both morphology and phase stability of nickel silicided films at high processing temperatures regardless underlying gate dielectrics. The correlations of Ni-Si phase transformation and arsenic doapnt with their electrical and physical changes were established by sheet resistance measurements, X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Furthermore, the modulation of the work function (WF) of Ni fully silicided gates by arsenic impurity is presented, comparing the effects of dopant (As) on the WF and silicide phases (NiSi and NiSi2). It confirmed that the work function of NiSi can be tuned by implanting arsenic dopant, but it ineffective for NiSi2 phase.

Jan 1, 2010

By Hugo Cabrera-Real

This work investigated the chemical and mineralogical properties of CaO-SiO2-CrOx-CaF2- MgO slags. Synthetic slags were prepared and the effect of the slag basicity (CaO/SiO2) and MgO 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 in slags with CaO/SiO2 = 1, the main Cr-compound was MgCr2O4 spinel, which forms octahedron crystals. Small amounts of CaCr2O4 and CaCrO4 were also observed. It was found that increasing the slag basicity from 1 to 2 the compounds MgCr2O4 and CaCr2O4 were formed together with the Cr(V)-containing compound complex Ca5(CrO4)3F which forms hexagonal crystals. The results showed that the highest chromium concentration levels in the leaching liquors corresponded to slags with CaO/SiO2 = 2, probably owing to the formation of Ca5(CrO4)3F.

Jan 1, 2010

By C. E. M. Meskers

End-of-life Electronic and Electrical Equipment, o_cially called WEEE, is unjustly regarded as mainly a waste management problem. What is structurally overlooked is the enormous resource impact of these devices. EEE rep- resents a tremendous metal resource, which should be uti- lized through e_ective recycling, which has a much lower environmental footprint than primary production. The actual amount of end-of-life EEE recycled today is embar- rassingly low since insu_cient EEE is collected and part of the collected EEE is exported to developing countries, where it is largely not entering o_cial recycling systems. To achieve a global recycling society issues like technol- ogy, economics, life cycle structure, stakeholder aware- ness and legislation have to be addressed in a global, co-operative manner so that sustainable closed product cycles can be obtained. Requirements for a "global re- cycling society" are de_ned to address today's reality of global ows of used consumer products, taking into ac- count the likely needs of the future.

Jan 1, 2009

By G. N. Shannon

Keywords: inclusions, slag, modeling, interfacial energy, capillary force, particle flotation, particle separation A previously introduced model of inclusions separating across a steel-slag interface, developed by Nakajima/Okamura and Bouris/Bergeles, is expanded to include different inclusions shapes (octahedral and plate-like, besides spherical) as well as comparison between model ladle-, tundish-, and mold-slags. Investigation of the relation of these shapes with the interfacial capillary force ? which arises due to the dynamic interfacial energy during separation ? has shown that the force has a significant effect on whether the inclusion separates rapidly or settles at the interface. For the slags considered, the most significant physical property is found to be viscosity, which resulted in fast separation times for inclusions in the mold and ladle slags, relative to the more viscous tundish slag. Particle dissolution (using experimental data) is included in separation modeling.

Jan 1, 2005

A three?stages countercurrent fluidized bed prototipe reactor to neutralize the SO2from smelter gases has been developed. For gases with 8 vol-%SO2, at 800°C and for 4 h mean reaction time of the limestone, the capture of SO2 is 99%, with off gases with 0.07 vol-%. For 2 vol-%SO2, the total capture of SO2 can be obtained at 750°C and 4 h reaction time. The calcine obtained contain a blend of unreacted limestone and calcium sulphatewith minor amounts of residual lime.

Jan 1, 2006

By Xuan Li

Aluminum slag is generated when aluminum metals are recycled through a smelting process in the presence of salt. There are small amounts of aluminum metals trapped in the aluminum slag. This research aims at evaluating the use of aluminum slag as an expansion agent for the production of lightweight concrete by taking advantage of the residual aluminum metals in the slag. The research identified key elements of producing lightweight concrete products through utilizing various mixture components including sodium hydroxide (NaOH), lime (CaO), cement, and gypsum. The volumetric expansion rate was investigated and the density and strength of the products were determined. The results show that aluminum slag can be utilized for the production of lightweight concrete products.

Jan 1, 2010

By Jilai Xue

Fe-Ni alloys can be used as raw material in making stainless steel. Laterite nickel ore is one of mineral resources for producing nickel alloys. In this work, the laterite ore after dehydration at 800 °C and the anthracite as reducing agent were mixed for pre-reduction at 900 °C, and then reduced to form Fe-Ni alloys at 1550-1620 °C through carbon-thermal reduction process. A high Ni-content alloy component in the metallurgical mixture can be formed through pre-reduction. Better separation of the resulting metals from the slag is found with lower Ni-content alloys produced or higher temperatures during reduction. An effective processing of Fe-Ni alloys needs further understanding of the process fundamentals and optimizing of the process parameters.

Jan 1, 2010

By Hector Carreon

Due to elevated temperatures, excessive stresses and severed corrosion conditions, turbine engine components are subject to creep processes that limit the components life such as a turbine bucket. The failure mechanism of a turbine bucket is related primarily to creep and corrosion and secondarily to thermal fatigue. As a result, it is desirable to assess the current condition of such turbine component. By using eddy current images, it was shown that the eddy current technique could be used to monitor creep damage in a nickel base super-alloy. The eddy current results also show a significative variation in the electrical conductivity on the creep damage zone with respect to the background zone in nickel-base super-alloy samples. In addition, the absolute thermoelectric power coefficient show also a strong dependence associated with creep damage in nickel base super-alloy samples using a copper hot tip reference. The eddy current and thermoelectric power techniques seems to show promise as nondestructive evaluation tools for monitoring the level of creep damage in metallic alloys.

Jan 1, 2010

By A. J. Sideris

It is known that Mg can act as a catalyst/solvent in the high pressure high temperature diamond synthesis. However, above pressure levels of the order of 7 GPa, and temperatures from 1700 ? 1800oC, it was not possible yet to use Mg for the industrial production of diamond. A possible alternative is the use of MgNi based alloys. However, owing to the great Mg reactivity, it was consider, so far, a difficult task to deal with such alloys. The present work presents successful results regarding the production of MgNi alloys, with different composition, at high pressure conditions. The behavior of the alloys and their microstructural characterization is analyzed.

Jan 1, 2006

By Harumasa Kurokawa

Since the initial start-up, the Toyo Smelter & Refinery has been operating in harmony with the ambient environment, and improvements have been implemented with technologies specifically developed for further protecting the environment. Toyo Smelter & Refinery is now planning to increase the copper production capacity from 280,000 tpy to 450,000 tpy, over a period of several years. In 2003, the first step of this smelter expansion and modernization plan was implemented. The production capacity of the P-S converter was increased dramatically, as it became possible to operate under a ?2 hot-2 blowing? schedule. In 2005, an additional converter will be installed, in order to allow operation under a ?3 hot-2 blowing? schedule. This report will describe the technical improvements on the P-S converters, as well as describe the Toyo expansion program and discuss the technologies applied to the fugitive gas collecting system.

Jan 1, 2005

By Jiann-Yang Hwang

Microwave heating has been proved an effective method to rapidly heat iron oxide. This offers an opportunity to apply microwave heating in the steelmaking process. The reduction reaction of iron oxide is traditionally achieved at high temperature with reducing gases such as H2 and CO generated from various sources, including coke, coal, and natural gas. This study investigates the differences in iron oxide reduction using conventional and microwave heating under H2 and CO atmospheres. A special microwave thermal gravimetric device was designed and built to facilitate the investigation. With this device, iron oxides can be heated by electric resistance heating, microwave heating, or a combination of methods. The incoming CO and/or H2 also can be preheated to simulate a potential utilization of recovered heat. The iron oxide weight and temperature can be monitored during an entire reduction period. A series of reduction experiments have been conducted. The results are presented and discussed.

Jan 1, 2006

By Bowen Li

Silicon Carbide is an excellent refractory material. Its physical properties make it extremely useful, particularly in applications where corrosion resistance and wear are important considerations. Commercial silicon carbide refractory is frequently manufactured by bonding silicon carbide particles with clay; however, clay may cause problems in the sintered products. This study investigates the potential of replacing a portion of the clay with andalusite powder. The results show that micron size andalusite powder can improve not only the strength of the refractory but also the sinterability. The mechanisms for these improvements are discussed.

Jan 1, 2006