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By K. Robinson

Following the longest Smelter campaign in BCL?s history it was planned to completely rebuild the flash smelting furnace in 1987. This was the fourth major overhaul and the most extensive so far attempted. Detailed planning took place over several year$ preceding the shutdown and implementation was completed in 54 days. The key to minimising shutdown time was the method designed for installation of the new uptake shaft and reaction shaft. Major repair work was also undertaken in the waste heat boiler and electric furnaces. Both of these activities had an impact on the critical path of the flash smelting furnace overhaul.

Jan 1, 1993

By A. C. Wadhawan

In the present context of rapid industrialization, production of Lead-Zinc metals from low grade materials, residues and wastes can make substantial contribution to the supply of these metals in India. Recovery from secondary sources also plays an important role in conservation of mineral resources and lower power consumption. Conscious effort is therefore, required to increase the secondary metals which, besides saving in energy cost will also help in waste material management and keeping environment clean. The major thrust is, therefore, needed in this direction. During all these years, the Indian Lead- Zinc industry has made sustained efforts for recovery of metals from low grade ores and from metallurgical wastes and residues. The paper identifies the treatment of low grade ores by various technologies and techniques and the treatment of metallurgical residues and wastes generated during primary Lead and Zinc smelting in India. Some of the major achievements in past decade have also been elaborated in the paper. The strategies to be followed for continuing treatment of low grade ores and waste materials by adopting newer, environmental friendly technologies, in consonance with the rigid standards being adopted by most of the countries including India. have also been dealt with in the paper.

Jan 1, 1994

By M. J. Adam

As part of its research program, the U.S. Bureau of Mines is investigating the partitioning of complex minerals to simpler phases using sulfidation reactions for selective extraction of mineral constituents of value from extraneous elements early in processing schemes. This report describes research in which thermal processing of the complex Ti -bearing mineral ilmenite (FeTiO, ) resulted in partitioning of the valuable Ti metal to the simpler compound rutile (Ti0 ). Samples of ilmenite were blended with elemental S for thermal treatment a2 various temperatures under controlled atmospheres in an effort to dissociate the Fe from the ilmenite complex. Product characterization revealed that the Fe was partitioned from the ilmenite, forming a rim of pyrrhotite/pyri te (FeS/FeS,) on a rutile core. The products were agate milled and then subjected to cursory magnetic and flotation techniques in an attempt to physically separate the partitioned phases. Partitioning results and phase concentration data are reported relative to thermal treatment variables and physical separation techniques.

Jan 1, 1993

By Jerome P. Downey

In the thermal treatment of electric arc furnace (EAF) dusts, zinc is reduced, volatilized, and ultimately recovered either as liquid metal in a splash condenser or as solid zinc oxide in bag filters. During the process, the duet's chlorine and fluorine content also enters the gas phase and condenses as dross in the splash condenser or as salts which contaminate the zinc oxide product. Pretreatment of EAF dust by pyrohydrolysis appeared to offer a means of minimizing the duet's halogen content. The primary research objectives were to experimentally verify the technical viability of pyrohydrolysis and delineate the process parameters requisite for efficient halogen removal. To this end, representative EAF duet samples were secured and characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Mössbauer analyses. Specific- experimentation focused on the response of halogen extraction to variations in temperature, retention time, water vapor partial pressure, and various additives. The experimental results proved that 97 to 99 percent chlorine extraction and 80 to 85 percent fluorine extraction are consistently achieved when EAF dusts are blended with silica and roasted at temperatures of 850°C or greater in a furnace atmosphere of 75% steam (diluted by air). A statistical analysis further established that more than- a single optimal point exists, thus affording flexibility in parameter selection (e.g., by increasing temperature, the necessary retention time and additive concentrations are decreased). The findings substantiate the feasibility of pyrohydrolysis roasting in reducing the chlorine and fluorine in the EAF dust to a level that will obviate industrial concerns about halogen contamination. The end-product of the pyrohydrolysis procedure is a de-halogenated, self-fluxing calcine which can be directly charged to a plasma or flame reactor. The paper includes design parameters and flow diagrams illustrating the pyrohydrolysis process integrated with the plasma and flame reactor technologies.

Jan 1, 1992

By Selvin Yesilay, Guray Kaya, Bekir Karasu, Asli Cakir

"In this investigation, the wastes of Eti Maden Kirka Boron Company of Turkiye were evaluated in the production of diopside and anorthite-based glass-ceramic glazes suitable for porcelain tiles fast and single-fired under industrial conditions. First of all, high wear resistant frits were produced with the use of concentrator and derivative borax wastes. Second of all, pre-engobed porcelain tile bodies were coated with the standard and newly produced frit-based glazes and industrial fast single-firing was employed. Final products were undergone to the certain standard tests to determine their Vickers hardness, wear resistance, thermal expansion coefficient values, gloss and coloring parameters. The micro-structures and phase formations of the fired glazes were also studied. Consequently, it was confirmed that the utilization of borax solid wastes in fast single-fired porcelain tile glass-ceramic glazes is possible. Introduction Porcelain tiles were introduced at the end of 1980s by Friandre, one of the leading Italian porcelain manufacturers. The American National Standard Specifications for Ceramic Tile defines porcelain tiles as: dense, smooth, impervious (with water absorption value less than 0.5 %) and stain resistant [1]. The excellent technical performances for ceramic tiles, such as mechanical, wear, frost and chemical resistance that make their use possible in indoor and outdoor building applications [2-3]. In the last decade, the growth rate of the global production of porcelain tiles increased more than those of other ceramic products; in fact, the technical properties of porcelain tile, coupled with even more improved aesthetic appearance, gave it a prominent role on the tile market [2]. Glass-ceramics are composed materials of one or more crystalline phases immersed in a residual glassy phase [4-5]. Glass-ceramic technology is based on controlled nucleation and crystallization of bulk glass [6]. The concepts of controlled crystallization of glass designate the separation of a crystalline phase from the parent glass in the form of tiny crystals. Their growth rate and final size are controlled by a suitable heat treatment [7]."

Jan 1, 2008

By Y. Ikeda

Typical electric appliances were dismantled into component pieces to study the recyclability of these discarded goods. Types and weight ratios of these component materials were investigated and characterized. The results showed that if they are dismantled properly, these goods could be classified into several groups of similar materials and/or structures, namely those consisting of single materials, metal-plastic combinations, metal-metal combinations and complex combinations of many different materials. By separating each combination into recyclable materials and isolating hazardous materials, it was found that the final waste for disposal could be reduced and the recycling efficiency could be improved markedly as compared to the conventional shredding method. The metal-metal combinations account for 60% by weight of the total metal contents in electric appliances, and therefore, it becomes important to segregate these metals. For the complex combinations, a process consisting of pyrolytic decomposition of plastic contaminants followed by smelting of the residue is proposed. It is anticipated that nearly zero-emission recycling of electric appliances will be achieved by applying this treatment process.

Jan 1, 1995

By Bora Derin

The partial pressure ratios of sulfur and oxygen for several copper flash smelting plants were derived using the Reddy-Blander (RB) model and predicted dissolved sulfur contents available in the literature. The sulfide capacities (Cs) of six different flash smelting plants (FeO-CuO0.5- CaO-MgO-FeOwAIOl.s?SiO2) slags were calculated. The log (Po2/PS2) versus matte grades of various industrial processes was determined. The PoiPS2 ratio increased with an increase of copper grade. The calculated partial pressure ratios for the copper flash smelting are in good agreement with those of the experimental data.

Jan 1, 2003

By Chen Song

In the experiments of purifying the solution of chlorine leaching from nickel concentrate with N235, the effects of organic phase composition on purifying efficiency have been studied. From the results obtained, the optimal organic phase composition is found to be 25%N235+12%isomerous alcohol +63%sulfonic kerosene (VIV) and the saturated content of cobalt in organic phase is7.95 g*dm3. And then the serial experiment is carried out. The results show that at the given organic phase composition, the purified solution contains p(Ni) >200 gm dm3, p(Ni)l p(Co) >50000 and the contents of Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn meet the technical criterion of standard nickel electrolyte. The cobalt chloride solution contains p(Co) >I10 g L-1, p(Co) lp(Ni)>50000 and the enrichment of cobalt has been achieved.

Jan 1, 2006

By Hu Meilong, Liu Lu, Bai Chenguang

Extracting perovskite from high titanium-bearing blast furnace (BF) slag is a green and potential method to recover the second titanium resource. The non-isothermal crystallization process of perovskite in synthesized high titanium-bearing slag was studied in situ by confocal scanning laser microscope (CSLM) with cooling rate of 20 K/min. The results showed that perovskite was the primary phase formed during cooling process in the titanium-bearing synthesized slag (TiO2=23%). Perovskite started to precipitate at 1719 K and finally presented an orthogonal straight lines morphology.

Jan 1, 2014

By Magnus Ek

After the installation of three new converters as part of the recent expansion of the Rönnskär smelter completed in 2000 work continues to further improve the converter operation. The converter upgrade led to an increase in blister copper taps from 150 tons per batch to more than 300 tons. The total cathode copper production increased from 130,000 tons in 1999 to 230,000 tons in 2001, the first year in full production. In recent years focus has been to improve operating practise, maximize the blowing time, extend the converter campaigns hence to reduce the specific brick consumption and improve the converter slag composition.

Jan 1, 2005

By Takashi Ikeda, Masafumi Maeda

"Demand for solar cells is increasing linearly throughout the world. Last year production totaled 3000 tons worldwide. The market size of solar silicon is expected to increase further because of international ""political"" demand to reduce carbonaceous emission from energy consumed. Most elemental silicon is produced by the carbon reduction of Silica in an electric arc furnace. Purity of silicon at this stage is 90-99%. Major impurities are Fe, Ti, Ca· and Al, and minor ones are P, B and carbon. The oxidizing metallurgical process is no longer effective to remove transitfon metals because those are less noble to silicon. Nonmetallic impurities such as phosphorus and boron must be reduced to 0.001ppm for semiconductor use. The most common process for high purity silicon is the Siemens C process, which is basically distillation of hydro-chlorinated silicon followed by CVD of SiHCl3. The cost of such silicon is expensive to allow its popular use in solar cells. Currently scrap silicon -of semiconductors is used for this; however, the supply-of that scrap is limited to just a portion of semiconductor production.In this paper world demand for silicon will be reviewed and some of the processes proposed summarized.IntroductionSilicon is element 14 in atomic number and has an atomic weight of 28.0855. Little elemental silicon is found in the earth, and it is mostly found as oxides or silicate. The Clark number of silicon is very large and the second in its number. If we were discussing the volatility of silicon element on the globe, we would never worry about it. However, it is very difficult to obtain pure elemental silicon because a high purity silicon compound is very rare. In most cases these are silica (silicon oxide SiO2). As shown in Table 1, there are many grades of silica ore classified mainly by their content of iron and alumina."

Jan 1, 2000

By Shijie Wang

In pressure oxidation leaching of copper anode slimes, than 65% of the tellurium is m' cxtraoted during decopperizing. About l0- 15% of the selenium is also dissolved simultane¬ously by severe leach conditions. Current operation for the treatment of the leachate is to constantly recirculate the leach solution through a bed of copper turnings. The tellurium and sele¬nium are precipitated from the leach liquor as copper telluride and copper selenide and sepa¬rated from the solution by filtration. In order to improve the reaction efficiency and reduce the process cost, viz, minimize the copper addition, cut retention time, and reduce the energy consumption; a chemical reducing agent is studied and the cementation process tested in the laboratory. In this paper, the test results are presented and the process chemistry is discussed.

Jan 1, 2003

By Goran Vukovic

The use of gas purging plugs in the copper industry is a widely used practice. They provide substantial improvements especially in anode refining furnaces, where savings in process time and energy are obtained as well as refractory wear and buildups inside the furnace are minimized. The newly developed system, enables purging plugs to be implemented in both stationary and tilting furnaces, is in operation in vessels on three continents. An additional advantage in these furnaces above all other benefits is the significantly improved melting rate. This innovative and patented gas purging system consists of a purging plug cooling device and a slidable, cooled piping system. It provides compensation for any thermal expansion in the furnace lining and minimizes the risk of undesirable copper infiltration. User experiences and results of this widely used system are reported in this paper.

Jan 1, 2014

By R. G. Reddy

Nickel solubilities in spent pickling solutions (i.e. HF-HNO3-H2O solutions ) were measured as a function of HF and HNO3 acid concentrations. The chemical analysis of the industrial pickling solutions and sludges were made. The stable phases observed in the sludges are FeF3?3H2O, and ( FeCr ) F3?3H2O. Pure Ni, and stainless steel type 316 were used in this study. The results showed that the solubility of Ni increased with increase in concentrations of HF in pickling solution at a fixed concentration of HNO3: An excellent agreement between the experimental solubility data and the theoretical data was obtained. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the solid solubility product formed is mainly NiF2?4H2O compound.

Jan 1, 1992

By Fumitaka Tsukihashi

Increasing amounts of steel scrap are being used as resources for steelmaking. Therefore, there has been a growing interest in the removal of harmful tramp elements such as antimony, zinc, tin, arsenic, bismuth, lead and copper from the molten steel. The problem that should be solved is the economic removal treatment of residual tramp elements in the steelmaking processes and the production of high quality steel by reducing the effect of the contaminated tramp elements and satisfying the environmental regulations. In this paper, the available thermodynamic data of the residual tramp elements in the molten steel arc summarized and the possibility of the removal of residual tramp elements from the molten steel is thermodynamically estimated.

Jan 1, 2003

By M. Sakamoto, S. Karaswa, Y. Yoneoka, Y. Ohmizo

"The Annaka Refinery has been processing leach residue by Waelz process for 17 years. Recently, the quantity of the leach residue has increased due to a decline in the quality ~f zinc concentrate. Meanwhile, negative factors (e.g. deterioration of water balance due to improved electrolytic power consumption rate) have increased· in the processing of the leach residue.We have implemented various measures in responses to this situation, while striving to increase ·processing capacity and achieve stable operation. AS we have largely completed our assessment of the efficacy of these measures, we report on our recent process improvements.IntroductionWe have been treating leach residue by the Waelz kiln process since 1981. At that time, treatment of only 50,000 tons of leach residue per year was anticipated. However, subsequent process improvements have revised this figure up to 75,000 to 80,000 tons per year.However, today's increased Fe zinc concentrate grade has resulted in increased amounts of leach residue. In addition, improvements have reduced electrolytic power consumption rate of zinc electrolysis, limiting the amount of water that can be used in ·the zinc refining processes and for deaning leach residue. Consequently, we encounter an increasing number of problems and factors adversely affecting leach residue treatment, including increases in water-soluble Zn (WsZn) and. S (S04) in leach residue.To solve these problems, we have taken several measures to ensure long-term continuous operation and treatment of this increased · amount of leach residue. This paper discusses these measures."

Jan 1, 2000

The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated CaF2-assisted H2SO4 leaching to extract Mn from domestic silicate manganese resources. A pyroxmangite ((Mn,Fe)Sio3) ore containing, in pct, 34 Mn, 23 Si, 3 Ca, and 1 Fe was leached at 90° C for 3 h in a solution containing, in g/L, 12 Mn, 140 H2SO4, 130 (NH4)2SO4, and 5 CaFz. Manganese extraction of 92 pct was achieved. Manganese of greater than 99 pct purity was prepared by electrolyzing the purified pregnant solution at a current density of 50 mA/cm2. The current efficiency was 65 pct.

Jan 1, 1991

By Adolfo Pillihuaman Zambrano

Fe-Cr-C production is a very high electrical energy consuming process. Decrease up to 10% of this electrical energy is expected when self-reducing agglomerates are used. This research aims to understand how the synergetic effects are when stronger reductant, like Fe-Si, is substituted for coke in self reducing pellets. Brazilian chromites containing 41.2%Cr2O3 were mixed with petroleum coke and agglomerated with cement as the binder. Small amounts of 1%, 2% and 4% of Fe-75%Si were substituted for the equivalent petroleum coke, and pure silica plus hydrated lime were added for adjusting the slag composition. The mixture was pelletized, dried and submitted at 1773K up to complete the reactions. The results showed that the reduction reactions were 1.4 and 2 times faster with 1% and 2%Fe-Si addition, respectively, than with no addition. The microscopic analysis showed that it was formed a liquid phase, but the pellet did not collapse what indicates that the coalescence of the metallic phase depends on the dissolution of the pre-reduced particles of the chromites into slag.

Jan 1, 2008

By M. Hashimoto

The equilibrium distribution ratios of sulfur between molten copper and CaO-fluxes containing caF2 and caC12 were determined in the range of 1300° to 1400° C under carbon monoxide. The rate of approach to equilibrium is rapid and increases with increasing CaCll concentration. In CaO-CaFl-CaCl2 fluxes, the distribution ratio varies in a complex way with temperature and CaFl concentration. The results are compared with those obtained with the binary fluxes of CaO with BaFZ and MgFl ?

Jan 1, 1983

By David M. Davidson

Seven intrusive phases have been mapped to date in the 1 b.y. Red Bluff Granite Complex (RBGC) near El Paso, Texas. This batholith is 20 km2 in area and intrudes older supracrustal units as well as a trachyte ignimbrite cap. Two early microgranite sills are spatially separated 6 km from a porphyritic, three-phase "ring complex" by a tin-bearing, biotite granite which cores the RBGC. These units are intruded, in turn, by a riebeckite granite which locally exhibits lineated and pegmatitic textures as well as exceptionally high light REE and Zr values (800 ppm La; 3,000 ppm Zr). The riebeckite granite is exposed in three separate occurrences within the Franklin Mountains. REE values in the RBGC are depleted in HREE and show distinct negative Eu anomalies. Typical La/Yb ratios are 5:1-2:1 with Eu values ranging from 10-80 ppm. The mineral source of the high REE values in the riebeckite granite has not yet been specifically identified, but is believed to be zircon.

Jan 1, 1988