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By Luísa Maria Abrantes

Environmental control is becoming more and more stringent. As conventional processes for zinc production are pollutant routes, alternative methods have become an important subject of research. In this regard, the leaching processes have aroused a considerable interest, namely the electrochemically induced approach. The behaviour of zinc concentrate ore in the leaching processesses is influenced by several parameters. Chloride concentration and leaching solution pH, time and temperature of reaction were studied in order to evaluate their influence on the zinc recovery. The efficiency of the leaching process for zinc extraction is performed by factorial design. The experiments were carried out by 23 and 22 factorial designs of the factors. Results show that all factors, except for the time of reaction have a significant influence on the optimisation process, within each experimental region.

Jan 1, 2001

By V. I. Lakshmanan, R. Roy

Base metals and PGMs are currently recovered from sulfide concentrates using pyrometallurgical processes. These processes suffer from several limitations such as being capital intensive, scaling problems, S02 emissions and long delay in value recognition. Alternative hydrometallurgical technologies have so far not been successful and currently total pressure oxidation and partial pressure oxidation hydrometallurgical technologies are being evaluated. Process Research ORTECH has developed a unique hydrometallurgical process to recover base metals and precious metals using mixed chloride technology. In a first stage leach, base metals are recovered and elemental sulfur is liberated from hydrogen sulfide formed during this leaching stage. During second stage leach, precious metals are recovered using proven separation technologies. Some of the advantages of the process are the recovery of elemental sulfur from sulfide sulfur, recycle of the chloride lixiviant thereby eliminating effluent treatment steps and use of excess energy from the Claus reactor for the pyrohydrolysis step.

Jan 1, 2011

By C. M. Iheagwara

An overview of the scope and ramifications of scrap recycling in the Nigerian metallurgical industries has been presented in this paper. The modern state-of-the-art processing techniques and the operational strategies employed in the recycling plants are discussed. Optimization techniques for cost effective recycling operations are highlighted. As new units within existing metallurgical plants and new metal working plants approach commercial operations, expansion of existing recycling plants and the emergence of new ones have been showing to hold the key to their profitability from the raw material standpoint. The present economic predicament of the entire industrial sub-sector, lack of sufficient foreign exchange to procure new machineries and the emergence of a maintenance culture have triggered a phenomenal increase in the number of spin-off industries which depend on metal recycling activities. This, it is argued, widens the horizon for scrap processing/recycling.

Jan 1, 1992

By Shengli Tao, Hongxu Li, Hao Bai, Yu Chen, Daqiang Cang

"China is the world's largest steel producer, in order to give environment load comprehensive analysis of steel and iron industry in china using LCA method, the life cycle inventory was compiled and assessment model based on Gabi software was also established. Environmental impact of two different routes ofBF-BOF and the EAF were analyzed respectively and intercompared. The results show that the modem EAF route is superior to the traditional BFBOF route on almost all the environmental impact indexes, which including acidification potential, eutrification potential, global warming potential, ozone depletion potential, etc. In the whole life cycle ofBF-BOF route in China, the transporting process ranks the biggest contribution part to the overall global warming potential, which can be explained by the fossil fuel burning of transporting vehicles during the long distance from Australia to China as the iron ore used are mainly imported from Australia. Apart from transporting process, Coking, blast furnace and iron mining processes could induce great environmental problems, while for the EAF route, the electricity consumption is considerable, which causing large amount ofC02 emission indirectly. Based on the analysis, several further countermeasures were proposed. Key words: Iron and steel industry, LCA, Gabi software, C02 emissionIntroductionCrude steel of china which reached 101.24 million tons in 1999 ranked the first column in the world since1999, So far has been to keep the world's largest steel output. At the year of2009, China crude steel output of 568 million tons, accounting for 46.6% of the global crude steel production, more than the total sum of crude steel production produced by 20 countries ranked behind. In 2011, China's crude steel production which is expected to be or close to 700 million tons, an increase of 12% than last year, will account for half of the global steel production.The steel industry, however, is intensive resources industry with huge consumptions of energy and water together with mineral resources. Energy consumption of the iron and steel industry has been about 10% of the total energy consumption since 1980. Coal dominants, power next and other energies share least in the energy consumption structure, for example coal accounts for 72.19%, power 23.52% and other total sums less than 5% in the steel energy consumption at year of 2002[2,3]. The consumption of coal discharges much emission of CO2, yet emissions of C02 in China steel industry, secondary only to the power and cement industry, ranked the third, and the coal dominant energy structure and its process have a close relationship. The aim of this research is to target steel production of typical blast furnace-converter (BFBOF) and electric furnace, using GABI software to evaluate and analyze resources and environment influence of LCA, directing at the existing problems in the development of China steel as well as finding the possible way to improve ability of reducing pollution and energy consumption in order to realize the sustainable development of the steel industry [ 4-7]."

Jan 1, 2012

By Carla Lupi

Zinc electrowinning from sulfate solutions is the traditional industrial method to produce SHG zinc. Over the past few years several efforts have been done to improve process efficiency in order to reach high productivity with low energy requirement. The latter aim can be pursued both by means of a hard purification of the electrolyte and reducing the anodic voltage. This work is a comparative study of the results obtained in several previous researches on zinc electrowinning from both sulfate and chloride solutions. Zinc electrowinning tests on industrial sulfate solution have been carried out by using Pb alloy anodes and by adding organic depolarizers such as ethanol, acetic acid or ethylene glycol. Experiments on chloride solutions, obtained by purification of zinc exhausted electrolyte, have been performed by using DSA anodes and by testing the effect of additives such as TEACI and TBAC\. Comparing the best results obtained with the two methods it can be highlighted that a high quality zinc is electrowon in both cases with comparable energy requirements.

Jan 1, 2000

By Torma A. E.

Biotechnological processes are considered to be cost effective especially for situations where the recovery of metals from 'Very large volumes containing trace metal concentrations (less than 10 ppm) is concerned. Microorganisms, alive or dead, or their products can be highly efficient and selective biosorbents for metal concentration. It is important that the metal bound to the biosorbent can be stripped by suitable agent(s) and regenerated for repeated use. The stripped solution should be concentrated enough to be introduced into the common metal recovery circuit. The industrial acceptance of biosorption processes is dictated by increased competitive advantage over other processes. This paper reviews the pertinent literature?, regroups the information, and points out future possibilities for the mineral and metal processing industries.

Jan 1, 1992

By M. Fujikawa, S. Goto, M. Nishikawa

"The semi-pilot scale plant for injection smelting of zinc calcine was operated under the committee of Joint Research Organization of Injection Metallurgy. The capacity of the plant is 10 ton metallic zinc per day. The plant was designed by the resul ts of basic and bench scale tests of the capacity of 1 ton metallic zinc per day which was published at ""Zinc '85"". The equipments of the plants, operational conditions, results of the operation such as recovery of zinc in injection furnace and condenser, combustion rate of powdered coke and consumption of energy in this process are presented in this paper. The results of the study of the feasibility of the commercial plant of 100,000 ton zinc per year by the injection smelting are also discussed in the paper. IntroductionThe research committee of new smelting process of zinc by injection was established in 1981 under the finantial support of Mining Promoting Foundation of Japan. Six zinc producing companies joined in this organization. The price of zinc was very low at that time and the energy cost, especially, cost of electric power in Japan was extremely high. Invention of a new economical process for zinc extraction had been stronglydesired. The author proposed a injection smelting of zinc as a economical process in energy saving after a calculation of thermodynamical equilibrium and heat balance(1 )(2).The research committee has been studying the injection process since 1981. The small basic experiment by using a crucible furnace was carried out from October 1981 to March 1983 and the reaction of reduction of calcine by injection smelting was ascertained (2). Vaporizatipon of zinc and behaviours of impurities were examined. After the basic experiment, the bench scale test with the production capacity of zinc of 1 ton per day was carried on from November 1983 to October 1984.The bench scale tests were carried out to obtain the proper design of feeding devices of calcines and coke into a furnace and also to obtain fundamental data for enlargement of this smelting process(3,4). The recovery of metallic zinc in this small equipments was about 50% and main loss of zinc was formation of dross in the condenser."

Jan 1, 1988

By Anna Franzkowiak, Dean Gregurek, Alfred Spanring, Angelika Ressler

In order to determine the most suitable refractory products and improve the lining lifetime for the diverse furnaces used in the nonferrous metal industry, corrosion tests are performed at RHI’s Technology Center. The practical facilities include the cup test, induction furnace, rotary kiln, and drip slag test described in this paper, which enable a comprehensive understanding of the chemo-thermal brick wear on a pilot scale. The corrosion trials are performed with actual slags generated during operations at a customer’s plant. To determine the highest influencing wear parameter, every single test is combined with a detailed mineralogical investigation and thermochemical calculations performed using FactSage. Based on the results, tailored refractory solutions for the nonferrous metal industry can be provided in combination with trials conducted at the customer’s site.

Jan 1, 2014

By Michael B. Mooiman, David J. Kinneberg, Philippe Cettou, Leo W. Simpson, Pierre Ramoni

"The demand for high purity precious metals began with certain industrial applications having uncompromising requirements for quality and performance. As industrial uses proliferated and as the jewelry industry became increasingly sophisticated, the demand for high purity gold has reached the point where 99.99% is now the standard in the marketplace. A similar evolution is expected for other precious metals.In this paper, we examine both the production and use of high purity precious metals, specifically gold, silver, platinum and palladium. After defining what is meant by ""high purity"", we discuss the various analytical techniques used for measuring impurity concentrations. Next, we review process strategies employed by extractive metallurgists to produce high purity precious metals. Lastly, we describe some of the principal applications for high purity materials including thick films, thin films, bonding wire, thermocouples and jewelry manufacture.Precious metals have unique physical properties that, despite their expense (and the ever-continuing search for more economical alternatives), make substitution difficult if not impossible. These physical properties are dramatically affected by small concentrations of certain impurities. As long as manufacturers continue to demand quality and performance, there will be a need for high purity precious metals.IntroductionIn the precious metals industry, the qualifier ""high purity"" describes any specification over and above commodity grade. High purity specifications delineate lower limits on overall metal purity or upper limits on individual impurities or both. Sometimes, if these special requirements become commonplace, either because of improved refining technology or because of market pressures, yesterday's ""high purity"" material becomes tomorrow's commodity. This transition is now occurring with gold bullion and probably will soon occur with platinum and palladium as industrial use of these materials grows."

Jan 1, 1998

By C. J. Beyke

The U.S. Bureau of Mines has developed a process for the selective recovery of Pb metal from a mixed Pb-Zn concentrate. The concentrate was leached in recycled H2SiF6 at atmospheric pressure and 95° C with a redox potential of 570 mV (Eh). Eighty-five pct of the Pb was selectively leached from the concentrate while 87 pct of the Zn remained in the residue. Pressure leaching of the concentrate was slightly less successful, with 78 pct of the Pb leaching from the concentrate and 80 pct of the Zn remaining in the residue. Pure Pb metal was successfully electrowon from a purified PbSiF6-H2SiF6 solution with 96 pct current efficiency and 0.69-kW.h/kg energy consumption.

Jan 1, 1991

By Isabella Lancellotti, Fabrizio Passarini, Luisa Barbieri, Fernanda Andreola, Ivano Vassura, Luciano Morselli

"The techniques able to incorporate wastes by means of a heat treatment present the advantage to fix the residue with chemical bonds. Among these techniques there are vitrification and sintering which are characterised by different operating temperatures in the range of 950-1500°C and the involved raw materials develop silicatic crystalline phases and glassy matrices capable to immobilize heavy metal contents in the waste matrix. In this work incinerator bottom ash, polishing and glazing ceramic sludges have undergone to thermal treatments in order to valorise the waste as secondary raw material for the obtainment of re-products. The chemical efficiency of the process adopted has been evaluated by comparing the results of release tests applied to the as-received wastes and to the thermally treated materials in order to verify the effectiveness of the different matrices to fix the waste components.IntroductionVitrification is one of the most promising technological options for the treatment of some kinds of waste. The high temperature involved in the process (1200-1500°C) leads to the complete destruction of organic pollutants, such as dioxins, and glassy network formed can incorporate heavy metals. Some vitrification processes naturally occur: glasses produced by volcanic eruptions, such as obsidians (Na2O-K2O-Al2O3-SiO2) and basaltic (CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2) rocks, are basically inert materials even when they contain toxic elements, because these are embedded in an extremely stable glassy matrix. The disadvantage of vitrification is that it is an energy-intensive process involving relatively high costs, therefore its use is better justified if a high-quality product with optimised properties can be fabricated. The most effective way to improve the properties of the vitrified material is the transformation into glass ceramic. This is a fine-grained polycrystalline material (typically from 50% to 98% of the volume may be crystalline) formed when a glass of suitable composition is heat treated and hence undergone to controlled crystallisation (phenomenon named devitrification). The three key variables in the design of a glass-ceramic are: glass composition which controls glass viscosity related to the effectiveness of nucleation and rapidity of crystallisation; glass-ceramic phase assemblage (that is, the types of crystals and the proportion of crystals to glass) which is responsible for many of the physical and chemical properties; nature of the crystalline microstructure (crystal size and morphology and the textural relationship among the crystals and glass) which is the key to many mechanical and optical properties. In particular, a partly crystalline material can be obtained by powder sintering."

Jan 1, 2008

By Augusto Viana Leandro Teixeira

Rare Earth Elements (REE) are fundamental for modern life products and green technologies. Supply constraints and the price peak of 2011 boosted intensive research for alternatives for processing and separation. Complex monazite- type, rare earth ores usually contain high acid consumption impurities, such as iron and aluminum, and radioactive thorium in their composition. These impurities are not removed by conventional concentration processes due to fine, micro-level association between the REE carrying minerals and the gangue minerals. This work presents a selective process route for REE extraction from iron-rich, monazite ores. The process involves sulfation by addition of concentrated sulfuric acid and pyrohydrolysis at temperatures of approximately 700–750 °C. Experimental results show REE extraction higher than 70% and low iron (below 5%) and thorium extraction (below 10%). A method based on thermogravimetric analyses was shown to be adequate to predict the behavior of a given ore sample in the sulfationselective pyrolysis-leaching process.

By G. Roy Chaudhury

Adsorption techniques are comparatively low cost and effective for treatment of arsenic contaminated drinking water. Various adsorbents such as alumina, ferrihydrite and manganese ores have been used, but there has been little investigation of modifying the structure of ferrihydrite to improve its adsorptive efficiency of As(III) and As(V). In the present study the incorporation of manganese oxide into the ferrihydrite structure was carried out and the prepared materials used in arsenic adsorption experiments. The compounds were X-ray amorphous, but TGA/DTA and FTIR analysis showed some structural characteristics. Sorption studies reported in this paper indicate the excellent arsenic removal properties of the manganese/iron compounds with a loading capacity of 0.3 mmol/g. Adsorption follows first order kinetics and the results fitted to adsorption and mass transfer models. Arsenic levels in water containing 1 mg/L As(V) were reduced by 50% in 20 minutes and 90% in 60 minutes using 1 g/L manganic ferric oxyhydroxide.

Jan 1, 2003

By Heikki Tuovinen

The total utilization of raw materials and energy is the most important criterion when planning. industrial processes. The main goal is clearly to use the raw materials and energy as effectively as possible in order to make the desired products directly in the primary process itself', or to recycle unused materials and energy either as such, or after cleaning back into the process. However, few industrial processes are so straightforward. Most processes generate by-streams of materials and energy, which cannot be recycled directly and it is namely these by-streams which tend to remain as wastes. These by-streams are slags, dusts, vaporized metals, liquids, slurries, sludges, gases etc. Most base metal processes produce all these by-products. Waste water and gas emission controls and regulations are tightening all the time, so new processes must be developed to keep pace with these requirements. These processes generate more solid wastes, which must be utilized or at least processed into a harmless form landfilling. Municipal and hazardous wastes also contain valuable materials and energy, which must be used to minimize landfilling. The development of processes for these purposes places even greater demands on research and development. The same principles and methods developed for mining, ore dressing and metal refining processes can also be adapted for research and development work on processes for waste minimization. However, the problems encountered are much more complicated and less familiar, demanding more versatile and accurate tools and equipment. This paper presents principles, examples and some references of R & D work on processes for waste minimization.

Jan 1, 1992

By Michael Zinigrad

The quality of metallic materials depends on their composition and structure and these are determined by various physico-chemical and technological factors. To effectively prepare materials with required composition, structure and properties it is necessary to carry out a research in two parallel directions: Comprehensive analysis of thennodynamics, kineties and mechanisms of the processes taking place at the solid-liquid-gaseous phase interface during welding processes and development of mathematical models of the specific welding technologies. We have developed unique method of mathematical modeling of phase interaction at high temperatures. This method allows us to build models taking into account the thennodynamic characteristics of the processes, the influence of the initial composition and temperature on the equilibrium state of the reactions, the kinetics of heterogeneous processes, the influence of the temperature, composition, hydrodynamic and thennal factors on the velocity of the chemical and diffusion processes. The model can be implemented in the optimization of various technological processes in welding, surfacing, casting as well as in manufacturing of steels and non-ferrous alloys, materials refining, alloying with special additives, removing of non-metallic inclusions.

Jan 1, 2003

By Yotamu Stephen Rainford Hara, Animesh Jha

The investigation focuses on a low temperature recovery of Cu and Co from a 40 wt% SiO2-(30 wt%Fe,6 wt%Al)2O3-10wt% CaO-7wt%CuO-7wt%CoO slag over a temperature range of 1173K to 1323K. The alloy phases containing Cu-Co and Fe-Co alloy formed via the carbothermic reduction of oxides: MO + C = M + CO(g), where M represents metallic copper, cobalt or iron. In the direct reduction of oxides, the recovery of metallic phase was well below 90% at 1323K, due to the kinetic barrier which was analysed and attributed to oxygen and metal-ion transport in the slag. This barrier was overcome by adding CaSO4 and carbon, which yields a matte (MS) phase via MO + CaSO4 + 4C = MS + CaO + 4CO reaction. Lime thus produced in situ participates in metal oxide/metal sulphide reduction reactions, which are analysed with the help of X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis.

Jan 1, 2014

By B. S. Terry

Experiments have been conducted to assess the feasibility of capturing bearing emissions arsenic with CaO during the roasting of enargite (Cu3AsS4). Enargite/CaO mixtures have been heat treated in air, nitrogen or oxygen for various times and the products of reaction analysed by X-ray diffraction and cleaned analysis. The results show that substantial capture of arsenic can be achieved via the formation of calcium arsenates and/or calcium arsenides. In addition significant capture of sulphur is achieved by the formation of calcium sulphate andlor sulphide. Complete conversion to copper sulphide with total removal of arsenic can be achieved within 30 minutes at 700°C. Further heat treatment in air or oxygen leads to the formation of copper oxide and copper oxysulphate. Without optimisation of reaction conditions, it has proved possible to achieve retention of in excess of 85% of the arsenic content of enargite in the form of calcium arsenates.

Jan 1, 1994

By William Petruk

Many gold operations lose gold during processing because some ore characteristics which affect recoveries have not been determined, and consequently the plant could not be designed to account for them. The ore characteristics can be determined with mineralogical techniques by analyzing the plant feed, final tailings and mill products. The plant feed and/or final tailings are commonly analyzed first as a separate project. Mill products are analyzed only if the process employs a minerals separation circuit to produce a concentrate (e.g. secondary flotation circuit to concentrate gold-bearing arsenopyrite), and if assays and materials balances indicate a recovery problem in the minerals separation circuit. Many ores have been evaluated at CANMET on a confidential cost-recovery basis by custom-designing a work plan which was dependent upon the problem and on the characteristics of the ore. The reasons for gold losses have been identified in most cases, and suggestions for modifying flowsheets have been proposed. The methods used in performing the analyses are described in this paper, and non-confidential results from in-house projects are provided as examples of the benefits of such analyses. The analytical methodology involves a combination of the following procedures: -producing heavy mineral concentrates and identifying the gold minerals in the concentrates; -determining quantities of invisible gold in gold-bearing sulphides, sulpharsenides, etc. by SIMS; -determining quantities and liberation characteristics of all gold minerals and gold-bearing minerals in the sample; -finding and identifying gold minerals in silicates; -extensive grinding and cyanidation to determine the ultimate amount of cyanidable gold; -determining impact of clay minerals and graphite; -performing a mineral balance for the gold in each sample; -performing a materials balance to determine the distribution of the gold minerals, gold-bearing minerals, and other minerals throughout the flowsheet, and; -interpreting the results.

Jan 1, 1995

By Fang-Qui Zu

Understanding the nature of liquid structures and properties remains an open problem for many fundamental and applied fields such as materials sciences and processing. And as well known, there is no other defined phase line above liquidus (TL ) in phase diagrams of ordinary binary systems. However, via different experimental resorts, our research results on over 30 metallic melts including alloys and elements show a novel physical image: temperature induced liquid-liquid structure transition (TI-LLST) can occur hundreds of degrees over TL. On the other hand, the solidification behaviors and structures out of the melts experienced TI-LLST are distinct from those out of the melts before TI-LLST. In this presentation, some characteristic aspects of the TI-LLST and the effects on solidification behaviors and structures are briefly summarized, and the pertinent rules and mechanism are also analyzed.

Jan 1, 2009

By Toyohisa Fujita

The effect of variables on the gold extraction with ammonium thiosulfate was investigated on sponge gold and ore samples. The Effects of CUS04, (NH4hS203, NH40H, (N~hS04' pH, stirring speed and retention on gold leaching rate and thiosulfate oxidation (consumption) have been studied. Almost 100% of gold was leached from sponge gold and over 96% from ore sample at optimum conditions. Trioctylmethyl ammonium chloride was used to recover gold from thiosulfate pregnant solution. It was found that more than 99% of gold was recovered by the extractant diluted with n-octane at 01 A ratio of 1: 1 without the re-adjustment of pH or others. Also, the gold cementation was conducted without de-aeration by using zinc, copper and aluminum powders. The result indicated that the gold was effectively recovered from a solution of low ammonia and copper concentrations and higher thiosulfate concentration. The gold recovery process by using ammonium thiosulfate is an environmental friendly method comparing to conventional cyanidation process.

Jan 1, 2003