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By Brian Patrick, Norman Bell, Mark Schoenfield, Thomas Weber, Dietrich Gross

"The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the resultant greenhouse gas affect is hampered by the fact that all fossil fuels contain copious quantities of carbon. Process tweaking can keep the amount of carbon dioxide to a minimum but cannot significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide generated. The very nature of utilizing fuels requires that they be burned to release the heat required for the various processes. Reduction of metal oxides to manufacture or modify pure metals, generation of power, transportation and many other forms of fuel usage result in much of the generation of man made carbon dioxide. Oxyfuel is a unique contributor to carbon dioxide emissions. While creating higher concentrations of carbon dioxide the total volume of carbon dioxide generated is reduced. This paper will examine the unique characteristics and potential of oxyfuel that make the generation of lower volumes of carbon dioxide possible.Nearly ten years ago a commercial application of oxy-fuel was installed at Jupiter Aluminum Company in Hammond, Indiana. This process was funded and developed by Dietrich Gross CEO. This aluminum remelt facility now runs completely on oxy-fuel and has continuously for over ten years. This has reduced the melt rates to as low as 750 BTU per pound in continuous melting periods."

Jan 1, 2009

By D. J. Droppert

This paper describes the precipitation-production of crystalline scorodite (FeAs04.2H20) from arsenic-rich sulphate-based metallurgical solutions at ambient pressure (95°C). Arsenic is precipitated by means of a controlled precipitation technique in which the supersaturation of the solution is carefully controlled. By controlling the supersaturation in the presence of seed material. the formation of amorphous ferric arsenate is prevented. Scorodite is known to be the most stable As(V) compound and is therefore preferred as host mineral for arsenic immobilization. The effect of the following parameters on the preCipitation behaviour and kinetics of scorodite are discussed: Type of base seed concentration initial [As]. sulphate concentration. neutralization rate. seed recycling and method of Fe(ll!) addition to Fe-deficient arsenic solutions.

Jan 1, 1996

By James Vaughan

Australia is a major miner of ore that requires hydrometallurgical processing. According to the 2016 US Geological Survey Minerals Commodities Summaries, the country is 1st for aluminium (bauxite) and lithium, 2nd for gold, zinc and cobalt, 4th for nickel and silver, and 6th for copper mining, not to mention its wealth in coal and iron ore. In this paper, examples of recent Australian hydrometallurgical activities are summarised. Then, selected research projects from the University of Queensland hydrometallurgy research group are profiled. The projects profiled are related to fundamental aspects of processing bauxite with organics and reactive silica as well as the development of a synergistic hydro- and pyrometallurgical process for copper. The process context and motivation for the research is introduced, key results are highlighted with the associated relevant references.

By Yasuo Ojima

The mainstream of copper smelting processes in the world today is a combination of Outokumpu type Flash smelting and PS (Pierse Smith) converting process. Presently it can be estimated that about 50% of the worldwide copper production is produced by the Flash smelting process and 80% by the PS converting process. PS converting process due to its operational flexibility and despite its batch character of operation has been widely used in many smelters for more than 100 years. However, an environmental issue has been pointed out related to this process because of the difficulty of handling the fugitive gases. Recently several copper smelters in the world have been newly construeted and others have executed major modification and modernization. The continuous converting process has been applied in many of them instead of PS converting process. This paper compares PS to the emerging continuous converting process and makes a prospect of the future of the copper converting process.

Jan 1, 2003

By S. G. Kumar

The performance of nickel based high temperature materials is directly related to their microstructure, which is controlled by the various processing steps. Nickel base alloys are melted and refined by a variety of processes that include Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM), Vacuum Arc Remelting (VAR) and Electroslag Remelting (ESR). The limitation of VIM is that the metallrefractory reactions lead to the disintegration of the crucible and hence contamination of the product due to macrosegregation. This macrosegregation is alleviated to some extent by controlling the solidification in VAR. The main attraction of ESR is its ability to produce a clean product by controlling the deleterious inclusions. In recent years Electron Beam Melting (EBM) is emerging as an alternative to the VIM, VAR and ESR. This paper reviews the current status of these processes and outlines the scope for further improvements in the processing technology.

Jan 1, 1993

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 Zhihong Liu

Monodisperse micron size nickel oxalate particles with rhombohedron morphology were prepared from condensed Ni(OH)2 suspension by a novel gel-sol process proposed by one of the authors. Firstly, condensed nickel hydroxide gel was formed by fast adding 1 mol dm-3 NaOH solution into 0.2 mol dm-3 nickel chloride solution, and then oxalic acid solution with a concentration of 0.25 mol dm-3 was dropped into the gel drop wise through a pump equiped with a pH controller under preset pH value, and in this process, Ni(OH)2 gel was converted gradually into monodisperse nickel oxalate sol. The formation of the nickel oxalate particles was found to proceed through a dissolution-recrystallization mechanism from the nickel hydroxide gel. The product particles exhibited rhombohedron like shape with micron size long axis and sub-micron size short axis. The effects of such factors, as temperature, surfactants, et al, were evaluated experimentally on the particles sizes and morphologies.

Jan 1, 2006

By A. Martins, L. Goulart, E. Araujo, R. Batista, A. Costa e Silva

Steel cleanness is of great importance to the performance of almost all steel products. From very clean steel for bearings to long products used in civil construction, processing variables – in special those in steelmaking operations- must be properly balanced to achieve adequate cleanness for the desired performance. With the present complexity of steels as alloy systems, it is not efficient nor appropriate to develop these processes on empirical basis alone. Computational thermodynamics can greatly improve process development to achieve the desired cleanness level at reasonable costs. In this work, examples of these calculations and their applications to real steel processing are presented and discussed. The advantages, limitations and areas in which improvement in these calculations is desired are highlighted and discussed.

Jan 1, 2015

By Glenn C. Miller

Cyanide is the most common lixiviant for extraction of precious metals, and its efficient use in open pit mines has contributed to the increase in world production of gold during the previous two decades. With this expansion of precious metals mining using cyanide, public concerns have developed in response to the inherent public perception of cyanide as a tox-in as well as a series of environmental problems that are directly or indirectly related to cyanide use in open pit mining. Some of these have technical or regulatory solutions, while others will require additional investigation before they can be resolved. The following discussion will summarize some of the public concerns regarding the use of cyanide in precious metals mining. The issue of cyanide use in large scale precious mining is controversial, and recent banning of cyanide use in open pit mines in Montana, or complete banning of cyanide in Hungary has reflected those international concerns. The underlying basis for some of the bans (e.g. Montana) reflect a general concern of the environmental impacts of mining, rather than specific issues related to risk of cyanide use. The human safety record for cyanide use, particularly in the developed countries is good, and cyanide is clearly the most efficient lixiviant for precious metals. Indeed, the relatively short lifetime for cyanide in the environment renders it one of the less problematic chemicals used for extraction of gold from ore. Mercury amalgamation or use of bromide as a lixiviant are certainly much more problematic. What, then, is the basis f~r the international concern about precious metals mines that use cyanide. Ifuse of cyanide for gold recovery is to continue, what additional infom1ation needs to be developed that will allow a better management of the risks of cyanide? Which of the concerns are directly related to cyanide, and which are indirect concerns that more related to effects of open pit mining. Under what conditions should use of cyanide be discouraged? DUl::ing June of 2000 the United Nations Environmental Program conducted a two-day workshop on cyanide use in mining that was attended by persons from the mining industry, regulators and environmental community. Support and attendance at this workshop reflected concerns by all three groups on further restrictions for cyanide use and the emerging potential for guidelines for better management of the catastrophic release of cyanide-containing mining waste. The following discussion is meant to focus-on those risks and explore the basis for an often negative reaction to precious metals mining using cyanide. It is presented in the format of a statement, followed by a discussion. While admittedly provocative, the statements are meant to express the concerns? of the public regarding cyanide and the mining industry.

Jan 1, 1998

By Yun Li

An innovative lead recycling process from scrap lead-acid battery paste is presented. The novelty in the process is avoiding SO2 generation and emission by using reductive sulfur-fixing technique. Iron-bearing secondary wastes produced from metallurgical industry were utilized as sulfur-fixing agent to capture sulfur in the form of FeS (s) instead of generation of SO2 (g). Na2CO3 molten salt was added to the smelting system to speed the reactions and improve valuable metals’ recovery and sulfur-fixation efficiency. Furthermore, this process can simultaneously co-treat various lead and iron-bearing wastes. At the same time, some precious metals, such as Au and Ag, contained in iron-bearing wastes can be recovered. The feasibility and reliability of this process was investigated thermodynamically and experimentally with the help of HSC 9.0 database and XRD and SEM-EDS analysis. A possible reaction mechanism and path in PbSO4–Fe2O3–Na2CO3–C smelting system was also clarified.

By E. Kuzeci, R. Kammel

"Lately various voltametric methods have gained increased attention as an analytic tool in hydrometallurgy. Voltammograms with mercury drop electrodes or glassy carbon electrodes provide information about the electrocrystallization of cathodic deposits and allow calculation of kinetic data by means of characteristic parameters like the peak potential and peak current and their variation with the voltage scanning rate.Cyclic voltammograms are also suitable for identification of reaction sequences. Voltammograms with carbon paste electroactive electrodes containing metal sulphide additions reveal information about the dissolution behavior. The stripping voltammetry can be applied to analyze metal ions and organic additives (e. g., thiourea) in extreme low concentration. Typical application of the various methods studied with microcomputer controlled measurement system are explained by examples selected from copper hydrometallurgy.IntroductionThe use of electroanalytical methods in metallurgical process control can be dated back to the starting period of industrial copper refining, when the deposition of the metal ions was followed electro-gravimetrically by weighing the electrode with deposits (1). The principles of metal deposition and dissolution have not changed but the methods to follow these phenomena were subjected to noticeable developments and especially the introduction of polarographic investigations by Heyrowsky (2) has greatly contributed to the progress in electro-analysis. A review about the fundamental work on the electrochemical kinetics in earlier time is compiled in a monograph of Vetter (2). With the steady improvements in the instrumental techniques, it is nowadays possible to apply several current and potential modulations for measurements with improved selectivity and sensibility. There is however, still a lack in theoretical interpretation of the data obtained. More theoretical information are already available for linear voltametric methods for systems where reduced as well as oxidized species are dissolved in the electrolyte (4, 5). Some recent investigations have also shown the reliability of these techniques to study electro-crystallization (6, 7). Main fields of the application in the hydro - and electro-metallurgy are:"

Jan 1, 1989

By Kotaro Ogura

"The electrolysis process in which CO2 is selectively reduced to C2H4 at a three-phase(gas/solution/metal) interface on a copper-mesh electrode has been developed in a concentrated solution of potassium halide. At open-circuit potential, CO2 is captured on the electrode by being inserted into the double-layer consisting of halide anions specifically adsorbed and potassium cations which are located in the Helmholtz inner and outer layers, respectively. CO2 thus activated is subjected to the electrochemical reduction. In the early stage of reduction, CO2 is converted to formate radicals that are adsorbed on the electrode by taking the place of halide anions. The reductive coupling of these radicals results in the formation of intermediates such as -CH2C(O)- and CH2=CH-, and C2H4 is finally produced. The catalytic activity of the electrode process involving the insertion of CO2 into the double layer is not deteriorated at all during the electrolysis, and the continuous reduction of CO2 to C2H4 is possible with the addition of inorganic acid under the assistance of natural energy.Carbon dioxide is a serious pollutant released from fossil fuel power station, internal combustion and many industrial operations. The easy release of CO2 to the air has caused the global warming, and the technique which intends to curtail CO2 by pushing it back into the ground has been suggested. However, this problem should be greatly mitigated if CO2 can be converted to innocuous substances. Especially, the reuse of CO2 as fuels and chemicals is extremely effective not only for the mitigation of the global warming but also against the depletion of the fossil fuel reserves. Several processes for converting CO2 to valuable compounds have been proposed including hydrogenation over heterogeneous catalyst at high temperature and electrochemical and photochemical reduction. In the conversion and cutback processes of CO2, however, it is of importance that the process is feasible under mild conditions, because the secondary generation of CO2 is feared if high energy is required and supplied with a fossil fuel. In this meaning, the electrochemical reduction of CO2 taking place at room temperature, which is similar to photosynthesis, is promising. From the practical point of view, it is further necessary that the conversion rate is high enough and the product is satisfactorily valuable."

Jan 1, 2008

By S. Abe

An extensive study has been carried out to determine the true cause of floating slimes precipitation which sometimes occurs and badly affects the quality of copper cathodes. Soluhilities of floating slime compounds systematically measured for the ternary system As-Sb-Ri added solely or in combination with conventional copper electrolyte (63°C) and bench scale electrorefining experiments done by varying electrolyte composition, have shown conclusively that the level of Sb(V) ions plays a substantial role in the precipitation mechanism. It was, therefore, speculated that controlling the level of the less soluble S b ( V ) ions below a certain critical level should result in a complete elimination of the undesirable precipitation. This can be easily achieved, for instance, by the addition of a reducing agent such as SO2 gas and the simultaneous employment of a certain type of cheating agent that effectively removes excessive Sb and Bi from the contaminated electrolyte. Long-term pilot testing conducted in line with the above speculation has confirmed the SO2/chelating resin scheme to be industrially very attractive and feasible.

Jan 1, 1987

By Brandon R. Ball

An investigation of the effects of ozone and ozone-induced hydroxyl radical on reducing whole effluent toxicity is described and discussed relative to the application of ozone for industrial water treatment. Results from operation of an ozone system treating industrial effluent from a lead and zinc mine in Colorado are presented. The mine discharges 1,000 gpm of wastewater into a tributary of the Arkansas River and has historically exceeded Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) limits and on occasion has exceeded numeric limits for copper, ammonia, and cyanide. Based on results of a Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) conducted on the effluent and individual process waste streams, the source of effluent toxicity is believed to be primarily associated with organic reagents used in the milling process. Based on test results, an applied ozone to COD ratio of 3: 1 by weight and a contact time of 30 minutes was found to be effective for reducing whole effluent toxicity at pH 11 but not at pH 7, indicating oxidation by hydroxyl radical to be the dominant mechanism responsible for toxic-ity reduction. At an applied ozone to COD ratio of 3:1 and a pH of 11, toxicity was improved from 0 percent survival to 100 percent survival for Ceriodaphnia dubia and fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) based

Jan 1, 1996

By A. H. Castillejos E., F. A. Acosta G.

Filtration is widely used as a terminal refining step for metals, particularly for the casting of aluminum alloys, but still more knowledge is required to understand how several factors affect the efficiency of removal of inclusions. In this study, both, initial and long term filtration efficiencies of a ceramic foam filter have been obtained from the computed trajectories of solid particles suspended in molten aluminum. The complex structure of the foam filters is represented by a unit cell which is formed by a pair of pores with average dimensions. The fluid flow field was determined from the numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equation, and periodic fully developed flow was assumed at the inlet of the calculation domain, as a boundary condition. This flow field corresponds to laminar flow as that found in ceramic filters operating under normal conditions. Computed initial filtration efficiencies showed that filtration efficiency decreases sharply with fluid velocity for particles larger than 30 µm, but smaller particles are better trapped at higher fluid velocities. Finally, it was found that long term filtration efficiency for particles of 8 µm decreased with time, in spite that perfect particle-wall attachment was assumed. Filter aging was considered in this study, and it was found that the distorted flow field, around the already trapped small inclusions prevented further collection.

Jan 1, 1999

By Jian Li, Tiejun Chun, Jian Pan, Deqing Zhu, Vinicius Mendes

"A study of the coal-based direct reduction behaviors of composite binder magnetite pellets was carried out in a simulating coal-based grate-rotary kiln process. It is shown that preheated pellets possess much better reducibility than fired oxide pellets: 40 min are required for preheated pellets to reach over 90% metallization degree compared to 100 min for fired oxide pellets. The compressive strength of preheated pellets decreases dramatically at the earlier stage of reduction, climbs quickly after reducing for 30min and achieves a high value at the end of reduction. However, the compressive strength of metallized pellets from reducing of fired pellets is much lower, more cracks and fractures being formed. In the preheated pellets, crystallite of metal iron is coarse. In the oxide pellet, a large number of interconnected crystals of metal iron are formed inside pellets, and pellet structure is very compact.IntroductionDirectly reduced iron is an excellent feed in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking, and possesses low tramp element content and steady component. It is generally preferred in the production of high quality steel [1-3]. Nearly 64.44 million tons of DRI were produced in 2009 over the world, over 80% of which were produced by gas-based processes, the left by coal-based processes. However, the DRI capacity was only 600 thousand tons in China in 2009. The EAF steel production has exceeded 40 million tons annually, and most of EAF operate on hot metal as feed [4]."

Jan 1, 2011

By L. Petitnicolas

The experimental study of nitrogen absorption and its removal from a liquid Ni-20%Cr alloy at 1873 K has been undertaken, using an experimental, apparatus based on the Sieverts technique in order to determine the solubility of nitrogen in the alloy. as well as the kinetics of nitrogen transfer across the gas/melt interface. Experiments show that nitrogen solute equilibrium content can be calculated using the Sievens law. Measurements point out the nitrogen absorption reaction rate to be well described by first order kinetics, whereas experiments on nitrogen removal reveal that the rate is better expressed using a second order equation.

Jan 1, 1996

By Hideharu Fukunaga, Jin Pan

"The recognition of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) as a means of providing high specific strength, high specific stiffness, excellent wear resistance, low thermal expansion and improved high temperature properties has led to a number of new processing, not previously used for plastic and ceramic matrix composites. As a primary fabricating process, the liquid methods are the major ones, which are reviewed briefly from the view of processing terminology. One of them, squeeze casting process is the most traditional and well-developed, because it is rapid, versatile and near-net shape production of materials. Two of new squeeze casting processes are presented to offer the hardness· controlled MMC and the· functionally graded MMCs as well as a newly developed whisker preform.I .IntroductionA large number of liquid processes and techniques including semi-solid liquid process are proposed. The most primitive process is ''pressure infiltration casting” of liquid metal into the fiber preform. It is called as follows depending on pressure and its source squeeze casting (1-4) by hydraulic ram, gas pressure infiltration casting (5, 6), vacuum infiltration, centrifugal casting (7), Lorentz-force-driven infiltration (8). The pressurizing on the liquid metal requests a large and stiff equipment, so pressureless infiltration technique has been developed using K2ZrF6 flux (9,10) while the mechanical properties are not high enough, and using H2 gas with Mg alloying element called pressureless infiltration casting (11-13), spontaneous infiltration process (14) and PRIMEX (15). In those processes, no severe reaction occurred between the reinforcement and matrix molten metal. In early l 990's, the reactive processing with pressure or without pressure, in which one material is totally transformed into another of the required shape, eq. assisted oxidation, has been developed, called reaction squeeze casting (16,17), DIMOX (18) reactive infiltration casting (19,20), and in-situ process (21,22). Die casting of SiCp/Al alloy (23,24) and thixocasting of SiCp/Mg alloy (25) are also applied to produce the machine component of MMCs."

Jan 1, 2000

By Qiang Yu

This paper reports on a research project supported by NSF, which aims at developing a multi-scale methodology for systematic microstructure prediction in thermo-mechanical processing of metals. This methodology is based on combining mesoscopic microstructure models with macroscopic process formulations and involves the following three main steps: (I) based on the given global processing conditions, the gross deformation patternof the entire workpiece is modeled using a continuum-based algorithm, (2) the resulting parameters are then extracted from the continuum-based simulation, post-processed and passed on to the mesoscopic numerical module, and (3) the microstructural changes are finally modeled at the mesoscopic scale. This approach is expected to overcome the disadvantages of current microstructure prediction practice employing empirical relationships between microstructural features and processing parameters. Keywords: Thermo-mechanical processing, Microstructure, Grain growth; Recrystallization; Mesoscopic models; Finite Element Method

Jan 1, 2003

By Du Sichen, S. Seetharaman, A. Jakobsson

"In the Present paper, the principles of oxygen potential measurements have been discussed along with the design details for oxygen sensors that are used in copper industry. A description of some of commercial probes is presented along with their salient features. The application of these sensors in flash smelting, converter and casting sections of copper production are discussed along with their implications on process optimization.I. IntroductionThe high temperature galvanic cells have come into prominence on account of their numerous applications in both fundamental as well as applied measurements. Since the inception of the oxygen-ion conducting electrolytes like ZrOrCaO·by Kiukkola and Wagner [1], the oxygen concentration cells have been extensively used in laboratories as well as in industries. In metal-production technology, these cells have been used to monitor the oxygen potentials in metallic, slag as well as gas phases and also to control and styr metallurgical processes. The pioneer among the various industrial users of such cells is the copper industry. To-day, high temperature solid electrolyte cells involving oxygen ion conducting electrolytes have become an integral part of copper pyro-refining and continuous casting. In the present paper some of the applications according to the industrial processes are described including the developments that are going on in the European scene."

Jan 1, 1997