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By P. G. Coombs

The kinetics of the cyclic oxidation and reduction processes for palladium powder were examined in the temperature range 848 to 923 K. The changes in oxidation behavior due to cycling are shown to result from the decrease in surface area. Sintering is found to occur only during the reduction process. Oxidation kinetics were found to follow a cubic law with time and yield a relation for the oxidation rate constant of k x = (1.05) 106 exp P74.0). 103 / RT] The kinetics of reduction are demonstrated to be first-order with the rate constant described by the expression: kr = (7.69) 1012 exp [-(208.0) 103 / RT] . In both expressions R is in J.mo1-1.K-1.

Jan 1, 1984

TWENTY-FOUR of the 28 local sections and the two divisions of the Institute were represented at the meeting. Three sections failed to appoint delegates and two of those appointed failed to attend the delegates' meeting proper. Four sessions were held, two on Monday and two shorter adjourned ses-sions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Even at the end many things remained to be said and, in view of the amount of time the delegates lost from technical ses-sions the feeling was general that next year it would be advisable to hold their meeting the day before or day after the general meeting. Every part of the country was represented from Boston to Los Angeles and Seattle to Washington. All phases of Institute work and policy were taken up in the most informal way and the delegates will carry back to the sections, as they brought to headquarters, many ideas that will prove useful and stimulating. The time was divided between reports by the delegates on section activities and reports by officers of the In-stitute and of the various joint activities on the work at headquarters : A. D. Flinn told of the work of Engi-neering Foundation; W. V. Brown discussed the Em-ployment Service; J. A. Sohon explained what the Library is doing; T. T. Read told how the sections could help MINING AND METALLURGY ; H. Foster Bain discussed Institute affairs in general and asked and answered questions. An interesting new feature of the meeting was the appearance by request of Directors Turner and Smith of the U. S. Bureau of Mines and U. S. Geological Survey to answer inquiries as to the needs and work of their Bureaus. So much attention had been paid this year by the western sections to the diminished funds made available at Washington for research on mining problems that many questions came up. The accom-panying figures epitomize the answers.

Jan 3, 1928

By J. Th. Erb

The total crude oil production of these islands, which in 1928 amounted to nearly 5,000,000 metric tons—about 36,500,000 bb1.—has again increased in 1929. The figures for 1929 are as follows: Metric ToNs† North Sumatra........................................ 369,930 South Sumatra........................................ 1,236,510 Java and Ceram....................................... 678,787 Dutch Borneo (including Tarakan)....................... 2,793,326 Sarawak.............................................. 759,700 Total............................................... 5,838.253 †1 metric tor1 = 7.36 bbl. on the average. This production, as far as the Dutch Islands are concerned, is owned partly by the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, the producing subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Concern, and partly by the Kolon-isle Petroleum Maatschappij (Standard Oil Co. of N. J.), while that of the British Protectorate Sarawak belongs to the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co., Ltd., of London. The increase in 1929 is due partly to more intensive drilling; the rotary system, which enables drilling to be done more quickly and to greater depths than was possible with the percussion system, has come into more general use. Further, considerable extensions have been made to some of the existing fields and several new pools have been discovered, which contributed in no small degree to the increase in production. Of particular interest is the fact that the ('Niam" (Nederlandsche Indische Aardolie Maatschappij), in which the Dutch Government has a large share and which company in 1928 was producing from only two fields in South Sumatra, has discovered a pool in North Sumatra and, moreover, has struck oil on the island of Poeloe Boenjoe near Tarakan (Eastern Borneo). The deepest well still drilling is in one of the fields of the "Niam" and has reached a depth of 2269 meters (7445 feet). Notwithstanding the tropical c1imate and the dense jungle in which most of the fields are situated, the most modern scientific methods are applied in exploration, in drilling, producing and refining.

Jan 1, 1930

By C. B. Post, G. V. Luerssen

J. STEVENS*—The authors state that the contamination in the metal was due mostly to the ladle refractories. Did the contamination vary with different brands of refractories or different qualities in the ladle ? C. B. POST (authors' reply)—That would be expected. In our shop we have used a grade of firebrick which is fairly standard. We do use high refractory nozzles to combat this erosion and high refractory sleeves, but there is such a problem when you get a skull in a ladle you just cannot use these high refractory bricks; you rip out the whole ladle getting the skull cleaned up. The acid bricks form a glass, and you can pull the skull out when you do get them. I believe you might find variations among the different refractories depending on how much silicon is in the brick. This determines how much silica is going into the interface between the steel and the brick. Our brick is about 35 pet alumina and 65 pet silica. With a brick of 35 pet alumina in the slag patches new calculations would have to be made. R. PARDEE*—Where can you draw the line in determining the refractories as being a silica refractory ? C. B. POST—More silica than about 50 pet. I think perhaps that is generally the criterion. The brick we use is a good high grade fire brick. T. S. WASHBURN*--With reference to the higher silicon that is recommended as a result of this investigation, is it contemplated that the specified range would be raised to 0.40-0.60 pet silicon, or possibly 0.50-1.00 pet silicon? These higher silicon ranges would affect the physical properties of the steel and consequently there might be some complications with respect to educating the consumers to 'accept this revision of the conventional analysis. C. B. POST—It will take considerable work. Take AMS 6260 as an example. Ordinarily this specification calls for 60 or 75 manganese. Silicon has some

Jan 1, 1950

By T. R. Wright

IN few mining regions in the world are the ores so varied and complex as in the Andes of central Peru. Consequently, in few localities is one company engaged in so many and such diverse metallurgical operations as the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corp. Concurrent with the mining of complex lead-zinc ores in Peru, and the consequent expansion of the Corporation's metallurgical activities, a department of metallurgical research was established in 1927 at La Orova. Facilities were provided for research in ore dressing, hydronivtallurgy pyrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, and analytical chemistry. In addition to laboratories. various pilot plants were built, including a concentrator, leaching plant, "by-product" smelter, and electrolytic refineries. These pilot plants are not diminutive units; they are designed and equipped as semicommercial plants for operation on a continuous 24-hour basis thus assuring the duplication of pilot plant results in actual practice. In general, the sequence in the development of metallurgical operations hasbeen as follows: (1) investigations in the laboratory to determine the most effective and economical method of treatment; (2) continuation of the research project on a pilot-plant scale when the evaluation of the laboratory

Jan 1, 1945

By Y. C. Liu, R. H. Richman

The effects of gel,manium and tin on the deformation and 9-e-crystallization textures of copper have been explored in detail with in the copper-rich terminal solid solutions. Addition of solute to copper produces a change in deformation texture from the copper type to the 70 :30 brass type. This transition has been measured quantitatively The types mid proportions of recrystal-lization components have been determined as a function of com-position, and correlation of recrystallization components with specific deformation components is discussed. On the basis of information available in the literature, it has been suggested that the effect of solute elements on the recrystallization texture of copper

Jan 1, 1961

J. S. Unger,* Pittsburgh, Pa. (written discussion?).-I heartily agree with the author's suggestion, near the close of the paper, that greater uniformity in the making and use of brick is desirable. The effect of the manner of laying the brick, the mortar or cement used, the necessity of standardizing the shapes, the elimination of irregular or poorly designed brick, and the necessity for uniform operating conditions were pointed out by me some years ago. Many factors influence the quality of firebricks. The following figures obtained from bricks during their making or after completion show the need for greater uniformity in their quality. These results were obtained from regular commercial bricks, shipped to the consumer. In many cases the samples were from the same car load.

Jan 11, 1919

By M. A. Cook

Sutherland used an ion-pair adsorption model to derive the author's hy-drolytic pee-acid) adsorption equation for the contact bubble curves of Wark and Cox. To do so it was necessary to postulate that the sum of coverages of surface anion sites by the collector and depressant anions is practically unity. It is here shown that the free energy of Sutherland's postulated collector ion (x-)-depressant ion (OH-) exchange reaction (for no other than the OH- to compete with X-), namely EX + (OH-) Z SOH- + X-, is in some cases positive and X- should not even adsorb. Also, in many cases the (OH-) adsorption must be quite negligible even though the collector covers only about a sixth of the mineral surface at the threshold of air bubble contact. This, however, contradicts the postulate that permits one to derive the correct bubble contact eqwztion for the ion-pair model. Furthermore, the requirement for charge neutrality leads in the ion-pair model to the (impossible) constancy of the ratio @+)/(OH-) along a contact bubble curve in which pH may change by more than seven units. HYDROLYTIC ADSORPTION EQUATION Hydrolytic (free-acid or free-base) and ion-pair (H', X-, or R', OH-) adsorption models of the collector in metal sulfide and similar flotation systems are superficially alike and somewhat difficult to differentiate. This is because they yield, under seemingly valid assumptions, equivalent forms of the equations describing the distribution of the collector between the aqueous solution and the mineral surface. This has been discussed by the author and associates1-4 and more recently by Sutherland,' both for simple collector-mineral and for more complicated collector-depressant-mineral systems. In the hydrolytic adsorption model the equations describing the contact bubble curves of Wark and coxeJ7 are as follows :2 Here X is the collector anion, D- the depressant anion, 9, and On are the fractions of the free-acid sites S on the surface of the mineral covered by collector and depressant free acids, respectively, and @ is the fraction of uncovered sites. Kx is the free-acid collector dissociation equilibrium con- stant, K1 that for the free-acid collector adsorption, KD that for the free-acid depressant dissociation, and K2 the equilibrium constant for the free-acid depressant adsorption. Eqs. 1 to 5 yield upon simultaneous solution the result is the critical free-acid concentration for bubble contact in the absence of depressant-free acid. Eq. 8 expresses the conditions along a simple collector-mineral contact bubble curve for the case HD = 0, or V = 0. Last and Cook showed that Eq. 6 applies generally and with good accuracy in the collector-depressant-metal sulfide mineral systems. Inci-dentally, it has been shown by infrared absorption studies that in some cases the free-acid adsorption process splits out water.' In this case, Eq. 2 might be written SHOH + HX Z SHX + H20, with a similar equation replacing Eq. 4 for depressant-free acid-water exchange. This possibility does not change, however, the basic equations or considerations of the hydrolytic adsorption model. Indeed, this type of free acid-water exchange reaction was predicted for fluorite and iron ore flotation by oleic acid in the dry grinding and boiling processes.410

Jan 1, 1961

By H. J. Wogner

STORAGE of natural gas in underground reservoirs is one of the most important developments in the natural gas industry in recent years. However, it is only when we consider this development together with proved fuel reserves, the know-how of the fuel technologist, and the possibility of making manufactured gas available over large areas, that we begin to appreciate fully the impact that underground storage of gas may have on the future growth and development of large areas in the United States. During the past winter, shortages of natural gas in the industrial East were given wide publicity and domestic consumers were requested to reduce their requirements to a minimum, so that war plants might have sufficient gas to continue operations. Curtailments would have been more drastic except for the fact that large volumes of natural gas had previously been stored in underground reservoirs. Storage of natural gas in depleted or partly depleted gas or oil sands is not new, having originally been tried, as far as I know, about 1915. About five or ten years later an attempt was made to store manufactured gas in a depleted gas sand. This proved unsuccessful at first because the gas was not properly cleaned and the impurities plugged the pores in the sand.

Jan 1, 1945

By Joseph A. Holmes

(Pittsburg Meeting, March, 1910.) AT the Mining Experiment Station of the U. S. Geological Survey, in Pittsburg, an investigation of the process of combustion is being carried on in a specially-designed furnace having an unusually long combustion-chamber. This work is conducted by a committee consisting of H. Kreisinger, mechanical engineer; Dr. J. C. W. Frazer, chemist; and Dr. J. K. Clement, physicist. The problem, essentially one of physical chemistry, is extremely interesting to all who are concerned in the burning of coal or the construction of furnaces. The main object of these experiments is to ascertain the relation between the amount of the volatile combustible driven from the coal and the combustion-spaces necessary to burn it completely. Our best steam-coals vary from 15 to 45 per cent. of fixed combustible. The greater part of the latter is burned on the grate; but the volatile combustible leaves the freshly-charged coal and must be burned in the combustion-space. If this space is not large enough, the volatile combustible will leave the furnace only partly burned, and the result will be a considerable heat-loss and a smoky stack. Strictly speaking, the factor which determines the completeness of combustion of the volatile matter, after it has been mixed with a certain amount of air, is the length of time the mixture is allowed to remain in the combustion-space; but this length of time depends on the extent of the space itself. Let us suppose, for instance, that, when a given coal is burned at a certain standard rate, the volume of the volatile combustible driven off per second is 10 cu. ft. Adding, say, 10 cu. ft. of air, the volume of the resulting burning mixture is increased to 20 cu. ft. If the combustion-space is 20 cu. ft., the burning mixture will stay in it,

May 1, 1910

By J. Handin, S. J. Bauer, M. Friedman

Deformation mechanisms in room-dry and water-saturated specimens of Charcoal Granodiorite, shortened at 10-4s-1, at effective pressures (Pe) to 100 MPa and temperatures to partial melting (?1050°C) are documented with a view toward providing criteria to recognize and characterize the deformation for geological and engineering applications. Above 800°C strength decreases dramatically at effective pressures ? 50 MPa and water-weakening reduces strength an additional 30 to 40% at Pe = 100 MPa. Strains at failure are only 0.1 to 2.2 percent with macroscopic ductility (within this range) increasing as the effective pressures are increased and in wet versus dry tests. Shattering (multiple faulting) gives way to faulting along a single zone to failure without macroscopic faulting as ductility increases. Microscopically, cataclasis (extension microfracturing and thermal cracking with rigid-body motions) predominates at all conditions. Dislocation gliding contributes little to the strain. Precursive extension microfractures coalesce to produce the throughgoing faults with gouge zones exhibiting possible Riedel shears. Incipient melting, particularly in wet tests, produces a distinctive texture along feldspar grain boundaries that suggests a grain-boundary-softening effect contributes to the weakening. In addition, it is demonstrated that the presence of water does not lead to more microfractures, but to a reduction in the stresses required to initiate and propagate them.

Jan 1, 1982

R. F. WOOD,* Sandusky, Ohio.-I made a few tests of gun-metal specimens, after I noticed the results on quenching -reported by the Bureau of Standards. The data of one such test are given herewith. The bars were heat treated and quenched before they were machined, and in all cases they were brought up to 700° or 800°. They became extremely brittle,, showed almost no elongation, except such as was caused by the failure of the pieces to fit together after they were pulled, and the tensile stength was reduced from around 35,000 to about 13,000 lb. per sq. in. In addition, the weakening effect of the quenching seemed to be almost as marked when the bar was allowed to slowly air-cool from red to black, and then quenched, as it was by quenching directly from the red heat. Test Bars.-Rough size, 9/16 in. diam. over test section, grips 13/16 in. diam. Cast two in a flask, one on each side of a block 8 by 4 by 1 in. and fin-gated thereto from the grips but not from the test section. Poured with flask in inclined position, with gate to lower end of block and riser from upper end of each test bar. Bars were machined to ½ in. over the test section, after heat treatment. Casting the Bars.-Charge of 1500 lb. consisting of 400 lb. of new metals and 1100 lb. of G turnings and scrap was melted in open-flame oil furnaces and then poured into a 1-ton ladle. From the ladle 150 lb. was poured into a preheated No. 50 crucible, land from this the flasks of test bars were poured. The six flasks are indicated below by the numbers 1 to 6 and the bars in each flask by the letters a and b, thus 4a and 4h, for instance, were the two bars in flask No. 4.

Jan 12, 1919

By F. L. Bosqui

NO metallurgical process developed in the last half century has been more widely advertised to both technologists and lay- men, or has done more to promote efficiency and economy in the extraction of the valuable portions of ores than has the flotation process. Practically everybody has heard of this strange procedure whereby the heavy portions of an ore are made to float while the light parts sink. Some- times it is called froth flotation, the mineral-bearing froth being from the first a distinguishing characteristic. Many times it is called oil flotation, because a thin film of oil was commonly applied to the particles to be floated to make them adhere to the bubbles that rise through the pulp to form the surface froth. Oil, though commonly used, is not, however, necessary for this purpose, which is one of the facts that has been learned as the process has been developed.

Jan 1, 1940

By H. Rees

This paper supplements and brings up to date a report prepared earlier this year and presented at the Eleventh Pan American Railway Congress in Mexico City. Most of the original report is contained in this paper in order to acquaint the reader with the project background. On December 1, 1961, construction of this locomotive was completed. Stationary testing started immediately, and a host of problems in various areas were uncovered. Many of these had no relation to the use of coal in a direct fired gas turbine. All of them emphasized the problems which plagued previous projects of this kind. In 1944 the Locomotive Development Committee of Bituminous Coal Research, Inc., was formed to study the problems of combustion, coal handling, and fly ash removal which would have to be solved before coal could be used to fire a gas turbine. By 1947 this committee was composed of the chief executive officers of nine eastern railroads and five eastern coal companies. All of the members of this committee were vitally concerned in a coal fired gas turbine because coal cost only one-fourth as much per heat unit as fuel oil. A number of research projects were started to develop and test components on a small scale. This included work at John Hopkins University, Battelle Memorial Institute, Institute of Gas Technology at Chicago, Purdue University, and Southern Research Institute. By 1946 a pilot plant had been installed at the Dunkirk, New York plant of Alco Products Div. of American Locomotive Co. The U. S. Bureau of Mines made available to the Locomotive Development Committee (hereafter called LDC) a Houdry process gas turbine plant, originally destined for a Russian oil refinery. The full scale pilot plant was used to evaluate the results obtained from the small scale studies under actual gas turbine conditions. Operation of this plant disclosed a number of problems which had not been discovered in the small scale tests. By 1951 four 250 hr tests had been conducted with the Houdry gas turbine to test out a variety of equipment. The major problem concerned the removal of abrasive fly ash from the products of combustion so that wear on turbine blades would not be excessive. The first 250 hr test showed that the original fly ash separating equipment was inadequate. Large ash particles passing through the turbine blading were nicking the leading edges of the first row blades. At the conclusion of the second 250 hr test, erosion was so severe that the first row of stator and the first row of rotor blades were replaced. At the end of the third 250 hr test, it was necessary to replace the first three rows of stator blading. The fourth test was used to test out a new design fly ash separator developed by LDC and named the Dunlab tube. This device gave more encouraging results than any of the others tested. Early enthusiasm for overcoming major difficulties had resulted in placing an order in 1946 with Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. for a 3750 hp regenerative gas turbine. The gas turbine, together with associated combustion and ash removal equipment, coal handling equipment, generators and gear reduction unit was installed at Dunkirk by 1951. A 750 hr test was made in 1952 with the LDC-Allis Chalmers gas turbine power plant. At the end of this test it was necessary to replace the first four rows of both rotor and stator blading. Rows 5 and 6 did not require replacement. In 1953 the American Locomotive Co. joined with LDC and assumed an active role in equipment development and manufacture. During 1954 LDC-Alco operated the rebladed gas turbine 300 hr to determine if a new fly ash separator was adequate. Performance of the improved separator was considerably better, but trouble was experienced with clogged blowdown lines from the Dunlab tubes. When these lines clogged it permitted the passage of abrasive particles. In 1955 a total of 1421 hr was run. This included 243 hr of cycle operation on Union Pacific coal from the D. O. Clark mine at Superior, Wyoming. During the 243 hr a total of 370 tons of coal was consumed. The purpose of this test was to determine if U.P. coal was suitable for use in a coal fired turbine. It was the unofficial opinion that it was as good or better than the eastern coals that had been tested.

Jan 1, 1964

By Carle R. Hayward

THOUGH recent months have seen a rapid decline in lead-smelting activity and consequent uncertainty as to the future, the first half of the year showed progress in keeping with similar activity in other metals. Demand for scrap increased and various lead-bearing materials found their way to plants producing secondary lead. Some of these materials introduced complications into normal smelting procedure and were the cause of many conferences among plant officials attempting to find the most satisfactory method of treatment. If a blast furnace is to do itself justice it must be run with an open charge. Troubles inevitably result when materials are added to a charge which tighten it up and pre- vent free burning of the coke and con- sequent rapid smelting with a clean hearth This fact has long been recognized by plants producing primary lead, but only recently only it received the attention it deserves.

Jan 1, 1938

By T. R. Wright

THE Corporation operates concentrators in four camps: Casapalca. Morococha, Cerro de Pa-co, and Mahr. The present concentrator at Cerro de Pasco is the newest having been completed in 1943. and that at Casapalca the oldest, having been built originally as a gravity concentrator, in 1889. Prior to 1925 the Corporation's milling operations were confined to the beneficiation of silver-bearing copper ores, and treatment of these ore: by flotation was started in 1918. Although fairly large deposits of complex, fine-grained lead-zinc ores existed, little progress had been made in the treatment of such ores--in Peru or elsewhere-until the early 'twentics. The Casapalca concentrator began the selettive concentration of complex leadzinc ores by all-flotation methods in 1925, or contemporaneously with the commercial development of selective lead-zinc flotation in the United State:.

Jan 1, 1945

By S. J. McCarroll

J. Bruce Clemmer, J. B. Rosenbaum, and C. H. Schack (U.S. Bureau of Mines, Salt Lake City)—We have watched with considerable interest Three Kids development of Manganese Inc. and have been impressed by the ingenuity with which management and staff have solved their many obstinate handling problems. Mr. McCarroll has been lenient in describing the difficulties faced by the company in developing a process for beneficiating Three Kids ore. The operation, equivalent in size to a 20,000-ton sulphide ore plant, is treating a unique ore by a flotation process pioneered by Manganese Inc. Perhaps the magnitude of the conditioning and flotation problems peculiar to Three Kids ore can be better appraised when it is pointed out that two-thirds to three-fourths of the ore is floated in the rougher step and that the four stages of cleaning which follow are equivalent to floating the whole plant feed two to three times. Our experience in both laboratory and pilot plant flotation of Three Kids and other manganese ores leads us to agree with Mr. McCarroll that suitable conditioning is a prime requisite for successful oil-emulsion flotation. The difficulties of proper conditioning were demonstrated in pilot plant processing of Artillery Peak manganese ore at our Boulder City, Nev., experiment station. Over three months of experiments and extensive plant revision were required before satisfactory conditioning was obtained in the 25-ton-per-day plant. Such factors as time, type and intensity of mixing, aeration, surface to volume relationship, and power input are still being studied by the Bureau of Mines in hopes of learning how best to condition manganese pulps for oil-emulsion flotation. Other factors affecting flotation of manganese with oil emulsion also deserve attention. A few of these are the influence of stability and proportion of ingredients in the collector emulsion, the feasibility of grinding

Jan 1, 1955

By Frank Corwin

I. INTRODUCTION. SINCE the first installation of MacDougall roasters at the Great Falls smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., the capacity of the furnaces has been more than doubled. During the first nine or ten years of the operation of the MacDougall department the tonnage treated by the furnaces remained practically unchanged. Experimental work carried out in 1906, however, showed that increasing the draft of the furnaces would bring about an increase in capacity. In 1909 the MacDougall department was connected to the new smelter stack and

Jan 7, 1913

By Chester O. Ensign

Many publications to date have advocated under- seas mining operations, optimistically overlooking the paucity of information on mineral distribution and the ocean environments in which minerals occur. Such articles (smattered with opinion, as is this article) are herein tempered by my more conservative views on the economics of mining under the seas. For purposes of this paper, underseas mining refers only to the deeper surficial deposits of the continental shelf and the deep sea floor, i.e., the deposits of phosphorite and manganese nodules.

Jan 9, 1966

By George C. Stone

AS most of you probably know, Australia has had many strikes. The two places that had the worst reputation were the Broken Hill mines and Port Pirie, where the smelter was located. About four or five years ago, the smelter changed hands. The new proprietors - immediately endeavored to get on better terms with the men and made such progress in that respect that, the men came to them and said, "There is no use giving us any more money. You have just raised our pay one- bob a day, but the store-keeper and the boarding-house keeper have raised their prices. The boarding housekeeper raised our board three bob a week and the storekeeper took the rest of it and we are no better off." Learning that what the men needed most was firewood wood the company bought the wood on a tract of ground across Spencer's Gulf and- sent men over to cut it. The wood was brought to the works and given to a man to cut up. He thought he had an easy job and loafed, but when the committee representing the men discovered that his loafing added to the cost of 'the wood, it promptly disciplined him and made -him work as he had never worked before. The next question that arose was the distribution of the wood. The committee got bids from several cartmen whose prices varied from about two to five shillings. It gave the work to the next to the lowest bidder. The fact that if delivering the wood cost more, the user would have to pay for it, was an entirely new idea to the men.

Jan 1, 1920