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By Lauri E. K. Holappa

The aim of the metallurgical process development is, nowadays, to search for the shortest, most economical, more environmentally friendly and sustainable route to convert raw materials to finished products. Recent progress in steelmaking processes ? BOF and EAF - has also motivated to search for more advanced casting technologies to shorten process route. Continuous casting, which became industrially feasible in the 1960s, is now a mainstream technology with over 90% share of the world steel casting. After the 1980s, the increase in steel production and consumption, particularly from automobile, construction and home appliances industries, required steel manufacturers to accelerate production with more concise procedures, so that near-net-shape casting took the trend of development in order to bypass and simplify the downstream processes, e.g. cold/hot rolling mill or extrusion mill, to directly obtain finished products with required geometries. Progress in flat and long products changed the industrial operation pattern, strengthened steel production efficiency, and formed the operation concepts of the integrated steelworks and mini-mills, respectively. Thin slab casting and strip casting have represented the most important progress and promise, in the recent years, of such innovations furthermore strengthening the production efficiency and, concurrently, coinciding with the demands of environmental protection and sustainability. This paper reviews the most recent progresses in near-net-shape casting and prospects the impacts to steel industries as well as the development trends of steel production, in general.

Jan 1, 2006

By G. Ríos

Atlantic Copper Metallurgical Complex in Huelva (Spain) was commissioned in 1970 with a capacity of 40,000 tpy of copper from concentrate. In 1975 the old blast furnaces were replaced by the Outokumpu FSF technology. During the last 30 years, through several expansions and technical modifications, the production has increased up to 300,000 tpy of new copper. This paper describes the developments on the control of impurities that have been made to fit new situations, such as a new artificial gypsum plant, a new electrolyte treatment plant or different secondary materials handling management.

Jan 1, 2006

By T. T. Chen

Secondary copper anodes are generally rich in Sn, Pb, Ni and Sb, but are notably deficient in Se, Te and Ag. In the secondary copper anodes, most of the Ni, virtually all of the Ag, slightly more than one-fifth of the Pb, about one-third of the As and Sb, and approximately one-tenth of the Sn are in solid solution in the copper. The remaining impurity contents occur as 1-5 µm grain-boundary inclusions in the anodes, and these are mainly Cu2O, SnO2, Cu-Pb-As-Sb-Bi oxide, Pb-Sb oxide, Sn-Ni-Zn oxide, Cu-Sn-Ni oxide, Cu-Sb-Ni oxide (Kupferglimmer) and trace Cu2(Se,Te). Barium sulphate, which originates from the mold wash used in casting, is also present in the anodes. During electrorefining, the BaSO4, SnO2, Pb-Sb oxide, Sn-Ni-Zn oxide, Cu-Sn-Ni oxide and Cu- Sb-Ni oxide inclusions are liberated and accumulate in the slimes layer. Solid solution Ni dissolves and the Ni accumulates in the electrolyte. Solid solution Sn and Pb dissolve, but partly reprecipitate as Sn arsenate and PbSO4, respectively. Solid solution Ag dissolves but rapidly reacts to form Ag2(Se,Te), Ag powder, Ag-bearing Cu2O, (Cu,Ag)SO4 or a complex oxidate phase. Partial dissolution of the Cu-Pb-As-Sb-Bi oxide particles takes place; the Pb component is converted to PbSO4, whereas Cu, As, Sb and Bi dissolve. The reacted particles retain the morphology of the original Cu-Pb-As- Sb-Bi oxide phase. Some of the solubilized As, Sb and Bi remains in solution, but much reprecipitates as SbAsO4, As-Sb-Bi oxide, and as a poorly defined oxidate phase which consists mostly of Cu-Ag-Pb arsenate-sulphate. The high Sn contents of secondary copper anodes do not seem to affect the behaviour of the anodes during electrorefining.

Jan 1, 1999

By Yan Fu, Chuanlin Fan, Xiujing Zhai, Yongfeng Chang, Binchuan Li

"The mechanism of the selective chlorination of nickel and cobalt in reduced limonitic laterite was investigated. Reduced ores were obtained from the reduction roasting of a limonitic nickel laterite. The thermal decomposition of related chlorides and the selective chlorination of the reduced ore were carefully studied using Differential Thermal analysis - Thermogravimetry (DTA-TG), X-Ray Diffraction and chemical leaching methods. In the temperature range of 300 - 500 °C, aluminum chloride hexahydrate was chosen as chloride agent. During the selective chlorination, reduced ore was partly chlorinated by hydrogen chloride generated from the thermal decomposition of chloride agent. Then the oxydrolysis of ferrous chloride re-generated hydrogen chloride was used to further the chlorination. Finally, iron was mostly rejected as hematite, while nickel and cobalt were selectively chlorinated. More than 91 %Ni , 90%Co and about 4%Fe in the chlorinated ore was extracted using a water leaching method.IntroductionLimonitic nickel laterite is an important nickel reserve, which is rich in iron in the form of goethite and has low contents of magnesium, aluminum, silicon, and other elements. Goethite is the main nickel-bearing mineral in the laterite [1]. Nickel is generally present in goethite in three modes: (a) associated with amorphous or poorly crystalline goethite, (b) weakly adsorbed to the crystalline goethite surface, and ( c) as lattice substituents [2]. In addition, cobalt in limonite was found to be associated with a manganese phase rich also in nickel [3]. These results indicate that the extractions of nickel and cobalt are highly dependent upon the degree of the decomposition of the nickel, cobalt-bearing minerals.For the selective extraction of nickel and cobalt from limonitic laterite, the ore is usually processed by hydrometallurgical methods, including high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) [4] or reductive roasting - ammonia leaching (Caron process). However, there are still some disadvantages in these processes, such as the expense of autoclaves and scaling problems in HP AL [ 4, 5], and relatively low overall metal recovery, large energy and reagent requirements for the Caron process."

Jan 1, 2011

By G. Johnston, J. Greenly, R. G. Buchheit, D. C. McIntyre, R. Muenchausen, D. J. Rej, R W. Stinnett

"Rapid thermal treatment of materials using high energy, high flux, pulsed ion beams can produce modified surface layers with unique microstrutures and properties. High energy ions loose their energy during the slowing down process in the workpiece and thus deposit their energy continuously over a depth of a few microns. The deposition of energy can lead to melting and in some causes ablation of the heated layer. Because the pulse duration of the ion beams is typically only 50-200 ns, steep thermal gradients generated during heating facilitate rapid cooling (107K/sec-108K/sec) of the treated layer by thermal diffusion into the underlying material. Rapid heating and cooling of materials can generate surface layers with non-equilibrium amorphous or nano-crystalline microstructures that exhibit increased hardness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. Pulsed ion beam treatment can also lead to surface smoothening or can be used to mix thin « 1 11m thick) coatings into underlying substrates. Pulsed ion beams can be generated using existing ""flashover"" ion source technology which is capable of producing single shot, mixed C, H, and O ion beams with beam cross sections of approximately 100 cm2 and energy fluxes up to 100 J/ cm2. Recent advances in repetitive high energy pulsed power technology and development of magnetically confined anode plasma ion sources have facilitated the development of ion beam systems that generate single species beams that pulse continuously at 120 shots/second. These capabilities will allow rapid treatment of large surface area workpieces at low cost.IntroductionThe rapid solidification of liquid materials can create unique materials and material microstructures that often have properties that can lead to enhanced performance. Rapid solidification processing of the surfaces of materials using continuous and pulsed laser beams (laser glazing) has been explored for over 20 years (1-5). Advances in high energy, pulsed electron and ion beam technologies over the past decade have provided rapid thermal treatment techniques that may be less expensive to impliment than laser surface treatment for many surface modification applications (6). High energy pulsed ion beams have recently been used to harden aluminum(7), copper(8) and tool steel surfaces (6,9), increase corrosion resistance of Al alloys (6), mix coatings into underlying substrates (10), and create amorphous films (11,12)."

Jan 1, 1994

By David K. Melgaard

Electroslag Remelting (ESR) is a complex process used to produce high quality specialty alloy materials. The quality can be directly correlated to variances in melt rate and immersion depth. Conventional ESR furnaces control these quantities using two independent control loops using proportional changes in current for melt rate and driving the electrode up and down to match a voltage set point for immersion depth. However it is well known that the control loops are highly coupled, i.e. changing the current to account for melt rate deviations changes the voltage depth relationship and vice verse. In addition the noise in measurements of the ESR process can be considerable, forcing conventional controllers to use highly damped responses. A new model-based controller has been developed to embody the coupling and improve responsiveness by using estimates from a reduced-order linear ESR model and the typical process measurements to control melt rate and immersion depth simultaneously. Kalman filtering is used to optimally combine the model estimates of eight process states and the measurements of voltage, current, position and mass to estimate the instantaneous melt rate and immersion depth. Several ESR melts under steady state and transient conditions were conducted to evaluate the performance of the new controller. This paper will discuss the design of the new ESR model and controller and will present experimental results demonstrating its much improved control and responsiveness. While this controller was developed for the ESR process, the effectiveness of model-based control in managing such a complex process with relatively simple equations suggests the approach could be employed for many other processes as well.

Jan 1, 2006

By Marie-Aline Van Ende, In-ho Jung

A thermodynamic database for the oxyfluoride system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-Na2O-K2O-Li2OMnO- FeO-F has been developed based on the critical evaluation and optimization of all available experimental thermodynamic and phase diagram data. The developed database can be used for phase diagram and equilibrium solidification calculations for multicomponent systems and for understanding the solidification behavior of mold fluxes. Based on this thermodynamic database, a simple kinetic model was developed to simulate the interactions between the mold flux and molten steel using effective equilibrium reaction volumes combined with the thermodynamic database.

Jan 1, 2014

By Jyri Talja, Shaolong Chen, Hannu Mansikkaviita

"For optimum smelting results, proper treatment of the feed is needed to ensure favourable conditions for ignition characteristics, heat balance, mass balance with tolerable impurity levels, and overall process economics. Feed preparation consists of physical treatments before drying (blending), chemical treatments before drying, (roasting, if required), drying itself and physical treatments after drying (fractioning, if required).Effects of fluctuation on mineralogy and moisture should be minimized by blending the concentrates in a bedding plant prior to drying. As an alternative to drying, additional treatments such as roasting for impurity removal may be needed for part of the concentrate.Sustainability, energy efficiency, utilization of waste energy, low gas and dust emissions, product quality, availability and occupational exposure reduction are decisive criteria in drying today. These criteria are best met by the Kumera steam dryer, which has the best energy efficiency, zero CO2 emission, lowest operational and maintenance expenses, and superior availability and product quality.IntroductionFeed preparation plays a crucial role in having a smooth smelting operation and also the overall smelting economics in metal production. Therefore, it is of significant importance for all copper, nickel and lead smelter operations in which sulphide concentrates are fed to the primary smelting furnace. Generally speaking, the higher the metal content in the matte after primary smelting, the more important the feed preparation. This is of particular importance in the direct blister (DB) process for copper production and direct oxygen nickel (DON) for nickel production.Bedding is the first stage in feed preparation. This is very important for the sake of smoothing the mineralogical fluctuation in the feed for better smelting control. Its importance increases as the number of concentrates available for the feed mix decreases."

Jan 1, 2012

By Roger N. Kust

Removal of heavy metals from industrial process streams is becoming increasingly important for _the recovery and reuse of values in process tails. Technology has been available for several years which removes heavy metals, from dilute (0.1-3.0 g/L) streams, as hydroxide or hydrated oxide sludges, allowing discharge of washed cakes with up to 60% solids. This paper reports on improvements to this technology which now allows treatment of streams with metal concentrations in excess of 60 g/L while eliminating the need for thickeners. Streams containing copper, iron, aluminum, chromium, nickel, zinc, cobalt and lead have been successfully treated.

Jan 1, 1992

By Tan Pengfu

By using computer-aided techniques of equilibrium calculations for multicomponent and multiphase systems, a computer model has been developed to simulate QSL, KIVCET and Outokumpu flash lead smelting processes. A mathematical description is studied using two zones or three zones, namely smelting zone and slag reduction zone for QSL furnace, or offtake shaft zone, smelting shaft zone and electric furnace zone for KIVCET furnace. The amount of each component in lead, slag and gaseous phases under equilibrium is calculated by using the data of free energies of formation and activity coefficients. The predictions by the present computer model are compared with the known data from QSL-Plant at Korea Zinc Co. in Korea, KIVCET-Plant at Nuova Samim Co. in Italy and Outokumpu Co. in Finland. The agreements between the computer predictions and the known data are excellent, so that the present computer model can be used to monitor and optimize the actual industrial operations of direct lead smelting.

Jan 1, 1998

By Tobias Pröll, Bernhard Kronberger, Joachim Rohovec, Werner Hölt, Hermann Hofbauer

"As this is only a first draft, more precise explanations as well as detailed schemes, figures and plots will be included in the final draft. The description og the 100 kW test rig will also be mor detailed as construction is ongoing and will be finished during the summer. Furthermore simulations are to be finished shortly; so details on combustibles and gas concentrations will also be included in the final draft.AbstractOxyFuel combustion is a key technology for the efficient separation of CO2 from fuel combus¬tion (especially coal). Since coal plays a minor role in the Austrian energy mix the application of OxyFuel towards other fuels (biomass, waste fuels) is interesting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Austrian energy sector. The investigation of OxyFuel technology for alter¬native fuels is also interesting from a strategic point of view in order to generate knowledge for operation of capture ready cofiring and waste/sludge-incineration plants. OxyFuel uses a synthetic mixture of 02 and recycled exhaust gas where the 02 content may vary. This supplementary degree of freedom allows improved operation especially for low calorific fuels. Heavy fuel oil addition for low calorific combustibles can be omitted when using OxyFuel combustion. Application of alternative fuels (wood, waste wood, municipal waste, sewage sludge) in a 100-kW CFB plant is investigated in combination with process simulation.IntroductionOxyFuel combustion is discussed as one of the key technologies for the efficient separation of CO2 from combustion of fossil fuels (especially coal). Since coal plays only a minor role as primary energy source in Austria, the broadening of the scope towards OxyFuel of other fuels like biomass or waste fuels is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Austrian energy sector. The investigation of OxyFuel technology for alternative fuels besides the large coal-oriented projects is interesting also from the strategic point of view. The presented project aims at the generation of knowledge in order to design and operate capture ready cofiring and waste/sludge incineration plants."

Jan 1, 2008

By Kurt Svens

"As zinc consumption is gradually increasing all the time in the world, many zinc plants are looking for possible expansions. As the sulphuric acid market as well as the fertilizer market in many areas is saturated, the costs for the roasting-acid plant section of the zinc plant will create problems when making feasibility calculations for possible expansions. For solving the customers' situation, two proven zinc concentrate direct leaching technologies are available. A third one, which is possible, does not have any industrially proven applications in the zinc area.IntroductionTime to time, the zinc plants in the world scrutinize their operations with respect to their cost efficiency, the total zinc recovery and the near-by or far-away consumer markets, especially the for zinc and sulphuric acid. Their preliminary profitability calculations can show that a possible total expansion is not economical, when they are looking to expand the whole roasting/acid plant - leaching - solution purification - electrowinning - casting route, as the possible market price for the sulphuric acid is low or the sulphuric acid market is too far away. Based on these facts, their economical study often indicates that implementing a zinc concentrate direct leaching option could be more favourable. Regarding this situation, several aspects concerning three alternative direct leaching methods will be discussed, of which pressure leaching and the atmospheric leaching processes have several industrial applications in the zinc industry, as the ultrafine grinding - conventional leaching process at present has none. As iron is also dissolved during zinc concentrate direct leaching, iron removal processes generally used in the zinc industry are additionally discussed below."

Jan 1, 2012

By George Grandy

Kvaerner experience is being used to develop software to design or simulate crushing and screening plants. The model techniques discussed are presently being used for open-circuit plants and are being extended to closed circuit plants. The program contains a library of routines, each representing a piece of equipment or unit operation, which are assembled into one of several open-circuit plant configurations. Routines include gyratory primary crushers; standard secondary and shorthead tertiary cone crushers; single, double or triple deck screens; and stockpiles, feed bins and belt conveyors. The program uses steady-state models to simulate the performance of crushers and screens that have small residence times and quickly reach equilibrium when operating conditions and/or parameters are changed. The dynamic aspect of the total circuit model concerns the storage units within the circuit, i.e. stockpiles and bins, and, in the closed circuit configuration, circulating loads and size distributions. In many cases, just vendor's catalog data are necessary for a pre-feasibility simulation; in other cases, actual plant test data are required to obtain more accurate simulations. The entire plant is shown in a single graphic screen so the user can see all the relevant information he might want, and soft-keys are provided for the user to make on- line parameter changes and observe the effects on storage elements, equipment feed rates and the final product size distributions. The model also reports equipment utilization in percentage, power consumption, and other related operating information, and soon, will be able to report estimated capital and operating costs.

Jan 1, 1999

By Gerald M. Ellis

Exploration for gold .deposits on Hispaniola has taken place sporadically over the years but has expanded in the past decade. There are veintype, disseminated, alluvial and elluvial deposits. Investigations were previously undertaken in Haiti by combined Haitian, Bureau of Mines, and UN geological teams at Grand Bois Limbe(Milot) and Cap Coq areas. Later studies were conducted at the Miches and Moncion districts. Gold occurrences were reported in quartz, silicic-barite veins and gossans. An important deposit ?at Pueblo Viejo is? a disseminated type where extraction is taking place in the oxidized zone. Exploration by Japanese and West German firms with local geologists are described in this paper together with Pueblo Viejo, Miches, Restauracion, Milot, and Meme ?areas where occurrences are known. Copper deposits with associated gold va1ues are also described. These include vein deposits in Central Cordillera and disseminated deposits at Terrier Rouge and Blondin.

Jan 1, 1989

By James D. Navratil

Advances in hydrometallurgy require the introduction of new separation and purification processes, but they can be complex, costly and energy intensive. Chromatographic processes have low energy requirements and possess very high separation efficiencies. However, they have not yet made the great industrial impact that might be expected from their benefits. The large-scale and difficult separation of rare earths would greatly benefit from an improved continuous chromatographic operational device. Truly continuous, multicomponent chromatographic separations may be achieved by means of the continuous annular chromatograph. Work has been Initiated at The University of New South Wales involving the improvement and development of such equipment for the separation and purification of rare earths.

Jan 1, 1990

By James A. Warren

The phase field method has been successfully employed as both a tool to model heterogeneous materials and as numerical method for calculating the motion of interfaces and phase boundaries without explicitly tracking those interfaces. The method has been used to model a diverse suite of problems describing the microstructural evolution in materials. These models are derived from thermodynamic arguments and symmetry principles, and usually guarantee positive local entropy production for systems out of equilibrium. Descriptions of how phase field methods can be applied to the problems of solidification, grain growth, and electroplating will be presented.

Jan 1, 2001

By M. Dattilo

Research has been conducted over the past three years using the composite anodes versus the lead alloy anodes. The Merrlin composite anodes have shown the improved performance in copper electrowinning versus the lead-calcium-tin anodes. Using the composite anodes a 100-150 mV reduction in anode overpotential has been observed versus the lead alloy anodes in sulfuric acid electrolyte. The composite coating has excellent corrosion inhibiting properties, and reduces or eliminates the formation of manganese oxide scale. Laboratory evidences indicate that, the use of these composite anodes enhances the process of electrowinning by improving the lead alloy corrosion resistance, lowers the electrode potential, reduces the need for cobalt addition, eliminates the anode cleaning, and reduces the generation of acid mist. Field tests are underway.

Jan 1, 1999

By Shinya Hodoshima

A catalysis pair of tetralin dehydrogenation / naphthalene hydrogenation has been proposed in the present paper as a liquid organic hydride for operating stationary fuel cells. Catalytic naphthalene hydrogenation, having been commercialized since the 1940s, proceeds to generate decalin via tetralin as an intermediate. The storage capacities of tetralin (3.0 wt%, 28.2 kg-H2 / m3) are lower than decalin (7.3 wt%, 64.8 kg-H2 / m3) but both tetralin dehydrogenation and naphthalene hydrogenation are much faster than the decalin / naphthalene pair. Moreover, existing infrastructures such as gas stations, chemical tankers and tank lorries are available for storage, transportation and supply of hydrogen. With respect to the stationary fuel cells with large space for hydrogen storage, tetralin as a hydrogen carrier is superior to decalin in terms of fast hydrogen supply or power density. Rapid hydrogen supply from tetralin under mild conditions was only accomplished with the carbon-supported metal catalysts in the ?superheated liquid-film states? under reactive distillation conditions. In contrast to the ordinary suspended states, the catalyst layers superheated in the liquid-film state gave high catalytic performances at around 250OC. As a consequence, both serious coke formation over the catalyst surface and excessive consumption of exergy were prevented simultaneously.

Jan 1, 2006

By J. -P. Nepper

It has been possible to largely contain converter aisle emissions of SO2 and fumes in the case of batch-wise operated Peirce Smith converters during normal blowing periods with the help of suitably designed primary hoods. Controlling the escape of off-gas during the periods of turning the converter in or out of the stack has been problematic in the past. Effective automated control systems have been developed for the purpose and successfully applied in smelter operations in Spain, Taiwan and Germany. This has led not only to an effective reduction of emissions in the converter environment but also to an improvement in the converter operation.

Jan 1, 1992

By S. Ikenobu

This paper describes a method for processing high-silicate zinc concentrates by hydrometallurgical zinc refining. Silica in concentrates reacts to form zinc silicate during roasting. The zinc silicate readily dissolves and slowly precipitates in sulfuric acid solutions during leaching. However, if proper operating parameters are not maintained, the colloidal silica may form an unfilterable gel. That is, according to the investigation results obtained, the silica concentration in the reactor has to be maintained at 5 g/1 or less (preferably 2 g/1 or less) by promoting the precipitation reaction. The proposed method has made it possible to precipitate silica in a form having excellent solid-liquid separation characteristics, without the need for facilities having a high filtration capacity, and to maintain a low silica concentration in the reactor by feeding a composition containing pre-adjusted silica contents.

Jan 1, 2000