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By Wenying Liu

The effect of aeration on chalcocite heap leaching was studied by analyzing the historical data from two chalcocite heap leach pads located in Chile, one with aeration and the other without aeration. The data showed that the copper leaching kinetics of the aerated heap was greater than that of the unaerated heap within a certain leaching period, after which there was no effect of aeration on the copper leaching kinetics. The total acid consumption per ton of ore processed was higher in the case of aeration, which was supported by the higher pH of the PLS. But the net acid consumption per ton of copper produced was the same in the two cases. Approximately 5% of the total iron added to the unaerated heap was precipitated inside the heap. In contrast, there was no net iron precipitation or generation inside the aerated heap. Bacteria activities were thought to occur even in the unaerated heap, but the extent was much less than in the aerated heap. Given the importance of forced aeration in chalcocite heap bioleaching, mathematical modelling will be applied in the future work to assist the optimization of the aeration system design.

By Mikiya Tanaka

Keywords: Solvent extraction, nickel, electroless plating, accelerating effect With the increasing importance of electroless nickel plating technology in many fields such as the electronic and automobile industries, the treatment of spent baths is becoming a serious problem. Although the spent baths are currently treated by a conventional precipitation method, a method with no sludge generation is desired. Previously, we proposed the solvent extraction recovery of nickel from the spent baths by means of solvent extraction using LIX84I as the extractant. However, a problem of this method was that the extraction and stripping of nickel were not fast enough to achieve high efficiencies when the continuous extractor was used. We have overcome this difficulty by finding that the addition of an acidic organophosphorous reagent in small amount into the organic phase markedly promotes the extraction and stripping rates of the nickel. Shaking-out tests using a separatory funnel at 240 spm revealed that the time to reach the equilibria is more than 60 min with only 20 vol% LIX84I, but is reduced to 10 min and 2.5 min by adding 2 vol% DP8R, respectively, during the extraction and the stripping with sulfuric acid.

Jan 1, 2004

By Xiangru Chen, Qijie Zhai, Haicheng Li, Chao Yang, Zhang Wei

The Nb-rich phase generated by the addition of trace amounts of Nb(<0.1wt%) \ and the effects of different content of Nb on the morphology and distribution of graphite in ductile iron were studied in this paper. The results showed that when the content of niobium less than 0.1wt%, the two-dimensional morphology of Nb-rich phase existed in microalloyed ductile iron were mainly regular pattern such as square, triangle, polygon etc. Besides, Nb-rich phase in large size distributed in the matrix with a certain distance from graphite. With the increasing amount of niobium, the dispersion degree of graphite diameter, average diameter and roundness increased slightly, and the number of graphite decreased slightly.

Jan 1, 2015

By Guanghua Wen, Jian Li, Mingmei Zhu, Fei Xiong, Shengjian Cao

"Small inclusions removal from molten steel in a continuous casting tundish by gas bubbles, which were generated in the turbulent flow region by introducing inert gas, was analyzed theoretically and the inclusion-bubble adhesion and flotation process was also observed by high-speed photo-graph in water model. Results showed that small inclusions in the range of 20-50µm removal from molten steel by bubbles flotation involves three stages: contact, adhesion and flotation. The inclusion-bubble adhesion processes include two ways: inclusions adhering to the upper part of the bubble and inclusions adhering to the lower part of the bubble. As the bubble floats up, the number of inclusions adhering to the bubble are increased. The proper size of bubbles, which could enhance small inclusions removal efficiency, should be controlled in the range of 1-2mm.IntroductionReducing inclusions content in molten steel is a very important way to improve quality of steel, and one of the main tasks in steel making process.A variety of methods have been used for inclusions removal in molten steel. At present, the main approaches to remove inclusions are gas stirring, slag cleaning, filtering, centrifugal separating, and by means of ultrasonic or electromagnetic field. Among these techniques, gas stirring is the most widely and effectively method for inclusions removal. Inclusions in molten steel will be aggregated and generated to form larger size inclusions, and subsequently floated to the surface of molten steel by buoyancy; meanwhile, some inclusions will be adhered to bubbles and floated together to metal-slag interface where inclusions are absorbed by the covering slag layer. Some research work showed that flow behaviors of small bubbles are different from that of big ones [1-2], and smaller bubbles are more efficiency for fine inclusions removal in molten steel.There are many methods to generate bubbles. During steelmaking process, highly turbulent flow in the ladle shroud can split introduced inert gas into small bubbles, which enhances the removal of fine inclusions from molten steel. Turbulent flow of molten steel injected into tundish from ladle shroud has a high speed and it is a strong turbulent area in continuous casting. The gas can be introduced into the shroud below the slide gate. The high turbulence flow would break up the gas into small gas bubbles. Fine inclusions will be easily adhered to small bubbles and subsequently floated to the surface of molten steel. Generation of small bubbles in ladle shroud have been studied in some literatures [3-4]. Some research have analyzed the fine inclusions removal with injecting gas from the ladle shroud by mathematical simulation, and the results show that the refining method can obviously improve the removal efficiency of fine inclusions in tundish [5-8]."

Jan 1, 2013

By Che Xin, Liu Tianlong, Bi Hongyun, Chen Lijia

"High-cycle fatigue experiments were conducted at 800°C in laboratory air for three ferrite stainless steels including 15CrNbTi, 15CrMoNbTi and 18CrNbTi, where the stress ratio of 0.l was adopted. The experimental results show that at 800°C, the fatigue limit of the 15CrMoNbTi steel is the highest, the fatigue limit of the 15CrNbTi steel is slightly lower than that of the 15CrMoNbTi steel, and the fatigue limit of the 18CrNbTi steel is the lowest. At the same maximum stress, the 15CrMoNbTi steel has longer fatigue lives than the 15CrNbTi steel in the low stress area, while the 18CrNbTi steel has the shortest fatigue life. In addition, the observations on the fracture surfaces of fatigue specimens reveal that the fatigue cracks initiate transgranularly at the free surface of the specimens and propagate in a transgranular mode.IntroductionIn modem automotive industry, the manufacturers have paid great efforts to clean exhaust gas and to improve fuel economy. It is thought an effective way to increase the temperature of combustion chamber in automotive engine. And thus, the manifold closed to the engine in automotive exhaust system can suffer high temperature up to approximately 1000°C. Because of their relatively low thermal expansion coefficient, high yield strength at elevated temperature and good fatigue resistance, ferrite stainless steels, especially added with alloying elements such as Mo, Nb and Ti, are increasingly used for automotive exhaust systems [1-3]. In fact, exhaust manifold operated under high frequency vibration and exposed to high temperature exhausting gas also requires good fatigue resistance at elevated temperature. Some studies on the high temperature fatigue characteristics of stainless steel have been documented. It has beeen found that the fatigue limit of four ferrite stainless steels including 409L, 436L, 429EM and 444 (18Cr- 2Mo) reduces significantly with increasing temperature [4, 5]. In the research concerning the effect of a-phase embrittlement on fatigue behavior in a high-chromium ferrite stainless steel, it is noted that the precipitation of brittle a-phase will reduce the crack initiation and growth resistances and result in a decrease in fatigue limit [6]. In this investigation, the high-cycle fatigue behavior of three ferrite stainless steels including 18CrNbTi, 15CrNbTi and 15CrMoNbTi at 800°C have been studied to address the mechanical aspect of high-cycle fatigue behavior for ferrite stainless steels and to provide the theoretical reference for the safe design of automotive exhaust system."

Jan 1, 2013

By Guozhu Ye, Mikael Larsson, Eric Burström, Sten Ångström

"Increased use of scrap in steelmaking including scrap use in BOF has a high economic and environmental potential in terms of increased productivity, energy saving and reduced emission of CO2. Preheating and surface cleaning of steel scrap is a concept developed by MEFOS in a four year research program funded by MISTRA, Swedish Foundation of Strategic Environmental Research. The process concept consists of four major steps: 1) Combustion of ASR or other waste fuel and composing of the gas composition. 2) Scrap heating and cleaning in a shaft where the coated zinc is removed as ZnCl2 and scrap is heated to about 600 ºC. 3) Dust separation for recovery of metal zinc. 4) Gas cleaning. This paper will describe the process concept and highlight the major results from preliminary trials around the scrap heating and cleaning shaft.IntroductionSteel is often coated to increase the corrosion resistance. Share of coated and galvanized steel in the world marked is steadily increasing. This results in increased amounts of scrap with different types of coatings. Use of galvanized scrap in EAF plant results in an EAF dust with high content of zinc ferrite and many other impurities like Pb, Hg, Cd and halide. EAF dust is classified as hazardous waste in most of the developed countries and the steel plant has to pay for external treatment for zinc recovery. For use in BOF plant this will result in a BOF dust containing typically 1-5%Zn making it impossible for recycling to the blast furnace.Different approaches for surface cleaning have been investigated in past. Dapper et al. [1] examined the possibility to evaporate Zn, Ni, Cr, Sn from coated materials using chlorine. Chlorinated rinsing of non iron oxides and metals using HCl from combustion of PVC was discussed by Fray [2]. Further studies by Tee and Fray [3-5] have been concentrated on the possibility to vaporize coatings with an air and chlorine gas mixture. The O2:Cl2 ratio in the gas mixture was found to have great importance for control of the process. To avoid the chlorination of iron, this ratio should be kept at a level of 10:1.Scrap pre-heating up to about 600 ºC is a well known method and this alone could save up to 100 kWh per ton steel. The technology has been established since many years and efficient processes were developed in the 90’s. However, no process has fully gained the expected energy savings as the large quantity of the exhaust gas has to be reheated to over 1000 ºC again to destroy the hazardous components like dioxins."

Jan 1, 2008

By Kuiting Wang, Jinshan Liu, Ninglei Sun, Aiguo Dong, Yeda Lu

"Eliminating the environmental threat caused by waste effluent containing magnesium sulfate derived from the process of nickel laterite sulfuric acid leaching and subsequent nickel precipitation is always a focus in the metallurgy field. A new flowsheet whose procedures include vaporization, crystallization, two stages precipitation of magnesium, causticizing treatment of filtrate and ammonia recycle was investigated. Both the details of the flowsheet and its application are described in this article. It is confirmed to be an effective and economical method to prevent the pollution by the waste effluent, simultaneity, a series of magnesium products recovered during the process own good economic returns.IntroductionSulfuric acid leaching is the conventional procedure of extraction valuable metals from ores in hydrometallurgy field. During the process of nickel laterite sulfuric acid leaching, several metals, including Ni, Co, Al Mn, Fe, Mg etc., migrate into the leachate in the form of soluble metal sulfate. After subsequent procedure of purification, precipitation of Ni and Co and neutralization, an enormous stream of waste effluent which contains a concentration of approx. 15-40g/L Mg is exhausted. Such solution containing magnesium sulfate is toxic, which causes diarrhea for both human and animals. On the other hand, large amount of sulfate acid was consumed during the process of leaching by the compound of Mg, which increases cost of a hydro nickel plant.In arid areas, the waste effluent mentioned above is treated via evaporate pond owning large acreage, which needs not only the appropriate meteorologic condition, but occupies much land. In coastal areas, it is directly discharged to the sea, which probably deteriorates ecological system of offshore strip. The most widespread method to treat with the waste effluent is neutralization by lime cream, the residues of which containing magnesium hydroxide and gypsum are transported to residues pool. Neutralization is a simple process, but it never recycles the Mg and sulfate anion into new application, meanwhile, the residues are potential threat to the environment."

Jan 1, 2012

By Keuncheol Choi, Yonghack Lee

"The new lead smelter based on the QSL technology was started operation from May 1992 at Onsan Refinery of Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. The smelter is designed to treat not only various types of lead concentrate but also secondary materials coming from the zinc plant without special pretreatment.Shortly after the start-up of the operation, it has demonstrated that the smelter have a capability to treat wide range of raw materials. Continuous modifications and improvements of the plant are still under way to increase the feed rate and also the ratio of secondary materials to the feed.In this paper, the operating experience and results of QSL smelter, especially the injection of gases and coal to the melt, will be presented with major operation parameters and data.INTRODUCTIONThe QSL lead smelter based on new injection technology was commissioned at the Korea Zinc's Onsan plant from May of 1992. After starting the operation, the QSL lead smelter faced various kinds of mechanical and metallurgical troubles. However, these were gradually worked out by the continuous improvements and efforts.At present, the QSL lead smelter is operated stably at the total feed rate of 57 tonnes per hour with an increased amount of secondary materials."

Jan 1, 1996

By Yuuki Yoshida

Electrolytic manganese dioxide, EMD, is the positive electrode material of primary batteries and the raw material of LMC used as the positive mass of lithium ion batteries and is currently produced by anodic deposition on and harvesting from a titanium anode in acidic manganese sulfate solutions prepared by dissolving high purity of manganese sulfate into sulfuric acid solutions. This paper presents an alternative method of EMD production using a novel anode, Mn2O3 coated titanium, at lower operating temperature than the current process to explore a possibility of manganese recovery from zinc electrowinning solutions. The Mn2O3/ Ti anode prepared by thermal decomposition of a precursor solution containing Mn (II) showed the anodic deposition of MnO2 by constant current electrolysis and the current efficiency was 95% in maximum, while the current efficiency and the crystallographic structure of deposited MnO2 depended on the current density, the electrolysis time, the bath temperature, and the concentration of Mn(II). The deposited MnO2 was successfully harvested from the anode and the recovery rate was 98%.

By S. Castro, P. Alfaro, C. Moctezuma

IMMSA operates a conventional roasting-leaching-purification-electrolysis plant for the production of zinc from concentrates in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The leaching circuit was designed to take into consideration a feed mixture to the roaster with a maximum iron content of 7%. Since the start-up of the plant in 1982, the zinc recovery increased to 94.5%. However, an increase in the iron content in 1997 caused an important decrease in the global zinc recovery. Two new steps were added to the leaching circuit and modifications were made to the other steps in order to increase zinc extraction. Two new automated press filters were installed to replace the original vacuum drum filters and to minimize soluble zinc losses. Additionally, the residue treatment steps in purification were modified and a calcium removal circuit is just starting operation. These actions, besides improving the operations, have as the main objective to increase the global zinc recovery to levels above 94.5%.

Jan 1, 2000

By Philippe Charlier

Recycling of aluminium contained in used aseptic beverage cartons is a difficult task which has nevertheless to be tackled by our modern societies. Techniques have earlier been developed by the paper and pulp industry for the recycling of the board fibres from collected post-consumer beverage cartons. A joint technical feasibility study by Granges and a leading beverage carton producer has dealt with different techniques for handling residues from repulping facilities. The aluminium obtained can be used as raw material for the production of thin gauge foil, thus closing the recycling loop.

Jan 1, 1995

By June-Yong Eom, Jong-Jin Pak, Jung-Mock Jang, Min-Kyu Paek

The nitrogen solubility in liquid Mn-Si, Mn-Si-Fe, Mn-Si-C and Mn-Si-Fe-C alloys has been measured by the gas-liquid metal equilibration technique in the temperature range of 1673-1773 K. The additions of silicon, iron and carbon significantly decreased the nitrogen solubility in liquid manganese alloys. The experimental results were thermodynamically analyzed by the Wagner’s formalism to determine the first- and second-order interaction parameters of silicon, iron and carbon on nitrogen in liquid manganese. The thermodynamic parameters can be used to predict the nitrogen solubility in ferromanganese and silicomanganese alloy melts as functions of the melt composition and temperature at given nitrogen partial pressures.

Jan 1, 2014

By T. Goda, H. Kiuchi, M. Iguchi

"IntroductionThe utilization of silver in the electronic industry has been increasing in recent years. It is desirable that valuable metals are recovered from the used scraps of these industrial goods. Condensor chips, for example, contain silver, palladium, and Ag-Pd alloy. The dissolution behavior of silver was studied assuming that scraps such as used condensor chips in which Ag-Pd paste is used are subjected to wet treatment.ExperimentalIn this study the powder, granules, and flakes of silver were used in these nitric acid leaching experiments. The nitric acid solution was agitated in a glass reactor with a magnetic stirrer and heated to the required temperature. The experiment was started by putting the silver sample in the solution. After the leaching, the solution was filtered and the concentration of silver in the filtrate was analyzed by ICP.ResultsIn dilute nitric acid of less than 5 N, silver powder dissolved easily with increase in the concentration of nitric acid and temperature. However, the more intensive the stirring of the solution was, the lower the dissolution quantity became. Fig. 1"

Jan 1, 2000

By E. Legault-Seguin

The current industrial practice in the processing of nickeliferous laterites involves the precipitation and releaching of Ni and Co to allow separation from the major impurities of Mn, Mg and Ca. A direct solvent extraction process has significant advantages over this practice, which suffers from difficult and costly precipitation steps, lower recovery and inherently complex flowsheets. The present investigation involves the examination of Cyanex 272, Cyanex 301 and Cyanex 302 as extractants for the direct extraction of Ni and Co from major impurities associated with laterite leaching, i.e. Mn, Mg and Ca. For Co extraction, Cyanex 301 and Cyanex 302 are superior to Cyanex 272, because they are able to selectively separate Co from Mn, Mg and Ca. Cyanex 272 offers complete extraction of Co from Ni and Ca, but Mn and Mg pose difficulty. Ni can only be extracted selectively with Cyanex 301, thus another extractant selective for Ni, such as Versatic 10 or Cyanex 301, is needed to recover Ni if Cyanex 302 or Cyanex 272 is used for the initial extraction.

Jan 1, 2004

By Chikabumi Yamauchi, Mitsuru Tanahashi, Jutaro Miura, Takaharu Iwadachi, Toshiharu Fujisawa

"Tue oxidation behavior of molten Cu-Be alloys was investigated by exposing· the molten Cu-Be alloys to various Ar-O2 atmospheres to control the oxygen partial pressure, PO2 = 10 ~105 Pa at 1423 K. The following results were obtained:• The oxygen · partial pressure in gas phase affects the morphology of the oxide formed on the surface of the alloy and · the oxidation rate of beryllium.• At lower oxygen partial pressure, a molten Cu-Be alloy is covered with a homogeneous and compact internal layer of BeO. Thus, the beryllium oxidation rate can be minimized.• By adding a small amount of calcium or zirconium into the molten Cu-0.5 mass% Be alloy, a protective BeO layer is formed even at higher oxygen partial pressure. Thus, the beryllium oxidation rate can be reduced.IntroductionCopper-beryllium (Cu-Be) alloys are well recognized for their unique properties, such as high electrical conductivity, high strength, high fatigue strength, excellent properties at elevated temperatures, good formability and good corrosion resistance. .This extraordinary collection of properties are the reasons why Cu-Be alloys are expected to be ""Key-materials"", which are necessary to further advance science and technology and to be applied in.various fields such as electronic devices, machine parts, repeater housings of undersea optical fiber communication cables, etc.However, a large amount of beryllium is oxidized to BeO in melting stage of the current Cu-Be alloy production process, because beryllium is a highly reactive element. This is one of the ·main factors that negatively affect the production yield and th_e product quality."

Jan 1, 2000

By Peter A. Spencer

The metallurgical parameters necessary for the design of a carmercial scale bio-oxidation plant have been determined for the treatment of a refractory arsenopyrite concentrate using a moderately thermophilic bacterial culture. The parameters considered were bio-oxidation rate, culture growth rate, nutrients, solids density, level of bio-oxidation, particle size distribution and oxygen uptake rate. The approach for obtaining the optimum values for these parameters is discussed and values based on results fran batch and continuous testing are given. Estimates of the capital and operating costs for a plant treating the carmercial arsenopyrite concentrate have been calculated fran the test data.

Jan 1, 1990

By Cailing Zhen, Jian Pan, Deqing Zhu, Xianlin Zhou, Yanhong Luo, Guixiang Huang

The grate-kiln process has been widely applied for oxide pellet production with the quick development of steel industry in China, but ring formation takes place which adversely affects the productivity and properties of fired pellets. Rotary kiln at high temperature seems a black box, and ring formation is difficult to measure directly by current technology. It’s of great importance to monitor ring formation during firing of pellets. Therefore, a method for estimating the thickness of ring formation in rotary kilns was studied, based on working out theoretically the relationship between ring thickness and the outside surface of the kiln, according to steady-state heat transfer across a cylinder, which provides a soft-sensing technique for ring formation at high temperature, and achieves stable pellet production .

Jan 1, 2015

By Wei Yin, Bin Xu, Qian Li, Yongbin Yang, Tao Jiang

Copper anode slime is an increasingly significant resource for precious metals such as Au, Ag and Pd. The extraction of Au, Ag and Pd from decopperized anode slime by different pretreatments and different lixiviants including cyanide, chloride, thiourea and thiosulfate have been investigated. When oxidizing roasting pretreatment was carried out under the conditions of roasting time 120min and temperature 625 ℃, the removal ratios of S and Sb could reach 82.18% and 98.52%, respectively. And the following alkaline leaching of calcine could result in the dissolution of 46.40% Cu and 98.48% Pb. The optima leaching ratios of Au, Ag and Pd reached 99.48%, 97.69%, 94.79% by cyanide leaching, and 95.01%, 79.84%, 96.59% by chloride leaching, and about 95.21%, 95.66%, 48.79% by thiourea/thiosulfate leaching.

Jan 1, 2015

By Wenbo Luo, Jilai Xue, Tiepeng Li, Jun Zhu

Sodium silicate solutions for producing silica have been ultrasound treated to enhance the precipitation process in laboratory scale. Higher precipitation rate was found with ultrasound treated solutions than those without ultrasound. The obtained SiO2 powder products were characterized using XRD, SEM, BET and laser particle size analyzer. The particle size distribution and the specific surface area of the powder products varied with the power input level and the processing time of the ultrasonic treatment. The results indicate that the efficiency of the precipitation process can be improved optimally when the ultrasound is conducted into the solutions before the nucleation stage.

Jan 1, 2015

By Lakshman D. Jayaweera

Today&apos;s rapidly developing and changing technologies and industrial products and practices frequently carry with them the increased generation of materials that, if improperly dealt with, can threaten both public health and the environment. Mercury is an element that poses great problems in the many forms in which it is to be found in the mineral processing industry. These forms are often contained in hazardous wastes and residues which may be unstable, and in which the contained mercury has value. This paper presents some of the stabilisation and recovery methods which are based on hydrometallurgical techniques and thermodynamic stability considerations.

Jan 1, 1994