Search Documents

By KNona C. Liddell

"Many metal recovery processes involve heterogeneous reactions in porous media accompanied by fluid flow and mass transfer. Modeling such systems is difficult because of the number of rate processes involved and is complicated even further by effects due to the structure of the porous medium. Data on even bulk properties of the medium are often severely limited or unavailable. For many such systems, a cell model may provide an attractive alternative to models based on transport mechanisms in a differential volume. A cell model requires less input data and is computationally efficient. Identical residence time distributions can be obtained with models of both types, and both allow conversion and concentration profiles and histories to be calculated. The formulation and properties of cell models for metals recovery are described in detail.INTRODUCTIONSubsurface mineral leaching, metal ion recovery and environmental remediation are significant modeling challenges. They involve one-, two-, or three-dimensional reactive flow in multi reaction open systems. Dissolution, adsorption, and ion exchange occur at reactive mineral surfaces, and these heterogeneous reactions are accompanied by acid-base, complexation, and redox reactions in the solution phase.Two approaches have been taken to reactive flow problems in geologic media: mixing cell and transport models. Mixing cell models, the subject of this review, are based on a network of connected cells, each with a specified number of input and output streams. Mixing cells are assumed to have no internal solute concentration gradients, that is, each cell behaves like a well-stirred tank. Gradients are represented by step changes between connected cells; this results in a model that is spatially discretized at the outset. Different methods of discretizing the model equations are considered more fully below. Although this is not strictly necessary, it has usually been assumed in subsurface flow applications that all cells in the network have the same volume and identical initial properties."

Jan 1, 1996

By K. Knuutila

The behaviour of thiourea, animal glue and chloride ions in the electro¬lysis of copper has been investigated by various different electrochemical experiments, i.e. polarization curves with stationary copper electrodes, long-time galvanostatic electrolyses and Hull cell experiments. Polarization curves with stationary copper electrodes show that animal glue has a polarizative effect on the deposition potential. Small thiourea contents affect depolarizatively when high concentrations retard the copper deposition. The microstructures of the deposited copper after the long-time electrolyses show that animal glue favours a basis oriented deposition structure. With thiourea the field orientated structure was evident. It was also observed that the deposited structure depended much on the grain structure of the starter sheet. The chloride ion concentration has a drastic effect on. the crystal size of the deposited copper as it was found out in Hull cell tests. Chloride ions flattened the the crystals and the deposition became smoother when the chloride ions were added. The cathode copper quality is discussed according to the literature. Special attention is paid on the codeposition of thiourea and the origin of sulphur impurities in copper cathodes.

Jan 1, 1987

By Banqiu Wu

Zirconium carbide powder has been synthesized from zircon concentrate and methane using a high temperature plasma reactor, a non-transferred DC plasma torch was used as heat source. A high temperature filter consisting of graphite felt was designed, built and operated to separate the zirconium carbide from silicon carbide during the process. Characterization of the collected powders was done by wet chemical analysis using Atomic Absorption (AA), Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy (SEM and TEM) and by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). It was found that the zirconium carbide purity was around 95% with silicon carbide being the primary impurity. The powders had particle sizes between 30 and 80 nm. The effect of several experimental variables are presented as well as temperature and velocity profiles calculated in the reactor.

Jan 1, 1997

By Akira Nishikawa

During the twentieth century the copper smelting industry achieved dramatic expansion corresponding to the vast growth of global economy. This was largely due to innovations in pyro-metallurgical processes, such as autogenous smelting and continuous smelting and converting technologies. However, as copper production capacity increased, its impact on the environment also could not be ignored, and thus with increasing global environmental awareness, many smelting operations either had to renew or rebuild their facilities. In addition to these changes, in places like Japan and Europe, with scarce primary resources, the treatment and recovery of metals from a variety of items such as car shredder dust, used electrical appliances and electronic devices, on top of scraps traditionally treated, is having a profound effect on the reduction of waste and the preservation of primary resources. Thus compared to the days when copper smelting focused on the environmental control in order to break with "Smoke Stack Industry", copper smelting today is making an important contribution to the sustainable development of human society.

Jan 1, 2003

By Moo Eob Choi

A new process for converting sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur by a cyclic process involving calcium sulfide and calcium sulfate without generating secondary pollutants was developed at the University of Utah. In this process, sulfur dioxide is reacted with calcium sulfide to produce elemental sulfur and calcium sulfate. The latter is reduced by hydrogen to regenerate calcium sulfide. In the present work, the effects of different pelletization conditions for the initial reactant calcium sulfate on the strength and reactivity of the pellets were determined. These conditions include the type, amount, and impregnation method of catalyst, binder amount, and sintering. Experiments were also performed to determine the effects of temperature in the range of 973-1173 K, pellet size, cycle repetition, and water vapor or carbon dioxide content in sulfur dioxide stream on the reaction rates of the cyclic process. Nickel-catalyzed fired pellets produced by the use of molasses or cement as a binder showed good reactivity as well as high compressive strength during the cyclic tests. The binder amount did not significantly affect the reaction rate.

Jan 1, 2006

By I. H. Bonekamp

Norddeutsche Affinerie has operated an Outokurnpu type flash smelter for more than 25 years. In recent years, the concentrate smelting capacity was increased to 750,000 tpy, double of the initial design capacity. Maintaining this high performance level requires very good metallurgical process control. It is not enough to base this control on thermodynamics and kinetics since the furnace is highly dynamic. Understanding these dynamics and being able to quantify them can have significant financial benefits. A mass and energy balance model was developed and is discussed based on measured data. At this time the model is based on the major elements copper, iron, sulfur and silica. With it is possible to quantify the differences of the various material streams such as matte, slag, flue dust, matte carry-over to settling furnace, etc. Comparing the reconciled energy balance model with the fundamental thermodynamic model makes it possible to quantify the dynamics. These dynamics are related to input parameters using methods such as statistics and neural nets. In the future this database will be used to improve the understanding of the dynamic process as well as the dynamic process control.

Jan 1, 1999

By Osamu Takeda

A decomposition process for PCBs by using basic molten salts as a reaction field was investigated in order to establish a safe, simple and highly efficient decomposition process for polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs). PCB containing chlorine (e.g. 2, 2?, 4, 4?-tetrachlorobiphenyl) dissolved in n-nonane solution was supplied into basic molten salts (NaOH-Na2CO3 or KOH-K2CO3) maintained at 500-700 ?C together with the carrier gas (N2-21% O2) through an injection tube. The injected PCBs in a bubble are decomposed by the reaction with the molten salts and oxygen during rise in the molten salts. The decomposition efficiency of PCBs increased with increasing temperature and was achieved to be higher than 99.995% in a certain condition. From a series of systematic study, the effectiveness of the decomposition process for PCBs by using molten salts was demonstrated.

Jan 1, 2008

By Hongmin Zhu, Kai Huang, Shuqiang Jiao

"Garlic peel was used as the raw material to synthesize the biosorbent for the selective recovery of precious metals from the acid chloride solution. Garlic peel is rich in carboxyl-, amino- and thiol-groups, has the potential of exhibiting high affinity to Au(III) when appropriate chemical modification process was employed. Here in the present study, the biosorbent was prepared by cross-linking garlic peel particles with concentrated sulfuric acid. Adsorption tests for mixing different metal ions such as Au(III), Fe(III), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) from various concentrations of hydrochloric acid media indicated that Au(III) was selectively adsorbed on the cross-linked garlic peel gel over the other coexisting base metal ions investigated. The crosslinking mechanism and selective adsorption of Au(III) were also investigated briefly.IntroductionPrecious metals are quite popularly applied in the modern industries such as jewelry, electronics and electrical devices, catalysts in chemical industry, etc. While their high values, limited deposit and quite large demand in industry makes its recovery from the industrial wastes, typically e-wastes, quite necessary. Actually, many techniques have been developed to recycle and recover the precious metals from various industrial wastes effectively in last decades, but the cleaning and ecofriendly processes are still seriously scarce [1]. Taking into account of the typical recovery processes using cyanide lixiviant in the alkaline media, or aqua regia, followed by the further recovery process using activated carbon adsorption or cementation with zinc, iron or aluminum plate or powder, though they both are quite effective recovery processes, if considering the special requirements on safety and ecofriendliness for the modern hydrometallurgical processes, various improved or novel extraction processes are greatly demanded [2]. Recently, the biosorption technology applied to the recover precious metals in the hydrometallurgical process has become a concern [3,4]. Inoue’s research group made great progress in the recovery of precious metals such as gold, palladium and platinum from the e-wastes such as spent mobile phone by using biosorption from the hydrochloric acid media [5,6]. This new hydrometallurgical process exhibits the prominent advantages of being cost-effective for its short process, easy operation and near-zero emission. In the above recycling process for e-wastes treatment, the preparation of biosorbents is the key and backbone of the whole recovery process. For this purpose, they developed a series of suitable sorbents for precious metals recovery by using the tanning-based or cellulose-based biomass such as persimmon peel, grape peel, orange juicing residue, waste cotton, waste paper through the crosslinking process with concentrated sulfuric acid and relative chemical modification processes [7-10]. In the present study, we also applied this technique to prepare the biosorbent of precious metal uptaking by using garlic peels as the raw materials, and investigated the adsorption properties of such-obtained gel in the hydrochloric acid media."

Jan 1, 2012

By S. Malinov, J. J. McKeown, W. Sha, S. McShane

"A model is developed for prediction of fatigue stress life S-N diagrams for Ti-6Al-4V alloy at different conditions, using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Different factors which have influence on the S-N diagram are involved as input parameters of the NN, namely microstructure, environment, texture, test/work temperature, surface treatment and stress amplitude. As the output the S-N fatigue diagram is simulated and plotted.The model is based on standard multilayer feedforward neural network. The NN is trained with a comprehensive data set collected from the literature, using Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm in combination with Bayesian regularisation. A very good performance of the trained Neural Network is achieved. Good correspondence between ANN"" prediction and experimental S-N diagrams is observed. Using the model S-N diagrams for different conditions are predicted and analysed. Graphical User Interface is developed for use of the model. We believe that the model will be important for practical applications in solving various problems on fatigue behaviour of the titanium alloy.IntroductionTitanium and its alloys have an increasing range of applications due to their very good combination of mechanical properties, corrosion and erosion resistance. They are currently finding widespread applications in many industries due to their desirable and versatile properties. Most important among the alloys is Ti-6AI-4Y. Jet aircraft manufacturers are the principal 'consumers of Ti-6Al-4V and it is often specified for critical parts, the failure of which could result in the loss of an entire system. A generic class of Ti-6AI-4V has been developed over the past years and it has become the best understood of all the titanium alloys. The advantages of titanium alloys include: (i) low densities, giving very attractive strength to weight ratios allowing lighter and stronger structures; (ii) superior corrosion and erosion resistance in many environments; (iii) high temperature capability. Although the titanium materials are still considered as expensive materials, for many applications the cost of titanium alloys can be justified on the basis of their desirable properties."

Jan 1, 2001

By Victor Stancovski, Uday Pal, Stephen C. Britten

"An in situ electrochemical technique for measuring the concentrations of easily dissociable oxides in slags at temperatures between 1200-1600°C is being developed. The technique utilizes a partially-stabilized-zirconia solid electrolyte (PSZ), which conducts oxygen ions, to separate a reference-gas compartment from the slag of interest. Three types of measurements are currently under investigation which yield different information concerning the slag phase and hence will be combined into a single amperometric device for monitoring the properties of easily dissociable slags.Type I utilizes an open-circuit-voltage measurement between the reference gas and the slag phase. Type II utilizes a potentiostat to apply a direct current potential step or sweep between the inner and outer compartments of the electrolyte, driving oxygen ions from the slag into a reference gas. With the use of open-circuit-reference electrodes, the resulting current-potential profile reveals the dissociation potential and concentration profile of dissociable oxides such as those of iron, manganese, and chromium. Information on the transport properties of the cations can also be generated from these measurements. Type III utilizes a potentiostat with reference electrodes to carefully electrolyze a known volume of slag by removing large quantities of oxygen ions from the slag to the reference gas. The coulombs of charge removed at different applied potentials can be used as a direct indication of the concentration of each dissociable oxide species present within the slag."

Jan 1, 1997

By Marcelo Jimenez Bustos

The Chagres Smelter was the first in Chile to follow environmental regulations to control sulfur dioxide emissions. Because of this, the operation and development plans have had to incorporate environmental planning as part of its policies for almost three decades. The present article shows the development of the environmental standards applied to its operations, investments and operational improvements carried out to meet the regulations and improve competitiveness. Results to-date and future plans are outlined, as well as their impact on operations and the environment.

Jan 1, 1993

By R. J. Mitchell

Results from investigations into impurity distributions over cathodes are presented with implications for various sampling methods, Selection of an optimum treatment procedure for the test sample is outlined. The impact of both these studies on the development of an in-house method for sampling Isa Process cathode is discussed. The economic compromise actually undertaken, satifying wants and needs to sustain confidence in high grade cathode purity is detailed.

Jan 1, 1987

By A. V. Tarasov

An environmentally clean and virtually waste-less technology for treatment of domestic solid waste and other toxic chloride-containing materials has been developed and proven on a full scale by the Gintsvetmet Institute in cooperation with some other Russian organizations. The proposed process resolves the acute and globally significant problem of dioxin formation. The purpose of the proposed technology is to ensure such destruction of the structural lattice of toxic compounds that would guarantee irreversible transformation of the resultant substances to prevent formation of dioxins. The preconditions that are required to achieve this purpose are: temperature of >125O0C; an oxidant excess coefficient of >I .05; a certain retention time of the products under these conditions (ADZ s); and thermal instantaneousness of the process involving a transition with no intermediate phase. These conditions were achieved with the experimental development of the Vanyukov furnace design commonly used for sparged smelting processes at non-ferrous metallurgical plants in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Jan 1, 2002

By N. Can

Kinetics and mechanism of the chemical interactions between Si3N4 and TiC were investigated by isothermally reacting samples under nitrogen and argon atmospheres at temperatures between 1600°C and 1700°C? The initial composition of the powder compact contained 20, 30 and 40 volume per cent TiC? Kinetic analysis were performed by measuring mass losses and composition of the titanium carbonitride (TiC1-xNx) at predetermined time intervals? It was found that in the Si3N4-TiC system the degree and rate of the reactions increased with increasing temperature and content of TiC in both nitrogen and argon atmospheres? Si3N4 in the presence of TiC was stable in nitrogen atmosphere and the reactions were confined to Si3N4/TiC and TiC/N2 interfaces? At both interfaces interchange reaction occurs by simultaneous diffusion of nitrogen towards the centre of the particle and desoprtion of carbon in the opposite direction resulting in formation of titanium carbonitrides with various compositions? Reaction products under nitrogen atmosphere were B-SiC, TiCl1-xNx and N2? The maximum "x" value in TiC1-xNx was found to be 0?67 under nitrogen atmosphere? Si3N4 was found to be unstable in argon atmosphere in the presence of TiC and dissociated into liquid silicon and nitrogen gas within approximately four hours of reaction time, depending on temperature? The reaction mechanism in the initial stages of the interaction between Si3N4 and TiC under argon atmosphere proceeds similar to reactions under nitrogen atmosphere? However, considerable amount of Si3N4 dissociates within the first half hour? Liquid silicon aggressively attack both TiC1-xNx and unreacted or partially reacted TiC particles through cracks and pores and diffuses into interier part of the particle forming liquid solutions? After this stage, reactions under argon atmosphere proceeded according to Si-Ti-C ternary system?

Jan 1, 1999

By James C. Foley, David K. Rehbein

"In-situ characterizations of green state part density and sintering state have long been desired in the powder metal community. Recent ·advances in non-contact electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) technology have enabled in-situ evaluations of the acoustic attenuation and velocity as sintering proceeds. Pure aluminum (99.999%) and aluminum alloy powders were prepared with high-pressure gas atomization (HPGA). The powders were pressed in a uniaxial die and examined with acoustic waves for changes in velocity and attenuation during sintering. The changes in acoustic properties were correlated with sample microstructures and mechanical properties. Evolution of the acoustic echo train during sintering is shown to provide information on the state of sintering as well as having the potential for detection of interior flaws.IntroductionThe versatility of powder metalallurgy (PIM) technology in the manufacture of complex shapes has enabled an increasing amount of wrought and casting production capacity to be converted to PIM technology. However, ultrasonic inspection of green components produced using PIM techniques remains a challenge and is not generally practiced [1]. Inspection of PIM components in the green state is highly desirable, because the green part can be reclaimed with only accepted components being subjected to further costly processing. Another potential benefit is characterization and greater understanding of the sintering process itself. An increased scientific understanding of the sintering process enables intelligent process control, greater reliability of the production process and a lower rate of rejection of the finished product. In order to realize these potential benefits, it is necessary therefore that accept/reject criterion be based on real time nondestructive evaluation of the green-state components and the sintering process.Most current nondestructive inspection techniques suffer from their inability to perform inspections below the near-surface region with the exception of X-ray and to some extent pulsed eddy current [2]. X-ray inspection requires extensive shielding of production personnel and expensive film and film processing. While development of pulsed eddy current techniques have lessened the impact of the well-known skin effect, the depth of penetration of the induced eddy currents remains somewhat of an issue [2]."

Jan 1, 2000

By Nils Lippmann, Ulrich Weber, Siegfried Schmauder, Jr. Mishnaevsky

"A computational approach to the optimization of fracture resistance of multiphase materials (here - high speed steels) by varying their microstructure is presented. The main points of the optimization of steels are as follows: (1) development and verification of the model: numerical simulation of crack initiation and growth in real microstructures of steels, (2) computational experiment: simulation of crack growth in different idealized quasi-real microstructures and (3) the comparison of fracture resistances of different microstructures and the development of recommendations to the improvement of the fracture toughness of steels. Numerical simulations of crack growth in real microstructures of steels and different idealized carbide distributions are carried out. On the basis of the simulations, recommendations for the improvement of high speed steel microstructures are given. It is shown that the fracture resistance of the steels is much higher for the fine than for the coarse version of the same type of microstructures.IntroductionThe purpose of this work is to develop an approach to the optimal design of multiphase materials on the basis of numerical simulation of their behaviour under mechanical loading. We suggest here the following strategy:1. Collecting input data for the simulations: taking a micrograph of a microstructure, and determining mechanical properties and failure conditions of the material constituents [1, 2],2. Simulation techniques and assumptions are tested for a real microstructure of the material: crack growth in a real microstructure is simulated and then compared with the experimental data,3. Computational experiments: different microstructures of materials are tested in the numerical model under the same loading conditions. The calculated service properties of the different microstructures are compared, and recommendations are developed. As differentiated from the ""real"" experimental techniques, the computational experiment is much cheaper and not labor- and time-consuming."

Jan 1, 2001

By Thenepalli Thriveni, Ch. Ramakrishna, Yujin Jegal, Ji Whan Ahn, Jyothi Rajesh Kumar

In alumina production or alumina refining, bauxite is converted to alumina (aluminium oxide) The rare-earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 chemically similar metallic elements (15 lanthanides, including scandium and yttrium). Rare earth elements play a key role in many industrial applications, petroleum refining, clean energy, automobile, electronics, and defense applications. These rare earths are essential to the success of green technologies. China today controls more than 95 percent of the rare-earth supplies and nearly all rare-earth refining and after 2009 year rare earths crisis raises due to China’s export restrictions and growing internal demand for rare earth elements. The extraction of gallium and yttrium from Korean red mud (KC red mud) by selective acid leaching was explored. The recovery of gallium and yttrium from a leach solution of the Korean red mud using solvent extraction was studied. A number of extractants were investigated for the extraction of those mentioned two rare earth elements and also we proposed a flow sheet of rare earth elements respectively. The toxic heavy metals presented in KC red mud were removed by CO2 stabilization.

Jan 1, 2015

By Carlos Maurício. F. Vieira, Lázaro A. Rohen, Sérgio N. Monteiro, Rafael G. de Castro, Gustavo X. Borges, Maycon A. Gomes, Frederico M. Margem, Anna C. C. Neves

Economic and environmental benefits are motivating studies on natural fibers, especially lignocellulosic extracted from plants, have been studied to substitute synthetic fibers, such as glass fiber as reinforcement in polymer matrices. By contrast to synthetic fibers, natural fibers have the disadvantage of being heterogeneous in their dimensions specially the diameter. About the hemp fiber, little is known of their dimensional characteristics. The aim of the present work was to statistically characterize the distribution of the diameter of hemp fibers. Based on this characterization, diameter intervals were set and the dependence of the tensile strength of theses fibers with a corresponding diameter was analyzed by the Weibull method. The diameter was measured with precision using a profile projector. Tensile tests were conducted on each fiber obtain mechanical strength. The results interpreted by Weibull statistical showed a correlation between the resistances of the fiber to its diameter.

Jan 1, 2015

By Wenliang Cao, Jidong Li, Mingjie Zhang, Yiyong Wang

In CaC12-CaF 2 System, we studied the electrode process and discharge mechanism of preparation of Al-Ca alloys by fused salt electrolysis with CaO as raw material. The change of back electromotive force after adding CaO was measured by continuous pulse oscillograph method and the discharge process mechanism was also investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The finial results indicate that back electromotive force decreases by 0.6V after CaO of 1 % is added and there was a peak of oxidation current ahead of the potential at which the negative chlorine ions precipitated. According to thermodynamic calculation, it was determined that current peak was caused by the CO2 produced by 0 2 - ionic discharge due to CaO addition.

Jan 1, 2014

By J. M. Floyd

Technology in use commercially and available for commercialisation for injection processing of base and precious metals in bath reactors is surveyed and compared. Differences between bath smelting and suspension smelting systems are highlighted in relation to important smelting criteria. The factors affecting the results achievable with various tuyere and lance injection bath smelting systems are discussed in relation to the various smelting, converting and refining operations involved in copper, nickel and precious metal processing steps. Process chemistry, process dynamics and heat and mass transfer rates are discussed for the different systems.

Jan 1, 1993