Search Documents

By Tangstadm Merete, Eli Ringdalen

"This paper presents an overview of results from The Norwegian Research Institution SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU regarding new and ongoing research in silicon production. The main studies are related to condensation of SiO gas and cavity formation. If SiO gas condensation is increased at the top of the furnace resulting in SiO content in the off-gas closer to equilibrium, the Si yield will be increased significantly. Experimental work, simulating a cavity under industrial conditions, has shown that the cavity grows downwards from one layer. Physical appearance of zones in industrial furnaces, and selected reactions in these, are discussed based on results from excavation of industrial furnaces and results from laboratory experiments. Experimental studies of reaction rates for the formation of SiO are presented. Quartz properties are demonstrated to vary between differing quartz types and the effect of this is discussed.Introduction Both the theoretical and industrial issues associated with the production of silicon are described in detail in the textbook written by Schei et al [1]. This book covers the knowledge of silicon production process up to 1998. Together with the work by Myrhaug [1] and by Aasly[2], this is the main basis for this paper. Recent and ongoing research at SINTEF and NTNU focusing on production of Si and SiO in the high temperature zone, dissociation of SiO and condensate and cavity formation will be discussed."

Jan 1, 2012

By Jie Ma, Bo Wang, Jieyu Zhang, Jian Zhao, Guangxin Wu, Shunli Zhao

"Nucleation and growth model based on a 3D CAFE model, which was incorporated with macro heat transfer calculation within ProCAST software was used to predict the solidification microstructure of austenitic stainless steel in twin-roll strip casting. The simulation results of solidification microstructure agreed well with experimental results of austenitic stainless steel. The effect of different casting process parameters on the solidification microstructure was simulated. The predicted results show that solidification microstructure is obviously sensitive to superheat and convection heat transfer coefficient. With the increase of superheat, the grain density decrease and the proportion of columnar crystal increase. In addition, the proportion of columnar grains increases when convection heat transfer coefficient increases. Thus, it was demonstrated that the solidification microstructure evolution of twin-roll strip casting could be predicted reasonably by using this model.IntroductionNear-net-shape casting technology is an important research area in the iron and steel industry today. Twin-roll strip casting represents a major area of concentration of near-net-shape casting technology. It has been widely used for its outstanding advantages, such as extended solubility of alloying elements, refined solidification microstructure and reduced microsegregation [1]. Furthermore, it is the most environmentally friendly, energy saving, and C02-sensitive way to produce steel strips [2]. Therefore, much attention remains to be paid to this aspect. A lot of published works indicated that the solidification microstructure of twin-roll thin strip has obvious effect on the thin strip properties [3, 4]. For the accurate control of parameters of the process are made difficult due to the complicated process and the multi-fold factors, great attentions have been paid to numerical simulations to provide insight into the solidification behaviors of the thin strip formed by twin-roll strip casting [5, 6].Simulations of casting solidification can provide a method to predict microstructure and to improving strip quality by controlling the process parameters."

Jan 1, 2014

By J. M. Figueiredo, A. R. Silva, M. C. Coelho, R. M. Guedes

"With the continuous depletion of conventional sources of non ferrous metals, low grade complex sulphide deposits have been regarded as an alternative source of supply of zinc, copper, lead and also silver and gold. In spite of very important efforts in research in this domain it is still a long way to go in order to achieve reliable technological solutions both in ore dressing and metallurgical treatments which enable these complex materials to be regarded as commodities. The RLE process to treat bulk concentrates such as those obtained from portuguese ores, under development at LNETI and QUIMIGAL premises, combines experienced unit operations and innovative configurations and is an effective contribution for the future use of these materials. The results of three years of experimental work and main conclusions on the overall feasibility of the process are presented.IntroductionIn spite of the very well-known problems associated to the development of complex sulphide deposits, the economical importance of the enormous reserves of these materials, widespread all over the world, is so evident that its future use as source of supply of basic and precious metals and other minor elements is almost unavoidable.Critical steps in that direction are mainly concerned with favourable economical conditions and sound metallurgical practice for the treatment of nonferrous metals concentrates, which are nowadays still considered as non-conventional raw materials.Since Portugal is one of the countries where these orebodies occur more extensively, Portuguese authorities have dedicated since the beginning of the seventies, a big effort on finding economical and reliable processes for the recovery of copper, lead, zinc and also gold and silver, and for this purpose, several alternatives on ore dressing and metallurgical processing were studied, however without full sucess.Five years ago LNETI, a research laboratory, and QUIMIGAL, a chemical company, both state owned, decided to launch a research programme for the development of a metallurgical process for the treatment of NFM concentrates, which received financial support from NATO under its programme ""Science for Stability""."

Jan 1, 1988

By P. Mazumder

Numerical analysis is carried out to examine the effects of thermosolutal convection on the formation of complex patterns in directionally solidified binary alloys. A finite-difference analysis is used for dynamic modeling of a two-dimensional prototype of Vertical Bridgman system that takes into account heat transfer in the melt, crystal, and the ampoule; melt flow and solute transport. Actual temperature data from experimental measurements are used for accurately describing the thermal boundary conditions. A range of complex dynamical behavior is predicted in the melt flow due to flow transitions and this is found to be directly related to the spatial patterns observed experimentally in the solidified alloys. The model is applied to single phase solidification in the Al-Cu and Pb-Sn systems to characterize the effect of convection on the macroscopic shape of the interface. The application of the model to hyper-peritectic alloys in the Sn-Cd system shows that the presence of oscillating flow can give rise to a novel convection induced microstructure in which a tree-like primary phase in the center of the sample is embedded in the surrounding peritectic matrix.

Jan 1, 1999

By I. E. A. Aghachi

During static strain-aging of low carbon steel, when the material is pre-strained, the dislocation density increases. If totally or partially unloaded and aged for a prescribed time, interstitial solute atoms diffuse under the influence of the dislocation stress fields, thus tending to lock dislocations causing an increase in yield stress. If held for long periods at certain aging temperature, a decrease in yield stress (over-aging) is observed following the initial increase. This behaviour has been variously attributed to either recovery of cold worked dislocation structure and/or formation and coarsening of carbide precipitates. The present work demonstrates that, using a "process control" model for the competing processes of hardening and softening, dislocation recovery is responsible for over-aging of mild steel specimens under conditions tested during this investigation. Keywords: Strain-aging, Precipitation, Recovery

Jan 1, 2003

By Seshadri Seetharuman

The present paper summarises a series of measurements of the interaction parameter of oxygen in liquid copper with respect to a third element, e(M)o, where M is Mn, Zn, As, Se or Te which are common impurities in the liquid metal. The technique employed was the solid electrolyte galvanic cell method. The cell used may be represented as Pt, W or cermet / Cu-O-M // ZrO2 - CaO // AO, A /PT where AO/A represents a suitable oxide/metal reference. The measurements indicate that Mn and Zn interact very strongly with oxygen in liquid copper while, in the case of arsenic the interaction parameter is nearly zero. The behaviour of the elements Se and Te is unique with respect to oxygen interactions in copper bath. At oxygen levels, xo= 10-4 ? 10-5, the apparent interaction parameters are negative, comparable to that for sulphur. On the other hand, at lower oxygen levels, the results indicate that the interaction parameter values are positive. The results are discussed in the light of some of the theoretical models for solute interactions in liquid metals.

Jan 1, 1993

By S. Yokoya

With increasing requirement of steel productivity and quality in continuous casting in the conventional casting system using an immersion nozzle, it is very difficult to establish a reasonable molten flow pattern. In order to overcome this difficulty, we propose a new method of imparting swirling motion onto the flow in the immersion nozzle and to control the flow pattern in the mold. Following results have been obtained during the studies. For the case of slab continuous casting mold: High amplitudes of oscillation with a period of 10 to 15 seconds are observed in the outlet flow of the immersion nozzle and meniscus flow in the conventional casting system, while these phenomena are remarkably suppressed using swirling motion in the immersion nozzle, which leads to very calm and uniform flow pattern at the outlets of the immersion nozzle, in the mold and on the meniscus in the mold; For the case of billet continuous casting mold: (1) heat and mass transfer near the meniscus can be remarkably activated compared with a conventional straight type immersion nozzle without swirl, and (2) Quite different mold flow patterns are observed between the divergent and straight immersion nozzles. Heat and mass transport in the mold using the divergent nozzle is much more reasonable compared to that of straight nozzle. The findings, mentioned above, are very useful to control the flow pattern in the slab, and billet continuous casters. Such effectiveness of swirling flow in the SEN on the mold flow has been put into practical use. As a result, remarkable progress on the quality and production of continuous casting products has been observed in practical application.

Jan 1, 2006

By F. Mucciardi

While flash smelting and converting are capturing a greater share of the market, injection through circular injectors will remain with us for the foreseeable future. The use of top lances for injection is a key feature in several processes (e.g. Mitsubishi, Ausmelt). Tuyeres, on the other hand, are incorporated into a number of processes (e.g. Noranda, Peirce-Smith). To date no lances or tuyeres are cooled by an external source. The reagent provides the bulk of the cooling. With limited cooling, it is normal to have substantial wear on the nozzles - especially in the case of lances. To overcome the issue of wear, a new patented injector (lance or tuyere) has been developed by Noranda and McGill University. This novel unit is based on heat pipe technology. It can operate for an extended period of time without wearing. Enhanced lance/tuyere life is achieved by operating the injector at a low enough temperature that promotes the formation of a thin frozen layer on the outer body of the unit. The vaporizing and condensing substance within the unit acts to cool' the high heat flux portions and dissipate the heat to areas of low heat flux outside the vessel. A fairly large number of tests have been conducted with a prototype unit. The tests have shown that the heat pipe lance is a viable unit. In this paper is detailed a test which illustrates how the lance functions when pure oxygen is injected into copper matte. In addition, the findings from a basic study of a heat pipe in high heat flux environments are also presented.

Jan 1, 1999

By Tao Li

The development of DP(Dual Phase) steels and TRIP(Transformation Induced Plasticity) steels has received much attention in recent years due to their high strength and simultaneous good ductility, which provides the potential for weight reduce and resource savings on certain components in automobile or other industries. So a controlled rolling process was simulated in the present study by thermomechanical simulator (Gleeble 1500) for producing DP steels on a kind of low carbon steel containing a small amount of Si and Cr. F+M dual phase microstructures have been obtained during continuous cooling processes of a wide cooling rate range from 10°C /s to 60°C /s. The grain size of the dual phase steel developed can be refined to less than 5 m through the mechanism of deformation induced ferrite (DIF) transformation. The ultrafine ferritic grains are equiaxed with high-angle boundary, and the martensite islands of an average size less than 5m disperse uniformly in the ferrite matrix. The ultrafine martensite islands not only inhibit the growth of ultrafine ferritic grains and improve the bonding of F/M interface, but also increase remarkably the strain hardening rate in the processing of the present Dual-Phase steel. As a result, the tensile strength of ultrafine grained Dual-Phase steel reaches higher than 1000 MPa. The result shows that an ultrafine grained Dual-Phase steel of low carbon and low alloy is promised to exhibit desired F+M microstructure by means of this new TMCP process.

Jan 1, 2006

By Mikiya Tanaka, Mikio Kobayashi, Kazuya Koyama, Yoshihiro Nishisu

Preparation of multicomponent powders are very useful and important for producing the materials with complicated and homogeneous structure. Therefore multicomponent powders have a lot of attention in the field of advanced value-added materials. The aqueous processing in hydrometallurgy has a broad potential for producing multicomponent homogeneous precipitates. Furthermore the aqueous processing has a future potential for integrating the separation, precipitation and synthesis processes. In this presentation the precipitation from homogeneous solution including rare-earths and/or common metals is presented. These precipitates probably consist of almost monodispersed, multicomponent and spherical particles by precisely controlling several reaction factors, reaction temperature, concentrations of starting materials, pH and so on. The separation of the nucleation stage and the growth stage of the particles is very important and how to control the reaction factors to realize enough separation is discussed. In this presentation the systems of Y-Eu-0, Y-Fe-0 and Y-Al-0 are mainly presented. In addition the precipitation-stripping method from organic phase is presented focusing the synthesis of multicomponent powders of Ni-La-0 system. These precipitates have multicomponents homogeneously and so they are converted to multicomponent ceramic powders by calcination. They are important compounds as phosphor, opto-magnetic materials, optical materials, hydrogen storage alloy or as the related precursors. In this presentation some characterization of these particulate materials is included.

Jan 1, 1998

By W. G. Davenport

Chapter 11 determined the combinations of industrial oxygen, oil and blast preheat that will steadily produce 65% Cu matte from pure chalcopyrite concentrate. It showed that the . combinations are described by a flat plane. It also showed that the minimum energy requirement for making 65% Cu matte occurs with maximum oxygen enrichment, zero oil and zero blast preheat. This chapter examines the, effect of matte grade on industrial oxygen, oil and preheat requirements.

Jan 1, 2001

By Bogidar Mihaylov

A laboratory study was conducted on continuous precipitation of copper, cadmium, mercury and arsenic using thiourea, thioacetamide, sodium sulfide and ammonium sulfide as precipitating agents. Depending on the experimental conditions the metals precipitate with the sulfide donors at different orders and rates. These differences were employed as a basis of several techniques for continuous separation of copper and arsenic, cadmium and arsenic, mercury and copper, and copper, mercury and arsenic. The separation of the metals from industrial waste solutions was also studied. The precipitates obtained were inspected using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, atomic absorption spectrometer and plasma particle counter.

Jan 1, 1992

By Hideaki Tokuyama

Recovery of Ni from acidic wastewater of metal surface treatment has been investigated for reuse of the metal and water. Ion exchange equilibria between Ni ion and a strong acid cation resin, DIAION SKIB, and effective diffusivity in resin particle have been studied and they related to the concentration of HCI. The amount of adsorbed Ni for unit quantity of resin decreases with the increase in HCI concentration. This trend is remarkable for acid concentration above 0.1 kmol/m3,. The exchanging ratio of Ni2+ to H+ in resin particle is I/2 and the values of equilibrium coefficient K and maximum exchange capacity Q are I.62 and 3.16 keq/m3 -dry resin, respectively. Effective diffusivity D. determined from the observed breakthrough curve increases with increasing concentration of DC!. A prototype of moving bed has been developed and applied for the recovery of Ni from model solutions of wastewater prepared by mixing HCl and NiCl2. This apparatus allows us to control the resin flow rate by changing the cross sectional area of hole I the Teflon plate installed at the bottom of resin bed. Characteristics of Ni recovery have been clarified under various liquid flow rates. In any case for Q1, Ni ion has been effectively recovered on SKIB resin and the removed fraction was more than 99.5 %. Higher loading ratio of ion is attained at larger liquid flow rate.

Jan 1, 2003

By Gabriel Riveros

Fire refining of copper consists of two stages copper oxidation and copper reduction. Very frequently the capacity of the anode furnace is determined by the rate of copper reduction. The analysis of factors affecting the rate of the oxygen reduction from a liquid copper with solid carbon or injected hydrocarbons pointed out the role of the mass transfer in a liquid copper in final stage of the reduction. Experimental results of copper reduction with graphite and injected natural gas in laboratory- scale crucibles showed two stages of the reduction process with a sharp change of the controlling mechanism. The estimated dynamic surface area of gas bubbles based on the measured bubble frequency and the gas flowrate allowed for the detennination of the reaction constant as a degree of the partial pre-combustion of the air/natural gas mix. The variation of the used reductant as a function of the oxygen concentration and temperature has been evaluated based on the detennined kinetic model. The intensification of copper reduction in fire refining has been discusses on the basis of obtained kinetic data and analysis of various factors detennining the time of reduction.

Jan 1, 2003

By C. R. Palmer

The Bureau of Mines investigated the use of ion-exchange technology for the recovery of precious metals from cyanide leach and spent electrolytic solutions. This research included adsorption of gold and silver on both weak-and strong-base anion-exchange resins. The effects of nickel, mercury. and iron on precious metal loading of strong-base resins were also determined. Due to the nonselectlvity of strong-base resins, selective elution also was investigated. Both commercially available and experimental weak-base anion-exchange resins were tested. None of the commercial weak-base resins tested were suitable for a caustic-cyanide system owing to their low recovery of precious metals at pH 10 or above; however, three experimental resins have possible application. Continuous tests conducted with mill cyanide solution in a multicompartmented ion-exchange column using strong-base anion-exchange resins adsorbed nearly 100 pct of the precious metals as well as the iron and nickel. During the elution of this loaded resin the iron was first removed with NaCI plus NaOH; then nickel with dilute H2S04 or HCl; finally gold and silver with thiourea in dilute HCl.

Jan 1, 1988

By Peng Bing

Stainless steelmaking dust is classified as a hazardous waste due to higher than acceptable heavy metal leachabilities such as zinc, lead, cadmium and chromium. In addition to being an environmental hazard, the flue dust is also an economical concern to stainless steelmakers as it contains large amounts of valuable alloying elements, especially for iron, chromium and nickel. A new technology of direct recycling of stainless steelmaking dust has been developed to recover the metals from the dust. But it was found that zinc was accumulated in the dust collection system in practical run of direct recycling. This study focuses on the effect of the operating parameters such as temperature, dust feed rate and the ratio of CO to dust on the reduction of zinc oxides present in the dust. The mathematical model for the reduction process was setup based on the experimental research. According to the mathematical model, the temperature has obvious effect on the reduction of zinc. It is benefit to the process of zinc reduction to increase the temperature. But the temperature will not be the main factor for the reduction process after 1228C. It will promote zinc reduction to decrease the dust feed rate and control the ratio of dust to CO. It was also found from the experiments that ZnFe2O4 in the dust could be decomposed at high temperature. Decomposing ZnFe2O4 in the dust increases the recovery of zinc from the dust distinctly.

Jan 1, 2006

By James O'Brien, Lyman Frost, S. Elangovan, J. Stephen Herring, Joseph Hartvigsen, Carl Stoots, Anthony Nickens

"Carbon dioxide recovered from concentrated sources, such as metallurgical reduction furnaces, cement kilns and fossil power plants can provide a valuable feedstock for a synthetic fuels industry based on energy from nuclear, solar, wind and hydropower sources. High temperature co-electrolysis of CO2 and steam to produce synthesis gas has been demonstrated using reversible solid oxide fuel cell technology. Where a source of high temperature process heat is available, such as from an advanced high temperature nuclear reactor or solar dish concentrator, the endothermic electrolysis reactions can utilize both thermal and electrical inputs in such a way that the conversion efficiency within the cell is 100%. Synthesis gas produced in a coelectrolysis cell has been further reacted over a catalyst to produce conventional hydrocarbon fuels. Widespread implementation of synfuel production from CO2 will enable a much larger reliance on intermittent renewable energy than can be accommodated by conventional electric demand profiles.IntroductionFor the past several years, Ceramatec, Inc and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), have been studying the feasibility of high temperature solid oxide electrolysis for large-scale, nuclearpowered hydrogen production under the U.S. DOE’s nuclear hydrogen initiative (NHI) as an alternative to the thermochemical process. Parallel to this effort, the INL and Ceramatec have been researching high temperature co-electrolysis of mixtures of steam and CO2 to produce syngas:"

Jan 1, 2008

By Gabriel Riveros

Fire refining of copper consists of two stages copper oxidation and copper reduction. Very frequently the capacity of the anode furnace is determined by the rate of copper reduction, The analysis of factors affecting the rate of the oxygen reduction from a liquid copper with solid carbon or injected hydrocarbons pointed out the role of the mass transfer in a liquid copper in final stage of the reduction. Experimental results of copper reduction with graphite and injected natural gas in laboratory-scale crucibles showed two stages of the reduction process with a sharp change of the controlling mechanism. The estimated dynamic surface area of gas bubbles based on the measured bubble frequency and the gas flowrate allowed for the determination of the reaction constant as a degree of the partial pre-combustion of the air/natural gas mix. The variation of the used reductant as a function of the oxygen concentration and temperature has been evaluated based on the determined kinetic model. The intensification of copper reduction in fire refining has been discusses on the basis of obtained kinetic data and analysis of various factors determining the time of reduction.

Jan 1, 2003

By P. C. Guillaume

Global plant modernizations or expansions cannot be considered in the same light as any other industrial investment project. Relationships between the partners, relationships and communications with the client, structure and organisation of the teamwork, schedule of the work, and a lot of other tasks and missions devoted to external contractors have to be defined considering one fundamental input: an operating plant. For an engineering company expert in processing, like UM Engineering, such a context requires a specific approach as well as specific procedures able to efficiently challenge the generated constraints. First of all, even if a detailed audit had been conducted at the beginning of the conceptual engineering phase, new elements will be discovered during the preparation and realization of the project, and must be continuously integrated. Consequently, a close proximity to the site is necessary. This is one reason why UM Engineering, most often, works in partnership with a local engineering company. The second important point for the client is that the operation must not be interrupted during the realization. In order to make that possible, UM Engineering has defined a specific project structure and organisation, integrating on a permanent basis the operators (the "users") in the project teams. This paper presents the way UM Engineering copes with this type of "multi-constraints" context with reference to the recent copper cellhouse modernization under realization for the CCR Refinery of Noranda Inc. in Canada.

Jan 1, 1999

By Hiroshi Nakajima, Kotobu Nagai, Toshihiro Hanamura

"Low carbon ferritic steel bars with ultra-fine grain structure was developed through a warm rolling for the first time by the present authors. They show better low temperature toughness than conventionally hot-rolled plates. Hence, the brittle fracture surfaces in Charpy tests were examined in terms of the effective grain size of fracture, compared with those of conventional QT steels. The ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures were in good accordance with those for the QT steels if referred to the effective grain size of fracture: · However, the size was a few times that of the ferrite grain. This means the grain refining is not yet fully utilized from the viewpoint of low temperature toughness. The anisotropy of· the impact properties and the annealing effect of highly dislocated structure on the toughness are also discussed in the present paper.IntroductionFor structural materials, both high strength and good toughness are required. Well-known approaches for obtaining better toughness for steels are as follows:1) Grain refining2) Addition of Ni3) Thin plate effect by cracking parallel to the rolling direction prior to crack propagation4) Contribution of metastable austenite.Among them, only the grain refining can raise the strength and improve the toughness. And it is well known that the finer the ferrite grain size, the lower the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature. For example, in the case of 0.11 carbon steel, the transition temperature decreases linearly to in d 1/2 [1 ]. However, these have been told in the regime of coarse grain size that is larger than 10 µm in diameter. There ~as .been no study dealing with the low temperature toughness in the regime of ultra-fine grain size with a diameter in the order of 1 µm."

Jan 1, 2000