Search Documents

By A. Belleau, F. Lavoie

"Quebec Iron Ore Limited (QIO), a subsidiary of Champion Iron Limited (Champion), secured assets in early 2016 from the previous Bloom Lake operations in the heart of the Labrador Trough region of Northern Quebec, Canada. A plan was developed to bring the Bloom Lake facility back in operation once the iron ore market conditions improved. The project restart involved several aggressive moves to change operational effectiveness, one of which was the utilization of the existing Phase 1 Plant with an upgraded process flowsheet and equipment. The production target was 7.4 million tonnes per annum of 66% iron ore concentrate with an approximate 10% increase in iron ore recovery. The Phase 1 upgraded flowsheet was initially based on review of historical Phase 1 data and pilot testing data undertaken during the original Phase 1 operation and was finalized once additional metallurgical test work and process modeling was carried out by Mineral Technologies in late 2016. The final upgraded flowsheet is comprised of rougher spirals, rougher middling scavenging spirals, and an up-current classifier (UCC) with overflow scavenging spiral stage. A portion of the gravity circuit tailings treated by a series of wet high intensity magnetic separators (WHIMS) to boost overall iron recovery. This paper will describe the efforts taken to test and design the Bloom Lake Phase 1 upgraded flowsheet and report on the plant performance since commissioning in first quarter of 2018.SITE HISTORY The Bloom Lake iron mine property is located approximately 13 km north of Fermont, Quebec, and 10 km north of the Mont Wright iron ore mining complex, property of ArcelorMittal Mines Canada. The Bloom Lake mine facilities include a 32 km railway to efficiently transport the high-quality iron concentrate to a loading port located in Sept-Iles, Quebec. The Bloom Lake property was first explored in 1951 and went through multiple minor exploration campaigns by different companies up until 1998. A major exploration program was conducted by Quebec Cartier Mining (QCM) in 1998. This program included line cutting, surveying, diamond drilling, geological mapping, mini-bulk sampling, bench-scale preliminary metallurgical test work and preparation of a “mineral resource” estimate."

Jan 1, 2019

By Cummings. J. B., R. Haworth

"THE OPERATION of the Potash Company of America, Ltd., at its plant near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is the result of many years of exploratory and development work, culminating in the construction of a shaft, milling, concentrating and other facilities necessary to the production of potash in a marketable form.The possibility that potash existed in •commercial quantities in Saskatchewan was first indicated in 1943, although it was not until mid-1946, when Bata Petroleums penetrated a potash bed at its Verbata No. 2 well near Unity that substantial in-ter.est was developed in the possible exploitation of this important mineral product.The Potash Company of America, which is the largest producer of pot-ash in the Carlsbad, New Mexico area, a district that has been sup-plying about 90 per cent of the North American potash demand, be-came interested in the Saskatchewan deposits •at an early stage. Its engineers made an intensive study of the western Saskatchewan area in 1947 and continued their review of operating problems throughout the next three years.""Potash"" is the commonly used general term applied to the minerals of potassium, of which there are several. The most common mineral forms in which it is produced are potassium chloride and potassium sulphate. The potash content of potassium compounds is ordinarily ex-pressed in terms of potassium oxide (K20) equivalent."

Jan 1, 1960

By J. K. Shaw

The science of low temperature engineering is well entrenched in mining. Uses for common cryogens, including liquid oxygen (LOX), liquid nitrogen (LN2), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the gas and minerals industries are reviewed. Potential future applications are discussed within the scope of mining, particularly in refrigeration and ventilation. The second part of this paper focuses on the Linde cycle, which is at the heart of most liquefaction plants. Steady state equations describing the mass and energy flows are presented. The paper concludes by explaining the concept of a wind powered Linde- Hampson cryogenic cycle and assessing, with scoping calculations, the technological feasibility of producing cryogens with an intermittent source of (renewable) energy.

Aug 1, 2013

By M. G. Manzone

Approximately two-thirds of the annual 210,000 tons at copper refined by AMAX Inc. at the United States Metals Refining Company in Carteret, New Jersey, comes from a wide variety of copper scrap ranging from low-grade smelter scrap to wirebar-grade material. The equipment and methods used to effect such large-scale metal recycling in an urban area and the measures taken to collect and recover metal values from smelter and refinery byproducts while protecting the environment from pollution are described and discussed.

Jan 1, 1977

By Julian Boldy

"A review of lI5 significant volcanogenic massive sulphide discoveries in the Canadian Precambrian during the past 65 years reveals that only 7% resulted from surface exploration methods aimed at depths below the effective reach of current geotechnical systems. This has been due to the relative ease of shallow discovery, resulting in the harvesting of ore deposits within 100 m of surface. This surficial layer has been more or less effectively supersaturated by routine exploration. In view of the fact that a mining district's metal content is not likely to be confined to a surficial layer, the time has come to explore the vertical dimension, prospecting for ore at depths in excess of 150 m in productive districts.Essential to this task is an understanding of the Precambrian volcanogenic ore deposit model. The deposits generally have .a tendency to be associated with the terminal phases of felsic volcanism, and to be located along certain time-stratigraphic horizons, marked by the products of volcanic exhalation. The significant massive sulphide deposits are discrete entities, ranging from the top 5% of deposits greater than 45 million tonnes in size, with a surface area of 0.30 km2, to median-sized deposits greater than 1.2 million tonnes in size with a surface area of 0.02 km2. These significant economic ore deposits range in value from $5.5 billion for the top 5% of deposits to $125 million for median-sized deposits. In terms of their frequency of occurrence, the former group has a 4% distribution and the median-sized deposits have a 15% distribution.An historical review of many of the principal Precambrian mining districts, such as Noranda and Flin Flon, shows that major tonnages are usually discovered during the initial phase of application of each new geotechnical search system, until carried to its ultimate limit of effective depth penetration. With the exception of the Noranda district, the mean depth of ore discovery in the other districts is still generally confined to within 50 m of surface.Targeting deep ore is difficult. One effective prospecting method is the detection of fracture-controlled mercury leakage haloes in outcrop (or core) above and peripheral to blind deposits. This technique has proved to be a useful pathfinder, and focuses attention on deposits buried at depths in excess of 700 m in some instances. Down-hole EM systems also promise to be effective in locating deposits previously bypassed by drilling. In addition, trend surface analysis programs of trace element geochemistry should be used as an aid to targeting ore by directing exploratory drilling along the plane of ore-hosting stratigraphy.By definition, mining districts have a proven ""favourability"" for the occurrence of ore. Discovery probabilities in these districts will be considerably enhanced if future search efforts are concentrated below a depth of 150 m, and more use is made of ""deep"" ore search systems coupled with sound geological reasoning. Deep drilling programs to a depth of800 m should initially be designed to search for the top 25% of deposits greater than 3.3 million tonnes in size, with a surface area of0.05 kmt. :a value of$310 million and a 12% frequency of occurrence; This can be accomplished for an over-all cost approximating $40,000 per drill hole. If the search depth is limited to 400 m, the over-all cost of each drill hole is $20,000, equivalent to expenditures routinely allocated to grassroots exploration drilling in the remote greenstone belts of the Precambrian. Depending on a company's objective, prospecting for deep ore offers a stimulating challange - though risky, it has its rewards."

Jan 1, 1981

By M. L. Haider

Introduction I Appreciate very much the opportunity of discussing with you tonight oil developments in western Canada. These developments are of importance to all of us, first because of their great economic significance to all of Canada, and second because of the location of the new oilfields. Situated as they are in the west and northwest, they are of considerable strategic value from the standpoint of continental defence. The story of oil development in Canada covers a span of almost a century, during which time success in finding reserves of petroleum was barely sufficient to maintain interest in continuing the search. Finally, in 1947, a well of the first importance was completed in Alberta and, judging by discoveries made since then, it appears that Canada, at long last, is to become an important producer of petroleum.

Jan 1, 1950

By Mauro Chiesa

A. New Dictionary, Since 2007/8 Traditional concept of ?cycle? is dead A dearth of projects AND good metal prices suggests otherwise In a depletion-business, good times for any greenfields in 2-3 yrs! ?Balance? sheet means quality assets = quality capital So, de-risk the assets, and ration the capital ?Replacement costs > historical costs ?Discounted assets depleting; replacement costs need self-financing (FCF) ?Public-sector slows permits, avoids assets and wants more of FCF ?Capital ?markets? are now ?market fragments? ..and? ??Shareholder? has changed from ?growth? to ?income + performance? ?Higher search costs, higher capital costs and higher cost of capital

May 1, 2013

By G. M. Behrend

A group of mining men attending a recent workshop on "Analysis and Control in the Canadian Minerals Industry" issued, among others, the following statement: "Slurry flow measurement is considered to be one of the most inaccurate in the industry. A special program should be launched to encourage development." In response, this paper starts off the program with an investigation of the principles and the conventional practice of slurry flow measurement and identifies weaknesses which cause inaccuracies. Then it follows with descriptions of nonconventional systems in use at various locations and comments on their degree of success. The paper concludes that relatively simple methods, which it describes, can be applied to obtain an accurate slurry flow measurement.

Jan 1, 1973

By E. Yan, M. Mankosa, E. Wasmund

"Rougher flotation in sulfide ore applications is typically performed using conventional flotation machines. The trend over the last 100 years has been for these cells to become larger in volume with cells reaching sizes of 600 m3 and in some cases even larger. The associated foundation loadings, transport and installation requirements along with building size have also increased. In an economic environment where projects must be executed with dwindling capital supply, bigger is not always better. More recently, industry is being challenged to identify new technology that allows for improved flowsheets and financial returns through efficiency gains. To meet this challenge, a novel high-intensity two-stage flotation system known as the StackCell™ was tested to potentially achieve installation volume and required retention time gains when compared to conventional flotation circuits. The results from on-site pilot scale work conducted on typical copper concentrator rougher flotation feed showed retention time gains on the order of 6 to 9 times when compared with conventional flotation equipment. This finding has the potential of reducing capital demands for rougher flotation circuit designs when incorporating the StackCell. The results from test work will be discussed in this paper showing comparative test data generated with a Denver bench batch test, pilot StackCell and large conventional cells, all receiving the same feed.INTRODUCTION Over the last few years, a number of flotation devices have been described as two-stage or multi-stage flotation units. The idea behind multi-stage flotation devices is that flotation performance can be improved by utilizing cells with multiple specialized units in series, but not all units of the same type, as is practiced in trains of multiple tank cells or columns. Instead, each unit is specially designed to provide the optimized fluid environment for each stage of the sequential flotation process. This idea has been proposed based on a study of the fundamentals of the flotation process, and the realization that the process consists of discrete sequential processes, that are each optimized with dissimilar process conditions (Finch et al, 1995), (Zhou, 1996). Instead of executing each step simultaneously in a homogeneous fluid environment, where the conditions would be a compromise between particle collection and froth recovery, the multi-stage flotation unit operates in a set of segregated process environments, each with a set of conditions optimized for that step."

Jan 1, 2018

By F. Rivard, M. G. Drouet, W. S. Ruff, P. Carabin

"In both the hot rotary-salt-furnace (RSF) treatment of aluminum dross and the cold ball-millsieving (BMS) treatment of zinc dross, enormous amounts of energy and recoverable metal are wasted and large amounts of greenhouse gas are produced. Such wastes and the environment pollution could be avoided by using the DROSRITE PLUS™ technology. Economic and GHG production comparisons between the presently used industrial treatment processes and DROSRITE PLUS™, supported by over one hundred tests conducted in Canada, the US and Europe, are presented. The savings, with DROSRITE PLUS™, would be about $191 and $418 per MT of aluminum and zinc dross, respectively.INTRODUCTIONDross is a material, which forms on the surface of molten non-ferrous metal, such as aluminum or zinc, during melting, metal holding and handling operations when the molten metal is in contact with a reactive atmosphere. Dross normally consists of metal oxides entraining a considerable quantity of molten free (unreacted) metal, and for economic reasons it is desirable to extract the free metal before discarding the residue. In the case of aluminum dross, recovery of the metal is usually carried out by treating the dross in a furnace at a high temperature (Peterson et al., 2002). By contrast, cold zinc dross is crushed in a ball mill followed by sieving to separate the coarse metal portion from the fine oxide residue.The conventional aluminum dross treatment process, using gas or oil-heated rotary salt furnaces (RSF), is thermally inefficient and environmentally unacceptable because of the salt slag and CO2 produced from the combustion of fossil fuels. In the past several years, a number of salt-free processes have been developed and some of these have found limited commercial use (Gripenberg et al., 1994; Lavoie et al., 1990). In all these dross treatment processes, heating of the cold dross in a rotary furnace requires an external energy input that varies between 375 and 2,500 kWh per (metric) tonne of dross. Molten metal separated during processing of the heated dross is tapped, and the remaining solid residue is discharged from the furnace."

Jan 1, 2012

By Cris Sideco

This paper describes the concentration processes of the Sullivan. Concentrator, including crushing , transportation, sink-float, grinding , flotation and dewatering. Handling of hot muck has had a deleterious effect on most of the processes, resulting in significant operating problems and poorer metallurgy. These problems are described -in detail. THE SULLIVAN CONCENTRATOR is situated in Kimberley, high up in the Purcell Range of the Selkirk Mountains, at an elevation of 3,600 feet, approximately 4 miles from the Sullivan Mine (see Fig. 1). The original plant went on stream on August 23, 1923 at a designed capacity of 2,500 tons per day. This has been increased in stages to its present rated capacity of 11,000 tons per day. The latest stage was in 1949, when several major projects, including the underground crushing plant, the sink-float plant and the installation of a rod mill, were completed. Some 112,800,000 tons of ore have been treated in this concentrator to November 1975. The plant started on a 48-hour/ week schedule, but was reduced to 44 hours/week in October 1946 and down to 40 hours/week by the end of 1949. Except for a 6-month period in 1952 when the mill operated continuously, the 40-hour/week, Monday to Friday schedule was in effect.

Jan 1, 1977

By R. Rumpold, J. Antrekowitsch

"The continued increase of the automobile production leads to a higher platinum, palladium and rhodium (PGM) demand. Due to the high value of the PGMs the recycle of these metals from automotive catalysts is of special interest. Pyrometallurgical processes, which are only focused on the PGMs, represent the state of the art of automotive catalysts recovery. However, hydrometallurgical recycling processes offer additional recovery of other valuable metals and compounds. The method presented in this paper is based on a combination of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide to dissolve the valuable metal fraction which can be precipitated afterwards.INTRODUCTIONPlatinum and the corresponding metals from the PGM group, especially palladium and rhodium are well known as catalytic active materials. They support chemical reactions which are inhibited. This effect is used to decrease the amount of harmful compounds like hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide or nitrogen oxides in automotive exhaust gases. The generation of these toxic substances is based on incomplete combustion, which in turn is caused by non-ideal conditions in the combustion chamber. Catalytic converters minimize the harmful compounds by supporting the following Reactions 1 – 3 (Votsmeier et al., 2009).CO + ½ O2 ? CO2 (1)CnHm + (n + ¼ m) O2 ? n CO2 + ½ m H2O (2)2 NO + 2 CO ? N2 + 2 CO2 (3)Platinum and palladium are very effective for the oxidation (Reactions 1 and 2), while rhodium supports the decomposition of nitrogen oxides by carbon monoxide (Votsmeier et al., 2009). The classical three way catalyst was a platinum – rhodium combination with a Pt:Rh ratio of 5:1 (Hagelüken et al., 2005). Today the platinum, palladium and rhodium ratio is highly variable and strongly depends on the engine type as well as on the car producer. Diesel engines are operated with a super stoichiometric air addition in comparison to spark ignition systems. Therefore the exhaust gas composition and off gas temperature is different. Based on the high oxygen amount, diesel engines produce less carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons but more nitrogen oxide in contrast to gasoline engines. This leads to various requirements for the catalytic converters."

Jan 1, 2012

By A. Oja, M. Lahtinen, P. Salonen, B. Saxen

Most of the secondary and low grade zinc raw materials cannot be treated successfully by either conventional roasting - leaching - electrowinning (RLE) process or even by atmospheric direct leaching process. The problems arising especially from high impurity content of these raw materials can be effectively solved by implementation of the solvent extraction process. The utilization of solvent extraction process has been demonstrated by Outotec with raw materials like Waelz oxide, crude zinc oxide and zinc containing concentrator tailings. Based on batch and continuous test work it has been shown that SHG quality zinc can be produced even from the lowest grade raw materials. Impurity control in the solvent extraction process has been examined. The solvent extraction process is the key feature of the whole zinc plant for such raw materials. However, design of the entire zinc process including neutralization and bleed treatment is important for optimization of investment and operation costs of the plant. Very careful evaluation of the zinc process with modern simulation tools is essential. The optimized Outotec zinc process ensures a sustainable and profitable process containing minimal effluent and requiring little residue treatment.

Jan 1, 2014

By Lloyd W. Trevoy

Titanium and zirconium heavy minerals occur in the tailings streams from processing plants which use the hot-water extraction process for recovery of bitumen from tar sand. In a research program conducted by Syncrude Canada Limited, the crude tailings stream was upgraded to produce quality zircon and titanium mineral products. To process the tailings through conventional upgrading equipment, bitumen residues must first be removed from the mineral grains. Then, by gravity separation, fines and coarse sand grains were removed and a 71% heavy minerals concentrate was prepared which was further separated by high-tension equipment into zircon and titanium minerals concentrates. The zircon concentrate was upgraded by gravity, magnetic and high-tension cleaning to produce a high-quality 98% zircon product. The titanium minerals concentrate was separated into rutile, leucoxene and ilmenite fractions. Heavy minerals distribution in tar sand drilling core samples has been evaluated for various locations on Syncrude Lease 17, and expected annual production levels of heavy minerals have been estimated. A preliminary evaluation has been made of the potential for zircon, leucoxene and rutile production and for further upgrading of ilmenite and leucoxene to synthetic rutile for titanium dioxide pigment production.

Jan 1, 1978

By S. Deonarain, L. S. Schultz

"This paper details the process and methodology followed to rehabilitate a rectangular ventilation shaft, situated in the Free State region of the Witwatersrand Gold Fields in South Africa. The shaft consists of seven compartments where self-mining of the sidewalls had taken place and damage to the decayed steel work in the shaft had taken place, thus limiting access down the shaft. The paper will provide some insight into the successes and challenges encountered during the project and may provide some learnings for future projects of a similar nature. INTRODUCTION The ventilation shaft forms part of the Phakisa Mine, situated in the Welkom area of the Free State province of South Africa, and is located in the Southern part of the Witwatersrand Basin, one of the world’s largest known and richest gold deposits (Figure 1).As is typical in South African gold mines situated in the Witwatersrand basin, the shaft is 1 770 metres deep (below collar). The shaft was sunk during the early 1940’s and comprised a rectangular shape with 7 compartments, used for both rock hoisting and men and material winding, respectively, with a single lift “Mary-Anne” compartment. Early in 2003, the mine decided to change the shaft from a downcast hoisting shaft to an up-cast ventilation shaft. The conveyances, ropes, winders and headgear (head frame) were removed and replaced with a high volume fan delivering 323m³/s of air at a pressure of 4.2Pa on surface. The up-cast velocity in the shaft was 6.5m/s, however this reduced significantly with the scaling of the shaft and the restrictions at shaft bottom. Although Harmony had converted the shaft from a downcast service shaft to an up-cast ventilation shaft some years back, the shaft steel work in the barrel of the shaft was left intact. Over the years, the steelwork in the shaft had decayed (rust and grime) and portions of this steelwork fell down the shaft. Concurrent with the decaying steel work, portions of the shaft lining had collapsed and it was getting progressively worse."

Jan 1, 2019

By Roger M. Jones

This paper comments on developments in bulk shipping which will be of direct interest to those who are considering the shipment of dry bulk minerals out of Nova Scotia by water. Various conveying systems, and the slurry system of loading, are considered, and the role of deep water ports as a catalyst to other industries is stressed.

Jan 1, 1971

By Y. Rama Murthy, Amit Ranjan, Pankaj Satija, Sunil K. Tripathy

"Chromite ore is one of the essential raw materials for ferroalloy and steel industry. Boula-Nuasahi belt of Sukinda region, Odisha, is the only resource of chrome ore in India. The Indian deposits are typically characterized as ferruginous and siliceous type ores. Chrome ore is generally mined by open cast mechanized mining method in these areas. The run-off-mine (ROM) ore from the various mines is sent to beneficiation plant via stack yard for further up gradation. The chrome ore beneficiation plant (COB) has two major circuits: comminution (feed preparation) circuit and beneficiation circuit. In the comminution circuit, the ore is reduced to <1 mm size ( for complete liberation of chromite) from -220 mm size in stage wise crushing (primary and secondary crusher) followed by screening and single stage grinding in a ball mill. Fraction having size <1 mm is further upgraded in the beneficiation circuit to produce three different concentrates having specific chemical composition and Cr: Fe ratio. The beneficiation plant is a complex circuit comprising of combination of unit operations (spiral concentrator, Floatex density separator, hydrocyclone, wet shaking tables). In the recent years the overall performance efficiency (grade and recovery) of the beneficiation circuit got affected with numerous changes in the run-off-mine ore quality (physical and chemical), mineralogical composition, etc.In this article, attempts made for improving the performance of chrome ore beneficiation circuit is discussed. The approach adopted and practical problems encountered while the process were also highlighted. The results of the trials has shown an improvement in the performance of the cyclone (d50 : 56 µm – 40 µm) and chromite losses into tailing to <12%.INTRODUCTIONChromite has a wide range of application, from refractories to metallurgical industries, and from chemical to non-ferrous alloy industries. Chromium ore (Fe2+, Mg) [Cr, Al, Fe3+]2O4) occurs exclusively in rocks formed by the intrusion and solidification of molten lava or magma which is very rich in the heavy, iron containing minerals such as pyroxene and olivine. With the richness of silica and iron, the chrome ores are broadly classified as siliceous type and ferruginous type. Pure chromite with composition FeCr2O4 is rare because magnesium usually substitutes for ferrous ion and aluminum and ferrous ion substitutes for chromium. Generally the associated gangue minerals are talc, quartz, hematite, goethite, limonite, gabro, serpentine, anorthosite, dunite, pyroxinite, etc. Around 96% of the chromite ore production is consumed for metallurgical applications of which 94% is converted into different grades of ferrochrome i.e., high carbon ferrochrome and charge chrome as shown in Figure 1. Stainless steel being the leading consumer of ferrochrome, any change in the dynamics of the stainless steel industry impacts overall chrome ore demands significantly."

Jan 1, 2016

By T. F. Pugsley, D. Gignac

"The historical background to the project dates back to the mid-30s with the discovery of surface sulphide showings in the Cape Smith-Wakeham Bay ultramafic belt. In the mid1950s, orderly exploration commenced with an extensive work program by Asarco, INCO, Lemoine, Falconbridge and Raglan Nickel Mines Ltd. on exploration permits. In 1966, Falconbridge and Raglan Nickel Mines interests merged. Extensive exploration, drilling, under- ground delineation of the Donaldson orebody and the construction of basic infrastructure such as camps, airfield, road links from Douglas Harbour to Donaldson and Katinniq, a distance of 60 km, were completed.Production project design at that time consisted of plans for a 50 000 mt per year nickel mining and concentrating operation, including a 2000 person community and smelter at Douglas Harbour. These plans unravelled in the mid-70s due to high capital costs, poor nickel market conditions and the realization that the Raglan orebodies were not large enough to economically support the construction of green field smelter and refinery facilities for processing Raglan production. Nickel market conditions in the late 70s and early 80swere generally poor, resulting in further delays on production plans.While recognizing the very high potential to discover increased tonnages of high grade(3% Ni) in excess of 20 million tonnes, the project was deferred into the late 80s when a serious re-evaluation of exploration potential occurred and the requirement to prove up additional reserves resulted in an underground exploration program at Katinniq covering the period 1990-1992."

Jan 1, 1996

By P. H. Shipway, D. G. McCartney, H. Saghafifar

The microstructural changes during thermal ageing at 650ºC in the interfacial region of Alloy 625 weld overlay on a 2.25Cr-1Mo steel was evaluated. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy in SE and BSE modes, electron probe microanalysis and hardness mapping were used to characterize as-welded microstructure and its changes during thermal ageing and precipitates of interfacial region. Carbon migration across the interface was recognised as a major issue. A region of 300 µm wide adjacent to the fusion line, which was found harder in the as-welded condition decarburized during thermal exposure. Studies revealed that this region transformed to a soft region containing large ferrite grains and micron-sized carbides. In the weld overlay, a 50 µm wide hard band (over 650 Kgf mm-2) adjacent to the fusion line formed and carbide precipitates were observed along grain boundaries. Carbide precipitation mostly occured in the 150 µm wide region close to fusion line.

Jan 1, 2017

By Waldbillig. D.

A baseline of the poisoning effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) fuel impurities on solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anodes was developed using polarization testing. After the baseline behaviour was characterized, tests to study the effect of various H2S concentrations on the rate and amount of cell voltage degradation and recovery were performed. Attempts were made to improve the rate and amount of recovery by various methods. Testing was very reproducible, but significant electrochemical performance degradation was seen after all H2S poisoning tests even at an H2S concentration of 0.1 ppm. Degradation is initially quite rapid, but after a period of time the rate of degradation levels off. After poisoning was complete, the H2S flow was stopped and the cells were allowed to recover. Some recovery was seen after poisoning, but cell performance was never fully recovered.

Jan 1, 2005