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By Renato G. Bautista

"The chemistry of the separation of metals from each other and from the other undesirable components involve multiple simultaneous chemical reactions. In the case of leaching, the heterogeneous chemical reactions between the solid and the liquid phase may be limited to a few reactions. In the homogeneous liquid phase, the number of simultaneous chemical reactions could be double or triple that of the number of heterogeneous reactions. The rate of dissolution becomes very dependent on the changing concentrations of the significant chemical species taking part in the multiple reactions in both the heterogenous and homogeneous phase. The rate expression developed for the process must take into account the mechanism of chemical reactions in order to best represent the actual process. This paper also examine the role of mass transfer with chemical reaction in the develpoment of the rate equations for dissolution, liquid-liquid extraction, membrane separation, precipitation, and electrodeposition.IntroductionThe understanding and the elucidation of the mechanism of the rate phenomena for a specific chemical reaction system is of prime importance in the development of a successful chemical process. The development of successful emerging technologies for metals separation will depend on the accurate interpretation of the intrinsic chemical reaction kinetics and the rate of mass transfer of the desired metal species during its separation from the undesirable chemical species. This is the case whether the process application is for separation, concentration, and /or purification.The chemical processes that will be examined in this presentation will include leaching, solvent extraction, membrane separation, precipitation, and electrodeposition."

Jan 1, 1996

By Sergey Shabala

Green leaf tissues convert solar energy into the energy of chemical bonds of sugar molecules during the process of photosynthesis. The efficiency of this conversion can be much higher than efficiency of any of the currently known silicon-based solar panels. Importantly, vast amounts of CO2 are assimilated during this process. The efficiency of photosynthesis is critically dependent on the availability of a large number of nutrients, among which metal cations such as K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, and Ni play a key role. In this paper I summarize basic requirements and major functions for each of these essential nutrients in plant photosynthesis, both at the whole-plant and molecular level. I will talk about how these requirements may be affected by the global climate trends and discuss the prospects of creating artificial photosynthetic “bioreactors” for efficient energy conversion and CO2 assimilation.

Jan 1, 2009

By Xiao Yang

Calcium oxide is one of the major fluxing agents used for steel refining. Because unreacted CaO remains in slag in most cases, discharged slag is difficult to be recycled smoothly. With the growth of environmental concerns, improving utilization efficiency of CaO is required to reduce the amount of discharged slag and energy consumption. The authors have reported a resource and energy-saving process by using multi-phase flux for dephosphorization. Reaction behavior of phosphorus in multi-phase CaO–FeOX–SiO2–P2O5 flux system was investigated. Formation mechanism of P2O5-rich phases was clarified at the interface between solid CaO or 2CaO, SiO2 and molten CaO–FeOx–SiO2–P2O5 slag. Phase relationship and thermodynamic properties of 2CaO, SiO2-3CaO, P2O5 solid solution were observed to confirm the condensation of P2O5 in solid phase. Based on these results, reduction of CaO consumption, discharged slag curtailment, and energy-saving effects in the novel refining process by using multi-phase flux were discussed.

By Alan James Parker

Chalcopyrite can be converted to pure copper by the following five steps. An exothermic sulfation roast of chalcopyrite; leaching of cupric sulfate from the calcine with dilute acid; precipitation of Chevreul's salt and or other copper sulfites with ammonium sulfite or precipitation of crude copper by autoclaving ammonium sulfite and cupric sulfate at 150°C; dissolution of Chevreul's salt, or the crude copper, as cuprous sulfate, using acidic cupric sulfate in an acetonitrile-water solution as oxidant; precipitation of pure copper by thermal disproportionation of the cuprous sulfate solution. Acetonitrile and acidic cupric sulfate solution recycle. Advantages over conventional processes include lower cost, lower energy consumption as waste heat, sulfur removal as ammonium sulfate or gypsum, rather than as sulfur dioxide and rapid throughput. The net reaction is: 2 CuFeS2 + 4H20 + 15/2 02 + 8 NH3?2Cu + 4 (NR4)2 SO4 + Fe2O3

Jan 1, 1976

By Fathi Habashi

In the past five years Cuba has been attempting to more than double its nickel production by constructing two new ammonia leaching plants. No metals are yet produced on commercial scale but a variety of oxides and sulfides. This report updates the Cuban nickel industry as a result of two visits : one at the invitation of the Cuban Ministry of Basic Industries in 1987 and the other as a consultant to the United Nations for the Cuban Laterite Project in 1989.

Jan 1, 1993

By Iain B. Mackenzie

In 1997, a thin layer of Microtherm Microporous Insulation was used to replace fireclay brick behind the magnesia/chrome working lining in #5 refining furnace at BHP?s San Manuel AZ smelter. A 23°C reduction in shell temperature was obtained, together with a large increase in the working capacity of the vessel. There was no sign of metal penetration as a result of the increased insulation. Following these highly favorable results, BHP have introduced this product into all of their refining furnaces.

Jan 1, 1999

By John W. Graydon

Incineration is an attractive alternative to the disposal of MSW in landfill sites. However, the process of incineration generates fly ash which contains significant levels of leachable heavy metals - particularly cadmium, lead, and zinc - and it is essential to manage this fly ash in an environmentally sound manner. The compositions, phases, textures, morphologies and size of fly ash particles have been studied by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray microanalysis, and X-ray diffraction. The detailed spatial relationships and speciation of the environmentally significant constituents have received particular emphasis. The information obtained is useful in understanding how fly ash is formed during incineration, in understanding the leaching behavior of untreated fly ash if it is disposed of in a landfill and, most importantly, in guiding the development of the best treatment strategies for fly asti to mitigate its environmental impact.

Jan 1, 1992

By G. J. Shiflet

This paper will review work done in our laboratory on the formation, thermodynamics and crystallization of aluminum based metallic glass with the addition of rare earth elements. The results demonstrate that the metallic glasses are truly amorphous and not microcrystalline and that they are unusual in their formation because the alloys contain 90 at. % aluminum and there is no deep eutectic present in the phase diagram. Tensile strengths that exceed 900 MPa are obtained for several of the compositions and exceed 1000 MPa after partial crystallization.

Jan 1, 1992

By Jin Liu

To improve value metals recovery, a new operating concept for the Inco flash furnace was investigated, in which the flash furnace coke addition practice would aim at establishing a reducing barrier on the surface of the molten bath. The descending partially oxidized sulfide mineral particles would reach the supernatant coke layer prior to the formation of slag. The key for success depends on the effectiveness of the coke layer to produce a sulfur deficient matte while maintaining furnace production capacity. The mechanism and rate of carbon reduction of the phases formed in the flash flame, i.e. sulfide (matte) and oxysulfide was investigated by means of crucible graphite reduction test work. The objective of these tests was to measure the rate of solid graphite reduction of matte, oxysulfide, slag, and matte+slag mixture at different temperatures. These tests were expected to permit understanding and explaining the reduction mechanism of each material by comparing the respective reaction rates, product reaction gas compositions, reduced material assays, and other relevant parameters. Direct visual inspection of the test crucibles would provide additional information.

Jan 1, 2006

By David Forrest

In 1981, K. E. Drexler proposed using massively parallel nanomechanical systems to manufacture large atomically exact structures. As in macroscopic mechanical systems, they would contain components that serve traditional functions such as trusses for support, gears to transmit power, bearings for low-friction support of rotating surfaces, motors to supply torque, pipes and conveyor belts for material transport, and channels for coolant. Many of these components would only contain a few thousand atoms. Specific designs for these devices became available in the early 1990s, and a few working devices appeared in laboratories by the early 2000s. As advances continue, a thorough understanding of the operative transport phenomena will guide the intelligent design and construction of nanomechanical structures, devices, and systems. The familiar equations of continuum mechanics are generally inadequate to describe the flow of heat and mass in the proposed nanosystems. Boundary conditions often need to be described in terms of potential surfaces. Surfaces are not geometrically smooth, but periodic according to the locations of atomic nuclei. Friction occurs not due to the plastic deformation of asperities on mating surfaces, but to phenomena such as thermoelastic damping and phonon viscosity when atoms slide past each other. Electrostatic forces dominate over gravitational forces by orders of magnitude; there is no role here for natural convection. Structural components, no matter how stiff and strong, are in constant motion due to the thermal noise in the system. The fluids are described in terms of individual molecules in constant motion.

Jan 1, 2006

By C. M. Acuña

At the Chuquicamata Division of Codelco-Chile high arsenic concentrates are produced, which at the smelter are processed via the Outokumpu Flash Furnace and Teniente Converters to obtain copper mattes. In the case of the Teniente Converters the production of matte grade near white metal composition is a common practice since the eighties and provided in the pyrometallurgical route no appropiate measures are taken, penalties have to be paid because of arsenic content in the anodes. During smelting huge volume of slag is produced and elimination of arsenic by slagging at this step is not economically attractive. Although during fire refining is possible to eliminate arsenic by use of mixtures of calcium and sodium carbonates this alternative is expensive, takes long process time and decreases the lifetime of the refractory lining. In spite of these facts a reasonably way to control arsenic in metal, and therefore in the anode, is taking, action in the converting step. The effects of oxygen and arsenic content in metal, arsenic in white metal and basicity index of the slag upon the distribution coefficient of arsenic between metal and slag were investigated at pilot and industrial levels. The best results are obtained for metals around 7,000 ppm oxygen and 0.3 basicity index slag, which results in a 5.7 distribution coefficient for a 5,800 - 7,100 ppm arsenic content in white metal, 18%-24% CaO slag at 1473 - 1523K. Furthermore, no significant/visible refractory wear has been realized.

Jan 1, 1999

By Teruo Tanabe

The hydrogen-absorbing materials are expected to have the following properties at moderate conditions, (a) a large capacity of hydrogen absorption, (b) the absorption rate of hydrogen is large and (c) hydrogen-absorbed materials can easily desorb hydrogen. Thus the three concepts of capacity, rate and reversibility seem to be indispensable to clarify the mechanism of hydrogen absorption by the materials. In this work, the amount of absorbed hydrogen, the absorption rate and the reversibility of hydrogen absorption- desorption reaction were measured for binary R-M systems (R = Y, La, Ce; M = Co, Ni). These experimental results were discussed by the following three physical properties that were calculated by the extended Hückel method, i.e. the density of states unoccupied by electrons, the cohesive energy and the energy fluctuation. The major results are as follows: (a) the amount of absorbed hydrogen increases with the density of states in the energy range between -9 and -4 eV, (b) the R-M compounds of which energy fluctuations are large show a large value of rate of hydrogen absorption, and (c) when the cohesive energy is large, the compound has a tendency not to easily desorb hydrogen, i.e. its reversibility is poor.

Jan 1, 2006

By K. A. Lewandowski

Agglomeration of ore can be used to immobilize fine particles during heap leaching by agglomerating them into granules. Without agglomeration, the fine ore particles can migrate within the heap, clogging flow channels and producing large areas where access of solution to the ore is very poor. The benefits of agglomeration are well-known in gold heap leaching operations, which can be effectively agglomerated using binders such as Portland cement due to the alkaline leaching solutions used. However, agglomeration has not been very effective in the heap leaching of copper ores, because these ores require an acidic leaching solution. Acid destroys the effectiveness of most binders, causing the agglomerates to disintegrate as soon as the leaching solution is applied. In order to gain the benefits of agglomeration in copper heap leaching, an economical, acid-resistant binder is needed. The two issues that needed to be addressed were: 1) Lack of effective methods for evaluating binder acid resistance before performing expensive, time-consuming, full-scale heap leaching tests, and 2) The vast majority of known binders react poorly to acid conditions, and so a basis was needed for determining which binders are most likely to be acid-resistant. In this paper, the development of two new tests for evaluating binder acid resistance in the laboratory are described. The ?soak test? determines the degree to which agglomerates disintegrate and release fines on contact with acidic solution, measuring the relative quantities of fines released by agglomerates made with different binders under controlled conditions, and serves as a rapid means for comparing large numbers of binders. The ?percolation test? measures several different parameters to determine how a binder is likely to perform in heap leaching: 1) the degree of ?slump? and compaction of agglomerates as they are wetted by acidic solutions; 2) the hydraulic conductivity of the agglomerate bed; 3) the migration of fines through the bed as the solution flows through it; and 4) the quantity of liquid retained in the agglomerates after they are drained. Using these tests, a broad spectrum of binders were examined. Soak testing determined that the most acid-resistant binders were nonionic polymers. Five of these binders were further evaluated using percolation testing.

Jan 1, 2006

By K:-I. Rhee

The recovery of tellurium from Te-cement obtained during the processing of copper anode slimes was carried out by a series of hydrometallurgical processes, i.e. leaching Te-cement in NaOH solution, precipitation of impurites with the addition of Na2S followed by direct electrowinning of tellurium in NaOH solution. The optimum conditions for each process were determined and discussed in terms of various parameters associated with each step to maximize the recovery and purity of tellurium. The final purity of tellurium from electrowinning in alkaline solution was found to be more than 99.9 %.

Jan 1, 1997

By C. E. M. Meskers, U. Boin

"The increasing use of coated magnesium in consumer products results in creation of coated Mg scrap during product manufacture and after End-of-Life product treatment. Currently this material is generally not recycled, leaving a material resource unused. Closure of the magnesium cycle in a sustainable manner is necessary. In order to do so, the effect of coatings on the recycling process has to be quantified, predicted and minimized. For this purpose metrics have been developed, based on first principles supported by detailed understanding of the recycling process. The developed 3D metric enables quantitative assessment of the recyclability and links coating design, product design and recycling to each other in a visual manner. The parameters that form the metric can be measured and predicted, hence an engineering basis for Design for Sustainability of coated magnesium is provided.IntroductionEvery product progresses through the four phases of the product life cycle depicted by figure 1. In each phase residues are created. Their amount and composition is largely determined by the complex material combinations created/invented during product design in the manufacture phase. Compared to the ideal cycle the magnesium cycle is far from closed (fig. 2). Most noticeable is absence of the link between the EoL phase and raw materials production. A closed cycle only exists for class 1 scrap, which goes from the product manufacture phase directly to production from industrial material and returns to the manufacture phase as magnesium alloys. The four problematic streams are marked by ???. Coated semi-products are present in two of the four residues, namely in rejects and collected scrap. When these semi-products are recycled the amount and composition of the dross and salt slag residue is affected as well.During product design selection of the coating takes place, fixing the coating character¬istics and properties from this moment on for the rest of its life cycle. The choices made in the manufacturing phase are therefore critically linked to the recyclability of coated semi-products as well as the sustainability of the magnesium cycle as a whole. Sustainable closed life cycles, in which the quality of materials is preserved and residue creation and resource depletion are minimized, can be attained by selecting the appropriate alternative during product design. To realize this the effect of design choices on the life cycle and more specific the recycling process has to be known and quantified."

Jan 1, 2008

By Michael P. Heisel

Solinox is a physical scrubbing process capable of removing a number of noxious materials from off-gasses, especially SO2, hydrocarbons, halogens, heavy metals such as dust, etc. As these materials are dissolved physically, (not chemically bound), the solvent is absolutely stable and no by-products are formed in the scrubbing cycle. The process has? been installed in three plants up to now, treating from approximately 30 MMSCFD to approximately 100 MMSCFD. These installations are in a non ferrous metal smelting operation, in a cellulose factory, and in a roasting process.

Jan 1, 1992

By Michael P. Meisel

Solinox is a physical scrubbing process capable of removing a number of noxious materials from off-gasses, especially SO2, hydrocarbons, halo¬gens, heavy metals such as dust, etc. As these materials are dissolved physically, (not chemically bound), the solvent is absolutely stable and no by-products are formed in the scrubbing cycle. The process has been installed in three plants up to now, treating from approximately 30 MMSCFD to approximately 100 MMSCFD. These installations are in a non ferrous metal smelting operation, in a cellulose factory, and in a roasting process.

Jan 1, 1992

By Martin J. Hansel, Jan Bäckström

Starting from historic perspectives on converting at the Rönnskär Smelter, the continuous developments of refractory practice is described. In the development the joint efforts of operators and suppliers of refractory have lead to significant achievements. This paper comprises the development of the converting process and the refractory lining as well as future prospects regarding operation and refractory lining design, especially in the face of equipment and raw material availability. 81

Jan 1, 2009

By Jared Ball, Benjamin Hogg

There are over 100 process parameters that can be monitored during a single Peirce-Smith (PS) converter batch operation. To support a consistent operation it is important to select the correct Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to monitor. They should be strategically chosen to drive the desired behaviour with enough flexibility to endure process variations. At the Xstrata Copper Smelter in Mount Isa most of the PS converter operators have very little experience and are often lacking in the appropriate education or training to properly understand the process. For this reason 10 simple KPI’s were chosen that could be easily comprehended and monitored by all smelter personnel. KPI compliance has been supported by relevant project work in the converter area. Charge sequence trials have been performed in an effort to reduce splash and optimise activity time. The online measurement of full and empty ladle weights has enabled an immediate indication of skull size, skim/slag carryover, and metal loss.

Jan 1, 2009

By Sadi Medina

As it is characteristic from Custom Smelters, ENAMl Las Ventanas Smelter has to deal with different qualities and quantities of mining products from about 70 suppliers, that contain a variety of impurities that would be harmful for copper production. In order to increase the smelting capacity, an oxygen plant has been running since September of 1990. Moreover, to improve the environmental conditions, a new sulphuric acid plant started up to neutralize the metallurgycal off-gases from the Teniente Converter and partially from the Peirce-Smith converters. Based on the on-line operation among the reverberatory furnace and the Teniente Converter using oxygen enriched air to produce high grade matte, most of the volatilizing impurities, mainly arsenic, are collected as discarding compounds in the gas cleaning system of the acid plant. This paper describes the continuous performance of the Teniente Converter with acid plant, the results attained, the operation problems and how they were solved. The impurities distribution achieved in this process is also included.

Jan 1, 1993