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By E. W. Davis

I . OPERATING TESTS 1. CHARACTER OF ORE UNDER INVESTIGATION On the eastern end of the Mesabi Range, in Northern Minnesota, is a large formation of siliceous rock which contains bands and fine grains of magnetite . The magnetite comprises about 35 per cent. of the rock. Fig.. 1 show's graphically that the tonnage of minus 200-mesh material produced varies directly with the tonnage fed to the mill. There is undoubtedly some limit to this relation, but there seems to be no indication of it at 18 T. per hr. Some of the conclusions drawn from this test are that: (a) The ball-mill is naturally a machine of very large capacity; (b) if it is not possible to deliver a large tonnage of original feed to the mill, a closed circuit should be provided so that the mill may crush its own oversize.

Jan 2, 1919

By Thomas Wilson

IN a single-crystal cube of iron the arrangement of the atoms is that characteristic of iron at room temperature: the body-centered cubic lattice. X-ray investigation has shown this structure to be characteristic of iron, as it has shown the atomic arrangement of other metals to be characteristic of those metals also. Rarely do substances have more than one characteristic atomic arrangement. Many physical properties of metals are directly connected with their atomic arrangements, so that changes of arrangements produce changes of properties. Only chemical change influences atomic arrangement. If a difference in the physical properties of a metal is caused by a process which involves no chemical change, the cause of the difference in properties must be sought elsewhere than in the atomic arrangement. Frequently this cause can be traced to alteration of crystal orientation. The orientation of a crystal may be defined as the relationship which the crystallographic axes bear to some quantity of reference. A cube of iron appears cubic whether it is regarded from a face, an edge, or a corner. Yet these three positions represent three different orientations of the cube with respect to the observer. It is evident that the orientation of this cube of iron, unlike the atomic arrangement, is not characteristic of iron but is entirely dependent on the previous history of the cube. Most of the processes of metal working, such as wire-drawing, rolling, and bending, change the orientation of the crystals present in the worked metals. These processes usually tend to produce rotation of the crystals into positions approaching a mean. Specimens of metals show-ing this characteristic are said to possess a preferred, orientation. Tensile strength, ductility, and many other properties are influenced by orientation changes; therefore two specimens of the same metal may show different values of these quantities. In metal specimens possessing a narrowly limited preferred orientation, these quantities will vary in magnitude in different directions throughout the specimens. The investigation of the influence of manufacturing operations upon crystal orientation, and hence upon physical properties of metals, is an important

Jan 1, 1929

By J. C. Irvine

Meramec Mining Co. has put into operation a crushing and conveying system on its newly established 2475-ft level, 200 ft below the lowest production. To develop this level without interrupting hoisting or mine haulage, a 15.8% decline was driven from the 2275-ft level. A 5-cu-yd LHD diesel loader and a diesel-powered drilling jumbo were put into operation midway down the decline, and were used to develop the remainder of the decline and the entire level. Development of the ore pass system to the crusher required the construction of Swedish-type dumps on the main haulage-ways of all production levels with a minimum disruption of ore haulage. Concrete was handled by both rail-mounted and rubber-tired vehicles. The system features four Swedish-type dumps with control chutes at the lower three dumps, a 42-in. gyratory crusher with attendant feeders, and an 1800-ft long roof suspended conveyor feeding two 5000-ton ore bins. The crushed ore from these bins is conveyed to the lower of the mine's two original loading stations for hoisting. The retention of the original dumping and ore pass system as an alternate route has given mine production a unique flexibility. Operation for 22 months has permitted evaluation of the system from a long-term standpoint.

Jan 1, 1973

Jan 1, 1947

By L. R. Plitt, M. K. Kim

The collecting properties of the fatty acid type collectors for barite were studied using zeta potential measurements, infrared spectroscopy, and Hallimond tube flotation tests. Based upon the experimental results, an adsorption model has been formulated which emphasizes the predominant role of the hydrocarbon chain in collector adsorption.

Jan 1, 1975

Jan 1, 1911

Some 15 years ago, Dr. Adolf Schmidt, director of the Magnetic Observatory in Potsdam, Germany, developed an instrument, which was a modification of Lloyds balance, for the measurement of the vertical component of the earth's magnetism in the field. There was a keen demand for this because (1) it was desirable to have a field instrument that would measure the component of the earth's magnetism which stands in the closest and simplest relation to the configuration of the subterranean magnetic formations-the vertical component; (2) it was desirable to have an instrument that was not only more sensitive but also more reliable than the existing vertical magnetometers (the dip needle, for instance). The application of the magnetometer in oil geology demanded such an instrument, because the magnetic disturbances produced by most types of magnetic formations associated with the occurrence of oil (salt domes, faults, anticlines with crystalline core, etc.) are too small to be detected with the ordinary dip needle. The writer can prove, by some investigations recently made for the U. S. Bureau of Mines, that these instruments may be used also to very great advantage in mining, because they are capable of measuring anomalies which are as great as twice the normal strength of the earth's magnetic field. Even for such anomalies, the field balance is more advantageous than the dip needle. First, the instrument rests on a firm support and can be adjusted in the proper azimuth, which insures measurement of the vertical intensity only, without a part of the horizontal intensity, which is very important for the interpretation. The readings give the vertical intensity in linear terms and not as a function of an angle; and the field balance is insensitive to temperature when used with scale values that are adequate for the determination of large anomalies. In another phase of mining, the gold placer work, the field balance has also shown excellent results for which the dip needle is not adequate. What has been said about the dip needle holds also, though to a lesser extent, for two other types of vertical variometers recently used, the Tiberg balance and the Thomson-Thalen magnetometer.

Jan 1, 1929

By James Herbert Bartlett

The MANUFACTURE of Iron in the PROVINCE of Quebec. The St. Maurice Forges.—The deposits of iron-ore in the St. Maurice district, in the rear of Three Rivers, were probably known to the Indians and .Jesuits, but it is not till 1667 that any discovery is reported. The affairs of the colony were then in the control of the " West India Company," who amongst other monopolies had a right to all mines and minerals." Specimens of the iron-ore were examined in Quebec. in 1668 by the Sieur la Potardière, who reported unfavorably on them. In 1671, Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, was appointed governor of La Nouvelle France ; and in the original manuscripts relating to his administration some allusion is occasionally found to the St. Maurice iron mines.? In a letter to the Imperial Government, dated 2d November, 1672, he says: "The iron mine of which I have already spoken is of great consequence. I have visited it myself, in order that I may be enabled to give a more accurate account of its nature. I am gratified to learn that another mine has been discovered in Champlain, which is much richer than the Cap de la Madelaine mine, and the ore is in greater

Jan 1, 1886

By Albert Ledoux

SEVERAL years ago my firm was representing the Mt. Lyell Co. of Australia, which was shipping its blister copper to a refining works in the United States. After the contract had been running for many months, the superintendent of these works discovered that if water was poured upon the surface of the bars much of it would disappear into the interior through blow holes. -Some experiments made by him showed that this could be a considerable amount, so that copper which had been rained on before it was weighed, although the surface appeared dry, nevertheless would contain water. It had frequently occurred in our experience-as samp-lers that the drillings from a lot taken by boring would come out quite wet, and in some cases, indeed, water would drip into the sample pan placed below the bars, due to the fact that the drill had penetrated a cavity or cavities containing water, which presumably got into the cavities at the time the copper was water-cooled after casting, there being, perhaps, no outlet to the surface. So far as I know, until this discovery at the refining works, no. one had thought that rain could penetrate into the interior of blister copper; at least in any quantity sufficient to be considered.

Jan 10, 1922

By Paul Billingsley

The term Boulder batholith was first applied in 1897 by W. H. Weed2 to the extensive mass of granite in western Montana within whose borders occur the ore deposits of Butte. In a general way this was known to extend from Helena on the north to the Highland Mountains near Butte on the south, and to be relatively narrow in its east-west diameter. Its intrusive relations to the surrounding sedimentary rocks, and its probable Tertiary age, were described by Weed, but in many ways his statements, based upon incomplete data, have required revision. Most notable of the errors of this description of the batholith were the failure,3 since corrected, to recognize the intrusive contact of the granite with the capping of andesite, and the complete absence of any reference to the many extensions of the granite beyond the somewhat narrow limits of its largest exposure.

Jan 1, 1915

By Z. T. Bieniawski

Tunneling in coal mines includes driving the main haulageways or roadways which serve as the development entries. Although constituting the lifelines of these mines, little attention has been paid to development entries in the United States in terms of systematic pre-construction planning and design. Coal mine tunnels, as the terminology is used in Europe and elsewhere, are understood in the United States to be the main development entries, either in room-and-pillar mining or in longwall mining. These development entries are not tunnels in the traditional sense since they usually are of a multi-entry type involving entries and cross-cuts, and their intersections. Thus, the design of coal mine tunnels is intertwined with the design of coal pillars. This paper summarizes the results of a three-year research project aimed at improving the design of development entries in U.S. coal mining. A design approach has been developed for this purpose and design procedures for roof support in main entries and for pillar sizing are proposed.

Jan 1, 1984

By J. S. Seawright

Haulage is a costly feature in the operation of an open pit mine, whether it be iron, copper, or limestone. The National Iron Co. has adapted an old underground method to the open pit inclined skip haulage to bring the ore from the pit bottom to the crusher or beneficiation plant. The Rockover skip has been placed in operation where limited areas have retarded or eliminated use of long rail or road slopes. Deep and narrow orebodies subject to rapid increase in depth that discourage use of conveyor belts and necessary crushing plants are ideal for this system. The skip haulage method was developed to combine the desirable features of conveyor, truck, and rail haulage and at the same time avoid the draw- backs. The skip was designed to follow the natural angle of repose of the pit wall and can vary from 25° to 45°. Open-pit skips now in operation show that the installation is successful and provide the

Jun 1, 1955

By R. Wiesenthal

A method is developed for improving the low recovery efficiency which results when viscous oils are flooded by water. Viscous oil has been diluted with a lighter liquid miscible in it in any ratio which produces a mixture possessing a reduced viscosity and which is then displaced by water. Light gasoline was used in these tests to reduce the viscosity of the oil in place. Oils possessing viscosities in the range of 1.28 to 324 cp at the test temperature of 30C were displaced from a cylindrical unconsolidated sand core, with a length of 2 m (6.6 ft) and a diameter of 10 cm (3.9 in.) at a flood of 6.27 cc/sq cm/hr. In two test series up to I PV of light gasoline was injected into the core before water flooding. In the first series the recovery of a low-viscosity oil (1.28 cp) increased as the volume of light gasoline was increased. However, only the oil which could not be recovered by water flooding alone could be replaced by the light gasoline. In the other series, the recovery of a more viscous oil (13.5 cp) was not increased even if large quantities of light gasoline were injected. An oil bank built up ahead of the water front so that the flood water met with equivalent saturation conditions, as would be the case in flooding solely with water. However, the recovery of more viscous oils could be increased substantially when the core was first flooded with water, followed by a slug of light gasoline, and then flooded with water again. Furthermore, an oil bank ,built up ahead of the second water front. The formation of this oil bank is particularly favorable for the displacement process; the greater part of the light gasoline injected was pushed out of the core ahead of the oil and recovered. Using a light oil of low viscosity, it was possible to replace only the residual oil that could not be recovered by water flooding by the light gasoline. As the basic study had shown that highly viscous oils could be recovered by flooding first with water, then with light gasoline, followed by a second injection of water, the study was extended by tests made with reservoir fluids and cores taken from the low-gravity oil reservoir of the Wietze field, Germany. A great increase in recovery over flooding with water alone was obtained in these tests. The results may show a way to recover high-viscosity oils by a comparatively simple flooding procedure. INTRODUCTION In fields where oil recovery has not benefited from natural water drive, increased recovery may be obtained by the injection of water into the reservoir, especially in the case of fields which produce high-gravity, low-viscosity oil. There is a rather close relation between the viscosity of the reservoir fluid and the recovery that can be obtained by water flooding. As the viscosity increases the oil recovery decreases proportionately, so that an oil viscosity about 30 times that of water is generally considered to be the upper limit for an economically successful water flood.' This limitation has been recognized theoretically by Buckley and Leverett,' and has been verified by numerous laboratory flooding tests, such as by Croes and Schwarz,V n the viscosity ratio range of oil to water from 1 to 500. The reason for the inferior recovery of viscous oils by water flooding can best be understood by considering the mechanism of flood tests. In such tests water is introduced into one end of a sand-packed tube which is saturated with oil of the viscosity to be tested, and oil is produced from, the other end. Oil, with a viscosity lower than that of water, is pushed ahead of the advancing water with considerable uniformity, and irregularities in the displacement process tend to be eliminated as the oil saturation decreases and the water saturation increases. However, oil recovery is not complete, for the water forms interfaces with the oil and traps residual oil droplets in certain of the pore spaces. These residual oil droplets are distributed rather uniformly through the sand, and they are not susceptible to recovery regardless of the amount of water passed through the test cylinder. In the case of an oil possessing a viscosity greater than that of water, the injected water tends to move irregularly through the sand in the test cylinder. At the place in the sand where initial water movement takes place, resistance to the movement of water is lowered and the water finger so formed will grow perceptibly; it will extend to the outlet end of the test cylinder so that a breakthrough of water takes place long before much of the oil-saturated volume of the sand has come in contact with water. Once the breakthrough of water takes place, the water-oil ratio is gradually approaching the economic limit, even though much of the oil in the test cylinder remains unaffected by water. Disconnected drops of oil are trapped in the portion of the sand that has been invaded by water, just as when an oil of low viscosity is flooded. The poor recovery of the more viscous oils, therefore, is due to the irregularity of water movement through the test cylinder, and the rate of water movement through restricted sections of the oil-saturated sand increases with the more viscous oils. There are three ways whereby the recovery of viscous oils by water flooding can be improved:' (1) adding materials which will increase the vis-

Jan 1, 1965

ALASKA Established November 19, 1947 Meets fourth Monday of each month at Fair¬ banks, Alaska J D CRAWFORD, Chairman BRUCE I, THOMAS, Vice-Chairman C D JERMAIN, Vice-Chairman for Southeastern Alaska EARL H BEISTLINE, Secretary-Treasurer Box 265, College, Alaska

Jan 1, 1952

By W. A. Klikoff, I. Fatt

The concept of fractional wet wattability is examined. Fractional water wettability of a reservoir rock is defined as the fraction of the internal surface urea that is in contact with water. Capillary pressure and relalive permeability of unconsolidated sand are shown to be functions of fractional wettability. INTRODUCTION The petroleum industry has long recognized that wettability of reservoir rock has an important effect on multiphase flow of oil, water and gas through reservoirs. As early as 1928 the American Petroleum Institute sponsored a study of wettability as part of API Project 27 at the U. of Michigan.' Despite 30 years of research, there is still little exact knowledge of the wettability of reservoir rocks. There are two parts to the wettability problem. After agreeing to a uniform nomenclature in regard to wettability,' the first question to be answered is, "What is the in situ wettability of a given reservoir rock?" If this can he answered the next question is, "What part does wettability play in determining the characteristics of multiphase fluid flow through the rock?" This paper represents an oblique attack on the problem of wettability. No attempt is made here to answer the basic question of wettability in situ. instead the consequences of the concept of fractional wettability are examined. Multiphase flow in sandpacks is shown to he highly influenced by fractional wettability. Jennings' has given 3 definition of wettability and the other terms used in discussing wettability. These terms must be applied to the physical situation existing In reservoir rock. A survey of the pertinent literature from 1928 to 1956 indicates that the concept of a contact angle was applied to reservoir rock in the same way it would be applied to a flat, homogeneous surface. Attempts were made to state quantitatively the wettability of a reservoir rock in terms of a contact angle which was presumably constant at all points on the very rough and heterogeneous interior surface of a porous rock. Calhoun, et al,3-6 prepared synthetic consolidated and un-consolidated porous media in which they claimed there was a known uniform contact angle. They then showed the effects on the capillary pressure and relative permeability characteristics of varying this angle. The API Project 47 at the U. of Texas' and others' have made extensive studies of an indirect approach to the contact angle through the use of heat of wetting data. Even if successful. however, this approach also states the wettability of porous rock in terms of a contact angle which is uniform over the entirc surface. If the angle varies from one part to another on the internal surface, there is no way of determining from the measurements the area distribution of contact angles. In 1956 Brown and Fatt5 suggested that the concept of a contact angle, as applied to reservoir rock, be abandoned. This suggestion was made because it is known that the internal surface of most reservoir rocks is composed of many different minerals, cach with a different surface chemistry and a different capacity to adsorh surface active materials from reservoir fluids. Furthermore, the operation of a contact angle in determining the form of a fluid-fluid interface is difficult to picture in the very complex geometry of a pore. Brown and Fatt proposed that the wettability of reservoir rock be stated in terms of the fractional internal surface area that is in contact with water or oil. All surfaces on which there is water are called water-wet; surfaces on which there is oil are called oil-wet. The fractional water wettability is then stated as a number which represents the fraction of the internal surface that is in contact with water. A symmetrical statement can be made for the fractional oil wettability. The concept of a fractional wettability as previously stated has in its favor the recognition of the heterogeneous mineral composition of most reservoir rocks. Another point in its favor is that fractional wettability can be measured quantitatively with relative ease. Hol-brook and Bernard10 se a simple dye adsorption test to obtain fractional wettability of reservoir rocks. Amott11 uses a combination of imbibition and displacement to arrive at a wettability index of reservoir rocks which seems related to fractional wettability in the range 0.25 to 0.75 fractional water wettability. Jennings" has shown the changes in relative permeability that take place when a porous material is changed from unity to zero fractional water wettability. He also shows that reservoir rocks in their natural state, but at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, have relative permeability characteristics which would indi-

By A. Beeby Thompson

FOR more than 2500 years, natural gas issues in the Surakhany district of the Apsheron peninsula were the object of pilgrimages by fire worshippers and Hindoos from Burma and India. Even as late as 1890, Hindoo priests conducted ceremonies in a temple at Surakhany, which probably replaced a more ancient one; but later, the visits of the pilgrims were prohibited in order to check the spread of Asiatic diseases in that region. For centuries, limited supplies of oil have been abstracted from shallow excavations in the Caspian oil belt and dispatched into the interior of Asia and elsewhere for medicinal and industrial purposes. Statistics show a yield of 37,400 bbl. in 1863, but only since 1869 has there been serious development; in that year the yield was 203,000 bbl. At that time, hand digging was supplanted by drilling, and the enormous wells that resulted from tapping sources hitherto beyond the reach of operators completely demoralized the industry for a time, owing to inadequate outlets for the products. The early activities in this area were greatly hindered by annoying taxation, monopolies, imperial land grants, etc., but when these were revoked or adjusted, in 1877, the industry sprang into prominence and, between 1898 and 1901, the Baku fields produced practically one-half of the world's supply of oil. Within a few miles of Baku lie the two richest oil fields in the world; viz., the Balakhany-Saboontchy-Romany and the Bibi-Eibat, the latter constituting almost a suburb of the city. For many years the gasoline obtained in the refineries of the Baku area was burned in pits, being considered an undesirable product, and until 1870 the residue also was destroyed, its value as a fuel not being recognized. Kerosene was the main product sought by the refiners. It was shipped across the Caspian Sea and up the Volga to the industrial centers of Russia. Only on the completion of the Baku-Batoum railway did the Baku oil fields secure

Jan 8, 1920

By M. King Hubbert

THE growth of human knowledge is an evolutionary process. Historically our separate sciences came into existence as people became interested in various apparently unrelated domains of phenomena, and in this manner we acquired the sciences of physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology and geology. As various of these sciences became established, cognizance of them came to be taken by the universities and in this manner there arose the traditional departments of physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology and geology of our American universities. As there was no particular rationality in the boundaries separating the various sciences, in the university departments the jurisdiction of each has assumed quite arbitrary limits. In the domain of earth phenomena the first science to grow up was that of geology, which arose originally from the activities of the collectors science dealing with directly observable terrestrial phenomena for which elementary rational explanations were offered. The traditional treatment of phenomena by the science of geology has rarely been with more than an elementary regard for the fact that these phenomena were also phenomena of physics and chemistry. Since the latter part of the nineteenth century, a new approach to terrestrial phenomena has been emerging and becoming of so great a significance that it can no longer be ignored. This approach has been made by people trained primarily in the sciences of physics and chemistry, who have investigated terrestrial phenomena as constituting phenomena of their respective sciences. In this manner we have acquired the so-called "borderland sciences" of geophysics, the physics of the earth, and of geochemistry, the chemistry of the earth. Neither of these fields is new, having arisen chiefly at the hands of European investigators during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The European universities have long since given official recognition at least to geophysics, by the establishment of departments or institutes of geophysics, which are on a par with the university departments of the other sciences.

Jan 1, 1938

By Thomas Read

PERSONNEL work is a term recently introduced to cover the great variety of activities in industrial work that deal with the human factor. Much attention has been focussed upon individual phases of personnel work, such as accident prevention, sanitation, "welfare" work, reducing labor' turnover, and so on. In most cases these activities have been carried on as though they were distinct and separate fields; as a matter of fact, they are only different phases of the single problem of human engineering, and each has important and fundamental relations with the others. Thus, for example, high labor turnover is one of the most .important causes of a high accident rate, and unsatisfactory housing conditions are an important cause of labor turnover. In the early stages of the study of these problems, it was necessary to take them up separately; the time has now arrived at which it is desirable to consider them as a whole in order to bring them into the right relation to each other. When thus considered as phases of an interrelated whole, they may be grouped as personnel work. A discussion of the importance of personnel work as a means of in creasing dividends in industry may be objected to by some as a too materialistic way of looking upon work that is humanitarian. Nothing could he more mistaken than such an opinion. Humanitarianism, per se, has no place in industry, and nothing is gained and much is lost in pre tending that it has. The only reason why a corporation engages in business is to make profits, and any activity of the corporation that does not tend either directly or indirectly toward that end is poor business. It is equally poor business to overlook any activities that do tend indirectly to the making of profits. On this basis, personnel work can be justified as a corporate activity; there is no justification whatever for abstract humanitarianism from the business standpoint. One characteristic of the American workman is a general high level of intelligence, and it is an insult to intelligence to ask a man to believe that anything so impersonal as a corporation is really desirous of benefiting

Jan 10, 1917

By Dorsey A. Lyon, Robert M. Keeney

The utilization of hydro-electriic power in electro-metallurgical industries, aside from purely mechanical operations, may be of two kinds. The electric energy may be used to supply the heat necessary for the performance of the chemical reactions of a metallurgical process, or the electrolytic action of a direct current may be employed for extraction of metals, either in a reduction process or a refining process. In discussing this subject, it is well to distinguish between established industries, which are producing metals and alloys at a, profit by use of the electric current, and the many processes which are either still in the experimental stage or have not even passed the paper stage of development of a patent. That is, we consider electro-metallurgical industries as commercial operations which are now consuming large blocks of electric energy, while processes which are not in commercial operation are only prospective consumers. Also, owing to the difliculty and risk of any attempt to foresee the effect of the European war upon electro-metallurgical industries, we have felt obliged to disregard the war entirely, and state our opinions regardless of its existence. Application of Electric Energy to Metallurgy Disregarding electrolytic refining processes, the applications of electric energy to metallurgy, when considered from a commercial viewpoint, may be classified as follows: Industries Experimental Processes Manufacture of aluminum Electric-furnace smelting of: Electric-furnace manufacture of: Ferro-alloys Copper ore Pig iron Zinc ore Steel In this paper only the above industries and experimental processes will be considered as possible consumers of hydro-electric power in large quan-

Jan 1, 1916

By R. J. Piros, Brusenback, D. A. Dahlstrom

DEWATERING fine coal has been a serious problem to many operators who desired to wet-wash finer sizes and maintain high recovery. Centrifugal driers have become popular for this purpose for sizes between 3/8 in. and 14 mesh. Below 14 mesh the perforated screen centrifuges lose a large per- cent in the effluent solid bowl types that do retain -14 mesh coal, produce excessive degradation, tend to retain the highest ash fraction in any size fraction, and are subject to abrasion, which results in higher maintenance. In 1949 Truax-Traer Coal Co. planned a cyclone installation at their Ceredo preparation plant to recover coal down to 150 mesh with approximately a 14-mesh top size. Since available centrifugal equipment was not considered satisfactory, an investigation of rotary vacuum filters was begun in cooperation with the Peterson Filters and Engineering Co. to determine the suitability of the Peterson Top Feed Reservoir (TFR) filter. This investigation, which is described below, has resulted in a highly satisfactory installation of two 6x10-in. Peterson TFR filters that have been in operation over a year. After some preliminary laboratory batch vacuum filter tests, a pilot plant double-drum Peterson TFR filter was installed at Ceredo to prove the feasibility of vacuum filtration and determine optimum conditions. The full scale units were then installed on the basis of the pilot plant results. This was followed by an extensive research program on vacuum filtration in the laboratory at Northwestern University to investigate basic design and operating variables and their influence on final moisture con- tent of the filter cake. A method of scale-up from laboratory batch tests to the full-size unit was also proposed and proved. Because of the importance of dewatering fine coal today, it was felt that the results of the three steps should be made available for the use of others facing this problem. The work at Northwestern is given in a theoretical section following the discussion of the pilot plant and full- scale operation. Fig. 1 is a flow diagram of the cyclone and filter installation. The feed is drawn from below the

Jan 1, 1952