Search Documents

Boiler-Room Economy "Establishing and Maintaining Boiler-room Economy" is the title of a paper presented before the Ohio Society of Mechanical Electrical and Steam Engineers by Geo. H. Gibson, of which the following is an excerpt: Boiler-room economy depends less upon equipment than upon operation, i.e., it depends largely upon the condition in which the apparatus is maintained and how it is used. A given boiler may operate this week with an efficiency of 78 per cent., and next week with an efficiency of 65 per cent., while using the same fuel and developing the same rating. If there are variations ii; character of fuel and in load and other factors, the falling-off may be even greater, possibly to less than 60 per cent. The steam produced may cost twice as much per 1,000 lb. at one time as at another. Most steam plant managers know from their own experience that these statements are not exaggerated. It does not take much of a plant to run up a coal bill of $5,000 per year, many "spend $10,000 for coal, and fuel bills of $50,000, $100,000, or $200,000 per annum are not uncommon. As it call be shown in the majority of these plants that 10 per cent. of this amount may be saved, and in large numbers of them 25 per cent., while in some the expenditure can be cut in half, there is no disputing that we have here a subject worthy of attention. In the production of steam the greatest variable is the human factor. Before we can pass judgment, however, we must first have standards. This implies accurate quantitative knowledge of fuel consumption and steam production. We must measure the output and know how much the steam costs per thousand pounds, and how many pounds of steam are obtained from a pound of coal. We can then begin to analyze the problem, and find where and how methods and conditions can be improved, and how much. Many favor buying coal on a B. t. u. basis. This is advisable where the amount purchased warrants the considerable expense involved in systematically gathering samples that: are. truly representative and in having analyses made, of every carload. Coal analyses, combined with. an honest endeavor on the part of the miner to ship good coal, should insure the receipt of the heat units paid for. , It often happens, however, that the coal which is cheapest on a B.t.u. basis is not the cheapest or most suitable for producing steam, because of peculiarities of the plant in which it is to be burned, or conversely, the fuel which furnishes cheap B.t.u. may require special methods or equipment for its economic utilization.

Jan 2, 1916

By H. A. Guess

For a number of years I have used for the commercial wet assay of lead generally the ammonium molydate, and occa-sionally the ferrocyanide method. These well-known methods need no detailed description here. In the ore-selling and ore-buying establiahments of the West, 90 per cent. of all wet lead-assays are made by one or the other, and at least nine-tenths of this proportion by the molybdate method. A procedure so well-established must have merit; and, in

Jan 1, 1905

By Richard E. Gray, Robert W. Bruhn

INTRODUCTION Underground coal mining has been practiced in the United States for over 200 years. Much early mining was not as efficient as today and unrecovered coal pillars, often of variable size and spacing, remain to support the overlying strata after mining has ceased. These conditions constitute a potential subsidence problem since the pillars will eventually fail. The possibility of subsidence above an abandoned mine must be anticipated except when total extraction has been achieved, permitting subsidence concurrent with mining, or when large coal pillars which have an adequate factor of safety for long-term support remain in the mine. Coal is found in 37 states and is mined under- ground in 22 states (HRB Singer, Inc. 1980). Underground mining produced 40 percent of the 7.5 x 10" kg. (830,000,000 tons) of U. S. coal mined in 1980 (Keystone, 1981). There are approximately 70,000 abandoned or inactive underground coal mines in the United States and approximately 2000 active underground coal mines (NAS/NAE, 1975). Underground coal mining in the United States will eventually extend beneath 162 x 109m2 (40 million acres). Thirty-two billion m2 (8 million acres) are already undermined (HRB Singer, 1977). Subsidence due to mining has affected more than 8 x 109m2 (2 million acres) in 30 states, 7.7 x 10 9m2 (1.9 million acres) from bituminous coal mining and the remainder primarily from anthracite mining (Johnson and Hiller, 1979). Subsidence from all other underground mines has affected only 6.9 x 10 7m2 (17,000 acres) (Johnson and Miller, 1979). Subsidence appears to be particularly widespread in two states, Pennsylvania and Illinois, although serious subsidence is found in localized areas of numerous other states (HRB- Singer, Inc. 1977). Host underground coal mining has occurred in the eastern United States, where the U. S. Bureau of Mines estimates 1.6 x 109m2 (398,600 acres) in urban areas in 18 states (out of a total 1.7 x 109m2 1418,400 acres]) are threatened by subsidence (Table 1) (Johnson and Miller, 1979). Pennsylvania and West Virginia contain 57 percent of the total threatened areas. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates the total cost to stabilize the estimated 1.7 x lo9m2 (418,400 acres) of subsidence prone urban land located above abandoned mines is over $12.5 billion (1978 costs).

Jan 1, 1982

By C. A. Herbert, C. M. Young

WithIn the past few years, considerable development has been made in the coal-mining industry in Illinois and Indiana and it is the purpose of the authors to record its most important phases. Perhaps the two most striking features are the entry into the producing fields of certain large consumers of coal and the magnitude of some of the new operations. Mines are now being equipped by the Chicago & Northwestern R. R., the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R., the Standard Oil Co., of Indiana, and the Union Electric Light & Power Co. of St. Louis. Besides, the U. S. Steel Corpn. has increased its coal-mining activities by commencing operations on its large holdings northeast of Benton, Franklin CO., Ill. Until recent years, the supply of coal has commonly been adequate and prices have generally been favorable, especially to large consumers, as the magnitude of their purchases enabled them to obtain satisfactory quotations from producers. In fact, most consumers of coal have believed that they could buy their fuel more satisfactorily in the open market than they could produce it themselves. The entry of the United States into the war was accompanied by various disarrangements of industrial conditions, and a demand for coal in excess of the supply seemed likely to be experienced for an indefinite period. Under these circumstances it seemed that the greatest assurance of a supply of fuel was its production by the operation of mines. In the case of the Chicago & Northwestern R. R. and the U. S. Steel Corpn. the production of coal has been carried on for many years with satisfactory results, but the C. B. & Q. R. R., the Union Electric Light & Power Co. and the Standard Oil Co. of Indiana had not been producers of coal, at least in this district. Apparently the most impressive feature of the newest mines is their capacity, for in some cases it is planned that production shall be in the neighborhood of 1000 tons per hr. There are mines now in this field having nearly that output, but these were not planned for such output; in fact, when the shafts were sunk and the machinery installed it was generally supposed that the daily outputs would be only in the neighborhood of 4000 to 5000 tons. Incidentally, there has risen

Jan 1, 1920

By P. A. Beck

ACCORDING to a recent hypothesis of Sully,' xY. binary CT phases are characterized by 1.7 bonding 3d electrons per atom, which completely fill the first Brillouin zone. This hypothesis appears to imply that there are no empty 3d orbitals in the u phase, and that, correspondingly, this phase must be dia-magnetic, or at most weakly paramagnetic. On the other hand, Bowen and Hoar' reported that a u phase extracted electrolytically from an alloy steel became ferromagnetic when cooled to about —113°C. In view of the fundamental interest of the problem from the point of view of the electron structure of the u phase, it seemed worthwhile to study the magnetic properties of massive u phase specimens of various known compositions. Sigma specimens of the following compositions were tested: 1—40 atomic pct Fe, 40 atomic pct Cr, and 20 atomic pct Mo 2—35 atomic pct Fe, 35 atomic pct Cr, and 30 atomic pct Mo 3—48.7 atomic pct Fe, 50.2 atomic pct Cr, and 1.1 atomic pct W 4—40.7 atomic pct Co and 59.3 atomic pct Cr All specimens were found to be strongly paramagnetic at room temperature, particularly alloy No. 1. At liquid nitrogen temperature, alloy No. 1 be- came ferromagnetic; the other u alloys remained paramagnetic. Even though apparently not all u alloys become ferromagnetic at liquid nitrogen temperature, in view of their strong paramagnetism it is probable that the electron structure proposed by Sully is not correct. Similar qualitative studies were made with the p, P, and 8 phases." A p phase specimen of 57.2 atomic pct Co and 42.8 atomic pct Mo; a P specimen of 19.9 atomic pct Cr, 37.8 atomic pct Ni, and 42.3 atomic pct Mo; and a 8 specimen of 50.4 atomic pct Ni and 49.6 atomic pct Mo were tested at room temperature, and all were found to be paramagnetic, although considerably weaker than the u phase specimens described above. A test at liquid nitrogen temperature gave similar results for all specimens; none became ferromagnetic. Thanks are due to D. K. Das for preparing several of the alloys and to Pol Duwez of California Institute of Technology for kindly loaning four specimens of cr alloys. References 1 A. H. Sully: The Sigma Phase in Binary Alloys of the Transition Elements. Journal Inst. Metals (1951) 80, p. 173. - K. W. J. Bowen and T. P. Hoar: Low Temperature Ferromagnetism of Sigma Phase in an Alloy Steel. Research (1950) 3, p. 484. 3 S. Rideout, W. D. Manly, E. L. Kamen, B. S. Lement, and P. A. Beck: Intermediate Phases in Ternary Alloy Systems of Transition Elements. Trans. AIME (1951) 191, p. 872; Journal of Metals (October 1951).

Jan 1, 1953

By W. V. Bluck, W. L. McMorris

Higher coal quality is being recognized in potentially lowering the cost of power as measured at the bus bar. Assessment of potential coal supplies for most power plants is now going beyond buying at the lowest delivered fuel cost. It is now taking into consideration other factors, such as handling, storage, pulverization cost, boiler fouling, post combustion cleanup, and waste disposal costs. New measurements of quality are being considered now by those producing and those consuming the fuel by assessing numerous variables in the total fuel cycle to achieve the lowest possible power costs.

Jan 1, 1986

By W. P. Frey

THE briquet plant of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., at Lansford, Pa., has previously been referred to.1 It has passed. the stage of experiment and now rests,, on a foundation practically and financially sound. The purpose of this paper is to explain how success has been attained, and to set standards for the development of hard-coal briquetting which may eliminate future failures. All the conclusions are based on actual results, avoiding speculation and theory. Up to three years ago, the L. C. & N. Co. used coal-tar pitch as a binder in making hard-coal briquets. The plant operated with a monthly output of 300 to 600 tons and was unable to meet its own expenses. Naturally, no one was satisfied, especially as the ideals of a smokeless briquet were still unrealized. Then came the Dutch oil process, introduced in this country by the General Briquetting Co. of New York. This process uses as binder a small percentage of heavy residue of petroleum, which, being liquid, permits great economy of handling; it also did away with the most objectionable fumes of the former briquets. This oil2 is not absolutely smokeless; heating the fresh fuel to red heat liberates some low-volatile hydrocarbons, yielding a white smoke which is not objectionable. On the other hand, this oil adds to the briquet about 7 per cent. of volatile matter, giving the product a heating capacity equal to that of the best free-burning anthracite coal. The average silt used in the manufacture of these boulets averages 16.5 per cent. chemical ash, corresponding to 12,000 B.t.u. per pound of coal. The Hydrolene used as binder runs about 17,500 B.t.u. per pound, and approximately 7 per cent. of it enters into the mixture, hence 12,000 X 0.93 11,160 B.t.u. 17,500 X 0.07 1,125 B.t.u. Total 12,355 B.t.u. per pound of briquets

Jan 1, 1918

An ore search for commercial titanium-bearing ore deposits is in progress by the Crane Co., manufacturers of valves, because they expect this metal to be important in valve manufacturing in the future. The company will eventually be mining and making titanium sponge. At present they are buying titanium tetrachloride from the Stauffer Chemical Co, at Niagara Falls and making titanium by reaction with magnesium. Production from the Babbitt concentrator of Reserve Mining Co. is scheduled to begin in late 1951 or early 1952. The capacity is to be 300,000 tons of pellets per year made from magnetic taconite concentrates.

Jan 7, 1951

The University of Idaho Mining Society held a meeting on Oct. 23, and elected the following officers: President, Sam Bloom; Vice-President, Lloyd McDougall; Secty Treas, Jess W. Wade. Regular meetings are held on the first and third .Tuesdays of each month, for informal lectures and reports on technical subjects. The Mining Club of the University of Wisconsin has held four recent meetings On Oct. 17, sixteen new members were inducted, and a committee was appointed to buy a Liberty Bond. The second meeting, Oct. 31, was devoted to general entertainment, at the home of Professor McCaffery.

Jan 1, 1918

By Jean Herenguel

THE published work of Lacombe and Beaujard' has demonstrated the interesting application of etch figures to the determination of crystal orientations in aluminum by a purely micrographic method. The geometry of these figures leaves no ambiguity and the method has the added advantage of being applicable to very small crystal units. These authors applied the technique to the study of high purity aluminum, and it has now been adopted buy Heren-guel and his collaborators to various researches on commercial aluminum, containing up to 1 pct Fe and Si. This must modify the opinion point,ed out by

Jan 1, 1953

R. 8. MACPHERRAN, Milwaukee, Wis. (communication to the Secretary): The importance of carbon in pig-iron, as well as the desirability of buying, for some purposes, irons which are high in carbon, has always been recognized. Mr. Summers, I think, has given undue weight to the carbon-determinations. The combined carbon often decreases materially as the center of the pig is approached, with a corresponding increase in the graphite. Even the determination of total carbon, to be of service, must he supplemented by that of other elements. By it alone, the softness of a foundry-iron cannot be determined. Car-wheels and No. 5 iron, for instance, frequently contain 3.75 per cent. of carbon. This is the percentage specified by Mr. Summers for his No. 1 iron, " with the silicon about anywhere the furnace-man wants it." It is true that, other things being equal, the higher the carbon the softer the iron for foundry-use. But to introduce any given percentages of graphitic and total carbon into a pig-iron specification would but make the specification more complicated, without increasing its value in a commensurate degree. Mr. Summers does not believe in the governing of mixtures by the silicon, and, in support of his views, gives several tables. It seems to me that both his conclusions and his tables are somewhat unsatisfactory. He comments on the irregularity in carbon, but fails to note the significance of the irregularity in silicon..The variation of 0.7 per cent. in silicon, for example, is too great to be accounted for by difference in blast. It might better be attributed to bad grading at the furnace, unsystematic sampling, or irregular charging. Deductions drawn under such conditions are of little value. In ordinary work the castings from the same mixture should

Jan 1, 1899

By J. W. King

URANIUM ore was first discovered in the Edge-mont district of the southern Black Hills in the summer of 1951. The discovery was not made known for some time, but after the news leaked out prospecting became intense, and several hundred claims were staked in the spring of 1952. The Hot Springs Sub Office of the Atomic Energy Commission was established at that time and airborne radiometric surveys were commenced by the Government and by private companies. During the succeeding summer another important discovery was made by private airborne surveys in the northern Black Hills, and the area favorable for uranium ore was expanded many times. Between that summer of 1952 and the present, many individuals and groups have explored, developed, and exploited their claims until now uranium ore is produced in significant quantities and substantial reserves have been developed. The Black Hills portion of the geologic map of the U. S. issued by the U. S. Geological Survey is shown in Fig. 1. Sedimentary formations are exposed as a series of cuestas and hogbacks in a roughly annular pattern with the older sediments resting on the pre-Cambrian core, which is exposed in the eastern and southern portions of the dome. The South Dakota-Wyoming state line bisects the area from north to south. The Cheyenne River crosses the southern tip of the Black Hills and the Little Missouri bounds them roughly on the north. Headquarters of the AEC in the Black Hills is the Sub Office at Hot Springs, S. D. An ore buying station is located in Edgemont, 28 miles to the southwest, where a mill is presently under construction. The area of original uranium ore discovery and of principal activity in the southern Hills is a few miles north of Edgemont. Several areas of anomalous radioactivity have been noted between Dewey, S. D., and Newcastle, Wyo. A limited amount of ore has come from the Dewey area and private exploration is active there. The Carlile deposit, largest producing mine in the northern Black Hills to date, lies northwest of the Belle Fourche River near the western extremity of the Hills. Two of the larger known orebodies of the area are located near the Little Missouri River where a small window exposes the favorable strati-graphic horizon of the Fall River sandstone. Small production has recently come from Barlow Canyon, near Devils Tower, Wyo., Fig. 2, and numerous areas of anomalous radioactivity are known in the vicinity. Three producing deposits and scattered radioactivity are found along the state line east of Aladdin, Wyo. Several areas of weakly anomalous radio-

Jan 1, 1957

By Roger L. Beals, George A. Tweedy

I. INTRODUCTION. THE results of the cyanide-operations, given in detail in the following paper, show the progress that is being made at the Minas del Tajo. The old pan-amalgamation process, in operation up to and including 1905, while paying a profit on high-grade ores, was no longer able to treat profitably the ores in sight at that time, hence an alteration in the process was imperative. The success of this alteration is eloquently expressed by the following data Pan- Amalgamation. Cyanidation. 1905. 1907. 1903. Tons treated, . . 51,387 53,983 69,300 Value per ton (U. S. currency),. $10.75 $8.39 $8.28 Extraction, per cent., 65.00 88.50 S7.45 Extraction, per ton. .- $7.00 $7.4.; $7.24 Total cost, per ton treated, 6.50 4.311 4.01 Profit, per ton treated, . . 0.50 3.07 3.23.;

Feb 1, 1910

By C. L. Clark

EVERY user of steel should ask himself whether or not he is taking full advantage of the discoveries of the steel metallurgists during the last few years, or is merely buying grades that looked to be the best five or ten years ago for various specific purposes and have since proved perfectly satisfactory in his plant. If he has not kept abreast of the times, then it is probable that something better has been developed, or something just as good that costs less. Though this article will have to do with steel for high-temperature applications primarily, marked advances have been made in steels for other purposes as well.

Jan 1, 1940

By John Dasher

Getting spodumene to float quickly and cleanly can be a problem. The author has presented an excellent account of a valid and useful approach to the scale-up of such problem floats. This indicated advantages for doubling retention time, i.e., buying another set of flotation cells. The author states that 21 pct of the spodumene floated in 2 min in the laboratory cell, that the grade of the rougher was about 75 pct spodumene, and that the final tailing contained 4 to 12 pct spodumene in different sizes with the present cells and 1 to 9 pct spodumene with twice as many cells.

Jan 6, 1959

By W. P. Frey

The briquet plant of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., at Lansford, Pa., has previously been referred to.' It has passed the stage of experiment and now rests on a foundation practically and financially sound. The purpose of this' paper is to explain how success has been attained, and to set standards for the development of hard-coal briquetting which may eliminate future failures. All the conclusions are based on actual results, avoiding speculation and theory. Up to three years ago, the L. C. & N. Co. used coal-tar pitch as a binder in making hard-coal briquets. The plant operated with a monthly output of 300 to 600 tons and was unable to meet its own expenses. Naturally, no one was satisfied, especially as the ideals of a smokeless briquet were still unrealized. Then came the Dutch oil process, introduced in this country by the General Briquetting Co. of New York. This process uses as binder a small percentage of heavy residue of petroleum, which, being liquid, permits great economy of handling; it also did away with the most objectionable fumes of the former briquets. This oil2 is not absolutely smokeless; heating the fresh fuel to red heat liberates some low-volatile hydrocarbons, yielding a white smoke which is not objectionable. On the other hand, this oil adds to the briquet about 7 per cent. of volatile matter, giving the product a heating capacity equal to that of the best free-burning anthracite coal. The average silt used in the manufacture of these boulets averages 16.5 per cent. chemical ash, corresponding to 12,000 B.t.u. per pound of coal. The Hydrolene used as binder runs about 17,500 B.t.u. per pound, and approximately 7 per cent. of it enters into the mixture, hence 12,000 X 0.93..........................11,160 B.t.n. 17,500 X 0.07.......................... 1,125 B.t.u. Total.....................................12,385 B.t.u. per pound of briquets

Jan 1, 1918

MISCELLANEOUS U.S. 0,029,598 - Extraction of vanadium values from vanadiferous iron oxide ore. A pelletized mixture of ore, limestone and bentonite is roasted in an oxidizing atmosphere to form calcium vanadates, the calcine ground, the ground material leached with aqueous ammonium carbonate or sodium carbonate to produce a vanadium-rich solution while leaving an insoluble residue of calcium carbonate and/or calcium bicarbonate along with undissolved iron values, and the solution separated and treated for its vanadium content. This patent is a reissue of U.S. Patent No. 3,853,982, dated Dec. 10, 1974. C. B. Bare and J. W. Pasquali, assigned to Bethlehem Steel Corp. Mar. 28, 1978. 7 pp. (423-68). Filed: 3-3 1-77 (783,352).

Jan 1, 1979

By Roger L. Beals, George A. Tweedy

The results of the cyanide-operations, given in detail in the following paper, show the progress that is being made at the Minas del Tajo. The old pan-amalgamation process, in operation up to and including 1905, while paying a profit on high-grade ores, was no longer able to treat profitably the ores in sight at that time; hence an alteration in the process was imperative. The success of this alteration is eloquently expressed by the following data : Pan-Amalgamation. Cyanidation. 1905. 1905. " 1908. Tons treated,.... 51,387 58,983 69,200 Value per ton (U. S. currency),. $ 10.78 $8.39 $8.28 Extraction, per cent.,.. 65.00 88.56 87.45 Extraction, per ton,.. $7.00 $7.43 $7.24 Total cost, per ton treated, . 6.50 4.36 4.01 Profit, per ton treated,.. 0.50 3.07 3.23

Jan 1, 1911

By D. W. Jessup

THE handling of native labor is offering an interesting problem that requires diplomacy. It is difficult to induce many of the men to leave their villages and enter into regular work. They do not feel the necessity of manual labor other than to obtain sufficient money to pay the annual hut tax and to buy a little clothing. The ground provides mealies (corn) which means food and beer, he hunts and catches fish, so why work? But gradually, as the native becomes more civilized, his wants increase and his ideas change; he now needs money to supply his desires and eventually he must work more. So in time it is hoped that the labor market will be better supplied.

Jan 1, 1931

By John V. Beall

The mining industry of Japan is not very large, but it is very old. Some of the mines have 1000 years of history. At Nara, the capitol 1300 years ago, the great Buddha of bronze that was cast at that time was of metal mined from several localities in Japan including the Akenobe-Ikuno district, one of the present Mitsubishi properties. Methods of smelting copper and iron, it is believed, came from China via Korea. A characteristic of the Japanese mining industry today is one of buying abroad and treating at home, a variety of ores of different compositions. All in all, Japan's mineral deposits under its own flag are inadequate for its great industrial strengths.

Jan 5, 1969