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By R. D. Brittain

In order to analyze and control the transport of harmful trace-element impurities in various smelting processes, it is necessary to have fundamental information about the chemical thermodynamic properties of the pertinent condensed and vapor phases. This paper describes recent thermodynamic studies of the gaseous arsenic sulfides and of the activity of arsenic in a copper-iron sulfide matte phase. These studies were carried out by high temperature mass spectrometry and by effusion vaporization techniques, which permitted clear identification of the molecular species involved, a decided advantage in such complex systems. The nature of the results obtained and comparisons with previous interpretations will be described.

Jan 1, 1983

By Manjie Li, Mingrui Yang, Haijun Peng, Shuxing Qiu, Wei Liu, Shengfu Zhang

It is important to produce and utilize highly reactive coke in order to reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emissions through improving shaft efficiency in blast furnace. The present study aimed to investigate the transformation of iron minerals and properties of iron coke (the coke mixed iron ore fines). Along with the increase of iron ore fines, cold strength displayed a slight downtrend and the pore structure wasn’t inferred to be a major factor affected the properties of iron coke. During carbonization, the majority of mixed iron oxides were reduced to metallic iron by CO and H2 and the degree of metallization achieved to approximately 75%. Nevertheless, produced metallic iron was oxidized by pure CO2 during gasification. Iron coke reactivity index (ICRI) was obviously enhanced and the iron coke strength after reaction (ICSR) drastically decreases, which were also significantly influenced by crystal structure of carbon.

Jan 1, 2015

By Ailton S. Ferreira, Rubén J. Sanchez Rodriguez, Sergio N. Monteiro, Felipe Perissé D. Lopes, Teresa E. Castillo

"Polyester composites reinforced with natural lignocellulosic fibers have, in recent times, been gaining attention in engineering areas as lighter and cheaper alternatives for traditional composites such as the ""fiberglass"". One of the strongest, the curaua fiber, is today being considered as reinforcement of composites for automobile interior parts. In fact, several research works are currently being dedicated to curaua fiber composites since physical and mechanical properties are required for practical uses. In this work, the thermal behavior of polyester composites reinforced with up to 30 % in volume of curaua fibers was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, DSC. The results showed endothermic and exothermic events associated with water release and possible molecular chain amorphous transformation. Comparison with similar composites permitted to propose mechanism that explains this DSC thermal behavior.IntroductionThe modem composite materials, especially those reinforced with synthetic fibers such as glass and carbon, have been used since last century to attend the demands required by most technological fields, from home appliances to aerospace [1]. In fact, fiber composites offer significant advantages over monolitic materials, such as common metallic alloys, plastic and ceramics. One of the most important is the ratio between the ultimate stress and the density, known as the specific strength. For example, in common glass fiber polymer composites, the so called ""fiberglass'', the specific strength of around 400 MPa.cm3/g is higher than any conventional monolitic material. However, drawbacks exist. The energy required to fabricate ""fiberglass"" generates large emissions of C02, which are responsible for global warming. Moreover, ""fiberglass"" is not recyclable and cannot be incinerated [2]. As a result, most synthetic fiber composites end up in landfills or contribute to rivers and oceans pollution."

Jan 1, 2011

By Oscar Perales Perez, Atsuo Kasuya, Kazuyuki Tohji, Yoshiaki Umetsu

"The removal of iron and various heavy-metal ions by their incorporation into stable ferrite-type precipitates at 25°C is a promising alternative to clean up large volumes of polluted aqueous effluents. Our research work investigated the conditions to produce magnetite and various M-bearing ferrites (where M: Zn, Cu, Co, Ni, Cd, etc.) directly from aqueous solutions at 25°C by simultaneous control of the oxidizing conditions and pH. The formation of the solids was followed by monit9ring the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and rate of proton release during the aerial oxidation of the suspensions at constant pH (contact stage). Only mildly oxidizing conditions, represented by ORP values between -110 mV and -150 mV and a moderate oxidation rate of Fe(II) species were conducive to well-crystallized ferrites at ambient temperature.' It was also found that increasing the Fe/M mole ratio in starting· solutions enhanced the stability ·of the M-bearing ferrites at ambient temperature. When the formation of the ferrite was incomplete, aging of the sludges in their mother liquors at 25°C promoted the crystallinity of the precipitates. The mentioned conditions ·favored the suitable progress of the ferrite-forming reaction involving the oxidation of Fe(II) entities, subsequent hydrolysis of produced Fe(III) species and dehydration of the intermediate:· Furthermore,· the ferrite formation at· low temperature permits the elimination of iron and co-existing heavy metal ions to sufficiently low concentration.In tum, the characterization of the precipitates evidenced their magnetic nature (room-temperature saturation magnetization above 60 emu/g) as well as the effective incorporation of target metal ions into the ferrite structure."

Jan 1, 2000

By Donna Guillen, Matthew Lehar, Sebastian Freund, Jennifer Jackson, Helge Klockow

"Research and development is currently underway to design an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system with the evaporator placed directly in the hot exhaust stream produced by a gas turbine (GT). ORCs can be used to generate electricity from heat that would otherwise be wasted, thus producing carbon-free energy. In conventional ORC configurations, an intermediate oil loop is used to separate the hot gas from the flammable working fluid. The goal of this research effort is to improve cycle efficiency and cost by eliminating the pumps, heat exchangers and all other added cost and complexity of the additional heat transfer loop by developing an evaporator that resides in the waste heat stream. Direct evaporation – although simpler and less expensive to implement than indirect evaporation of the working fluid – has historically been avoided due to a number of technical challenges imposed by the limitations of the working fluid. The high temperature of the hot exhaust gas may cause decomposition of the organic working fluid and safety is a major concern due to the high flammability of some of these working fluids. The research team has addressed these challenges and developed a new direct evaporator design that can reduce the ORC system cost by up to 15%, enabling the rapid adoption of ORCs for waste heat recovery. The ORC system is intended to integrate with the GT either as a retrofit or to be marketed as a single package, thus maintaining the manufacturer’s warranty.IntroductionWaste heat from turbines and engines used in industrial applications along with waste heat from industrial processes are exceptionally abundant sources of energy. If even a fraction of this waste heat could be economically converted to useful electricity, it would have a tangible and very positive impact on the economic health, energy consumption, and carbon emissions in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Land-based gas turbines are used in a broad range of applications to produce both shaft and electrical power. Most commonly known for generating electricity either as peaking units or as base load units, they are also used to directly drive pumps, compressors or other machinery requiring shaft power. Simple cycle gas turbines have the advantage of a short startup time relative to coal-fired and nuclear units, however, they incur a significant penalty on their efficiency. Large frame gas turbines usually are combined with bottoming steam-based Rankine cycles to increase the overall efficiency of the system and thereby improve their cost performance. Small-frame gas turbines with exhaust temperatures around 500°C could in principle benefit from steam bottoming cycles, but rarely use them in practice because of the high capital cost of the steam system. Particularly for base load small frame gas turbines, akin to those used in pipeline applications, an increase in efficiency is highly desirable."

Jan 1, 2011

By James E. Simpson, Suresh V. Garimella, III de Groh

"An experimental and numerical study of the horizontal Bridgman growth of pure succinonitrile (SCN) and of a succinonitrile-1.0 mol. % acetone alloy (SCN-1.0 mol. % ACE) has been performed. Experiments at growth rates of 0, 2 and 40 µmis were investigated. The solid/liquid interface was stable (non-dendritic and non-cellular); however, it was not flat. Rather, it was significantly distorted by the influence of convection in the melt and, for the growth cases, by the moving temperature boundary conditions along the ampoule. For the alloy, the interface was determined to be unstable at growth rates greater than 2.8 µmis, but stable for the no-growth and 2 µmis growth cases. When compared to the pure SCN interface, the alloy interface forms closer to the cold zone,· indicating that the melting temperature has been suppressed by the addition of the alloying element. Two-dimensional computer simulations were performed for the no-growth case for both the pure and alloy materials. These simulations indicate that a primary longitudinal convective cell is formed in the melt. The maximum magnitude of velocity was calculated to be 1.515 mmls for pure SCN and 1. 724 mm/s for the alloy. The interface shape predicted by the computer simulation agrees well with the experimentally determined shape for the pure SCN case. In ongoing work, numerical simulations of the process during growth conditions are being performed.IntroductionIncreasingly, advanced materials used in the aerospace, automotive, optics and electronics fields require low levels of defects and high levels of solute uniformity. Directional solidification by the Bridgman process is widely used for synthesis of these high-quality materials. During Bridgman crystal growth, heat and mass transfer by both thermal and solutal gradient-driven convection and diffusion influence the shape of the solid/liquid interface and dopant segregation levels, and hence, directly determine the final crystal quality. Key process parameters include the applied furnace temperature distribution and rate of translation, ampoule properties and furnace orientation."

Jan 1, 1999

By J. T. I. Poijärvi

Outokumpu Harjavalta Metals Oy operates copper and nickel smelters, three sulphuric acid plants and nickel refinery at Harjavalta and copper refinery and precious metal plant at Pori. The by-products of these plants are presented in this paper. The by-products of the smelters include products from slag cleaning of flash smelting furnaces and converters, flue dusts and smelter off-gases. Weak acid and sludges from cleaning of smelter off-gases and acids are the by-products of the acid plants. The by-products out of the copper refinery are crystallized metal sulphates and sludges from electrolyte purification, on which a co-production process of the copper tankhouse is based. The main by-products of the precious metals plant are products from anode slime treatment and platinum metal group concentrates in the recovery of precious metals. Sludges from nickel matte leaching and precipitates from solution purification are the by-products of the nickel refinery. The formation, treatment and processing as well as the research work done for the utilization instead of dumping of the by-products in the production of copper and nickel will also be discussed in this paper.

Jan 1, 1995

By Qiang Zhong, Qian Li, Yongbin Yang, Tao Jiang

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) has been used to research the pyrolysis and combustion processes of coal used in rotary kiln of iron ore oxide pellet. Furthermore, the effects of air flow and oxygen concentration on the combustion behavior of coal were examined with TGA. The results showed that two individual stages can be distinguished for the pyrolysis of coal, the water evaporation stage and the de-volatilization stage. And the information on ignition and burnout characteristics can be obtained from the combustion process analyzed by TGA. Large air flow almost has no effect to the combustion process except that it enhances combustion intensity. However, the combustion process is further accelerated under oxygen-enriched conditions. With all experimental results, it could provide an attractive approach of analyzing coal for the rotary kiln process.

Jan 1, 2016

By O. Barbosa F.

The thermochemistry of the systems SCN-H2O, Au-SCN-H2O and Ag-SCN-H2O is discussed. Potential-pH diagrams at 25°C are drawn for each system considering several sets of concentrations of the species involved. The information provided by the potential-pH diagrams is.complemented by distribution curves for each series of gold and silver complexes with thiocyanate. The analysis includes comparisons between the thiocyanate systems and the analogous cyanide systems, pointing out analogies and differences between the leaching of gold and silver with thiocyanate and with cyanide. The possibility of using soluble oxidizing agents such as ferric ions, hydrogen peroxide and Caro's acid is evaluated. The thermodynamic data used in the calculations and the chemical reactions represented in the Pourbaix diagrams are all reported in three Appendices. The overall results indicate the thermodynamic conditions for gold and silver leaching by thiocyanate.

Jan 1, 1989

By Nourreddine Menad

Plastic materials have been associated with electric and electronic applications since the early days of the electrical industry. Plastics can amount to 30 percents of the scrap mass. Generally, they are treated with flame retardants such as halogenated ones and they can result in different toxic chemical compounds. These plastics can be used as combustibles in the recovery of copper and precious metals. However, during their combustion, halogenated flame retardants can produce dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-furans. The estimated thermodynamic data of several organic compounds resulting from combustion of electric and electronic scrap, have been used in conjunction with the program HSC to calculate the conditions for dioxin and furan formation. The results show that the formation of the dioxins is dependent on the quantities of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine and oxygen reacting in a given system, as well as on parameters such as temperature and pressure.

Jan 1, 1998

By C. A. Pickles

Microwave processing is a relatively new technology that has been successfully applied in a number of industries. However, in the field of metal extraction, there is a paucity of success, despite considerable hype in the early years. Increased reaction rates, lowered reaction temperatures and higher energy efficiencies were some of the advantages claimed. Even with over almost two decades of research and some pilot plant studies, microwave metal extraction remains essentially a laboratory technique. In this paper, the research performed over the last few decades will be reviewed and some reasons for the lack of success in developing microwave metal extraction processes will be discussed. Based on the knowledge gained from these experiences, a more informed view of microwave heating can lead to the realization that there is still some untapped potential for this heating technique in metal extraction processes.

By T. Innmi

The potential of the nickel matte anode was measured during the matte electrolysis in the commercial cell. The slime layer consists of elemental sulfur and was found to greatly influence the potential of anode. The measurements of porosity and permeability of the slime suggest that the voltage drop of the slime layer dominates the potential. Furthermore, the diffusion of the electrolyte through the slime layer is also one of the factors to determine the potential. In addition, the copper content of the nickel matte anode was found to affect the change in the anode potential during the electrolysis. The role of copper on the anodic dissolution of nickel matte is discussed in this work.

Jan 1, 1988

By Jean-Pierre Birat, Ana-Maria Iosif, Denis Ablitzer, Olivier Mirgaux

"Integrating environmental considerations into the product traditional process design is now the major challenge for steel industry. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is nowadays considered as an appropriate method for assessing environmental impact and selecting new technologies to reduce CO2 emissions for steel industry.In this paper we propose a new methodological concept which combines LCA thinking with process simulation software in order to carry out the life cycle inventory of classical steelmaking process.Using Aspen PlusTM software, a physicochemical model has been developed for the integrated steelmaking route. This model gives the possibility to carry out life cycle inventories for different operational practices in order to optimise the use of energy, to calculate CO2 and other emissions and to control the mass and the heat balances of processes.It is also shown that such approach can be used to design and assess new technologies for steelmaking without large industrial application.IntroductionDuring recent years, it was recognised that CO2 emissions are the major factor of the global warming effect. In order to meet Kyoto requirements, the steel industry is embracing the challenge of sustainable development by improving its competitiveness and economic success while reducing its environmental impacts. Integrating environmental considerations into the traditional product design process, for powerful eco-efficiency, is now one of the major priorities for steelmakers.The European Steel Industry has measured up to this challenge by creating ULCOS (Ultra Low CO2 Steelmaking) consortium that has taken up the mission to develop breakthrough steelmaking process with the potential to reduce CO2 emissions (Eurofer, 2005). In order to develop technologies to reduce emissions, it is necessary to assess the environmental impact of the classical steelmaking route (coke plant, sinter plant, blast furnace, basic oxygen furnace, continuous casting and hot rolling)."

Jan 1, 2009

By Eulogio Velasco, Jose Nino, Marcos Cardoso

"Recycling of aluminum scrap for production of secondary alloys used for automotive applications is increasing continuously. Automotive alloys require a strict control to remove alloy impurities, inclusions and excess of magnesium. The advantage of aluminum is its recyclability with large energy and emission savings with minimal loss in material properties. The aim of this work is to study the magnesium removal from recycled aluminum by chlorine injection in a reverberatory furnace, and removal by an oxidation process at high temperature in an industrial rotary furnace.The magnesium removal by gas injection is carried out by the reaction between chlorine and magnesium, with its efficiency associated to kinetic factors. In the rotary rapid oxidation of aluminum and magnesium elements at high temperature is characterized by the formation of surface films composed of magnesium oxide. Additionally this work reviews the benefits of an efficient demagging process.IntroductionThe advantages of using light alloys for automotive applications include fuel economy improvement, greenhouse gas reductions and polluting emissions. These characteristics makes the aluminum alloys an attractive option for automotive components such as powertrain products and other critical parts like cylinder heads and blocks. [1]Aluminum alloys coming from recycled automotive components, used beverage cans (UBC) and wrought alloys have positive effects in the energy savings and current environmental trends. Producing a scrap recycled aluminum ingot consumes approximately 5% of the energy required to produce a primary aluminum ingot from bauxite ore. [2]"

Jan 1, 2011

By Staff

The uninitiated, first-time visitor to the Copper Cliff Smelter of The International Nickel Company frequently finds it strange that the world's largest nickel producing works is located at a site seemingly named in honour of another metal. Industry-wise persons who know The International Nickel Company through its nickel producing, fabricating and sales organizations can be just as surprised to learn that Inco's annual copper production from the Sudbury area mines nearly equals that of nickel. But when the history of the mines and smelters of the Sudbury district is reviewed it is impossible to separate the stories of copper and nickel. In fact, going even further back in time (I), it was due to the similarity in appearance of the nickel bearing mineral niccolite (NiAs) to that of copper ore that led nickel to be tagged with the rather uncomplimentary name of kupfer-nickel or Old Nick's Copper - The Devil's Copper. This was in approximately 1650 and it would take another hundred years, until 1751, before Axel Cronstedt of Sweden obtained nickel in its pure form and permitted it to take its own place in the family of metals. One hundred more years passed before mining came to northern Ontario and approximately one hundred thirty before the beginnings of development of the Sudbury Basin.

Jan 1, 1976

By S. C. Sharma, M. Krishna, N. Sanmukha

"The oxidation behavior of an aluminium composite with 0, 2, 4, and 6% by weight of hematite at 200 to 500 °C has been investigated. Within the experimental temperature ranges a parabolic weight gain was observed. The, weight gain as a function of oxidation time becomes linear after an initial period on oxidation formation, an oxide scale was found whose morphology depends on temperature, cooling rate and sub-scale formation at the interface between the matrix and reinforcement. The presence of hematite particulate reinforcement has very little effect on the oxidation behavior. The interface oxidization rate was found to be higher than that of other regions. The, oxidation products were either metallic oxides or ceramic oxides. The exposure time of specimens to oxidation was 1000 minutes at various temperatures. In the present work key principles of alloy oxidation were discussed. Also the paper emphasizes various reactions taking ' place and the activation energies involved in the oxidation reactions.IntroductionMetal matrix composites (MMCs) reinforced with ceramic particulate, whiskers, or fibers have received increasing attention due to their potentially high fracture toughness and strength 1-5. Particle reinforced Aluminium MMCs find potential application in several thermal environment, especially in the automobile engine parts, space applications, such as drive shafts, cylinders, pistons, and brake rotors6.With the exception of gold, no metal or alloy is stable at room temperature, they tend to form their respective oxides. Most of the metals in the solid or liquid state are morphologically unstable when exposed to air at higher temperatures. An investigation relating to the temperature profiles of the piston area in a diesel engine has shown that the temperature can reach as high as 500¬800 K in certain regions of the piston. As the piston and cylinder areas are exposed to high temperature environment, the MMCs should have sufficient stability on both mechanical and chemical strength (oxidation). Oxidation occurs at grain boundaries in alloys and at the interface of the particulate and matrix in MMCs, which usually enhances intergranular fracture, resulting in premature failure and severe brittleness 8-10. Therefore for high-temperature applications, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of the oxidation behavior of aluminium MMCs."

Jan 1, 2000

By Tetsuya Uda

Our recent achievements of rare earth separation technique[1,2] and new process idea for rare earth magnet recycling[3] are reviewed, (1) Binary chloride mixtures of rare earths were separated by a new selective reduction-vacuum distillation process. According to our experimental results, apparent separation factors were 8.1 for the Pr-Nd chloride mixture and 570 for the Nd-Sm chloride mixture. These values are much higher than conventional solvent extraction methods. (2) A study of recycling process of magnet sludge was carried out. The rare earths in the neodymium magnet sludge were extracted by chlorination with FeCI2, An activated carbon was used as a de-oxidation reagent Metallic iron in the sludge was not chlorinated because the iron monochloride is not stable, The extracted rare earth chlorides were easily separated from Fe-alloy and the excess of FeCh by vacuum distillation, 96 % of neodymium and 94 % of dysprosium in the sludge were extraeted into chloride phase, By the vacuum distillation, a mixture of neodymium and dysprosium trichlorides of 99.2 % purity was recovered, On the other hand, the rare earth chlorides can be converted to the corresponding oxides by a pyrohydrolysis reaction accompanied by a formation of HCl gas, The HCI gas can chlorinate metallic iron to FeCh, Therefore, a new recycling process for rare earth magnet waste can be realized as a chlorine circulation type process. During the process, only carbon and water are consumed and there are no toxic pollutants, Moreover, the obtained rare earth oxide can be directly used as raw material in the conventional oxide electrolysis process,

Jan 1, 2003

By James R. Craig

The General Image Processing System (GIPSY) is being employed for the quantitative textural analysis of complex sulfide ores from the Southern and Central Appalachians and for the determination of liberation characteristics of the mineral constituents during grinding. Optical images from a microscope-mounted TV camera or from 35mm film are converted into digital images which are subsequently analyzed by GIPSY, a transportable image processing software package. Properties measured by GIPSY include spatial distribution of mineral constituents, grain sizes, grain shapes, grain orientation and mineral co-occurrences.

Jan 1, 1982

By D. Morin

A general study of gold refractory arsenopyrite-pyrite concentrate bioleaching has been carried out including two continuous bioleach testworks at different sizes, namely one at a laboratory scale with a 100 I unit at a 2 kg/d dry solid flowrate and the other at a pilot scale at a 100 kg/d dry solid flowrate. Both tests show a 80% bioleaching of arsenopyrite in about four days of treatment and with the same kinetic. Pyrrhotite is attacked at the earlier stage of the bioleaching but pyrite remains unaffected. The weak potential of oxidation associated with the decomposition of arsenopyrite and the abundance of arsenite leads to a high grade of elemental sulfur in the bioresidue which consumes the major part of the cyanide during the gold recovery. Furthermore. the arsenite and ferrous produced in solution have to be oxidized to obtain a stable precipitate in the waste products and as outlined in previous works of other authors on this subject the addition of iron to obtain a Fe/As molar ratio at least above 3 is necessary. The agitation equipment used in the pilot unit allowed an optimization study calculation for scaling-up the design and power requirements of an industrial installation. For the pretreatment of a gold refractory As high-graded concentrate the reagent cost has the greatest part in the operating cost of the biooxidation step due to the necessary retreatment of the biosolution. In that conditions the power cost is quite marginal. actually it is significant for the treatment of pure pyrite.

Jan 1, 1991

By R. G. Reddy

Reduction of different chromite ores with carbon was studied as a function of C/FeO ratio and temperature in the range 700 °C to 1100 °C by thermogravimetry (TGA) analysis. Powders of chromite ore(-150 mesh) and carbon(-150 mesh) were thoroughly mixed in a desired proportions and were placed in the reaction crucible. The reduction rates of reactions were determined by continuously monitoring the weight loss as a function of time at constant temperature using TGA set up. The analysis of results suggest that FeO present in the chromite ores is reduced to Fe involving gaseous intermediates CO and CO2. The overall rate of FeO reduction is controlled by the oxidation of carbon. A kinetic equation, that of random nucleation, was proposed. The activation energies for the reduction of FeO, present in Roast Movat and Transvaal ores, with carbon were determined to be 55800 and 23000 J/mole, respectively. The results of the present study are compared with the data available in literature. The low activation energy values as determined in this study suggest that the carbon oxidation reaction is catalyzed. It is concluded from the present investigation that the low grade chromite ores can be significantly upgraded to higher value added chromite that can be used as a feed source for economical smelting.

Jan 1, 1998