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By Pedro A. Netto, Giulio R. Altoé, Sergio N. Monteiro, Ygor M. Moraes, Frederico M. Margem, Gabriel O. Glória

Since environmental issues are becoming more and more important Worldwide. Nowadays, Natural fibers are been used to substitute the synthetic ones. Although PALF fiber is an important natural fiber and its mechanical Properties surpass in various aspects some other lignocelluloses fibers, such few studies have been conducted with the fiber obtained from leaf of PALF plant. In order to better evaluate the mechanical properties and possible applications, this paper aims to improve the elastic modulus of the PALF fiber by Weibull statistics, by evaluating their mechanicals properties and possible applications. The fibers were divided in diameter intervals and the tensile strength and elasticity modulus were measured in each range. The fractured surface was examined using scanning electron microscopy. The results, interpreted by the Weibull statistical method, showed a correlation between the fiber elastic modulus and its diameter.

Jan 1, 2015

By Guo Chen, Jin Chen, Jinhui Peng

In this paper, solving common problem of electrostatic precipitator (ESP), which was frequently ruptured of the cathode insulation in the production process were studied. The microwave heating airflow technology was introduced, which takes full advantage of its unique properties, solves the output problem of the high temperature air, achieves purpose of energy conservation, important economic significance and environmental significance. The mathematical models and designing of microwave high-temperature hot air system was calculated. The common forms of heat exchangers and comparative analysis were also introduced. The conditions found to be at the temperature of 240 °C. Under optimum conditions, the microwave heating power was 1482 W. Based on the mention results, this microwave heating method can be applied effectively and efficiently way for the production process of electrostatic precipitator.

Jan 1, 2015

By Shujian Jia, Mingming Song, Gaoyang Song, Bo Song, Yuhou Yang

An innovative method is investigated to separate inclusion particles from liquid metal by super gravity. To make clear the characteristics of the inclusion separation, Al melt containing MgAl2O4 particles with diameters less than 150 μm has been treated under various super-gravity fields. The thickness of particle-accumulated layer formed at the bottom of the sample and the area fraction, number density and size of inclusions were measured. It is found that the thickness of the particle-accumulated layer decreases and the area fraction of particles at this location increases with the increase of super-gravity field. With the gravity coefficient G=500, time t=2 min, and temperature T=1023 K, it is hardly to find any solid particles in the upper and middle areas of the sample and the separation efficiency is up to 90%.

Jan 1, 2015

By Yuanbo Zhang, FENG ZHOU, Guanghui Li, Zhengwei Yu, RuijunWang, Tao Jiang

Composite agglomeration process (CAP) of iron ore fines has been proved an effective route for ironmaking burden production, and is characterized by low the fuel consumption and high the productivity compared with the traditional sintering process. Sintering behavior of pelletizing feed in CAP has not been studied fully yet. In this study, individual pellet and simulated CAP cells were roasted under the simulated sintering conditions. The compressive strength, FeO content and microstructures of roasted samples were investigated. The results show that pelletizing feed either from magnetite ore hematite concentrate can be indurated under the conditions of conventional iron ore sintering. Hematite pelletizing feed has better sintering property than magnetite pelletizing feed. Pelletizing feed consolidation in CAP cells is identical to the individual pelletizing feed, but the strength of CAP cells is much higher than the individual pelletizing feed. Higher basicity in both pelletizing feed and matrix feed is beneficial to the strength of CAP cells. Individual strength of pelletizing feed is not the decisive factor in CAP as the pelletizing feed has been embedded into the matrix with high basicity and formed an organic whole. The main chemical compositions and basicity of pelletizing feed and basicity matching with matrix feed is important.

Jan 1, 2015

By Mariana Barcelos, Frederico Muylaert Margem, Giulio Rodrigues Altoé, Pedro Amoy Netto, André Gomes, Sergio Neves Monteiro

Environmentally correct composites, made from natural fibers, are among the most investigated and applied today. In this paper, we investigate the mechanical behavior of polyester matrix composites reinforced with continuous fique fibers, through bending tensile tests. Specimens containing 0, 10, 20 and 30% in volume of fique fiber were aligned along the entire length of a mold to create plates of these composites, those plates were cut following the ASTM standard to obtained bending tests specimens. The test was conducted in a Instron Machine and the fractured specimens were analyzed by SEM, the results showed the increase in the materials tensile properties with the increase of fiber amount.

Jan 1, 2015

By James C. Sever

Two green field magnesium reduction plants are under consideration using dolomite as the raw material. The Calix calciner was independently selected for both plants. The unique design of this calciner is detailed and the advantages defined for the specific application. The low carbon foot print of this unit combined with the ability to capture food grade carbon dioxide makes this an environmentally proactive approach to carboniferous ore calcination.

Jan 1, 2015

By Fernanda de Paula, Lázaro A. Rohen, Sérgio N. Monteiro, Rafael G. de Castro, Carlos Maurício. F. V, Maycon A. Gomes, Frederico M. Margem, Anna C. C. Neves

Synthetic fiber has been gradually replaced by natural fiber, such as lignocellulosic fiber. In comparison with synthetic fiber, natural fiber has shown economic and environmental advantages. The natural fiber presents interfacial characteristics with polymeric matrices that favor a high impact energy absorption by the composite structure. However, until now little has been evaluated about the hemp fiber incorporated in polymeric matrices. This study has the purpose of evaluate the impact resistance of this kind of epoxy matrix composite reinforced with different percentages of hemp fibers. The impact resistance has substantially increased the relative amount of hemp fiber incorporated as reinforcement in the composite. This performance was associated with the difficulty of rupture imposed by the fibers resulting from the interaction of hemp fiber / epoxy matrix that helps absorb the impact energy.

Jan 1, 2015

By Lu Lin, Yan-ping Bao, Min Wang

In order to forecast the cost of dephosphorization during BOF process, and achieve economical dephosphorization of BOF. The mathematical model of dephosphorization cost for BOF process was established. The model calculations show that, when the silicon content and phosphorus content are increased in hot metal, and the final phosphorus content of BOF is decreased, the dephosphorization cost will be increased. The silicon content of hot metal is increased of 0.1% in the plant, the dephosphorization cost is added by 9 RMB/ton steel. The De-P cost of mode A is much higher than the other two modes for three typical production modes of single slag melting process, when the phosphorus content of hot metal is higher than 0.14%, an increase in the phosphorus content by 0.01%, the De-P cost of mode A is added by about 7 RMB/ton steel. Meanwhile, when the phosphorus content of hot metal is lower than 0.165%, the De-P cost of mode C is higher than mode B’s. For BOF single slag melting process, the dephosphorization cost calculated by model is between ± 2%, proving that the model is reliable for the prediction of dephosphorization cost.

Jan 1, 2015

By Zongshu Zou, Qiang Li, Mingming Li, Mingxia Feng

The impingement onto the surface of bath by top-blown jets is a significant process characteristic in BOF and EAF steelmaking process. The cavity is one of the most important outcomes of the interaction and plays an important role on reaction kinetics and reactors performance. But to date, the understanding to cavity is still so limited. In present study, a water model for a BOF converter is established and the dimension of cavity profile is investigated. The effects of lance height, gas flow rate, nozzle inclination angle and the amounts of slag are discussed. The results show that penetration depth increases with the increase of gas flow rate and the amount of slag, and the decrease of lance height and nozzle inclination angle. Furthermore, a theoretical model of cavity dimension is proposed for multiply jets impinging liquid bath on the basis of energy balance at the stagnation point of cavity.

Jan 1, 2015

By Congcong Yang, Jian Pan, Deqing Zhu, Yang Zhong

A study of pelletization of one imported chromite concentrate with coarse site, poor ballability and refractory roasting performance was conducted in small scale tests, and high pressure grinding rollers (HPGR) was used to improve the pelletization. The mechanism of HPGR was revealed by means of SEM images and optical microscopy. Compared with the ball milling pretreatment, HPGR pretreatment can not only enhance the ballability of pellet feed but also drop the roasting temperature. Fired pellets, containing proper chemical compositions with high compressive strength of 2917N/pellet and good metallurgical performances, have been manufactured. The mechanism of HPGR reveals that chromite particle surface turns to more irregular after HPGR treatment and more new surface being formed because of more cracks, sharp corners and edges appearing, resulting in higher surface chemical activity, all of which improve the ballability of the chromite concentrate and contribute to the consolidation of fired pellets.

Jan 1, 2015

By Jun Chang, Jin-hui Peng, Jing Chen, Li-bo Zhang

The leaching of indium from refractory zinc oxide flue dust(ZOFD) is attempted to utilize microwave sulfating roasting process, followed by water leaching. The ZOFD and roasted product were characterized by XRD and SEM/EDS analysis. The effects of various roasting parameters, such as roasting temperature/duration, the proportion of sulfuric acid, as well as the leaching parameters such as the leaching duration and liquid/solid ratio, were assessed. The results indicate that nearly 97% of indium could be leached under the following conditions: mass ratio of concentrated sulfuric acid to ZOFD to be 0.5, roasting temperature of 150 ℃ and duration of 1.5 hours; while the optimal leaching conditions hold at temperature of 25 ℃ for 1 hour, with 4:1 of liquid/solid ratio. The indium leaching rate by the microwave roasting increased by 8% as compared with the conventional roasting process under identical conditions.

Jan 1, 2015

By J. Alexandre

The use of bricks of soil-cement is proving to be an important constructive methodology due to low environmental impact in the production process of these blocks comparing with conventional bricks are burnt, besides being easy to produce. However during the process of production of bricks, which are compressed, knowledge of the properties of the soil used is critical to the quality and durability of the blocks. The objective of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of using soil from the municipality of Goytacazes for the production of soil-cement bricks. Assays were performed the compaction, liquid limit, plastic limit, particle size analysis, EDX and X-Ray diffraction for later pressed blocks and analyze their compressive strength and water absorption.

Jan 1, 2015

By Guanghui Li, Xuling Chen, Zhiyun Ji, Min Gan, Tao Jiang, Xiaohui Fan, Zhiyuan Yu

With the increase of proportion of biochar(without modified) replacing coke breeze, the physical strength of sinter decreases due to the faster burning speed of biochar. An investigation upon passivating biochar with boric acid was then conducted to strengthen sintering in this paper. A layer of thin film of B2O3 distributed in the surface of biochar was observed, which could reduce the contact between reaction gas and biochar. So the burning speed of biochar was decreased properly after passivation, and the combustion efficiency increased due to the inhibition of carbon gasification. The comprehensive effects of above changes could increase the maximum temperature of sintering bed, which facilitated to the mineralization of sintering mixtures. Eventually sintering indices got reinforced. Thus the indices of sinter as applying 40% passivated biochar were comparable with that of 100% coke breeze.

Jan 1, 2015

By Larry G. Twidwell, Jannette L. Chorney, Bryce D. Ruffier, Katelyn M. Lyons, Daniel W. Gaede, Ryan J. Foy, Jerome P. Downey

The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has an interest in the recovery and processing of rare earth elements. At Montana Tech, elevated temperature chlorination of rare earth oxides is presently being investigated as a potential methods leading to the selective separation and recovery of rare earth elements from mineral ores and concentrates. After preliminary evaluation, ytterbium oxide was selected as a representative surrogate material for more extensive chlorination studies. Methods used to determine the conversion and recovery include X-ray diffraction (XRD) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis. These data have been used to establish and confirm process conditions that consistently yield high conversion efficiencies. Based on the promising results, further experimentation is underway to ascertain the metallurgical response of other rare earth oxides and carbonates to the roasting process. The end goal is to create a robust process for industrial application that has greater efficiency and reduced costs as compared to current practice.

Jan 1, 2015

By Wenbo Luo, Kang Liu, Fusheng Mao, Jilai Xue, Jun Zhu, Chunlei Yang

Extracting alumina from coal fly ash (CFA) is of great interest for both environmental protection and recycling valuable alumina content. In this study, ultrasonic aided leaching process as an effective method was investigated to enhance extracting Al2O3 from CFA via concentrated sulfuric acid sintering. The influence of ultrasonic power and processing time were tested under the conditions as the same as those without ultrasound. It is found that the alumina extraction rate can reach 90.5 % with ultrasound assistance, while the ultrasonic treatment can reduce almost 15 ~ 30 min in leaching time and 5 ~ 10 oC in leaching temperature than those without ultrasonic operation at the same Al2O3 extraction rate. In addition, the ultrasonic can reduce calcium content by 6 ~ 8 % dissolved into the leaching liquid. SEM analysis also shows that the residue particle size with ultrasound is smaller than that without ultrasonic treatment.

Jan 1, 2015

By Yanhui Liu, Xuewei Lv, Chenguang Bai

A thermodynamic model for determining the surface tension of molten slag by considering the surface tension and molar volume of the pure oxide component, and their ionic radii was extended to the slag bearing high TiO2 (varying from 80 to 67%) at 1973 K. The iso-surface tension curves for the FeO-TiO2-Ti2O3 ternary system at 1973 K are almost parallel to the FeOTi2O3 line. TiO2 plays a role of surface-active solute, and its surface-active effect is attenuating with increasing the TiO2 content. The iso-surface tension curve shifts away from the TiO2 corner, indicating that the surface tension of the ternary slag decreases along with the addition of SiO2. The reasons include the addition of SiO2 with lower surface tension and the decrease of the total ion moment at the surface. Both CaO and MgO can bring about that the iso-surface tension curve shifts towards the TiO2 corner, indicating that the surface tension of the ternary slag increases along with the addition of CaO or MgO. CaO has a more pronounced effect on increasing the surface tension of the ternary slag than MgO at an equimolar amount addition. The increase of the surface tension results from both the compositional change and the variation of the slag structure.

Jan 1, 2015

By Bin Xu, Qian Li, Ya-xuan Wang, Yong-bin Yang, Xi Zhang, Tao Jiang

The effects of common associated sulfide minerals including pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and sphalerite on thiosulfate leaching of gold were studied in this work. Sulfide minerals had significant effects on gold leaching because that the dissolved products of sulfide minerals precipitated on gold surface to form coating layer. The degree of sulfide minerals impact on gold dissolution decreased in the order of pyrite ≈ galena > arsenopyrite > sphalerite, while the degree of effects on thiosulfate consumption decreased in the order of pyrite > arsenopyrite > sphalerite > galena. The additive CMC (Carboxymethyl cellulose) could not only reduce thiosulfate consumption but also increase gold dissolution. The mechanism of this might be that CMC could restrict the decomposition of thiosulfate by cupric ions and the precipitates on gold surface.

Jan 1, 2015

By Mingming Zhang, Marshall S. Coe, Marcelo W. Andrade

To supply iron units and flux burden in blast furnaces, sinter basicity is one of the vital parameters for sinter plants. The sinter basicity also plays an important role in sinter quality since it imparts the formation of different mineral phases in sinter. Pot-grate sintering tests were carried out with low and high basicity to investigate the effects of sinter basicity on sinter mineralogy, properties and productivity. It was found that with an increase in sinter basicity, both sinter productivity and reducibility (RI) increased. Tumbler index (TI) and low temperature degradation index (LTD) of high basicity sinter were comparable to low basicity sinter. Softening and melting tests showed that sinter with 3.5 C/S basicity had slightly higher softening temperature comparing to lower basicity sinter with C/S 2.6, acid and fluxed pellets. XRD analyses confirmed the formation of silico-ferrite of calcium and alumina (SFCA) and calcium ferrite (CF) in the tested sinter samples.

Jan 1, 2015

By Onuralp Yucel, Ahmet Turan, Murat Alkan, Hasan Ozer

SHS (Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis) is one of the important methods to synthesize B4C powders. The process contains the reaction of boron oxide powders (B2O3) with magnesium reducing agent and carbon black carburizer. SHS products are leached in HCl media to purify synthesized B4C powders in the following step. In the present study, effects of various functional additives (KClO3, KHSO4, MgSO4.7H2O, NaCl, MgO and Na2SO4) in the SHS stage were carried out. Various proportions of the additives were mixed with the initial SHS charge mixtures. Two different molar ratios were employed in the initial SHS mixtures as 1:3:0.8 B2O3:Mg:C and 1:2.5:0.8 B2O3:Mg:C. After the SHS step, HCl leaching process was applied to the SHS products. Filter cakes were dried and characterized by using X-Ray Diffraction Spectroscopy, BET and chemical analysis techniques.

Jan 1, 2015

By Cong Wang, Kexin Jiao, Yongan Zhao, Haibin Zuo, Jianliang Zhang

The carbon composite brick is a new refractory used in blast furnace hearth and bottom. It caused wide attention due to its high thermal conductivity and low erosion by molten iron. In this paper, chemical constituents, SEM-EDS and X-ray diffraction were carried out in order to understand reaction mechanisms. A series of experiments of oxidation resistance characteristics were made. The oxidation mechanisms of carbon composite bricks in the presence of air were analyzed. According to the analysis on many experimental results, the oxidation process of carbon composite bricks under different temperatures were controlled by different mechanisms. In the condition of high temperature, SiO2 as oxidation product hindered the diffusion of O2, and reduced the oxidation loss of graphite in the internal.

Jan 1, 2015