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By Patrick R. Taylor

In the search for the development of more "environmentally friendly" and more intensive waste disposal approaches to meet more and more stringent environmental regulations, thermal plasma-based processes are considered one of the most promising alternatives to well- established technologies such as incineration. This paper presents an overview on the research and development status of thermal plasma-based waste remediation technologies. The properties of thermal plasma are described. Due to its unique feature of high-energy intensity and super high temperature, thermal plasma is particularly capable of destroying organic- containing wastes. Its potential and promising application to waste remediation may include: treatment of incinerator ashes; metallurgical dusts (especially, electric arc furnace dust); medical wastes; radioactive wastes; and other Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) listed hazardous wastes. Many research institutes and vendors have been involved in the development of thermal plasma-based waste treatment technology encouraged by the cleanup programs supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Department of Defense (DoD). More recently, thermal plasma-based waste treatment technologies (sometimes called plasma-enhanced pyrolysis) are focused more and more on not only just destroying organic wastes but also on how to practically, and economically recover energy contained in the organic waste materials in addition to the recovery of metals in order to offset the high operating costs.

Jan 1, 2003

By Mark Jolly, Xiaojun Dai

"Foundry engineers in the traditional foundry usually regard the quality of casting component as the most important issue and leave the energy saving or energy efficiency as the subsidiary one. This frequently causes disproportionate energy consumption as a result of the inefficient casting processes used and increases the production costs. This paper presents the novel CRIMSON aluminium casting process and compares its facility and melting process with traditional melt furnaces and aluminium alloy melting process. A real example is investigated to demonstrate quantitatively how the traditional foundry wastes energy and what the improvement of energy efficiency can be achieved using the new CRIMSON method. The results of this investigation will help the foundry engineer recognize the importance of energy saving and demonstrate how to use this new technology to reduce production costs and carbon footprint without decreasing the quality of the cast component.IntroductionAluminium melting in metal casting industry is an energy intensive process where it is estimated that the energy consumption is in the order of 1,700 ~ 4,700 kWh tonne-1 in using crucible and natural gas [1]. Different countries may use different energy resources for aluminium melting: in US the main energy resources are natural gas, electricity and coke [2] and in UK most of the foundry use electricity, gas and oil as energy resources [3]. Due to the pressure of rising energy price and the strict environment law, it is anticipated that under the right socioeconomic conditions, the efficiency optimisation of industrial process can be an important step toward increased industrial sustainability [4]. In metal casting industry the energy efficiency of a casting facility depends largely on the efficiency of its melting and heat treating performance. In association with the two performances, over 60 % of the total process energy costs are represented in a typical casting facility [5] where there are huge opportunities for metal casting industry to adopt the best energy practices for potential energy saving. How to ameliorate the current processes for increasing energy efficiency will have a vital effect on reducing the production costs and increasing the competitiveness. For instance, by implementing some state of the art technologies such as the CRIMSON method in aluminium alloy casting will make use of such opportunities."

Jan 1, 2011

By Shigehito Deki

"A new wet process has been developed for the synthesis of various kinds of oxide thin films on various kinds of substrates, even which have complex surface morphology, from aqueous solution. The process was named as the LPD, Liquid Phase Deposition, method, which has some advantages over the conventional dry processes. This process can be applied to an on-site synthesis of advanced materials in the thin film technology. In this paper, some current topics on the synthesis of the composite thin oxide films by the LPD method, are presented.IntroductionGenerally, metal oxide thin films have been made by different preparative processes such as r.f. sputtering, chemical vapor depositon, CVD, laser ablation and sol-gel method, etc [1-3]. Each method has it own advantages and disadvantage. In some cases, the process is not suitable for the preparation of thin film on substrate with large surface area or complex surface morphology, and makes the deposition apparatus complicated and expenisve. By using Liquid Phase Deposition, LPD, method which overcomes some of those problems, metal oxide or hydroxide thin film can be formed on the substrate with large surface area and complex surface morphology, which are immersed into the aqueous solution only at ambient temperature and under atmosphere without any special equipments and high energy. And also, multicomponent oxide thin films can be formed readily by mixing solutions containing the objective metal ions, because it is performed in the aqueous solution which is typically a homogeneous mixing system. This process utilizes ligand-exchange, hydrolysis, equlibrium reaction of metal-fluoro complex species, MF x (x-2n>-, and F consumptive reaction. In the aqueous solution, MFx<x-2n>-is hydrolyzed with water to release F ions by a ligand exchange equilibrium reaction as following;"

Jan 1, 2000

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 Yun Li

An innovative lead recycling process from scrap lead-acid battery paste is presented. The novelty in the process is avoiding SO2 generation and emission by using reductive sulfur-fixing technique. Iron-bearing secondary wastes produced from metallurgical industry were utilized as sulfur-fixing agent to capture sulfur in the form of FeS (s) instead of generation of SO2 (g). Na2CO3 molten salt was added to the smelting system to speed the reactions and improve valuable metals’ recovery and sulfur-fixation efficiency. Furthermore, this process can simultaneously co-treat various lead and iron-bearing wastes. At the same time, some precious metals, such as Au and Ag, contained in iron-bearing wastes can be recovered. The feasibility and reliability of this process was investigated thermodynamically and experimentally with the help of HSC 9.0 database and XRD and SEM-EDS analysis. A possible reaction mechanism and path in PbSO4–Fe2O3–Na2CO3–C smelting system was also clarified.

Halide media are considered as suitable alternatives to cyanide for extracting gold and have received much attention lately. The extraction of gold by iodide-iodine mixture has been patented and briefly studied without much attention given to the fundamental aspects of this process. This paper reports recent studies on the kinetics of gold extraction in iodide media, using hypochlorite, iodine and hydrogen peroxide oxidants. The kinetics of dissolution was found to be dependent on the solution pH, reagent concentration and most importantly the iodide- oxidant molar ratio. Without proper control, the gold surface can be passivated due to the formation of solid products. Thermodynamic modelling was carried out to determine the equilibria governing the dissolution process. The formation of AuI solid was also identified as a possible product during the dissolution.

Jan 1, 1992

By W. Kunda

A laboratory study was carried out on the treatment of sulphidic copper concentrates in aqueous chloride systems under elevated temperatures and oxygen overpressure. Exploratory tests showed that chalcopyriteoxidizes with various chloride salts to form, depending upon the pH of the system, soluble copper chloride or insoluble copper oxychloride salts; the copper can then readily be recovered from the solution or residues respectively. During the leaching, iron was oxidized to iron oxide and remained in the leach residue while the bulk of the sulphide sulphur was oxidized to the elemental form with a minor portion oxidized further to sulphate. The presence of metal chloride salts in the system increased the oxidation rates of chalcopyrite and depressed the solubilization of iron in the system. A systematic oxidation leach study carried out in (1) ammonium chloride and (2) sodium chloride systems showed that the former system required little or no HC1 addition while the latter required 2 mol of HC1 per mol of dissolved copper (plus zinc). The copper was recovered from the cuprous or cupric chloride leach solutions by cementation with iron. Extractions of 99% copper and zinc, 97% silver, and negligible iron were obtained. Sulphur was oxidized to the elemental or sulphate form; the relative proportions of the total sulphur were 60 and 30% for system (1) and 80 and 10% for system (2). A flowsheet for a conceptual process with minimal reagent requirements was proposed.

Jan 1, 1976

By C. J. Newman

Production levels at the Kidd Creek copper operation increased during the 1980&apos;s by expansion of both the smelter and refinery and by major modifications to equipment which was causing bottlenecks. As a result, there was a significant reduction in the unit cost, some manpower reductions and hence a significant increase in productivity. In the last two or three years, there have been no major expansion projects leading to unit cost reductions and yet these have still been attained. This has been achieved by the development and implementation of various techniques designed to maximize the inherent potential of the operators and maintenance employees. This paper will initially describe the operation but will then place emphasis on employee involvement through such methods as idea awards, incentive schemes, loss control and continuous improvement programs. Organizational changes are discussed, particularly with reference to changes from the traditional operator role to one which encompasses maintenance skills and to cross-training of maintenance employees into multi-discipline fields. The effect of these changes are discussed by a review of the salient plant parameters of safety, production levels, cost and quality.

Jan 1, 1993

By Jussi Vaamol

A commercial CFD-code was used to solve isothermal flow fields of gas and liquid in a Peirce-Smith converter. The model was validated with a 1/4 scale water model, and parametric study. Limits of the modeling technique used were recognized, but calculated results indicate that the present model predicts the general flow field with reasonable accuracy. The model was used to examine general flow conditions in an industrial scale PS-converter. Typical scaling factors of physical models were also evaluated with the aid of predicted bubble distribution, patterns of the flow fields and magnitude of flow velocities. The numerical simulations were found to open new viewpoints to the fluid dynamic related phenomena in the PS-process.

Jan 1, 1998

By D. R. Kreuzer

The sulfide smelting industry is striving for up-scaling their operations by increasing the throughput and efficiencies of the furnaces. The physical phenomena related to refractory materials prevailing in smelters and furnaces are highly complex. The refractory materials are exposed to fairly high temperatures, thermo-mechanical stresses, penetration of pores, erosion and chemical corrosion. The application of numerical simulation tools is needed for the refractory engineering task to consider those phenomena and to evaluate the impact of operational regimes on the refractory design and finally on the integrity of the furnaces. The work discusses case studies of simulations addressing problems and questions related to the refractory design process. Practical simulation approaches which employ simplified models are introduced as the engineering process demands results in a reasonable time.

By Egil Aukrust

"An American Iron and Steel Institute Task Force evaluated developing direct steelmaking technology worldwide to seek a replacement for the coke-oven, blast-furnace, basic-oxygen process technology now in use. To remain internationally competitive it is essential to move away from the traditional series of batch processes towards continuous processing and the associated energy savings which are possible with high technology process control systems. The group identified in-bath smelting of iron ore pellets or fines with coal as the process most sui table for domestic raw materials (including abundant scrap) and called for research to study operation with varying degrees of preheat and prereduction of the ore by the gases generated from the coal and various degrees of combustion of these gases above the melt.A coordinated, 3-year, $27 million, direct steelmaking research program is proposed. Concurrent projects include design, construction, and experimental operation of an in-bath smelting pilot plant; modeling, simulations, and laboratory-scale experiments at universities on slag-phase and metallicphase reactions and interactions; and large-scale heat transfer and reaction rate trials. Also included are modeling studies and pilot plant trials of on-stream decarbonization and desulfurization; application of circulating fluid bed technology to fine ore reduction and hot gas cleanup; and specific heat transfer and fluid flow research projects.IntroductionThe American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), based on the Task Force studying direct steelmaking, believes strongly that a coordinated program of research on the reduction of domestic raw materials to liquid steel should be undertaken as part of the Steel Initiative program. To specify the steelmaking process for development best suited to the American steel industry and domestic raw materials, it was important to determine the state-of-the-art of direct steelmaking worldwide, both as practiced and under development, and then, by expert analysis of the processes and their potentials, to choose the process most likely to provide a domestic competitive edge."

Jan 1, 1988

By Jilai Xue, Jun Zhu, Yongqiang Liu

"Up-grading silicon feedstock by removing B and metal impurities can improve process efficiency and lower production cost in metallurgical processing for solar cells production. Hydrometallurgical study has been carried out in laboratory through alternative treatments of the metallurgical grade (MG) silicon (-200 mesh) by using hydrogen peroxide, hydrofluoric acid (4 mol/L) and NH4Cl-NH4 F (30:5) solution. The experiments were usually performed under mechanical agitation at 70 ? for 5 h. ICP-AES analysis showed that B content in MG silicon after the hydrometallurgical treatment has reduced by 92.4 %, and Fe, Al, and Ca contents by 98.8 %, 98.0 % and 81 %, respectively. Kinetics of these processes was also studied for better understanding of the effects of silicon powder size, acid concentration, leaching and oxidizing time on the processing chemistry.IntroductionAs one of the most clean and promising new energy, solar energy is used more and more in many countries all over the world, especially in United States, Japan and European Union. Most of industrialized states have made their national photovoltaic plans, which have stimulated further increase in use of solar energy. Photovoltaic Industry is at a high growth rate about 30 % [1-2]. For silicon solar cells to remain the mainstay for the photovoltaic industry it is necessary to develop a low-cost solar grade silicon feedstock [3]. At the same time, the availability of the currently M-G silicon from the semiconductor industries becomes limited [4]. With the advantages of low cost and low energy consumption, metallurgical routes to product solar–grade silicon get more attention [5]. These routes mainly include pickling, slagging, vacuum processing and directional solidification, etc [6]. Among them the most important processing step is the directional solidification, but it still can not satisfy the industrial demand for removing B. Removing B from Si remains as one of the most difficult and important processes in making M-G silicon [7]."

Jan 1, 2012

"Many industrial processes involve materials that are subject to temperature change and thermal stress. Examples range from the casting of large metallic products to the cooling and reliability of small electronic components. Thermally induced stress is a major concern as it can lead to material damage and product failure. Material properties, thermal and mechanical, and process conditions such as the size and location of a feeder in metals casting, or the power dissipation in a computer chip, will govern the magnitude of these stresses. Temperature may also be influenced by fluid flow, for example, the airflow over a computer chip in a laptop will govern the rate of heat extraction, hence the temperature gradients in the chip and the evolving thermal stresses.This paper provides details on the governing equations for heat transfer (temperature) and solid mechanics (stress), their degree of coupling, and the numerical techniques used to solve them. Three examples are discussed to illustrate the use thermomechanical modelling. These also provide an insight into the degree of coupling required between the equations. The first example, involves thermal cycling of electronic components where a prescribed temperature field is applied. As temperature is known, this example only requires the solution of the stress equation. The second example also involves the modelling of an electronic component where the temperature field is also calculated. In both of these examples, the stress calculation is dependent on the temperature field, but the temperature calculation is not dependent of the solution of the stress equation (one-way coupling). The final example provides details on modelling the metals casting process. Both the temperature and stress equations are solved but, unlike the previous two examples, in this case the temperature field is dependent on the results from the stress calculation (two-way coupling)."

Jan 1, 2001

By B. J. Elliot

The Outokumpu Oy flash smelting furnace was designed for a capacity of 69,5 mtph of concentrate. The history of developments on the flash furnace, from the original operating capacity of 55 mtph to a proven capacity of 115 mtph of concentrate, is summarised. The new feature of operation at BCL Limited is ?the use of screened lump coal reduction in the settler region of the furnace. This paper considers the effects of settler bath reduction on the furnace smelting capacity, the condition of the furnace ?lining and bath, and ,the slag losses generated from the flash furnace and ultimately to discard. By using the settler bath reduction technique the capacity of the furnace for smelting new concentrate has been increased by 15% and hearth accretion has been eliminated by direct reduction with coal, which has also allowed the generation of a substantial protective lining on the furnace walls and roofs. As a result of improved slag losses from lump coal charging the metal recoveries on the flash furnace have increased from 70% to 87% for nickel, 68% to 82% for copper, and 28% to 45% for cobalt.

Jan 1, 1983

By M. T. Thomas

Sufficient development of the X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), the Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and the Secondary Ion Mass pectroscopy (SIMS) has made these instruments ideal for solving problems related to mineral processing -particularly gold ore processing. XPS can determine both the surface composition and chemistry of ores and tailings, and the various phases within either of them. AES can also determine surface composition with the further advantage of having greater spatial resolution so the surface chemistry associated with specific minerals in the ore can be identified. This identification helps to clarify why some minerals pass through a chemical process unaffected, while others can be successfully treated. SIMS has an elemental sensitivity from one to four orders of magnitude greater than XPS or AES which makes it useful for detecting the presence of some elements in very low concentration (parts per million).

Jan 1, 1981

By R. J. Kuczynski

The U.S. Bureau of Mines Reno Research Center operated a batch pilot plant to demonstrate high-temperature cyanide leaching for recovering platinum group metals (PGM) from automobile catalysts. Approximately 1,600 kg of used pellet, monolith, and metal support catalyst containing 1,680 g (54 tr oz) of PGM were processed. Forty-five-kilogram batches of used catalyst were leached with sodium cyanide solution at 160° C for 1 h under basic conditions in a countercurrent processing sequence to dissolve the PGM. Extractions from the used pellet catalyst ranged from 94 to 95 pct for Pd, 95 to 97 pct for Pt, and 64 to 81 pct for Rh. Extractions from the used monolith catalyst ranged from 7B to BB pct for Pd, 75 to 90 pct for Pt, and 43 to 71 pct for Rh. Heating the pregnant leach solutions to 275&apos; C for 4 h destroyed the PGM-cyanide complexes, resulting in over 99.7 pct of the PGM precipitating from solution. The PGM precipitate was predominantly a powder metallic concentrate, typically analyzing greater than 50 pct PGM. Heating destroyed cyanide to less than 0.2 mg/L. Both the pellet and monolith residues were evaluated for disposal using the EPA Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure.

Jan 1, 1995

By W. G. Davenport

Flash smelting is used. mainly for making molten Cu-rich matte* from fine Cu-Fe-S** flotation concentrates. It blows dried concentrate particles into a hot fumace, surrounds them with 01-rich gas and allows them to react. The results are: (a) partial oxidation of Fe and S from the concentrate (b) generation of heat (c) melting of the oxidized particles to form molten Cu-rich matte, ~65% Cu and Cu-barren slag, ~1 % Cu. The melted particles fall to the hearth of the flash furnace where they fonn matte and slag layers, The matte is tapped from the furnace and oxidation-converted to metallic copper. The slag is skimmed, treated for Cu recovery then stockpiled or sold. Figures 1.1 and 1.2 show industrial flash furnaces and the position of flash smelting in the coppermaking flowsheet. ,Fig. 1.3 shows the locations of flash furnaces around the world.

Jan 1, 2001

By Hongbo Zhao, Jun Wang, Wenqing Qin, Guanzhou Qiu, Xueduan Liu

Bio-hydrometallurgy technology was applied for the extraction of copper from the raw ores of Chambishi Mine in Zambia. A copper extraction of 93.29% was obtained for small scale column bioleaching within 63 days, while a copper extraction of 89.05% was achieved for large scale column bioleaching in 90 days, thus confirming the amenability of the raw ores for effective extraction via bioleaching. The bacteria were cultured in a 6-stage enlarge cultivation. The bacterial cultures with cell concentration of more than 1×108 cells/mL were added into a spray pond of sulfuric acid to be applied in the dump leaching, and a copper extraction of about 50% was achieved within 2 months. The production report revealed that the copper extraction increased by approximate 20%, and the acid consumption was reduced to around 35% as a consequence of adding the bacteria. The industrial demonstration of the bio-hydrometallurgy technique is now well established in Zambia, and further applications of bio-hydrometallurgy in both Zambia and Congo are currently in progress.

Jan 1, 2015

By Kota Nakashima

Residues from titanium smelting tend to contain scandium. The scandiumis discarded because no suitable process exists for its recovery from the residue. Valuable-metal recovery from discharged residue is critical for environmental conservation and to achieve a sustainable society. Since 2015, JXNippon Mining&Metals has been developing a process for scandium recovery from the residue of a titaniumsmelting process. The process consists of the following steps: scandium concentrating by classification or neutralization, selective scandium leaching, impurity removal by neutralization, solvent extraction of scandium by using D2EHPA, purification, and roasting. We optimized the above steps to achieve an effective process to obtain scandium oxide (Sc2O3). In this paper, we introduce results from the bench-scale test of the scandium recovery flowsheet developed by JX Nippon Mining & Metals.

By Arthur W. Cooper

This paper contains a review of the development of blast furnace? slag handling and processing technology in the Ironmaking industry over the past 30 years, with an emphasis on economic and environmental factors. The requirements and practice of air-cooling slag for use as aggregate and of pelletizing and granulating slag for use in cement manufacture are described. The operation of slag pits, slag pots or ladles, the slag pelletizer and early granulation systems are compared with the new continuous .granulation, dewatering and handling systems developed in the past decade.

Jan 1, 1992