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By A. Tsubouchi, F. Noguchi, T. Takasu

"A high current density operation is desired to improve the productivity in copper electrorefining. However, a lot of problems still remain such as passivation at anode, dendritic deposition at cathode and impurity behavior during the electro refining.Effects of the current densitY on the morphology of copper deposition on the cathode, and passivation at the anode were investigated at various fluid velocity of electrolyte in the present study.Although a granular appearance of the copper deposition was obtained with increasing high current density, it was depressed by an increase of the fluid velocity of the electrolyte. A uniform deposition on the cathode was also observed when the fluid velocity of the electrolyte become higher. It was ascertained that passivation at the anode was suppressed by circulating electrolyte during electrolysis. INTRODUCTIONIt is desirable to operate at high current density in copper electrorefining in order to improve plant productivity without enlarging the size of electrodes(1). However, there are many problems in copper electrorefining at high current density with the usual commercial practice, for example, anode passivation, dendritic deposition and an increase of impurities in the cathode.In general, it is effective to agitate the electrolyte in order to suppress these problems(2). Smith et a1.(3) have performed electro refining experiments at various current densities in the range of 8 to 32 Aldm2 and at electrolyte fluid velocities in the range of 40 to 120 mlmin, and they obtained well consolidated, void free copper even at high current density in a high electrolyte velocity. However, they did not discuss the recovery ratio and the passivation behaviour at the anode. Walsh et a1.(4)(5)(6) experimented with the rotating cylinder electrode, and ascertained that electrolysis can be carried out at high current densities under the condition of pure electrolyte.With regards to anode passivation, there are several papers by previous workers(7)(8). Our group ascertained the process of producing anode slime during electrolysis(9). However, these experiments were carried out without forced circulation of electrolyte. Therefore, in the present study, to solve these problems, we electrolyzed at current densities in the range of 4 to 50 Aldm2 with circulating electrolyte in the range of 0 to 48 mlrnin. The effect of electrolyte fluid velocity on the surface morphology of deposited copper at cathode and passivation at anode were investigated when electrolysis were carried out with circulating electrolyte at high fluid velocity and at high current density."

Jan 1, 1997

By Jana Dobrovska

Solidification and cooling of a continuously cast slab and simultaneous heating of a mould is a very complicated problem of transient heat and mass transfer. Nowadays, the solving of such a problem is impossible without numerical models of the temperature field not only of the slab itself, while it is being processed through the whole concasting machine (Caster), but of the mould as well. Two original numerical models have been developed and used in the investigation of a continuously cast steel slab. The first (one of two) 3D model of the temperature field of a concasting is capable of simulating the temperature field of a caster. Experimental research and data acquisition have to be conducted simultaneously with the numerical computation-not only to confront it with the actual numerical model, but also to make it more accurate throughout the process. After computation, it is possible to obtain the temperatures al each node of the network, and at each time of the process. The utilization of the numerical model of solidification and cooling of a concasting plays an indispensable role in practice. The potential change of technology-on the basis of computation-is constantly guided by the effort to optimize, i.e. to maximize the quality of the process. The user can therefore choose any appropriate longitudinal or cross-section of a slab and display or print the temperature field in a 3D or 20 graph whenever necessary. The second numerical model of dendritic segregation of elements assesses critical points of slabs from the viewpoint of their increased susceptibility to crack and fissure. In order to apply this model, it is necessary to analyze the heterogeneity of samples of the constituent elements (Mn, Si and others) and impurities (P, S and others) in characteristic places of the solidifying slab. The numerical model, based on measurement results obtained by an electron micro-probe, generates distribution curves showing the dendritic segregation of the analyzed element, together with the distribution coefficients of the elements between the liquid and solid states. The combination of both models enables the prediction of cracks and fissures in critical points of the continuously cast carbon-steel slab. Both models had been applied in the industrial investigation of a cast low-carbon-steel slab.

Jan 1, 2003

By P. S. Arthur

The ISASMELT? process is a submerged lance smelting technology operating in smelters in Australia, the USA, Belgium, India, Germany, Malaysia and China. Further plants are under construction in Peru and Zambia. Following the invention of the Sirosmelt lance technology Mount Isa Mines recognised the commercial potential in the novel top blown bath smelting process and embarked on a development program that has lasted more than 25 years. After successful operation of pilot plants and demonstration plants producing copper and lead, Mount Isa Mines decided to license the technology to external companies. Since the purchase of Mount Isa Mines by Xstrata in 2003, Xstrata Technology has assumed responsibility for transferring the technology to ISASMELT? licensees. In the 15 years since the first commercial furnaces started operation plants have been constructed (or are under construction) with a combined annual smelting capacity of more than six million tonnes of concentrates or secondary raw materials. Process development continues on the commercial scale plants at Mount Isa and elsewhere. Many of the improvements implemented by plant operators have been passed on to, and adopted by, other licensees. Exchange of ideas and technical improvements occurs through ad hoc visits to fellow licensee sites and through regular licensee workshops arranged by Xstrata Technology. This paper updates the reader on the status of various ISASMELT? plants either operating or under construction. It highlights the important role that the technology provider?s operational experience plays in ensuring that new smelting plants ramp up quickly to nameplate capacity.

Jan 1, 2006

By J. B. Winter

The present Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company Smelter/Acid Plant complex located near Miami, Arizona, was designed and built specifically to conform to the ambient air quality standards imposed by the Federal Clean Air Act of 1971. The present plant replaced a facility which had been in operation since 1915. The electric furnace, siphon converters and acid plant complex were commissioned in May, 1974 (1). At that time, the Plant was considered to be one of the most extensively monitored and instrumented facilities of its kind in the world. Several control areas were located in close proximity to the controlled process, in addition to so-called central control rooms in the Smelter and Acid Plant. The control rooms were staffed with officials below the foreman level. Instrumentation consisted of conventional analog devices, except for a computer used in monitoring ambient air environmental conditions and limited use of programmable logic controllers. The harsh service conditions prevalent in the plant rendered a significant portion of the instrumentation unreliable and, in many cases, inoperable. Failure of the facility to obtain the total sulfur collection for which it was designed was, in part, due to serious inadequacies in control system logic and sulfur recovery averaged 79% in the early years. After careful study of the smelting process, engineering hardware and high labor cost inherent in the organizational structure, management made a judgement decision to convert to centralized control of the process with high level supervision 24 hours per day. A distributed digital control system with supervisory arid data acquisition/information reporting computers was selected to satisfy the requirement of central control. Operations are now controlled and coordinated from a primary control room in the Smelter and a satellite control area in the Acid Plant.

Jan 1, 1983

By A. V. Tarasov

Investigations of thermodynamic properties of Cu-Ni and Cu-Ni-S systems and mattes have been conducted with the aid of a MC-130 I mass-spectrometer designed for studies of processes of vapor formation of hardly volatile substances. The instrument comprised a combination of an evaporator of Knudsen chamber type with a mass-spectrometer for analysis of the vapor phase. In the process of studies of molten Cu-Ni-S systems and commercial-grade mattes within a temperature interval of 1400-1800 K the partial pressure of sulfur was measured by means of complete isothermal evaporation and the partial pressure of copper and nickel by comparison of ionic currents. The partial pressure values of the components above the molten Cu-Ni-S were used for calculation of activities of the respective components in the melt. The copper and nickel activity data obtained was used for assessing the amount of dissolved losses of these metals in autogenous smelting slags.

Jan 1, 2003

By K. S. Izbakhanov

The Chimkent Lead Plant was constructed in 1934 and since that time has undergone many revisions. In 1975 the slag fuming operation was changed from pulverized coal to natural gas fuel. In 1981 the slag fuming furnace water jacket system was converted to evaporative cooling with high pressure steam production. The impact of these changes and the method of their application are described.

Jan 1, 1990

By Knut H. Bech, Stein Tore Johansen

"The collision efficiency for small particles relative to 2D spherical bubbles in a developed turbulent flow field were calculated applying an adopted version of the CPD program FLUENT. The turbulence field was related to bubble size and fluid properties. The results were compared with analytical theory. The turbulence intensity was found to be the most important single parameter for collision efficiency. Effects of boundary layer thickness and particle diameter were discussed. IntroductionRemoval of inclusion particles from melted aluminium can be facilitated by means of a rotor system that supplies kinetic energy and gas bubbles to the floating metal. At the surface the inclusions adhere to the surface dross or slagg which is removed at regular intervals by the operators. When applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model such a system, one experiences difficulties with the large range of turbulent length-scales encountered, from the large geometrical scales of the rotor and container, through the bubble size and down to the particle diameter. A mathematical model for the complete system will be both complex and require an extreme spatial resolution. Another way of dealing with the problem is to model the micro-scale phenomena separately and apply the results to create a model for the macroscopic system. In a previous work [12] we addressed these problems and developed a procedure for calculating turbulence enhanced flotation to bubbles. It was found that turbulence may have a profound effect on the collision rate of particles to idealized bubbles. In this study we recognize that only a fraction of the total turbulent kinetic energy generated by the rotor's work on the liquid metal may contribute to enhanced flotation. By using a model spectrum for the turbulence, the fraction of turbulent energy in eddies smaller than the bubble diameter is calculated. A twodimensional CFD model was then constructed to calculate the collision efficiency between particles and bubbles of various sizes."

Jan 1, 1999

By Ki Joo Sim, Sung Beom An, Joonho Lee, Minsoo Shin

Valorization of the electrical arc furnace oxidizing slag by coke was carried out by the reduction of iron oxide in the slag. Since the reduction of iron oxide by solid carbon is an endothermic reaction, supply of heat energy is required. In addition, slag has a low thermal conductivity; traditional fuel injection is not suitable for this reaction. Microwave can be used to supply heat energy to the system. Commercial oxidizing slag was reduced by coke under the microwave irradiation (1.7 kW, 2.45 GHz). The maximum recovery ratio of iron was 87%. In addition, slag composition modification was attempted to use the remaining slag for a mixture in cement clinker. Free-CaO in the slag was successfully suppressed, and the use of the remaining slag as a potential mixture was confirmed.

Jan 1, 2014

By R. Angulo

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have recently emerged as materials with outstanding properties. This has promoted their consideration as reinforcements for other material systems, such as ceramics. However, one of the fundamental problems with producing CNT-reinforced ceramics is the effective dispersion of CNTs during processing. This has been successfully carried out recently using organic solvents. This paper is a preliminery investigation into the rheological behavior of aqueous CNT-alumina slips, with the objective of moving towards a more environmentally friendly aqueous tape casting process for the production of CNT-ceramic composites.

Jan 1, 2008

By Jinxia Nie, Yunnen Chen, Dachao Zhang

"Rare earth resources are strategic and non-renewable resources. But disordered exploitation on rare earth metals leads to resources waste, environmental pollution and ecosystem destroyed. In this paper, soil collected from garden was cultured in thermostated incubator. Adding exogenous rare earth to the soil and the effects of recombination action of rare earth lanthanum, cerium and yttrium on soil enzymatic activities were studied. The results showed that single metal La and Ce can increase urease activity, but Y inhibits its. Coexist La/Y or La/Ce in soil inhibit the urease activity, coexist Y /Ce or coexist three metals promote its. Single metal La, Y and Ce can promote catalase activity, and that of coexist three metals. Pairwise coexist La, Y, Ce in soil inhibit catalase activity. With certain concentration of rare earth recombination action, urease activity in soil has been very significant direct proportion to ionic impulse, but catalase activity been insignificant inverse proportion to its.1. IntroductionThe increase of rare earth element content due to anthropogenic inputs frequently takes place in agro-industrial areas, leading to soil pollution episodes that may cause serious environmental problems because of their potential toxicity to microorganisms, plants, animals and human beings [ 1]. China is abundant in lanthanides resources. Rare earth metals are used in many frontier technologies such as photic devices, magnetic materials, and fine ceramics, and the amount of the rare earth metals used in these industries has been increasing. In addition to their use in industry, rare earth metals are more widely applied to cropland as microelement fertilizers due to their ability to promote growth and productivity of some crops [2]. As a result, more and more rare earth metals are moving into the ecosystems. While a permanent contamination of soils results in populations of micro-organisms with high resistance to rare earth metals, a short-term burden of contaminants at high concentrations could exert inhibitory effects on microbial carbon [3]. They accumulate in soils, bioaccumulate in crops, and enter the food chain, causing a potential problem of rare earth metals environmental pollution in China [4]. This contamination may also severely influence organisms and soil activities [5]."

Jan 1, 2011

By Ralph H. Nafziger

The feasibility of smelting a Ni-Co-Cr-bearing laterite ore from southern Oregon was evaluated by the Bureau of Mines. The objective was to prepare a master alloy for subsequent stainless steel production. A mixture of the ore with suitable reductants and fluxes was smelted in a 50-lb-capacity single-phase ac electric furnace under sub- merged arc conditions. The smelting tests produced a metal in which most of the nickel was concentrated. High-chromium recoveries required an excess of carbon. The resulting metal alloys contain sufficient nickel for some stainless steels. Ferrochromium additions would be required to attain suitable chromium levels. This research was conducted under the Oregon Metals Initiative in cooperation with Walter B. Freeman.

Jan 1, 1993

By Bora Derin

This work deals with the recovery of valuable metals from the ancient copper smelting slags located in Küre-Turkey. In this process, copper and cobalt were recovered in metallic form and/or as their compounds, whereas iron was recovered as magnetic oxide or pigment. Abrasive grit material was produced using reduced final slag. The process stages involved carbothermal reduction in a DC arc furnace, granulation, leaching, chemical precipitation, selective sulfidizing roasting and product preparations. In this paper, the process stages were described as theoretically and experimentally whereas slag and products were characterized in detail.

Jan 1, 2003

By Fangqing Yin, Qingyu Deng, Zhengfeng Qu, Mengjun Hu, Meilong Hu

Titanium bearing blast furnace slag, which contains 20%-30% TiO2, is a valuable secondary titanium resource. Based on the thermodynamics calculation effect of the temperature on the reduction of the slag in vacuum were studied at certain vacuum degrees. The results show that magnesium vapor and silicon monoxide vapor can be obtained at the condition of high temperature and low pressure. The purity of TiC increases with temperature increasing. When the temperature arrives at 1623K TiC can be obtained besides the reductant carbon. XRD result of the powder collected from the furnace cover show that magnesium and silicon in the titanium bearing BF slag leave the slag system during carbothermal reduction in vacuum. From the above it can be concluded that TiC can be obtained from the titanium bearing BF slag and silicon and titanium in the slag can be separated by carbothermal reduction in vacuum and acid leaching.

Jan 1, 2016

By P. J. Uggowitzer, H. Kaufmann

"New Rheocasting is a novel route of semi-solid casting, in which the globular semi-solid precursor material is produced by controlled cooling of only slightly superheated melts in conventional steel crucibles. The resulting semi-solid slugs are placed into the sleeve of a vertical Squeeze Casting Machine and then filled into steel dies. Solidification occurs under hydraulic pressures up to 100 MPa Due to the reduced cost of precursor material, reduced investment cost and easier recycling, the New Rheocasting process offers cost reductions of up to 25% over conventional semi-solid casting · routes. The New Rheocast products are pore free, pressure tight, weldable and heat treatable castings.In the present work the New Rheocasting Process is introduced and the influence of heat treatment on mechanical properties of the New Rheocast alloy A356 is discussed.The alloy A356 is cast under ideal New Rheocasting conditions into a step die on an UBE HVSC 350 Squeeze Casting machine. As-east, TS and T6 heat treatment conditions with variations in solutionizing and aging time/temperature parameters are applied and the samples are tested by tensile testing. Alternatively, the same heat treatment conditions are applied to conventional Squeeze Casting parts and compared with New Rheocasting.Questions of potential cost savings due to modified heat treatment conditions are also addressed in this paper."

Jan 1, 2000

By C. T. Philipp

Recycling of waste is much preferred over disposal. This paper discusses the Enviroscience, Inc. (ESI) process, now being commercialized by MetWool, Inc., to recycle hazardous wastes using an extractive metallurgical process which is followed by vitrification of non-reducible metal oxides. In this process, volatile and reducible metals are reclaimed as their respective oxides and elements.

Jan 1, 1995

By Xuerong Wen

The oxidation behavior of TiAl3 intermetallics was investigated as a hnction of time at 1273K in pure dry oxygen. The oxidation experiments were carried out using TGA method. The oxidation scales were analyzed using SEM, EDS and X-ray diffraction methods. The structures of oxides formed at the different oxidation times were analyzed. The mechanism of oxidation of TiAl3 intermetallics was discussed.

Jan 1, 1998

By Hitoshi Iijima, Fumitaka Tsukihashi

"Fine powder of tantalum is used as materials of electric condenser. It is important to control the distribution of particle diameter of tantalum fine powders for the commercial use. In this study, fine powders of tantalum were produced by reducing tantalum chloride vapor with hydrogen gas at 1673 and 1773K. The tantalum chloride vapor was reduced with hydrogen and the produced fine particles of tantalum were collected to observe the distribution of particle diameter. The effects of reaction temperature, partial pressure of hydrogen gas and vaporization temperature of tantalum chloride on the distribution of particle diameter and reaction efficiency of reduction were determined. The mechanism of reduction reaction of tantalum was discussed.IntroductionThe ultra fine powder shows various different physical properties from that of bulk materials. Therefore, the application of ultra fine powder to various fields such as magnetic material, electric material, catalyst, etc is anticipated. The control of shape of powder, size distribution, property of agglomeration, purity is required for the practical use of ultra fine powder. Although the ultra fine powders of ceramics are produced by various methods, the ultra fine powder of metals are produced by the evaporation in gas atmosphere, plasma evaporation process, chemical vapor deposition process, and reduction and precipitation in liquid phase depending on the metal and productivity. The chemical vapor deposition process has features that pure metal powder can be obtained and the control of the distribution of powder size is easy. [1,2,3,4,5]"

Jan 1, 2000

By Esther Carrera Martinez

Caraiba Metals is the sole brazilian copper custom smelter. The sulfur present in the various concentrates processed is recovered as sulfuric acid and oleum ,which are sold in the local market For quality assurance purposes, a study was carried out in order to determine how to control the arsenic content in the acid, allowing the continuous processing of concentrates with high levels impurity, The study was based on the process parameters of the washing towers and mist precipitators, Others process variables were investigated and their effects were used in support to confirm the results, After many analyses performed some interventions to improve the quality of the acid were implemented in the plant, which proved to be successful even by using a conventional purification system,

Jan 1, 1996

By Jianjun Wang, Jiaqing Peng, Lingen Luo, Zhenbang li, Yinghe Lin

Copper removal from ferronickel by FeS has been exploring studied. It is found that the decopperizing agent FeS makes the copper removal in ferronickel effectively. The effects of FeS addition amount, carbon content in ferronickel and experimental temperature were investigated. The results showed that the removal rate of copper in ferronickel increased with the amount of FeS increasing. When the dosage of FeS is 20% (mass percentage)，the removal rate of copper can reach higher than 11%. The rate of copper removal rises with the amount of carbon content increasing in ferronickel. When the amount of carbon content is 1.86%, the removal ratio of copper is 41.3%. Higher experimental temperature promotes the copper removal reaction in certain extent. The flux is acidity and weak oxidative can also promote the reaction of copper removal.

Jan 1, 2015

By Karl-Heinz Daum

Outokumpu Lurgi Metallurgie GmbH, Oberursel, Germany ? give saleable by-products, ? not interfere with smelter performance, ? treat all gas streams simultaneously, and ? comply with environmental regulations. The latest developments in sulphuric acid plant design are presented.

Jan 1, 2002