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By Ashish Kumar

Comminution is an essential mineral processing operation to liberate the minerals from the ore. This however, is an energy intensive step in mineral processing industries. This work highlights the possibility of saving in grinding energy for ore comminution reducing work index of the ore by effective utilization of microwave energy. This reduced work index results in increased throughput of the grinding circuit in mineral beneficiation plant in order not to shift the product size. The fundamental principle behind this application remains the ability of microwave to heat individual phases within the ore matrix. The constituents of the ore typically having different thermal and mechanical properties develop stress of sufficient magnitude to create intergranular and transgranular fractures during heating and subsequent quenching of the ore. The experiments conducted with the ore samples of Zawar Mines and Rampura Agucha Mine of Hindustan Zinc Limited, India (A member of Vedanta Resources Plc) reflect a substantial up-shift in cumulative weight percentage passing in finer sieve fractions under quenched conditions. Further, the experiments carried out on Rampura Agucha ore reveal 20-30% reduction in work index, which result in decreased milling time or saving in grinding energy. The simulation studies estimates a 2-4% increase in plant throughput. Moreover, preliminary flotation studies indicated a significant increment in total metal recovery and concentrate grade for the desired grade and recovery values respectively. This paper is a technical note on the laboratory investigations carried out at Central Research & Development Laboratory of Hindustan Zinc Limited. Results have been encouraging to progress the work further. It is also proposed to carry out modeling work for simulation so as to predict the changes in minerals.

Jan 1, 2006

By M. M. Sadawy

"The increased rate of exploitation of iron ores has resulted in a rapid depletion of high-grade iron ore deposits in Egypt. New iron reserves have to be discovered to secure the iron ore for steel production. This paper aims to study the characterization and magnetic separation of low grade Aswan iron ore. The results showed that Aswan iron ore is composed of oolitic hematite, goethite, quartz and kaolinite. The screen analysis indicated that Aswan iron ore had a uniform distribution of iron and silica in the different particle size fractions and there is no any particle size has high amount of iron or low content of silica. On the other hand the results of dry high intensity magnetic separation illustrated that this technique is not suitable for upgrading this ore.IntroductionIron is one of the common metals used in industry, as well as being the fundamental raw material used in iron-steel industry; products are wide spread even in daily uses. The total iron ore reserves of the world have been estimated as 3 70 billion tones; 160 billion tones is classified as economical, while 210 billion tones as potentially economical [1]. An estimated 98% of the iron ore exploited in the world is used in the manufacture of pig iron and steel, which are non-substitutable backbones of modem society. The rapid increase of world steel production over the last few years have required an equal increase in iron ore production, from 876.8 Mt in 2006 to 948.1 Mt in 2007 [2]. The increased rate of exploitation of iron ores has resulted in a rapid depletion of known high-grade iron ore deposits. This, in turn, has led to a dramatic increase of prices. In the absence of any major new discoveries of high-grade iron ore deposits, mining companies have turned to lower-grade materials to assess their beneficiation potential to expand their production base and beneficiation capacity, in order to satisfy future demand. Egypt is going to face shortage in iron production, consequently new iron reserves have to be discovered to secure the iron needed for the country [3]. Exploitation of low grade ores requires special equipments and techniques for recovery of minerals values. High gradient magnetic separators offer promise and great potential of application both technologically and economically in the processing of fine particles containing weakly or feebly paramagnetic components [4-6]. Within this existing framework, this research was initiated to assess the beneficiation potential of low-grade Aswan iron ore by high intensity magnetic separation."

Jan 1, 2013

By Naiyang Ma

High zinc concentration in basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steelmaking offgas (OG) cleaning system solid wastes is one of the main barriers for recycling of the solid wastes in sintering – blast furnace ironmaking process. One of the possible solutions is to utilize zinc-free scrap in BOF steelmaking so that the BOF OG solid wastes will not be contaminated with zinc and can be recycled through sintering – blast furnace ironmaking. This paper describes a model for helping to decide whether to use zinc-free scrap in a BOF process. A model computing marginal price increment of zinc-free scrap is developed. The marginal price increment is proportional to value change of the BOF OG solid wastes after and before using zinc-free scrap, to ratio of BOF solid waste rate to purchased galvanized scrap rate, and to price of galvanized scrap. Due to the variations of consumption rate of purchased galvanized scrap and home galvanized scrap, iron ore price, landfill cost, and price of purchased galvanized scrap, using zinc-free scrap in a BOF process might be economically feasible for some ironmaking and steelmaking plants or in some particular market circumstances.

Jan 1, 2015

By Albert W. Spitz

Profitably recovering copper and precious metals from copper bearing scrap is a demanding and frustrating combination of art, science and economics. With fluctuating markets, varying raw materials and increasingly stringent environmental regulations requiring process revisions, practically everything is changing. The volatile copper market constantly shifts the percentage of copper in the scrap that can be economically processed. Scrap that has value one day may incur a disposal cost the following day. Also with less copper in the scrap, more residuals, slag, fume, etc. are generated which frequently present disposal problems and infrequently generate income. The ever increasing amounts of electronic scrap add value to the copper produced by virtue of the precious metals present. Printed circuit board materials create more slag and organic off gases which must be treated. Finally, the emphasis on reducing emissions of organics and other metals, especially lead, is a continuing challenge. Stack gases, fugitive emissions and ambient air quality all demand constant surveillance.

Jan 1, 1997

By Liu bing-guo, Peng Jin-hui, Guo Sheng-hui, Kong dong-cheng, Hu jin-ming, Zhang Li-bo

The novel technology of calcination to prepare triuranium octaoxide（U3O8）from ammonium uranyl carbonate in microwave fields was investigated on the basis of the temperature rising characteristics of ammonium uranyl carbonate, triuranium octaoxide (U3O8), and their mixture. The result of experiments show that ammonium uranyl carbonate had weak capability to absorb microwave energy, while triuranium octaoxide has the very strong capability to absorb microwave energy and the sample temperature increased rapidly with an increase mixture ratio of triuranium octaoxide. The optimal calcination conditions were as follows: microwave power 700 W, calcination time 10 min and 60 g in this experiments range, respectively. Under these conditions the value of total uranium and 4 U of triuranium octaoxide was 84.28% and 31.02%, respectively. It is feasible to prepare triuranium octaoxide by calcination from ammonium uranyl carbonate, which mixed with small amounts of triuranium octaoxide under microwave fields.

Jan 1, 2015

By Steven C. Torma

The present article reviews some of the technologies available for recycling high-energy yield explosives loaded projectiles. These activities lead to reduction of military ammunition stockpiles and their conversion into commercial and industrial applications. The recycling technologies involve dismantling and separation of ammunition components into recyclable metals, plastics, paper and explosive materials. The metal 1 ic components will be sent to smelters, where they will be converted to products that can be used in a variety of industries, such as construction, automotive, housing and so on. Plastics and paper will be recycled and reused. Explosives will be recycled to be used for industrial purposes in the mining industry. Propellants (ammonium nitrate and ammonium perchlorate) can be ground to small particle size and treated to be used in the agricultural industry as fertilizer. In addition, some of the excess explosive material recovered in the demilitarization process may be incinerated to produce energy for steam production for heating purposes, or for production of electricity. Furthermore, this article reviews the developments in the bioremediation of explosive contaminated soils and industrial effluents.

Jan 1, 1994

By Linfeng Zhou, Rong Sun, Guanghui Li, Zhiwei Peng, Tao Jiang

The effects of microwave roasting on separation of rhenium (Re) and molybdenum (Mo) from a molybdenite concentrate have been investigated based on evaluation of the heating characteristics of the concentrate in the microwave field. The results show that a variety of operating variables, namely microwave power, sample weight, sample geometry, roasting temperature, roasting time and atmosphere significantly impact on the volatilization rates of Re and Mo. The optimum conditions for Re-Mo separation are microwave power 1300 W, sample weight 20 g, sample geometry pellets, temperature 600 oC, time 1.5 h, and atmosphere 20%O2. Under these experimental conditions, the volatilization rate of Re reaches 88.12%, while that of Mo is just 5.15%. Microwave-assisted roasting provides an alternative route to separating Re and Mo from molybdenite concentrate.

Jan 1, 2016

Laminated ceramics have received widely scientific and commercial attention because their properties, such as mechanical properties and electrical properties, can be tailored by adjusting the structure, thickness and composition of the different layers. For example, ferroelectric Bi4T13O12 (BIT) which has a positive temperature coefficient of dielectric constant (TE) can be used to modify the negative of typical microwave dielectric ceramic BaNd2Ti4O12(BMT). However, BaNd2Ti4O12/Bi4Ti3O12/BaNd1Ti4O12 (BNT/BIT/BNT) laminated ceramics could not be prepared by the general method because the optimal sintering temperature of BaNd2Ti4O12 ceramic (around 1350°C was much higher than that of Bi4Ti3O12 ceramic (around /1100°C). in this research, a new method of spark plasma sintering (SPS) combined with post-sintering was successfully proposed to prepare BNT/BIT/BNT laminated divided proposed to prepare ceramics. It was divided into three steps. In first step, the BaNd2Ti4O12 ceramics were prepared by conventional sintering method. In second mop, the calcined and pre-pressed Bi4Ti3O12 powders were sandwiched between BaNd2Ti1O12 ceramic pellets and spark plasma sintered at 900'C for 10min to synthesize BNT/BIT/BNT composite ceramics. In the last step, a post-sintering was employed to reoxidize the partially reduced BNT/BIT/BNT composite ceramics. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron probe mircoanalysis (EPMA) showed that BNT layer and BIT layer were well bonded and no significant interfacial infiltration between them was observed. The sandwiched BNT/B1T/BNT ceramic with 10.7% BIT in volume has a dielectric constant of 92.8, a low dielectric loss of 0.0068 and a small temperature coefficient of dielectric constant v/35 ppm/C at 1 MHz.

Jan 1, 2003

By Sedef Pinar Basag, Onuralp Yucel, Ahmet Turan

Niederschlag process is commonly used to produce metallic antimony. The process is a metallothermic process which is conducted in one step for metallic antimony production. Using this method Sb2S3 is mixed with coal and metallic iron and subjected to reduction. During heating, antimony sulfide is decomposed and sulphur combines with iron to form the matte phase. Metallic antimony is collected at the bottom of the crucible. In this study, evaluation of Sb2S3 concentrate, extracted and obtained from West Anatolian Region of Turkey was investigated by using Niederschlag process. The reductant stoichiometry, reduction temperature and duration were carried out in the experiments. Chemical analysis methods by using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and X-ray diffraction spectrometry (XRD) techniques were used for the characterization of the concentrate, metallic nuggets and matte phases.

Jan 1, 2016

By Adam C. Powell

A new Cahn-Hilliard phase field model of transport-limited electrochemistry describes phase boundary motion due to oxidation and reduction reactions at metal-electrolyte interfaces. Benchmarks demonstrating the accuracy of the method include open circuit voltage and closed circuit current in metallothermic reduction, and linear stability theory in metal electrolysis, including a new stability criterion for reduction of liquid metal from liquid electrolyte. The model is applied here to understanding cathode interface stability in titanium electrolysis e.g. in the SOM process developed with Uday Pal, and to structure evolution in subhalide reduction of titanium dichloride by magnesium developed by Toru Okabe. Potential for application to new fuel cell and battery systems is also discussed.

Jan 1, 2006

By Cleusa Cristina Bueno Martha de Souza

Hydrometallurgical techniques for processing metals are becoming an efficient method for recovering metals. Although batteries' manufacturers have got rid of mercury content, some efforts have been made for recovering other metals enclosed in the battery formula. This paper discusses the bench scale experiments in the purification process of leached solutions from alkaline spent batteries. After leaching process using sulfuric acid as leachant, the solutions containing Fe, Cd, Pb, MIl, Zn and K were neutralized to precipitate iron hydroxide. In a second step, the purification experiments were carried out with excess of zinc dust to try to remove Cd while Mn and Zn still remain in the solution to be recovered in an electrolysis stage. The purification experiments procedures were conducted at different temperatures and times to find out properly conditions from the viewpoint of metals removal After filtration the solutions were submitted to chemical analysis to certify the metals content extracted.

Jan 1, 2001

By C. D. Adams, R. T. Tuenge, C. N. King, J. A. Samuels, B. F. Espinoza, R. C. Dye, C. F. Schaus, D. C. Smith, N. M. Peachey

"Recently, doped calcium thiogallate (CaGa2S4) phosphors have been investigated for use in electroluminescent flat panel displays. The current technique used for the deposition of thin film calcium thiogallate is sputtering. Unfortunately, this requires a high temperature annealing process to provide the desired crystallinity of the phosphor. Recent efforts have focused on the possible use of metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) to produce the CaGa2S4 layer. The use of MOCVD provides an attractive alternative to sputtering since it does not require heating above the strain point temperatures of the glass substrates used for the display panels. To accomplish this, the deposition of both Ga2S3 and CaS is investigated as these compounds are intermediate steps in the development of the phosphor deposition. Uniform, crystalline films of both Ga2S3 and CaS were deposited and the process shows promise for successful deposition of the CaGa2S4 phosphor.IntroductionThe lack of a satisfactory blue phosphor having sufficiently high luminances at low power has hampered the development of high resolution flat panel displays. Recently, a new series of blue emitting materials have been investigated for use in thin film electroluminescent (TFEL) devices. l ,2,3 These phosphors are based on a series of alkaline earth thiogallate host materials of the form MGa2S4:RE where M can be either calcium, strontium, zinc, or barium and RE is a rare earth ion. A full-color VGA TFEL panel using CaGa2S4:Ce as the blue phosphor has recently been fabricated and tested. l This FPD provided a luminance of 10 cdlm2 at 60 Hz. The enhanced blue in this display allowed its color capabilities to approach those of the conventional CRT.The method of depositing the phosphor onto the display panels in these test devices has been sputtering. Unfortunately the phosphor as deposited does not possess the crystalline properties required for optimum luminance. The crystalline structure is achieved by subsequent annealing of the deposited material. Although this post deposition anneal provides the desired crystal structure, it occurs above the strain point temperature of ordinary glass. Consequently, the implementation of these phosphors requires the use of glasses capable of withstanding high temperatures, adding to the cost of the final display unit."

Jan 1, 1994

By Nobuaki Sato, Tetsuo Fukasawa, Akira Kirishima

To apply the fluoride volatility process for the treatment of fuel debris formed in the damaged nuclear reactors, study on the fluorination behavior of main constituents, such as fuel and cladding is essential. The mixture of uranium and zirconium oxides is formed under severe conditions such as high temperature and oxidizing atmospheres. In this paper, fluorination and volatilization behavior of uranium and zirconium oxides have been studied by TG-DTA method in the presence of fluorine. From the TG-DTA result of UO2 in F2 atmosphere, the weight gradually increased up to 7% at 350 oC followed by rapid weight decrease with exothermic peak showing the vaporization of uranium as UF6. ZrO2 showed similar fluorination behavior to that of UO2. However, fluorination of UO2-ZrO2 seemed to be suppressed with increasing ZrO2 amount. This may be caused by the formation of solid solution.

Jan 1, 2016

By Jiang Diao, Yong Qiao, Xuan Liu, Tao Zhang, Bing Xie

Adding CaO into the vanadium extraction converter is an effective way to decrease the dephosphorization burden in subsequent steelmaking process. The crystallisation process of spinel is one of the most decisive factors in the subsequent extraction. The theoretical calculation results show that the temperature of the peak total crystallization rate will decrease 5K with basicity increasing 0.1. The relation between cooling conditions and grain size of spinels is also discussed. It is found that low cooling rate and high basicity benefit spinel crystal growth. And the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics results indicated that the restriction factors of spinel growth is that solid crystals accept new components from liquid-solid interfacial. While the sample was cooled down to 1250 (1523K) at cooling rate of 5K/min, the crystal growth is consistent with Ostwald coarsening grew up law, and controlled by diffusion of particle.

Jan 1, 2016

By M. Oliazadeh

The present study was performed to develop a process for solvent extraction of molybdenum and cobalt from an acidic solution generated by an electrodeposition process of nanocrystalline cobalt alloys. Solvent extraction is a common practice in hydrometallurgical and refining processes to produce metals; however its application for separation of molybdenum and cobalt from this specific solution is new, because molybdenum and cobalt are not commonly associated together in nature. Five commercial organic extractants were examined for extraction of cobalt and molybdenum from synthetic acidic solutions with pH ranging from 1 to 5. Preliminary results showed that at pH 2, any of the Cyanex 923, Alamine 336, Aliquat 336 and Hostarex A327 could be used to extract 99% of molybdenum from solutions, while from pH 3 to 5, Aliquat 336 was able to extract about 100% of molybdenum. Cobalt extraction, on the other hand, varied from 15% to 23% at pH 3 and 30% to 53% at pH 2 using different extractants. Based on results obtained, Aliquat 336 was applied on mixed solutions of cobalt and molybdenum at various pHs. The results showed that molybdenum could be extracted as much as 99% from a mixture of molybdenum and cobalt at acidic pHs, while less than 1% of cobalt was separated at pH 2 to 4 simultaneously.

Jan 1, 2003

Bath smelting options for recovering valuable metals from jarositic residues containing 22-28% lead and 16-30% sulphur obtained from pressure leaching zinc-lead-copper bulk concentrates were investigated using thermochemical computations and crucible-scale experiments. Direct fuming of lead and zinc from a slaglmatte bath at 1250-300°C was demonstrated successfully. Up to 93% of the lead was recovered in the fume and steady-state recoveries of zinc were predicted in the range 82-95% under these conditions. The energy required for the fuming reactions was supplied by partial combustion of the fuel, added as char, with air. An important feature of the process is that the recoveries to the fume are not significantly affected by changing: the fuel:air ratio over a wide range. Thermodynamic computations, confirmed by experimental results also showed that the presence of a matte phase is not essential for high recovery of lead and zinc to the fume. Operating conditions which produced a matte ensured that about 70% of the silver and 80-90% of the copper were recovered into that phase. Approximately 98% of the arsenic in the residue was fumed. In the absence of matte the slags contained high arsenic levels (260-330 ppm) but low arsenic (20-60 ppm) levels were achieved when matte was produced.

Jan 1, 1994

By Jitka Jandová

In this study, hydrometallurgical processing of waste ZnO flue dust arising during zinc removal from galvanized low-alloy steel sheets was investigated on a laboratory-scale to obtain electrolytic zinc. The flue dust was separated from flue gases, generated during heating waste galvanized steel sheets in an electric furnace under air atmosphere at temperatures of about 1000oC. The dust, comprising tetragonal ZnO and insignificant amounts of SiO2, was contaminated by Fe, Mn, Pb, Al, Mg, Pb, Cu and Ca. The dust was leached in 0.5 and 1.0M H2SO4 and/or in 20 and 30% NaOH at different temperatures and different liquid-to-solid ratios to determine the optimum conditions leading to the highest possible selectivity of leaching and efficiency of Zn extraction in minimum time. The subsequent electrowinning process was performed with refined zinc sulphate leach liquors and/or with untreated zinc caustic solutions. Zinc sulphate leach liquors were purified using a combination of a hydrolytic pH-controlled precipitation, cementation and carbon refining. Effects of operational variables on Zn electrowinning have been studied for both sulphate and caustic electrolytes. The conventional plate-plate electrowinning cell has been explored in this study. Comparison of results obtained for both zinc electrowinning from acid sulphate and alkaline solutions is presented contribution.

Jan 1, 2003

By Jesse White, Arlin Olson

"An Engineering Scale Technology Demonstration (ESTD) unit utilizing the THOR fluidized bed steam reforming technology was built and operated by Hazen Research, Inc. for the purpose of denitrating and solidifying various Department of Energy (DOE) radioactive tank waste surrogates into granular products. The ESTD offered the opportunity to investigate the operational characteristics of two fluidized beds in series to test process system designs such as those for fluidization, feeding, and product collection. Operational characteristics that were evaluated included bed attrition rate, particle growth, and elutriation; and the effects that variations in process parameters (e.g., fluidizing gas flow rate, feed composition, feed injection method, and gas distributor design) had upon these characteristics were observed. Testing of the process systems on this scale allowed for design changes to be made where the cost in time and money were significantly less by comparison to those same modifications being made on the commercial scale.IntroductionFluidized bed steam reforming (FBSR) offers a moderate temperature (620-750°C) continuous method by which various liquid wastes can be processed irrespective of whether they contain organics, nitrates, sulfates/sulfides, chlorides, fluorides, volatile radionuclides or other aqueous components. The FBSR technology has exhibited the potential to process these wastes into either a carbonate or crystalline ceramic (mineral) granular product.Pilot scale testing was performed using the THOR Treatment Technologies, LLC (ITT) FBSR process, as it offered the opportunity to evaluate multiple aspects in an environment more conducive to experimentation. Process changes and system modifications could be made faster and with less cost impact as compared with changes to an assembled commercial plant. These aspects include verification of process chemistry and kinetics, evaluation of materials of construction, equipment sizing and design, and the interactions of the systems. Evaluation of process chemistry allowed for the verification of thermodynamic and kinetic models, and was used in conjunction with these models to improve the database and modeling assumptions. It also allowed for the reevaluation of data from earlier bench scale testing with the opportunity for long-term operations. These long-term effects may include the buildup of one or more elements that results in the formation of eutectics leading to the destabilization of a fluidized bed, or the shift in particle size as a result of attrition or agglomeration. The pilot plant also provided an environment to evaluate materials of construction."

Jan 1, 2014

By Chuanyu Feng

In this paper, a load-based micro-indentation technique suitable for field applications was developed. This technique bears the same theoretical background as traditional load-depth sensing indentation, and does not need any direct measurement of indentation depth or contact area. The removal of this requirement will reduce much of the cost associated with traditional instrumented indentation. To demonstrate the feasibility, a portable indentation system suitable for online material characterization was developed. Design issues of the portable unit were discussed and preliminary results using the portable unit were also presented.

Jan 1, 2009

By Seiji Yokoyama

As a series of fundamental study on the gas evaporation method, a levitation-melted aluminum was evaporated in the gas mixture of argon and ammonia to synthesize ultrafine particles of aluminum nitride. When the ammonia partial pressure were more than 2kPa, the formation ratio of aluminum nitride was about 95%. The particles of aluminum nitride were mainly hexagonal. The mean size of the particles of aluminum nitride was about 57 nm, and it was constant without depending on the temperature of the levitated aluminum and the partial pressure pf ammonia. The aluminum nitride was formed by the reaction between ammonia and condensed liquid aluminum particle whose size was relatively small.

Jan 1, 2006