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By W. G. Davenport

Changes in copper extraction from 1960 till today are documented. The top ten changes have been: (a) replacement of reverberatory smelting by high intensity oxygen rich smelting (b) growth of the Outokumpu flash smelting to over 50% of the world's smelting capacity (c) successful development of single furnace coppermaking but only for low slag fall concentrates (d) replacement of the batch Peirce-Smith converter by continuous converting, but only in a few cases (e) increased SO2 capture throughout the industry, mainly-as sulfuric acid (f) development of low initiation temperature `big bight' Cs catalysts for treating the continuous high-SO2 strength gases from continuous smelting/converting (g) complete replacement of reverberatory anode scrap and cathode melting furnaces by the Asarco shaft furnace (h) adoption of stainless steel permanent cathodes and automated stripping technology for electrorefining and electrowinning (i) complete elimination of wire bar casting by continuous bar casting/rod rolling (j) development and adoption of extractants for turning weak impure leach solutions into strong pure electrolytes. It is postulated that the biggest possible change over the next 20 years would be complete replacement of smelting/converting by hydrometallurgical processing. However, this seems unlikely due to copper purity, precious metal recovery, and economic concerns. The increasing value of sulfuric acid to many copper companies gives chalcopyrite smelting/oxide-supergene leaching a nice synergy especially with the energy credits now coming from continuous smelters, and their acid plants.

Jan 1, 1999

By Satu Jyrkönen

A single-particle laminar-flow technique was used to study oxidation of four synthetic nickel mattes, which were screened into three size fractions, Experimental conditions were: reaction gas from N2 - 21 to 75 vol-% O2; gas preheating temperatures ranging from 500 to I 100'C. The four mattes were synthesized so that Ni/Cu ratios of I and 10 were obtained with high and low iron contents. Chemical analysis of the particles was used to determine the oxidation degree of the materials, and optical and scanning electron microscopy were used to detect their morphology, internal composition and structure. The best sulfur removal from the synthetic nickel mattes was achieved under the most oxidizing conditions with the finest size fraction. The matte with Ni/Cu = 1 and high iron content was found to be most reactive. The least reactive matte was with Ni/Cu = 10 and low iron content; the coarse fraction particles did not react at all under the conditions studied.

Jan 1, 1996

By L. R. Verney

About 75% of the market economy countries's supply of cobalt is produced in Central Africa by Zafre and Zambia. Zafre alone accounts for more than 55% and has the resources and capacity to increase output significantly at any time so its dominant position is unlikely to be challenged in the foreseeable future. Other producers from domestic resources are Canada, Australia and South Africa; and Cuba, probably the most important producer outside of the Market Economy countries. Belgium, Norway, France, Japan and Finland produce cobalt from imported materials. While there are "cobalt ores", inMorocco, USA, Canada and the USSR, the mineralisation is complex and cobalt extraction is costly. In ZaPre and Zambia cobalt is a by-product of copper; in Canada, Australia, France, and Cuba it is a by-product of nickel; and in South Africa it is a by-product from the production of Platinum Group Metals. Thus the levels of cobalt production are inevitably related to the production of other primary metals. While some cobalt is produced by predominantly pyrometallurgical methods most of the world's cobalt is produced hydrometallurgically. The existence of large hydro-electric power plants and the mineralogy of the copper and cobalt concentrates encouraged research and development in Zafre of the recovery of copper and cobalt by electrowinning from sulfate solutions; much pioneering work was carried out, which lead to construction of the two largest copperlcobalt hydrometallurgical plants in the world, at Shituru and Luilu. Similar systems were adopted in Zambia. In Canada high pressure hydrometallurgical processes based on the sulfate system were developed and adopted in Australia, the Philippines, Finland and South Africa. Meanwhile developments in chloride hydrometallurgical extraction of nickel and cobalt lead to its use in the extraction of cobalt in Norway, France and Japan.

Jan 1, 1988

By D. B. Dreisinger

The zinc pressure leach process developed by Sherritt Gordon, Ltd. permits the direct leaching of sulphide concentrates according to the overall reaction, ZnS +H,zS04 +402.+ZnS04+H20 +S0 The kinetics of the leach are affected by three rate controlling steps; ( l) oxygen mass transfer from the gas to the leach solution, (2) homogeneous oxidation of ferric ion to ferric ion by dissolved 011.ygen and (3) ferric ion leaching of zinc sulphide in the presence of a sulphur dispersing detergent (lignin sulphonic acid). Fundamental studies have been conducted to identify the factors that influence the kinetics of each individual rate controlling step. Oxygen mass transfer studies have been directed toward optimization of the agitator configuration for solids mixing and gas pumping from the atmosphere above the leach slurry. The rate of ferrous oxidation by molecular oxygen and the rate of zinc sulphide leaching by ferric ion have been studied over a wide range of temperature and solution compositions. The study of zinc sulphide leaching by ferric ion was supplemented by a series of interfacial tension measurements in the liquid sulphur - zinc sulphate solution system. The various kinetic studies have been summarized in terms of the importance of each rate to the performance of the process.

Jan 1, 1990

By Huimin Lu, Zhijiang Gao

Reduction reaction can happen among Al, V2O5 and TiO2 powders. Al can deoxidize metal V and Ti from the metal oxides. The electric igniter can be used to trigger the reduction. The reaction between Al and V2O5 is very intense and release large amounts of heat, but the heat which is needed to initiate the reaction between Al and TiO2 is not enough. These two reactions have been initiated first and V-Al and Ti-Al alloys can be obtained with a higher metal recovery percent. Through adjusting the ratio of Al, V2O5 and TiO2 powders, the system which combines these two reactions can ensured enough heat to react. KClO3 is added to the system, as the ignition agent, in order to make the reaction much complete. Finally, Ti-Al-V alloys can be obtained and need remelt to adjust the constituents.

Jan 1, 2016

By James R. Craig

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

Jan 1, 1982

By J. R. Odekirk

The nature of mineral distributions and locking characteristics in mill products are important factors in understanding mill performance. Such data are obtained by microscopic point counting methods. Reduction 'of point-count data from volume to weight percentages, and reduction of data for each size fraction back to a head sample requires lengthy hand calculations. The use of computer processing for such data reduction results in obtaining information on a realistic time basis. An example of computer processed point-count data is presented.

Jan 1, 1981

By Xu-ling Chen, Qian Li, Yong-bin Yang, Zhao Jing, Tao Jiang, Guang-hui Li

"It is generally known that alkali metals are harmful to blast furnace production resulting in aggravating RDI of sinters, abnormal expansion of pellets, deteriorating blast furnace lining, etc. Sinters regarded as dominating burden of blast furnace are determined as the main source of alkali metals. In this study, the removal behavior of potassium and sodium oxides by pre-reduction sintering during the sintering process was studied. The removal ratio ofK20 and Na20 was greatly influenced by coke powder content, carbon species, coke powder adding ways, additive and so on. Under the conditions of carbon rate 12% and 5% dosage of CO supplied in the sintering process, the corresponding removal ratio ofK20, Na20 was 69.00% and 32.79%, and metallization ratio could reach 4.65%. This technology provided a novel process for reducing the content of alkali metals in sinters and dramatically improving the quality of blast furnace burden.IntroductionSinter is the main iron-bearing charge of blast furnace for iron-making in China, making up about 80% of the total burden; therefore, its quality has a significant influence on the quality of pig iron and blast furnace operation. Research and practice of numerous years prove that potassium and sodium coming from ores are brought into blast furnace and upgraded, which is one of the essential reasons that lead to blast furnace nodulation and influences its strength. Currently, effective flow sheet to remove potassium and sodium is weak magnetic separation-intensive magnetic separation-flotation [l], while iron ore concentrate is still ofhigh levels of potassium and sodium. As sintering process is also not effective to remove potassium and sodium, blast furnace in China is of high alkali burden, e.g. it reaches 5.6-6.2kg/tFe in Baotou iron making plant, which is greater than international tolerated level of2.55kgltFe [l]."

Jan 1, 2013

By Zhucheng Huang, Yuanbo Zhang, Kecheng Zhang, Guanghui Li, Tao Jiang

"With rapid development of Iron and Steel industry, plenty of metallurgical dusts and sludges are generated, which have not been effectively utilized because of their poor hydrophilicity and bad ballability. Agglomeration and roasting of metallurgical dusts & sludges with a new-type composite binder are studied in this paper. The results indicate that the dosage of the new binders can be decreased to 2.5 wt% from 3.5 wt% when using the wet-grinding process. Under the optimal conditions of briquetting pressure 2070 N/cm2, briquetting moisture content 13 wt%, roasting temperature 1000 °C and roasting time 40 min, the qualities of the green, dry and roasted briquettes meet the requirements of the industry production. The finished products have the compression strength of more than 2000 N/cm2, which can be used as high-quality burdens for blast furnaces.IntroductionWith rapid development of Chinese Iron & Steel industry, there are more and more serious resource shortage and environmental pollution existing. Converter sludges, containing 30% ~ 40 wt% moistures, are typically difficult for recycling [1]. Foreign processing technologies for sludges treatment are relatively advanced including cold-bonded agglomerates for blast furnace, RHF reduction for the dusts and sludges with high content of Zn and Pb, smelting and reduction. Domestic iron and steel companies use a small amount of sludges in sintering. However, the sludges have the characteristics of high moisture and containing harmful impurities, which directly affect the sintering mixture permeability and product quality [2-5]. There are also other technologies such as production of metallized pellets, cooling agents for steelmaking, etc [6]. All of these deficiencies and applied are not in large-scale."

Jan 1, 2011

By Autumn Fjeld

The filling and solidification of an industrial scale composite casting has been simulated to investigate the re-melting of the outer shell material during casting. Production of a composite requires a two-step casting process which includes centrifugal casting of a hard outer shell material and subsequent conventional ingot casting of a tough core material into the shell-mold assembly. During casting of the core, a thin layer of the shell material re-melts and mixes with the core material producing a bonding layer of intermediate composition. The present numerical model employs the volume of fluid method and an enthalpy-porosity technique to couple the filling of the core material and re-melting of the shell material. The interface between the two materials is tracked and can be used as a guide to examine the extent of melting and, to some degree, mixing of the two fluids and species diffusion.

Jan 1, 2008

By Lin Li, Wen Shi, Hua Wang

"Specimens of the ultra-low carbon bake hardening steel were soaked for 1 min to 5 min, and then cooled by water quenching. The internal friction experiments were carried out to detect the spectra of the specimens. Results show that Snoek peaks are present in all the specimens, however, an obvious Snoek-Koster peak is found only in the 5 min-annealed specimen. Besides, tensile results indicate that the bake hardening values increase with the annealing time prolonging from 1 min to 3 min, but decrease as the annealing time prolongs further to 5 min. The solute distributions in the specimens were characterized by three dimensional atom probe. Some segregated C and V are found in the 1 min-annealed specimen, and the C and V contents decrease as annealing time prolongs to 5 min.1. IntroductionAs an excellent member of automotive body panel materials, various types of bake hardening (BH) steels have been developed since 1980s. Bake hardening property, as one of the most important mechanical properties, has been studied by many researchers [ 1-5]. As is known, BH phenomenon is generally controlled by the interaction between solute C and dislocations. The Snoek peak of internal friction (IF) is very popular in the investigation of solute C [6-9]. However, result of internal friction cannot suggest the distribution pattern of solute C as well as its influence on BH phenomenon.Three dimensional atom probe (3DAP) can diagnose solute element atoms as well as nano-sized precipitates, and it is the only instrument that currently can identify the identities of individual atoms in a material and measure their spatial coordinates with the resolution close to 0.3 nm [10]. There have been a number of studies about using 3DAP to detect solute elements as well as nanometer sized precipitates [11-19]. For example, Hono et al. [16] used 3DAP to determine the solute elements in an age-hardened Mg-Ca-Zn alloy, and they also obtained the distribution patterns of the observed elements."

Jan 1, 2011

By Hongli Wen, Guangkun Shen, Qiong Deng, Shoujian Huang, Min Gan, Xiaohui Fan

"Due to the low iron grade and high sulfur content, pyrite cinder is difficult to be directly used for iron-making. In this paper, technology of magnetic roasting -grinding and magnetic separation -acid leaching was put forward for reclamation of pyrite cinder. For pyrite cinder of TFe53.51%, S2.20 %, studies showed that good magnetic effect can be achieved at roasting temperature 650~7000, reducing atmosphere CO/(CO + C02) 10~20% and roasting time 10~30 minutes. In separation conditions of grinding size -0.045mm accounting for 96.09% and magnetic field intensity of 1240 GS, iron concentrate of TFe64.81 %, S0.18% and iron recovery rate 91.44% was achieved. Acid leaching was studied to strengthen desulfurization. Results showed that high-quality iron ore concentrate of TFe66.3 l %, S0.10% was obtained under the conditions of hydrochloric acid mass fraction of 5%, pulp density of30%, leaching temperature of70? and leaching time of2 hours.IntroductionPyrite cinder is produced as a by-product of sulfuric acid industry [1] Domestic production is more than 12 million tons every year and occupied area is over 10 million square meters [2,3]. The pyrite cinder outdoor not only pollutes air but also damages surrounding surface [4] It after treatment used for iron-making is an ideal reclamation approach for its rich iron which is commonly 40-60% [5]. But pyrite cinder gets low utilization for its low iron grade and high sulfur content in China [6]. Therefore, comprehensive utilization of pyrite cinder has profound significance to environmental protection and the development of domestic iron and steel industry."

Jan 1, 2013

By Minjun Tang, Jianfeng Zhou, Feng Chen, Linjiang Qing, Xiaolei Song, Yufeng Guo, Tao Jiang

"Reduction swellability index (Rsn and low temperature reduction disintegration index (RDI) of vanadium-titanium magnetite oxidized pellets are harmful to the processing of ironmaking, for example, causing serious gas permeability, decreased yield, higher coke ratio and more furnace dust. Thus, the improvements of RSI and RDI of vanadium-titanium magnetite oxidized pellets were investigated in this paper, including the pretreatment of raw material, additives of dolomite or boric acid, pellets treated in chloride solution and so on. The results showed that damp milling as pretreatment and boric acid added in pelletizing were conducive to the RSI which decreased 5% and 7% respectively, while they were not efficient enough in improving RDI. Dolomite was efficient in improving RSI, but had negative effect on RDI. There was no evidence to show that RSI and RDI would be improved when pellets were treated in chloride solution. Pursuing this further, the mechanism of those improvements were investigated.IntroductionIn the world, vanadium-titanium magnetite utilization is investigated around how to recover iron, titanium, vanadium, and divided into blast-furnace method and non-blast-furnace method according to respective characteristics. Blast furnace method [1, 2] can recover iron and vanadium effectively, but Ti02 cannot be recycled. Non-blast-furnace methods include rotary kiln-electric furnace method, pre-reduction electric furnace method, reduction- grinding method and sodium vanadium-rotary kiln-electric furnace method and so on. [3-7]Comparing to the Non-blast-furnace method, the method of blast furnace smelting has been put into industrial applications. And it has the following advantages: First of all, effective recycling iron and vanadium; Second, technical problems of high titanium slag in blast furnace smelting; Third, it has mature technology in blast furnace smelting."

Jan 1, 2013

By Jack A. Simon

My remarks are directed at relating some of the mineralogical approaches mentioned in the preceding presentations to emerging energy issues. The assembling of this symposium on process mineralogy attests to the growing concern for energy development from the non-petroleum mineral fuels and the unconventional petroleum fuels. A report in 1979, prepared under the auspices of the National Research Council/National Academy, of Sciences, was published in two parts and dealt with "Redistribution of Accessory Elements in Mining and Mineral Processing." This report rather comprehensively considers broad aspects of minerals associated with the solid fuels considered in this symposium and focuses attention on some problems of process mineralogy relative to these fuels. Papers have dealt with coal, oil shale, tar sands, and uranium minerals. Problems associated with mining, processing, and use of these materials have significant differences, but also have some factors in common relative to the subject of this symposium.

Jan 1, 1981

By Guiming Yang, Xiaoxian Huang, Zhiyun Ji, Min Gan, Lishun Yuan, Xiaohui Fan, Zhiyuan Yu

"The roasting characteristics of hematite pellets containing MgO were studied where magnesia powder, serpentine and magnesite were used as magnesium-additives respectively. The mechanical strength of both preheated and roasted pellets decreased when MgO content increased, which implied the addition of MgO had an adverse effect on pellet consolidation. By adding flux containing CaO, the mechanical strength of both preheated and roasted pellets were improved. The addition of calcium flux facilitated the formation of calcium ferrite and provided a certain amount of liquid phase, resulting in faster diffusion ofMg2+ and Fe3+. The result showed that diffusing speed of Mg2+ was enhanced by 1.48 times, and rate constant of Fe203 crystalline growth was enhanced by 62% when basicity was around 0.4. Improvement of mineralization degree and recrystallization of Fe203 assisted in consolidation of hematite pellets containing MgO.IntroductionOxidized pellets are ideal iron-bearing burdens in blast furnace. At present, magnetite is the main raw material for oxidized pellet production in China. However, as the rapid development of iron and steel industry, resources of magnetite have been depleted and cannot satisfy the requirement of pellet production. Using hematite concentrates to produce oxidized pellets has become a trend [1, 2]. Many pellet enterprises abroad nowadays have adopted high proportions of hematite concentrates when producing oxidized pellets, e.g. the percentage is 100% in a lot of Brazilian factories [3, 4]. But high proportion of hematite concentrates will lead to low mechanical strength and high reduction swelling index of pellets. Some studies show that Mg-bearing pellets have excellent metallurgical properties, and the reduction swelling phenomenon can be solved by adding fluxes containing MgO [5, 7]. However, there are problems such as low pellet strength and bad roasting characteristics for MgO-bearing pellets, which remains an obstacle in pellet industry. Hence, it's vital to undertake the study on strengthening measures for indurations of Mg-bearing hematite pellets."

Jan 1, 2013

By Yuanbo Zhang, Mingjun Rao, Guanghui Li, Chongzhong Ouyang, Shuhui Zhang

Oolitic hematite ore with high-phosphorus content is currently recognized as one of the most refractory iron ore resources in the world. The high-phosphorus content and unique structure of the oolitic hematite ore make it difficult to be beneficiated. The process of direct reduction followed by magnetic separation has significance to the utilization of oolitic hematite ore, and sodium salts can improve the dephosphorization. However, the behavior of phosphorus during reduction roasting, and the intensified dephosphorization mechanism of sodium salts are not clear. In this study, by using chemical analysis, chemical phase analysis, XRD analysis, optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy analyses, the behavior of phosphorus during reduction roasting of high-phosphorus content oolitic hematite ore and the effect of sodium salts on behavior of phosphorus were studied.

Jan 1, 2015

By Aiyuan Ma, Tu Hu, Chenyu Sun, Yonggang Zuo, Hongying Xia, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang, Yongguang Luo

"In this study, the adsorption characteristics of tannin acid in aqueous solution were investigated using regenerated activated carbon (AC), with the aim to remove the tannin acid organic matter from the solution after zinc hydrometallurgy and Ge precipitation. Results showed the temperature has little effect on the adsorption ability (q.) of the regenerated activated carbon. The experimental equilibrium data were tested for the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The adsorption equilibrium was better described by the Langmuir isotherm (R2 > 0.99). Pseudo first- and second-order kinetic models were used for describing kinetic data. It was determined that the kinetics of tannin acid removal was well fitted by second-order reaction.IntroductionGermanium recovery is a complex processes [1]. Hydrometallurgical processes are favoured and these are based on the precipitation of germanium as hydroxide or sulphide or alternately with tannic acid [2]. However, in the germanium recovery process, too much tannin is consumed by the germanium-tannins complexation process, and results in a high content of tannic acid remaining in solution, which is harmful to the valuable metal recovery [3]."

Jan 1, 2014

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

Viscosity of slag determines the production efficiency, energy consumption and distribution of elements between metal and slag, which is very important for pyrometallurgy. Slag of goldantimony ore blast furnace smelting has seldom been studied. In this paper, the viscosities of gold-antimony ore smelting slags of different composition have been studied by the rotating cylinder method. The results showed that, for a slag of 38.95% SiO2, 16.17% CaO, 25.97% FeO, 10.25% Al2O3, 5.17% MgO, the viscosity can be decreased by reducing 3.24%-8.5% SiO2 or increasing 3.31%-9.56% CaO content. Complex SixOy z- from SiO2 acts as the main cause for the high viscosity in a slag of high SiO2. The increasing of CaO causes the decreasing of the amount of SixOy z- and the O2- dissociated from CaO breaks the complex SixOy z-, which can decrease the viscosity. Viscosity of different composition slag in the appropriate range temperature can be calculated from the Arrhenius equation.

Jan 1, 2015

By Jilai Xue, Jun Zhu, Baisong Li

"TiB2-C/C Function Gradient Materials (FGM) is used in cathode materials to improve aluminum wettability and melt penetration in aluminum electrolysis. In this investigation, FGM was tested for use as part of the cathode materials, where a 10 mm thick TiB2-rich layer was on the top as an Al-wettable surface, the TiB2-C layers in the middle as a gradient layer and the carbon on the bottom as a base. Electrical resistances ofFGM were determined in the temperature range of25- 9600C in argon atmosphere. The results show that the present of TiB2-C gradient layer can reduce the open porosity and the electrical resistance of the cathodes materials at elevated temperatures. The cathode samples after aluminum electrolysis usually demonstrates an increase in electrical resistance, but the application of FGM layer can compensate such an increase for certain extend due to less variation in porosity and lower the level of melts penetration.IntroductionCarbon is still used for aluminum reduction cathodes dominantly, but it has a poor wetting properties by liquid aluminum and the anode-cathode distance has to be kept about 4-5cm with an additional 1.3-2.0 V voltage drop [l]. TiB2 has better wettability by liquid aluminum with higher electrical conductivity and stronger chemical resistance to the electrolyte attack. And the wettability ofTiB2-C composites cathode on liquid aluminum can be also improved, while liquid aluminum can completely wet the cathode surface ifTiB2 content exceeds 27% [2-4]. However, during the process of TiB2-C composites cathodes preparation and aluminum electrolysis, the deformation by temperature variation or sodium penetration are great disparity between TiB2 and carbon due to their physical properties difference. This will accelerate the cathodes cracking and deterioration."

Jan 1, 2013

By Wei Yu, Tiejun Chun, Jian Pan, Deqing Zhu

In this paper, improving the pelletization of Brazilian hematite by adding a boron bearing additive was carried out, and the pelletization parameters were also optimized. The mechanism of boron bearing additive was revealed in the kinetics of crystal grain growth by using LEICA microscopy and its software to measure hematite grain growth. Good qualities of green balls are manufactured with drop numbers above 5.7 times/0.5m, compressive strength higher than 13 N/pellet and thermal shock temperature over 620? under the following conditions: 1.2wt% bentonite, 0.4wt% boron bearing additive, 7wt% moisture and pelletizing in disc for 15 min. When the green balls were preheated at 1000? for 8 min and fired at 1280? for 15 min, the compressive strength of the fired pellets containing boron bearing additive is about 3096 N/pellet, which is far beyond the standard requirement for good quality pellets. Compared to the fired pellets without adding any boron bearing additives, the compressive strength of fired pellets containing boron bearing additive is increased by 1225 N/pellet. It is revealed that adding boron additive into the hematite pellets help to form more liquid phases, lower the activation energy of the hematite grain growth by 135.2 kJ/mol and increase grain growth rate by 33.6%, leading to higher strength of fired pellets due to forming more coarse and dense recrystallized hematite and energy saving by firing at lower temperatures for shorten time.

Jan 1, 2011