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By R. C. Wilmoth, R. D. Hill, R. B. Scott

A cost breakdown is given for reclamation and mine drainage abatement conducted by the Federal Water Quality Administration's demonstration project near Elkins, W. Va. Costs for construction of control measures have been developed and include backfilling strip mines, sealing subsidence areas, reconstructing stream channels, and installing mine seals to prevent the entrance of water and air.

Jan 1, 1973

By Booker Morey, Ashok Gupta

Amid controversy, the resource recovery industry is rapidly approaching its first commercial operations. Some of the problems are reviewed along with some of the important systems that are being developed for resource recovery. Market specifications for the inorganic fraction recovered from municipal solid waste are reviewed along with the details of the unit operations that have been tested.

Jan 1, 1976

By Dennis Peterson

INTRODUCTION The business arena has dramatically changed for most producers and consumers of commodities. International debt, currency shortages, political upheavals, etc., require corporations today to be sophisticated and flexible enough to change their purchasing and sales techniques in order to maximize returns. Many external factors, such as interest rates, trading partners, currency changes, and government edicts, can have an adverse effect on a company's bottom line. Totally out of a company's ability to control or predict, these. factors force the commodities based corporation to constantly re-evaluate its operating scope and domain. The principle of back-yard only operations and the laissez-faire with blinders style of management is no longer a viable way to run a business. The industrial world has been operating for the past 10 to 15 years as though there were no commodity nor raw material crisis. For developed countries the primary products sector has become marginal, whereas it was central in the first half of the century. A radical change in the method of doing business is necessary to offset a depression in the industrial economy. The risk of collapse may be heightened by a banking crisis caused by massive defaults on the part of commodity producing debtors, whether in the third world or in our own farm producing sector. The raw materials economy has become divergent with the industrial economy. This is a major change in the world economy with tremendous implications in both developed and developing countries for economic and social policies and economic theories. Basic competition issues, such as low labor costs, are likely to become less of an advantage in international trade. In developed countries these costs are going to account for a smaller portion of total costs. The total costs of automated processes are lower than those of traditional plants with low labor costs. Automation in the commodities sector eliminates the hidden but high cost of not processing at capacity created by poor quality, rejects and maintenance for product change-overs. The cost of capital will become increasingly important in international competition. Over the last ten years the U.S. has become the highest cost country in this area. Reversing the U.S. policy of high interest rates and costly equity capital should be a priority for management decision makers. In the rapid industrialization of this century, Japan developed by exporting raw materials, (principally, silk and tea), at steadily increasing prices. Germany developed by leap frogging into the high-tech industries, mainly in electricity, chemicals and optics. The United States did both. Both avenues are blocked for today's rapidly industrializing countries because (a) the deterioration of the terms of trade for primary products, and (b) it requires an infrastructure of knowledge and education far beyond the scope of a poor country. Many explanations exist for the explosion of international money flows. The shift from fixed to floating exchange rates in 1971 may have given initial impetus by inviting currency speculation. The surge in liquid funds flowing to petroleum producers after the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 was definitely a major cause. There can be little doubt that the U.S. government deficit also played a big role. The American budget deficit has become a massive void, sucking in liquid funds from all over the world and making the U.S. the world's major debtor country. In reality, a trade and payments deficit is actually a loan from the seller of goods and services to the buyer, that is, to the U.S. From now on, the global ramifications of business will have to be treated in economic theory and business policy alike. Economic theory teaches that the comparative advantage factors of a real economy determines operative and financial policy. These comparisons -- labor costs, productivity, raw materials cost, energy costs,

Jan 1, 1990

By W. L. Phillips

Single crystals of aluminum, brass, and copper oriented for (100) and (110) slip were extended at 25°, 400°, and 600°C in simple shear. Aluminum specimens oriented for nonoctahedral slip began to shear at a higher critical resolved shear stress than specimens oriented for octahedral slip. Parabolic stress-strain curves were obtained from zero strain. The initial rate of parabolic hardening was lower for specimens sheared on the (100) plane in a close-packed direction <110>, than for specimens sheared in a nonclose-packed direction <100>. metallographic evidence, however, showed that all slip traces could be explained in terms of (111) <100> slip. All attempts to cause nonoctahedral slip in copper and 70-30 a-brass single crystals were unsuccessful. Instead of shearing, the crystals bent, allowing {111} type planes to come into action. NONOCTAHEDRAL slip in aluminum has been reported under three different conditions: first, as the main mode of slip in tension experiments at elevated temperatures;&apos;-&apos; second, as the main mode of slip in direct shear experiments at room temperat~re; and third, as a minor mode of deformation, i.e., as cross-slip, in tension, shear, and bicrystal experiments at room and elevated temperatures."-l2 However, as far as the author knows, nonoctahedral slip has not been reported in either copper or 70-30 a-brass. The present study was undertaken to determine whether nonoctahedral slip could be obtained in aluminum, brass, or copper at room or elevated temperatures when the shear stress was approximately constant over the cross-section, a maximum at the center, or a maximum at the surface. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE A detailed description of the crystal preparation and shearing apparatus has been given previo~sly. Cylindrical crystals 1/2 in. in diam and 8 in. long were grown from the melt in a temperature-gradient furnace. The aluminum contained 0.001 pct Zn, 0.001 pct S, and 0.001 pct Fe; the 70-30 brass contained 0.015 pct Pb, 0.001 pct Fe, 0.01 pct Ni, 0.02 pct Sn, and 0.005 pct Se; the copper was certified OFHC of 99.98 pct purity. All samples were electropolished prior to testing. The shear apparatus was a modified Bausch type. The strain sensitivity was 4 x lob4 Load was applied by clamping the rods attached to the shear plates in an Instron tensile machine. The rate of loading was 0.02 in. per min. In all cases a 1/8-in. gage length was used. For the tests performed at 400° and 600°C the shear plates, collars, and rods were made of stainless steel. These elevated-temperature tests were performed in an argon atmosphere. A) Aluminum at Room Temperature. Values of a and ß for the various slip planes and slip directions investigated are shown in Table I where a is the complement of the angle between the specimen axis and the slip direction, and ß is the angle between the specimen axis and the normal to the shear plane. The shear stress is a function of a (assuming ß - 0);10 when a is less than 27 deg, the shear stress on the slip plane for which the specimen is oriented has a maximum at the center of the crystal; at a = 27 deg the shear stress is constant across the slip plane; for a greater than 27 deg the shear stress is a minimum at the center. Fig. 1 shows the stress-strain curves for specimens cut from crystals 1, 2, and 5, which were sheared on the (010) plane in the [loll direction at room temperature. These three crystals have shear-stress distributions corresponding to the three dif-

Jan 1, 1962

By P. M. Kelly, E. P. Butler

The stability of a 70/30 Mn-Cu alloy aged to peak damping has been investigated using electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and torsional pendulum measurements. Storage at room temperature or at 100" C causes a reduction in damping capacity. This is shown to be due to the formation of subdomains which "lock" the main domain structure and so hinder their movement. After storage the damping capacity can be restored by a retransformation treatment, which generates structures identical to those found in newly aged specimens. Plastic deformation by rolling also causes a decrease in damping capacity. In this case the damping capacity can only be restored by retransformation if the amount of deformation is less than about 5 pct. THE general metallography and structure of these high damping capacity alloys has been discussed in Part I of this work.1 Part II deals with some of the variables that affect the damping capacity. In particular, the stability of the damping capacity of a 70/30 alloy aged for 2 hr at 425° C and quenched has been investigated. The temperature sensitivity of the damping capacity of a 70/30 alloy aged for 2 hr at 450° C has been reported by Birchon.2 The damping capacity begins to decrease with increasing temperature, and is very low above the M, temperature of 125°C. The cubic — tetragonal transformation is completely reversible and there is no apparent thermal hysteresis associated with the change in damping capacity. Another important effect was first reported by Dean and his coworkers.3 They noticed a decrease in the damping capacity with time for specimens of a quenched tetragonal alloy. More recently workers at the Admiralty Materials Laboratory 4 have studied the stability of an aged 70/30 alloy. They found that the damping capacity decreased to half its original value after about 1000 hr at room temperature. EXPERIMENTAL The techniques used for electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction have been described in Part I. The damping capacity was measured by means of a torsional pendulum, using rectangular specimens, 3 by 0.3 mm with a 6 cm gage length. The specific damping capacity, S.D.C., was calculated as a percent amplitude decay in free vibrations over 10 cycles, starting at an amplitude which corresponded to a 700 psi surface shear stress. Because of the stress dependence of the damping,&apos; the values obtained were about a third those reported for a 5000 psi surface shear stress.&apos; RESULTS a) Effect of Aging Temperature. The effect of aging temperature on the damping capacity is shown in Fig. 1. The damping capacity reaches a peak of 12 pct after aging at 400° to 425°C) then begins to decrease as the volume fraction of a Mn increases. At higher aging temperatures the structure becomes cubic again with a low damping capacity. b) Stability of the Aged Structure. The damping capacity of the aged alloy decreases with time at room temperature. This process could be accelerated by storing at 100°C, when about 100 hr were required for the damping to fall to half its original value. The results of room temperature and 100°C storage, for times up to 1000 hr, are shown in Fig. 2. The damping capacity starts to decrease after about 24 hr at 18° C and 1 to 2 hr at 100°C. It was found, however, that the damping could be almost completely restored by retransformation. The specimens were held at a temperature above the M, for a short time, 250° C for 5 min, and then quenched. The values of damping capacity for specimens that were aged, stored, and then retransformed are shown by the full points in Fig. 2. X-ray measurements of the c/a ratio and hardness readings on the specimens did

Jan 1, 1969

By William J. Potter, Roger N. Pyle

Introduction The primary ingredient for survival of mining companies during a recessionary period is to be innovative and resourceful in the structuring and financing of operations. Over the past decade, many mining companies have had to retrench and restructure their operations and to redeploy their assets just to survive. During the same period, traditional sources of financing for mining companies -- commercial banks, subsidized export credit loans and long term straight debt financing in the public markets -- became less available and more expensive. Meanwhile, new markets and new financing instruments provided new alternatives for mining companies. Those companies which exploited these alternatives greatly enhanced their capacity for survival and even for profitability. This article considers the strategies adopted by some companies to adapt to changes in this recessionary environment; the inadequacy of traditional sources of financing; certain of the new financing instruments, structures and markets which have become available; and how several mining companies have utilized these new instruments, structures and financial markets to improve their competitive positions. THE IMPACT OF RECESSION ON MINING COMPANIES AND TRADITIONAL FINANCING SOURCES In its 1983 year-end article "The New Economic Order" Mining Journal characterized many of the large private sector mining companies with operations in the industrialized countries as being "gripped between the jaws of high working costs and stagnating metal commodity prices." The article went on to characterize the Canadian mining industry in particular as being "in the difficult position of having to seek to sell the bulk of its output in a world market characterized by over-capacity, where production costs were determined by internal political and economic factors while prices were set by external competitive forces of supply and demand." Miners of a wide range of commodities in the industrialized countries have come to realize that their domestic mineral resources are in many cases no longer competitive with global sources of supply. To compete and survive they would have to rely on their technical and financial expertise in mineral exploration and development and in mining and processing. Strategies For Survival Global competition has compelled management in the extractive industries to improve their worldwide cost position. This is the only means whereby a mining company can differentiate its product and attain a substantial competitive advantage. During the past decade, for example, ASARCO Inc. and Inco Ltd. chopped their payrolls, postponed expansion plans and otherwise retrenched. ASARCO reduced its capital expenditures and cash requirements for operations in 1984 to a level almost equal to its internally generated cash. The company&apos;s finances were also strengthened by increasing total lines of credit from outside sources, by selling common stock, and by reducing annual pension funding through a change in actuarial assumptions. Other companies returned to their traditional organizational structure where they had a demonstrated competitive strength. Consolidated Gold Fields, for instance, resumed its operation as a mining finance house. Its capital investment programs are now devoted solely to resource development. In mid-1984, at a time of firming zinc prices, Union Miniere S.A. used the opportunity to integrate its smelting capacity and to direct investment to certain subsidiaries at the expense of less viable operations. Smaller corporations realized that it was not enough just to be the low-cost producer. For example, Drummond Coal Company in Alabama, which dominates its regional market due to its low-costs, has also developed a world-wide trading capability and has placed incremental tonnage from its own mines as well as brokered coal produced by others, thereby minimizing capital risk. In Canada, Campbell Resources has exploited difficult times by acquiring assets cheaply. In the process it improved its capacity to withstand cyclical economic swings by diversifying from solely a copper and gold producer to a company based upon asbestos, coal, copper, gold and natural gas.

Jan 1, 1985

By F. R. Scauzillo

Equilibrium data which should be useful in the design and/or evaluation of glycol dehydration units were prepared from an analysis of various published data and the correlation of these data by the use of the thermo-dynamic equilibrium ratio. The equilibrium ratios of water are used to solve the glycol absorber problem; such solutions are necessary to define the number of trays and the glycol circulation rate needed to meet drying requirements. Activity coefficients were obtained which relate directly to the equilibrium ratios of water in the water-TEG-natural gas system. These activity coefficients have been used to calculate the equilibrium dew points for aqueous TEG concentrations of 60 to 99.9 weight per cent for the temperature range of 40° to 120° F. They also provide a means of calculating equilibrium ratios for water in the water-TEG-natural gas system; this applies to any desired TEG concentration and to the temperature range from 40° to 120°F. INTRODUCTION During the last several years, the drying of natural gas with aqueous triethylene-glycol (TEG) solutions has become very prominent. Most users of TEG as a drying agent have been satisfied with the performance of TEG solutions at the conditions used; however, there always has been some discussion of the drying ability of TEG solutions at conditions not commonly encountered such as temperatures below 50° or 60°F, but more particularly temperatures above 100°F, and pressures above 1,000 psia. Today, when higher wellhead temperatures such as 120°F are more commonly encountered many are skeptical of TEG&apos;s ability to dry sufficiently well to provide dew points around 32°F, which is generally the maximum tolerable when attempting to dry a gas to contract specifications of 7 Ib/MMscf. These views probably have evolved to some extent from the days when suppliers would not guarantee dew-point depressions in excess of 65° to 75 °OF. Also, the feelings about TEG drying may have arisen from the lack of information about the equilibrium relation of water in the drying operations. Porter and Reid&apos; have reported equilibrium data for a 95 per cent TEG solution, while Townsend2 reported equilibrium data for 95, 98 and 100 per cent TEG solutions. Townsend also presented a calculational method which obtains activity coefficients in the liquid phase and, subsequently, the equilibrium water content of a saturated gas over glycol from published3 atmospheric dew points. Wise, Puck and Failey&apos; presented activity data for the water-TEG system at atmospheric pressure. In the past, the equilibrium ratios published for water in a 95 per cent by weight aqueous TEG solution have been used indiscriminately by many for all concentrations of TEG encountered in gas drying operations. Since essentially all such gas operations require the use of more concentrated TEG solutions, a study was undertaken to correlate the existing equilibrium data for aqueous TEG and gas systems and to provide some means of calculating the equilibrium ratio of water in the natural gas-water-TEG system where TEG concentrations were other than 95 per cent. The data presented herein consider only the equilibrium drying ability of the TEG solutions and do not consider the effect of temperature and pressure on the tray eficiency of contactors. In other words, this paper is concerned primarily with the development of the equilibrium relationship between water in the dried natural gas and the water in the lean TEG entering the top tray of the absorber. BASIC EQUILIBRIUM RELATIONS A relationship which relates the K value of water in the natural gas-water-TEG system to the vapor pressure of water at the system temperature, the total pressure of the system and the activities of the liquid and gas phases has been evaluated. It is well known that, for any component of a mixture at equilibrium between a gas phase and a liquid phase,

By E. C. W. Perryman

IN spite of the large amount of work which has been carried out on the recrystallization of aluminum and its alloys, there has been no complete investigation of the recrystallization characteristics of A1-Mg alloys. The most complete investigation is that reported by Bungardt and Osswald&apos; who, working with commercial-purity materials, found that the temperature both of beginning and of complete recrystallization increased with magnesium content up to about 2 pct Mg, then decreased with a further increase in magnesium up to 5.0 pct, and thereafter increased again. Michaud and Segolz working with 99.93 pct A1 also found the temperature of beginning of recrystallization to decrease as the magnesium content increased from 2.13 pct to about 4.5 pct. Chossat3 using aluminum of 99.99 pct purity found that 0.12 pct Mg had no effect but that 0.4 pct Mg increased the recrystallization temperature by about 30°C. That no effect was found for 0.12 pct Mg does not agree with the later results reported by Demer and Beck4 who found that 0.025 pct Mg in 99.99 pct A1 increased the time for complete recrystallization and furthermore increased the activation energy for the recrystallization process. Kratz" using 99.997 pct A1 found that 0.5 pct Mg increased both the temperature of beginning and of complete recrystallization by 100°C. Chadwick and Hooper" working with commercial-purity material found that 1 pct Mg increased the temperature of complete recrystallization by about 40 °C for cold reductions in the range 17 to 72 pct. With smaller amounts of cold work produced by stretching (10 pct strain), they found no significant effect of magnesium. The latter result agrees with that obtained by Williams and Eborall&apos; who found no effect of 2 pct Mg on the recrystallization temperature of commercial-purity aluminum strained 10 pct or less by stretching. Experimental Procedure Material Used: The chemical analyses of the materials used throughout this investigation are given in Table I. Fabrication: The alloys were cast in iron molds which had been washed thoroughly with alumina. After scalping, the ingots were annealed for 16 hr at 450°C, pressed, annealed at 450°C for 16 hr and hot rolled to 0.25 in. After hot rolling, the slabs were alternately annealed and cold rolled to 0.036 in. Cold-rolling reductions between intermediate anneals were kept at about 30 pct and a high intermediate annealing temperature of 450°C was used so as to obtain, as nearly as possible, similar starting grain sizes for the different materials. All intermediate anneals were done in a salt bath and were followed by cold-water quenching so as to retain all the magnesium in solid solution. The final cold reductions investigated were 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 80 pct. The initial grain sizes, that is, the grain size before the final cold reduction, were all very similar. Annealing Procedure: Specimens, 1 in. sq, were cut from the 0.036 in. sheet and annealed in a salt bath, the temperature of which was controlled to k2"C. Separate specimens were annealed for different times at 350°, 375", 400°, and in one or two cases at 415°C and after annealing were quenched in cold water. The time taken for a specimen to reach temperature was approximately 5 sec. Metal-lographic examination after annealing showed that no precipitation of Mg+413 occurred during cooling. Procedures Used for Determining Recrystallization Characteristics: All specimens were electrolyti-cally polished and etched by the method described previously1° and polishing was continued until about 0.002 in. had been removed from each side of the specimen. Using this technique, the smallest recrys-tallized grain which could be observed with cer-

Jan 1, 1956

By J. S. Levine, M. Prats

Several methods are available for calculating the performance of solution-gas-drive reservoirs from the PVT properties of the oil and from the relative permeability and other properties of the formation. These methods require a number of simplifying assumptions. The present method of computation has made use of a high-speed computer to solve simultaneously the nonlinear partial differential equations that describe two-phase flow by solution-gas drive in order to calculate the performance of a reservoir. Some of the results obtained by the nonlinear partial differential equation solution are compared with those obtained with an approximate method, which has been called the semisteady-state solution. The pressure and saturation profiles from the wellbore to outer boundary calculated by the two methods are compared for one constant-terminal-rate case and two constant-teminal-pressure cases. The agreement in these profiles, as well as in the values of average reservoir pressure and cumulative recovery, leads to the conclusion that, for most engineering calculations, the semisteady-state method will give a reasonable approximation to the numerical solution of the differential equations describing solution-gas drive. An unfavorable (as regards ultimate oil production) set of relative permeability curves was used in the calculations in the belief that the effect of the parameters which were studied would be emphasized to a greater degree. Furthermore, the reservoir was assumed to be completely homogeneous, and these results should not be considered applicable to any other type of reservoir. Gravity effects are not considered. The absolute permeability was varied from 25 to 0.5 md. At an economic limit of 2 B/D, the recovery for a 25-md reservoir is about 1.8 times as great as that for a 0.5-md reservoir. The effect of permeability on the producing gas-oil ratio is minor. Once PVT properties of the oil and the relative penneability properties of the reservoir are fixed, the pro- during gas-oil ratio is found to be a function of the fraction of oil recovered. Well spacings of 10, 40 and 80 acres were considered. For the assumed homogeneous-reservoir properties, the effect of spacing on recovery at an economic limit of 2 B/D was very slight. Certain dimensionless groups can be used to extend the results to other fields having different penneabilities, spacings, reservoir thicknesses, well radii and porosities, so long as the PVT and relative permeability properties are similar to those used in this paper. INTRODUCTION An important aspect of reservoir engineering is the prediction of the performance of the reservoir based on the limited information normally available early in the life of a field. Usually, soon after a field has been discovered, it is necessary to decide upon the spacing to be employed and the production program to be used for most efficient utilization of reservoir energy. Where these decisions have not been dictated by legal or political considerations, they have frequently been based on experience factors which indicate that two fields with similar characteristics will probably have similar performances. To the extent that the industry has been successful in economically exploiting oil reservoirs, this rule-of-thumb method has been found to have merit. A large amount of theory has been developed with which it is possible to predict the performance of a reservoir by using certain known properties of the oil and the formation. Because of the difficulties of the mathematics involved for a drainage area having square or rectangular boundaries, the problem usually has been simplified and idealized by assuming each drainage area to have radial symmetry and the field to be represented by a number of these drainage areas. Muskatl was one of the first to formulate the theory for two-phase flow and to solve the equations for a few cases by numerical integration, using the relatively slow means of computing available at that time. His equations describing

By E. H. Lee, F. J. Fayers

Problems in reservoir analysis can usually he cupressed in terms of a system of nonlinear partial difjerential equations. A rnethod for .setting physically reasonable boundary conditions for these systerrls by ayplication of the theory of characteristics is discussed. A short description i.c. given of the technique for finding chnmcteristics of general first order and second orrler equations. Specific examples are quoted jrorn eqrrations occurring in theoretical reservoir studies. The princip1e. ossocicred wit11 the use of chnracteristic to set physically realistic boundary conditions me developed, and thr method is discussed in terms of boundary condition for the noncupillary, compressible, two-phase flow problen: jor the cupillary, ir~cowlpressible, two-phase flow problems for the tlrtergent flooding prohlenl; as for the compressible. noncapillary, two-phase flow pro11letn. INTRODUCTION In most problcms in reservoir analysis the physical situation is described by a system of nonlinear partial differential equations. The general solution to the set of equations usually comprises a wide range of functions ancl a particular solution is normally selectetl by applying suitable boundary conditions to the problem. In some cases it is clear from the physical situation what form the boundary conditions should take, but it is usually desirable to have an independent mathematical check of the suitability of the chosen conditions. From the mathematical standpoint, a system of partial differential equations with boundary conditions is said to be properly set if the combination determines a unique solution which is continuously dependent on the equation and the boundary conditions. Such a solution is sometimes termed "reasonable". In investigating the properties of the mathematical representation, it is useful to determine the structure of the system by the application of the theory of characteristics. This theory determines in the space of the independent variables, lines or surfaces which play a special role in thc system&apos;s behavior. The characteristics determine the possibility and nature of the propagation of discontinuities in the derivatives of the dependent variables. Along the characteristics certain differential relations hold which for some problems allow a so- lution to be obtained analytically. In the case of hyperbolic equations the characteristics can bc used as 3 basis for a numerical solution. If a complicated nonlinear system is to be solved, a study of behavior of the characteristics will indicate what boundary conditions should be chosen. By using the method of characteristics, several advances have rccently been made in solving reservoir engineering problems. Sheldon, Zondek and Cardwell&apos; have discussed how the the method may be used grap-phically to solve the incompressible two-phase displaccmerit problem when the gravity term is included in the equations. Fayers and Perrine&apos; have applied the method to study the equations representing detergent flooding. When compressibility and solution-gas effects are introduced into the two-phase flow problem, the equations and their characteristics become more complicated. It will be seen that in this problem the characteristics are useful for indicating a reasonable set of boundary conditions but cannot readily be used to compute a numerical solution. This problem has been solved on the IBM 701 using normal finite difference methods hy West, Garvin and Sheldon." The material to be prcscntcd in this report is divided into three sections. The first discusses the determination of the characteristics of first and second order partial differential equations; the second describes the selection of suitable boundary conditions by the application of the principle that the future cannot affect the past; the third discusses the use of characteristics for setting the boundary conditions of the two-phase solution-gas flow problem. A useful introduction to the method of characteristics has been given by Hildebrand.&apos; A summary of the method will be given in this section of the paper. The First Order Equation The quasi-linear equation of first order is It is linear in the partial derivations of z. The properly linear equation has the form The characteristics of are curves along which the

By R. E. Goodman, M. A. Mahtab

The, state of stress around a vertical wellbore in rock following nonlinear stress-strain laws is examined by means of finite element analysis. The wellbore, is considered an axisymmetrier body with axisymmetric loading. The initial vertcal and borizontal stresses are "locked" in the rock elements around the wellbore and a new state of stress is generated by the displacements which occur around the borehole. A point-uise variation of the elastic moduli is made on the basis of the new stress state and the triaxial data. The initial stresses tire now reintroduced along with tile changed moduli and original boundary constraints. This procedure is repeatrd until convergent stresses are reached. The effect of nonlinearity on streases is examined for a 6,000-ft wellbore in a scbistose gnezss and Berea sandstone using results of laborratory triaxial compression tests. The results sbou that the effect is restrited to one well radius from the bottom periphery of the bole. Beyond a distance of one-quarter radius, the elfect of nonlinearity on stresscs IS almost always less than percent for the cases conszdered, The consideration of a static pressure inside the well does not magnify the effect of monlinearity on borehole stresscs. INTRODUCTION The terms " wellbore" and "borehole" here designate cylindrical openings in the ground with vertical axis and a circular cross-section. A knowledge of the stress redistribution that occurs on excavating a wellbore is important in understanding (1) the behavior of the lined or unlined hole, (2) hydraulic fracture response, and (3) the effect of stress redistribution on drillability; also it is important in predicting initial stresses in the virgin ground, and in analyzing the response of measuring instruments placed in the borehole. Our knowledge of the state of stress around a wellbore has been restricted to homogeneous, isotropic, elastic material and derives chiefly from the analysis by Miles and Toppingl and the photoelastic work of Galle and Wilhoit2 and Word and Wilhoit.3 In this investigation the state of stress is examined for a nonlinear elastic material by means of finite element analysis. Many rocks possess stress-strain curves that depart notably from straight lines in their initial or final portions. While the literature contains abundant stress-strain data from triaxial tests (axisymmetric loading) on cylindrical rock specimens, there is little information on rock deformability under nonaxisymmetric loading conditions such as occur at each point around the bottom of a wellbore. Although there is some knowledge of the effect of intermediate principal stress on rock strength, there is virtually nothing known about its effect on rock deformability; therefore, we have assumed here that the effect of intermediate principal stress can be ignored. A schistose gneiss4 and Berea sandstone5 were selected as representative rocks for this analysis. The traditional graphs of deviator stress (ol -o3) vs axial strain were reworked to give the tangent modulus as a function of the deviator stress for varying values of the minor principal stress. The result is a nesting family of skewed, bell-shaped curves for tile gneiss (Fig. 1A) and the sandstone (Fig. 2A). A similar replotting of the lateral strain data defines the variation of Poisson&apos;s ratio (v) with the deviator stress and confining pressure. These curves, shown in Fig. 1B for the gneiss and in Fig. 2B for the sandstone, are not so well ordered as the tangent modulus curves. However, all of these display an increase of v with deviator stress application, but the rate of increase diminishes with confinement. The ET and v curves for the two rock types are tabulated in Tables 1A and 1A for use in a digital computer so that material properties corresponding to a given state of stress can be assigned by interpolation. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Given a state of stress in the ground prior to drilling a hole (initial stresses), we assume that

Jan 1, 1969

By H. W. Mead, C. E. Birchenall

The rates of growth of graphite nodules in cast irons are calculated for a model of a growing graphite sphere surrounded by a shell of austenite through which carbon and iron are diffusing. The carbon is supplied by a cementite-austenite mixture at the outer edge of the shell. The calculated rates from carbon diffusion agree fairly well with the measured values, but the rates based on iron self-diffusion are much too low. Because the iron must be removed for the process to continue, o plastic deformation mechanism is suggested. THERE has been an unfortunate tendency in the literature of growth and dissolution reactions to identify the slope of a plot of the logarithm of the growth or dissolution rate vs reciprocal of temperature with the activation energies determined by diffusion measurements in chemically similar systems. If the solubility limits at the growing or dissolving phase interfaces change appreciably with temperature, such procedures may lead to serious errors in specifying the mechanisms controlling the rates of these processes. A reaction involving the simultaneous growth of graphite from and dissolution of cementite in austenite will be discussed here to show that substantial oversimplifications have been made in earlier studies of this process. From a dilatometric study of the overall y-range graphitization process, Bunin and Danil&apos;chenko&apos; found an apparent activation energy of 90 kcal per g-atom. They concluded that, since this value was much nearer the approximately 68 kcal per g-atom observed for self-diffusion in pure iron than it was to 32 kcal per g-atom for diffusion of carbon in iron, the rate-controlling process must be the diffusion of iron away from the growth interface to provide space for graphite to grow. Bunin and Salli&apos; bolstered this agreement with the observation that graphite forms preferentially at surfaces, cracks, and pores where free volume is present initially. Ziegler, Meinhart, and DeaconQ ad found an apparent activation energy for graphitization of 98 kcal per g-atom. This value, like that of Bunin and Danil&apos;chenko, applies to nucleation and growth occurring simultaneously. It is not generally assumed that nucleation is entirely diffusion-controlled. Treatments such as prior cold-working and prequenching, which strongly affect the rate of graphitization, would be expected to have little effect on diffusion processes occurring at the graphitization temperature. In any case 90 kcal per g-atom is not particularly close to the 54 kcal or lower to be expected for diffusion of iron which is carbon-saturated.&apos; The presence of silicon in iron is said to reduce the activation energy for diffusion,&apos; so its presence in cast irons would be expected to have a similar effect. The growth rates of nearly spherical graphite nodules have been studied by Brown and Hawkes." The initial rate of growth before impingement of adjacent carbon-depleted areas was found to be parabolic, and rate constants were measured at several temperatures. Their apparent activation energy for the growth process only was roughly 45 kcal per mol. Burke and Owen&apos; made growth-rate measurements on several alloys, recording appreciable induction periods, initial nucleation rates, and average radial growth rates based on an assumed linear rate of radial growth. They found that increased silicon content increases the ovel-all reaction rate and the initial rate of nucleation, and decreases the induction period. Assuming 1) spherical nodules. 2) constant volume rate of nucleation, 3) austenite in equilibrium with cementite at positions where the cementite is not depleted, and 4) a constant diffusion distance during the growth of a nodule, they calculated an apparent overall activation energy of 68 kcal per mol, which was related to an activation energy for nucleation of 79 kcal per mol and activation energy

Jan 1, 1957

By J. A. Herbst, D. W. Fuerstenau

This paper examines the zero order production phenomenon in the context of the size discretized batch grinding model. A restrictive interrelationship between the selection and breakage parameters of the model, which is mathematically sufficient to ensure zero order behavior, is delineated. Based on this interrelationship, a scheme is developed for predicting the values of the selection and breakage parameters for all size fractions from a minimum of experimental data. To test this scheme, dolomite was ground in a laboratory batch ball mill. Successful simulation of the comminution behavior of this system was achieved using the batch grinding model with the parameter values obtained from the proposed scheme. Historically, a preponderance of comminution research has centered on attempts to relate breakage energy to the performance of comminution machines. Concomitantly, grinding data were interpreted almost exclusively in terms of inherently empirical energy-size reduction relationships1-3 or "laws of comminution"4- 6 which were based on highly oversimplified descriptions of the fracture process. In some instances, these relationships provide a crude basis for the correlation of experimental data, but, invariably, this approach is inadequate for meaningful process simulation. The control and optimum design of comminution circuits require a mathematical model capable of depicting the size reduction behavior of every size fraction for grinding conditions of technological importance. Energy-size relationships do not provide this detailed information. For example, an energy-size analysis for batch ball-milled dolomite has recently been completed in the authors&apos; laboratories.7 This analysis provided a satisfactory correlation between the hypothetical size modulus, which characterizes only the finer portion of the size distribution, and the input energy. However, this relation did not constitute an adequate description of the complete system. In general, one of two distinct viewpoints toward simulation has been adopted in recent comminution research. The first approach focuses on the fracture of single mineral specimens, with the essential aim of representing the over-all process in terms of the breakage characteristics of individual particles and the characteristics of the stress field which the particles experience within the particular size reduction device. As illustrated by Harris&apos;s review,&apos; the actual incorporation of single-specimen fracture information into a description of the behavior of a multiparticle comminution system has seldom been attempted. The only model to accomplish this incorporation was the one developed by Schönert.8 The Schonert model treats single-passage grinding machines in terms of a distribution of effective loads acting on a particle, a distribution of required particle breakage energies, and the breakage product distribution. However, the use of single-particle fracture behavior to derive models of the size reduction process is at present limited to machines in which the particle residence time is approximately equal to the time required to apply stress. As a result, Schönert&apos;s analysis cannot be used to advantage to simulate the complex environment which prevails within a tumbling mill. For multiple-passage systems a second approach to the description of comminution processes has been more fruitful. This approach entails the formulation of a mathematical model which is phenomenological in nature in that it lumps together the entire spectrum of stress-application events which prevail in a system under a given set of operating conditions. The appropriately defined average of these individual events is then considered to characterize the over-all breakage properties of the device. Thus, to analyze the performance of a tumbling mill, the manner in which the particles of a particular size (or size fraction) are stressed need not be distinguished. Instead, a single parameter is assumed to represent the resistance of that size to fracture, given the average grinding environment which exists in the mill. The isolation of such a parameter and a related set of quantities, which constitute the breakage product size distribution for the average event in this size fraction, allows the formulation of physically meaningful descriptive equations capable of yielding precise and detailed information for simulation.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. D. Forrester, Erich Sarapuu, T. C. Cheasley

John G. Tripp-—The concept of converting fuel deposits in-situ to useful forms of energy and chemical raw materials has important possibilities as a means of stretching out our fuel resources. The authors have worked in this field for years and in fact are among the pioneers in developing in-situ techniques based on underground electrocarbonization. Their efforts have aroused great interest in this subject and their contributions will undoubtedly gain even more significance as time goes on. The 4 to 5 billion tons of petroleum are proved reserves, that is, they are completely defined and could be produced economically with present methods of recovery. Reserves of coal, tar sands, and oil shale shown in Table I are not equivalent to proved reserves as the term is used in the oil industry. Incidentally, the 4.3 billion tons of oil shown in the tabulation is equal to about 28 billion barrels of oil and, therefore, presumably does not include reserves of natural gas liquids estimated at about 5 billion barrels. The relative comparisons would be more complete if these liquids together with the reserves of natural gas were included in the tabulation. It is stated in the report that production costs of the order of 10c per million Btu&apos;s could be expected from a large industrial electrocarbonization installation. The authors state that the operation probably could be operated successfully and at a profit. I would like to express my view that for the operation to be profitable extremely favorable conditions would have to prevail. For example, the coal seam would have to be thick and close to the surface in order to minimize drilling costs; the deposit should be dry and so situated that there would be little, if any, inflow of ground water; and the seam would have to be relatively gas tight to avoid excessive gas leakage. Notwithstanding the tremendous strides that have already been made, it is my hope that the authors plan to continue their development work. Experiments on underground electrolinking and initial carbonization at Gorgas, Ala., indicate a need for improved control over the operation. Subsequent examination of the underground system at Gorgas has shown that the gasification zone did not always follow a direct path between the electrodes. Undoubtedly the control of the in-situ thermal processes can be improved by further development work. With respect to the electrocarbonization of oil shale it may be well to point out that the cost of mining oil shale is estimated to be 50c to 60c per ton. These are low mining costs as compared to coal. Thus it would appear that there is less economic incentive for applying in-situ thermal methods to oil shale than there is for applying these methods to coal. As is the case with in-situ methods for petroleum, the product from the shale having the most economic interest would be liquid oil rather than gas. The authors point out that for distances up to several hundred miles it is cheaper to transmit energy as electricity than it is to ship energy as coal. This is a very important point, and with coal shipping rates rising periodically, it could prove increasingly important in the future. I believe that the authors deserve great credit for their outstanding work on underground electrocarbonization. The knowledge resulting from their efforts is of great value to our fuels technology. James L. Elder—The experimental work conducted by the authors on the electrolinking-carbonization of carbonaceous materials in situ is of great interest. The method is of great importance in the development

Jan 1, 1955

By W. I. Duvall

A brief review of the resonant frequency and ultrasonic pulse methods for obtaining elastic constants of rock samples shows that the equations for an iso-tropic elastic solid commonly used to calculate Young&apos;s modulus, modulus of rigidity and Poisson&apos;s ratio can result in appreciable error if the rock is even slightly anisotropic. Consideration of the equations that relate bar velocities and free medium velocities to elastic constants for orthotropic, transversely isotropic and isotropic solids shows that a combination of the two methods can be used to determine average elastic constants for a single sample of rock. The determination of elastic constants in different directions requires a large number of tests on oriented samples. The use of both the resonant frequency and ultrasonic pulse methods is recommended so that the determination of both Young&apos;s modulus and modulus of rigidity is independent of the determination of Poisson&apos;s ratio. The dynamic elastic constants of rock can be determined in the laboratory from measurements on small samples which may be in the form of right circular cylinders (diamond drill core). Either the resonant frequency6 or ultrasonic pulse method1 can be used to determine the longitudinal and shear velocities in the same specimen. The resonant frequency method provides a measure of the longitudinal bar velocity, V,, and the torsional bar velocity Vt; whereas the ultrasonic pulse method provides a measure of the free medium longitudinal velocity, Vp, and the free medium shear velocity, V, . The elastic constants (Young&apos;s modulus E, modulus of rigidity G, and Poisson&apos;s ratio v) are calculated from the density of the specimen, p, and one of the pairs of velocities by means of equations from isotropic elastic theory. For the resonant frequency method the equations are: It should be noted that Eq. 5 is derived from Eq. 4 and 6 and the relation between the elastic constants for an isotropic solid as given by the first part of Eq. 3. The in situ determination of dynamic elastic constants is accomplished by generating a complex seismic pulse in the rock and measuring the arrival times for the longitudinal and shear phases of the pulse at two distant points.5 From these travel times and the distance of the travel path both Vp and Vs are determined. The density of the rock is determined from samples in the laboratory, and Eq. 4 to 6 are used to calculate the elastic constants. These three methods involve the assumption of isotropy and perfect elasticity, and require the use of the relation v = (E/2G) - 1, which holds only if the elastic constants are the same in at least two directions. The calculation of v by means of Eq. 3 introduces considerable error, as a 1% error in V, and V, results in a 20% error in v. If frequencies for samples with a length-to-diameter ratio greater than four and a length greater than 8 in. are measured carefully, the experimental error can be kept to 1%. However, it is not unreasonable to expect that the variation in Vb and Vt with direction may exceed 1%. Thus, for even a small percentage of anisotropy the use of Eq. 3 can result in considerable error in v. The calculation of v by Eq. 5 also involves some uncertainty as a 1% error in Vs and Vp can result in a 6% error in v. By means of the pulse method both

Jan 1, 1965

By David C. N. Cockburn

INTRODUCTION This paper analyses certain of the financial considerations which will commonly apply in relation to the following questions: - what equity structure or project vehicle should be adopted for the exploration and/or exploitation of a project by more than one unrelated participant? - what vehicle should be adopted by a participant for its participation in a multiparty project? Due to local, politically motivated laws in certain jurisdictions, or due to the overriding requirements of a dominant participant, there may be little choice of the underlying multiparty structure which may be adopted for the exploration, appraisal and/or development phases of a project. Nevertheless, even in such circumstances, attention should be given, at least in the preparation of the related documentation, or in considering methods of participating or funding the project, to certain of the points discussed below. This discussion of financial considerations in the context of the more commonly adopted multiparty structures concentrates primarily on fiscal, financial accounting, financing and funding aspects. TYPES OF PROJECT VEHICLE FOR MULTIPARTY INTERESTS The well known types of vehicle adopted for the participation in a project by more than one participant (assuming that the participants are effectively unrelated) are as follows. Joint Venture (unincorporated joint venture) By far the most commonly adopted structure for mining ventures, a joint venture is usually defined and documented in terms to distinguish it from a partnership for important tax and legal reasons. In essence, this is a contractual association of more than one participant to carry out a specific commercial project or purpose. The relationship between the separate participants and their respective rights, interests, obligations and liabilities are agreed between the participants in one or more contracts (viz Joint Venture Agreements or Joint Operating Agreements together with ancillary documentation). Unlike other project vehicles of participation, in most jurisdictions there is no specific body of law governing joint ventures. The participants thus enjoy contractual freedom to negotiate whatever deal they may wish between themselves. Jointly-Owned Project Company (corporate joint venture) A very familiar vehicle, this is a separate and distinct legal and tax entity incorporated under the company laws of the place of incorporation to undertake specific objects, and granted specific powers, in relation to the Project. Although certain rights, interests and obligations may be circumscribed in the governing corporate instruments by the promoter participants, the corporation laws of the relevant place of incorporation, and the selection of such governing laws (assuming freedom of choice) and future political changes in such corporate laws, should be carefully considered. The use of a company in a multiparty structure may be peripheral to the project itself as a specific purpose vehicle (for example, a joint sales agent or marketing company or a joint borrowing vehicle) or it may form a central function such as in the case of a tolling company which will own the project for legal and taxation purposes and raise financing with the backing of the shareholder participants commonly by the adoption of take-off, throughput and/or user agreements. Partnership This is a legal relationship, subject to the often wide-sweeping restrictions of the relevant local partnership laws, under which the participants have agreed to carry on a business venture together with a view to profit. The effect of the relevant partnership laws, as well as the various types of partnerships and the

Jan 1, 1985

By John R. Caldon

INTRODUCTION Leasing has become a major industry in many countries because of the advantages it affords. Whilst the accounting, legal and tax treatment of leasing varies from country to country, there is far more similarity than difference. The general approach to the subject is largely the same. This paper looks to the basic financial considerations in the decision to lease or buy. TYPES OF LEASES Before embarking upon the subject, it would seem appropriate to define a "lease". A lease may be defined as: "an agreement granting one party the right to use, for a specified period of time, property owned by another party in return for a series of payments of rental by the user to the owner&apos;&apos;. Ownership, of course, generally entitles the owner to unrestricted use of the asset over its useful life in contrast to a lease which gives the lessee use over a limited period. The distinction between the status of owner and a lessee often is fairly small. In this case we are dealing with what is generally termed a "finance lease". A finance lease is one which substantially transfers the risks and benefits of ownership from the legal owner to the lessee. For example, a finance lease would exist where the lessee enters into a lease of an asset for most of its useful life and has an option to buy the asset at the end of the lease for a price which takes cognisance of the rentals already paid. Where a lease does not substantially transfer the benefits and risks of ownership to the lessee, i.e. those benefits and risks remain with the owner and lessor, the lease is termed an "operating lease" and is an agreement for the renting and usage by the lessee of an asset owned by the lessor for a limited period. An example of an operating lease might be where a tenant leases a building for a defined period say 6 years with the rent and occupancy subject to renegotiation at the end of the lease term. The economic consequences of the distinction between a finance and an operating lease is very important. With a finance lease, the lessee has a de facto economic interest in the asset and the alternative to a finance lease is some form of purchase; with an operating lease, the lessee does not have a basic economic interest in the asset and consequently a comparison with a purchase option involves far more than simply a funding comparison. Some of the principal differences between finance and operating leases can be summarised as follows: (a) finance leases: -the risks and benefits of ownership are substantially transferred to the lessee; -the lessor normally recovers his investment during the term of the lease; -the lessor in entering into the transaction is relying more on the creditworthiness of the lessee than the underlying value of the asset; - the lease is either non-cancellable or a large penalty will apply for unilateral cancellation by the lessee; (b) operating leases -the risks and benefits of ownership remain essentially with the lessor; -the lease rental income would not normally cover the recovery of the lessor&apos;s investment; -the lessor evaluates his risk in terms of the underlying value of the assets;

Jan 1, 1985

By Albert S. Trube

Increasing emphasis is being placed on the necessity for obtaining reasonably accurate estimates of the physical properties of reservoir fluids well in advance of more accurate laboratory data. One such factor is the isothermal coefficient of expansion of an undersaturated hydrocarbon liquid which may be contained in a particular reservoir. This coefficient, or liquid "compressibility", has often been assumed to be relatively insensitive and nearly constant. Although this assumption may be nearly correct in the case of high specific gravity liquids, it cannot apply in the case of medium to low specific gravity liquids. Any treatment of the nature of liquid compressibilities must give consideration to the variable nature of the isothermal expansion coefficient and the fact that it can be both pressure sensitive and temperature sensitive. The isothermal coefficient of expansion, or compressibility, of a substance is defined as -c = 1/V (?V/?p)T......(1) The value of Eq. 1 may be approximated for a finite pressure change by using the well-known relation, c = V1 - V1/Ve (p2-p1), ........(2) in which p1 > p1 and V2 > V2 and V1 + V2/2. The instantaneous compressibility may also be estimated from the slope of a curve on which log V is plotted vs pa. In this instance, it has been shown that c = In V1/V2/p2-p1 ...........(3) Eq. 3 may be used for variable compressibilities by plot-ting V vs p on semi-log paper. In this case, the instan-taneous or point compressibility is c = 2.303 m.......... . (4) in which m is the slope of the curve at a point in log cycles per psi. ISOTHERMAL COMPRESSIBILITY OF UNDERSATURATED LIQUID In the case of gases, the compressibility has been defined by Muskat&apos; and others as Co = 1/p - ?z/z?p ..........(5) This was later generalized through application of the theorem of corresponding states&apos; to co = 1/pr - (?z/z?pr) T8 ........(6) in which c, is defined as the pseudo-reduced compres-sibility and is numerically equal to (c.p,) and the sign is arbitrarily changed for mathematical convenience. Eq. 6 is general and applies to gases and liquids. In the case of liquids, c. = c1,pe, but if Eq. 6 is used, values of z and ?z/?p, must be determined for the liquid in question. The difficulty of obtaining accurate values of ?z/?p,, particularly in the region where T, is approaching 1.00, was pointed out in the previous paper&apos;. This method of approach is unreliable for extension into computations of liquid compressibilities. On the other hand, c, can also be defined as follows: - Cr = 1/Vr (?Vr/?pr) Tr ......(7) and from which, Cr = 1/pr (?pr/?pr) Tr .....(8) In accordance with the theorem of corresponding states, Vr = V/Vr, p, = p/pr and pr = p/pr. Ref. 2 pro-vides an excellent source of reduced density, reduced pressure and reduced temperature data for a wide variety of fluids. For the purpose of this investigation, the set of fluids2 having ze = 0.27 was chosen because it in-cludes most of the heavier hydrocarbons usually found in those complex mixtures loosely defined as "reservoir oils". Data on undersaturated liquids in Ref. 2 were rearranged to conform with Eq. 8. To simplify the computation of cr, the isothermal p, data were plotted vs the log of pr, in which case for any straight line or tangent cr = 1/M pr pr .....(9)

Jan 1, 1958

By S. A. Falconer

This paper deals with the practical application of the Dutch State Mines cyclone separator for fine-coal cleaning. The more important operating variables are discussed, and results of a number of continuous-scale tests on various fine coals with a 6-in. cyclone separator are given. Descriptions of the Cyanamid Pilot Plant and the 50 tph Cyclone Separator Plant at the Emma Washery in Holland are included. TODAY, as never before, the coal producers of this country are faced with the necessity for obtaining maximum yield of marketable coal of all sizes down to and including the finest. Particular interest is being displayed in a more effective means of recovering the finer sizes which in the past so often have been discarded to waste or treated by inadequate equipment. The reasons for this interest are easily understood. Rising mining costs have resulted in the increased use of mechanized equipment underground for full seam mining. This, in turn, means more refuse in the run-of-mine and also more fines in the feed going to the cleaning plant. Stringent antistream pollution laws now make it necessary at least to impound the fines, and usually it is a paying proposition to recover the coal from these fines before sending them to the storage area. Finally, the market and price of the finer sizes has increased, but at the same time specifications have tightened and the demand is for higher grade products. During the past four years a great deal of publicity has been given to this new process and apparatus for treating fine sizes of ores as well as coal. Excellent discussions of the apparatus itself and the theoretical aspects of the basic operating principles involved in its operation have been presented by M. G. Driessen,1-3 M. R. Geer and H. F. Yancey,4,5 J. W. Hyer6 and more recently by D. A. Dahlstrom8 as well as others.7,9-11 In view of this, it has been decided to include in the present paper only a brief description of the cyclone separator and its operating principles. This paper deals primarily with some of the more practical commercial aspects of the process and equipment required for its operation; the variables in the operation of the cyclone, their effect and means for control; and the results obtained with a 6-in. semicommercial size separator on a variety of fine coals, bituminous and anthracite, using finely ground magnetite for the separating medium solids. A description is included of the commercial-size cyclone separator pilot plant installed by the Dutch State Mines at its Emma mine in Holland, where finely ground slate is utilized as medium solids. Field of Application: The Dutch State Mines cyclone separator operates most efficiently on ores and coal in the size range of % in. to about 48 mesh. On some types of feed, effective separation can be made on sizes as small as 100 mesh, but up to the present, this may be considered exceptional. Depending upon the type of medium used, the specific gravities of separation can be varied within wide limits, up to as high as 2.70, if magnetite is used as medium. Early Development: The development of the Dutch State Mines cyclone as a separator, or cleaner, was the outgrowth of early experimental work by Dries-sen&apos; and others in Holland, just prior to World War 11, in the course of which was discovered the effectiveness of the cyclone in reclaiming and thickening the dense medium used in the "Loess" process of

Jan 1, 1951

By S. A. Falconer

This paper deals with the practical application of the Dutch State Mines cyclone separator for fine-coal cleaning. The more important operating variables are discussed, and results of a number of continuous-scale tests on various fine coals with a 6-in. cyclone separator are given. Descriptions of the Cyanamid Pilot Plant and the 50 tph Cyclone Separator Plant at the Emma Washery in Holland are included. TODAY, as never before, the coal producers of this country are faced with the necessity for obtaining maximum yield of marketable coal of all sizes down to and including the finest. Particular interest is being displayed in a more effective means of recovering the finer sizes which in the past so often have been discarded to waste or treated by inadequate equipment. The reasons for this interest are easily understood. Rising mining costs have resulted in the increased use of mechanized equipment underground for full seam mining. This, in turn, means more refuse in the run-of-mine and also more fines in the feed going to the cleaning plant. Stringent antistream pollution laws now make it necessary at least to impound the fines, and usually it is a paying proposition to recover the coal from these fines before sending them to the storage area. Finally, the market and price of the finer sizes has increased, but at the same time specifications have tightened and the demand is for higher grade products. During the past four years a great deal of publicity has been given to this new process and apparatus for treating fine sizes of ores as well as coal. Excellent discussions of the apparatus itself and the theoretical aspects of the basic operating principles involved in its operation have been presented by M. G. Driessen,1-3 M. R. Geer and H. F. Yancey,4,5 J. W. Hyer6 and more recently by D. A. Dahlstrom8 as well as others.7,9-11 In view of this, it has been decided to include in the present paper only a brief description of the cyclone separator and its operating principles. This paper deals primarily with some of the more practical commercial aspects of the process and equipment required for its operation; the variables in the operation of the cyclone, their effect and means for control; and the results obtained with a 6-in. semicommercial size separator on a variety of fine coals, bituminous and anthracite, using finely ground magnetite for the separating medium solids. A description is included of the commercial-size cyclone separator pilot plant installed by the Dutch State Mines at its Emma mine in Holland, where finely ground slate is utilized as medium solids. Field of Application: The Dutch State Mines cyclone separator operates most efficiently on ores and coal in the size range of % in. to about 48 mesh. On some types of feed, effective separation can be made on sizes as small as 100 mesh, but up to the present, this may be considered exceptional. Depending upon the type of medium used, the specific gravities of separation can be varied within wide limits, up to as high as 2.70, if magnetite is used as medium. Early Development: The development of the Dutch State Mines cyclone as a separator, or cleaner, was the outgrowth of early experimental work by Dries-sen&apos; and others in Holland, just prior to World War 11, in the course of which was discovered the effectiveness of the cyclone in reclaiming and thickening the dense medium used in the "Loess" process of

Jan 1, 1951