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By Kandalla Ravindranath, C. C. Patel

Studies of the adsorption of dialkyldithiocarbamates at the surfaces of galena and sphalerite have shown that characteristic contact angles are obtained at galena surfaces in the 7-10 pH range, whereas lower angles are obtained at unactivated sphalerite surfaces even at pH 71 Further, the angles at sphalerite surfaces progressively decrease with increase in pH. However, when sphalerite is activated with cupric sulfate, characteristic contact angles are obtained at pH 7 and beyond. This shows that galena and sphalerite can be selectively floated with dithiocarbamate collectors at pH 7 and beyond. Experimental Materials Ore: The lead-zinc ore for the present study was obtained through the courtesy of the Geological Survey of India from Dariba, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. The average ore analyzed 15.5% lead, 11.6% zinc, 6.7% iron, 15.6% sulfur and 36.6% acid insolubles. The ore was crushed in a Denver laboratory rod mill and sieved in a Denver automatic sieve shaker to obtain a -200- to +250-mesh (Tyler standard) fraction. This particular size was chosen because it was conducive to good liberation of sulfide minerals, both from one another and from gangue minerals. Collectors: Dimethyl, diethyl, diisopropyl and diisobutyl dithiocarbamates were prepared and purified by the methods described by Klopping and Van der Kerk.2 A freshly prepared 0.03% dithiocarbamate solution in distilled water was used for flotation studies. Frother: A 0.03% solution of pine oil in ethyl alcohol was employed. Activator: 7.3 g of cupric sulfate pentahydrate were dissolved in 1 1 of water and used for the activation of sphalerite. Depressant: 16.0 g of zinc sulfate heptahydrate were dissolved in 1 1 of water and used for the depression of sphalerite.

Jan 1, 1972

By D. A. Flanagan, B. L. Landrum, P. B. Crawford, B. C. Norwood

Herern is described a heat conduction model which has been developed to predict the pressure distribution within a reservoir being subjected to rrnsteady-state depletion. Although potentiometric models have been widely used to study reservoir pressure distribution, their application is limited to the study of steady-state cases. Electrical analyzers may be used to study unsteady-state phenomena, but their application and simulation have certain limitations. Much of the now accepted theory of unsteady-state fluid flow in porous media has evolved from previous heat conduction knowledge. An analogy between the flow of fluid in an unsymmetrical reservoir and con-duct ion of heat in a similarly shaped unsymmetrical metal plate is made to show adaptability of the hear conduction principle to transient reservoir cases. A description of the model and necessary instrumenrarion is included. Data show influence of well location on pressure distribution during unsteady-state deple[ion. Application of results is made to a hypothetical reservoir and to a reservoir located in an irregular aquifer. INTRODUCTION Development of methods for predicting behavior of petroleum reservoirs has resulted partially from adaptation of electrical and thermal flow concepts to the flow of fluids through porous media. Extensive investigation of electrical and thermal flow problems has resulted in mathematical solutions applicable to many reservoir problems. The relative ease of measuring electrical flow has brought wide acceptance of the use of the potentiometric model to study certain field problems. Potentiometric models are restricted to the study of steady-state conditions because of the instantaneous response of electrical flow to changes in the applied potential. The electrical reservoir analyzer has been one of our most useful instruments for studying certain phases of unsteady-state behavior1. Other than approximation techniques, no method exists for determining pressure distribution in an irregular reservoir during primary depletion. Heat flow, like fluid flow, is inherently transient. The model described here was developed to use this transient nature of heat flow, measurable in the laboratory, to simulate transient flow of fluids in the porous medium of the reservoir above the bubble point. A metal plate shaped like the reservoir to be studied was heated by a "well" source. Temperature increase in the plate is analogous to pressure decline in the field if the field is being depleted, or pressure increase if fluid is being injected. This study is intended to determine the feasibility of using the transient nature of the heat flow to study the transient behavior of fluid flow. It is hoped that this new technique will aid in the understanding of one of the more complex phases of reservoir engineering. THE FLUID FLOW-HEAT CONDUCTION ANALOGY The similarity of the equations which describe the flow of fluids through a porous medium and the conduction of heat through a solid is well known2. Rate of flow of fluids is given by Darcy's law3. while the rate of flow of heat is given by Fourier', (I,, - KA 4T........(2) Combining Eq. 1 with the equation of continuity for a compressible liquid", i.e.,results in Expressing y in terms of the compressibility, i.e., pr = peey ,..........(5) and by expanding the exponential and neglecting higher orders of cp one can obtain

By T. A. Griffin

Surface mining today is faced with a twin challenge: (1) accelerating the rate of removal of massive quantities of overburden and ore, and (2) replacing comparable high volumes of overburden in the mined-out portion of the pit. It is against this background, coupled with increased demands for fossil fuels worldwide and legitimate environmental concerns, that the role of bucketwheel excavators and reclaimers has been raised to new prominence.

Jan 10, 1974

By Kenneth Seaver

(San Francisco Meeting, September, 1915) INTRODUCTION IT is rather gratifying that in the field of the manufacture 'of refractories, in which, as a whole, foreign practice has surpassed us, the United States stands pre-eminent in the making of silica brick. In some instances European manufacturers have refused point-blank to credit the possibility of making to such specifications as are common with us, until the actual 'completed shapes were shipped for inspection. But both the manufacturer and consumer in foreign lands are now frankly learning from us, and benefiting by our advanced practice in this field, as is evidenced by the orders placed here and the efforts put forth abroad to come up to the standard of American-made material. In no metallurgical operation has the employment of silica brick spread with. such leaps and bounds as in the building of plants for the carbonization of coal, particularly in the byproduct coke oven. Today, in practically all types of oven, the structure above the floor level (except the facings) is of silica, while in the recuperative and in some regenerative types, its use is extended to that portion of the oven below the floor as well. By reason of the fact that there are a number of classes of refractories of higher silica content than the usual so-called fire-clay brick, there is sometimes a misunderstanding as to the class of material referred to as "silica" brick. We here refer only to a brick having a silica content of 94 per cent. or more and made usually from quartzite rock with a small percentage of lime as a binder. The term "silica" brick is sometimes rather loosely applied to brick front highly siliceous clays, or to a quartzite refractory of mingled fire-clay and quartz rock; but such products are not considered in this discussion.

Jan 9, 1915

By C. S. Simons, G. Major-Marothy, M. A. K. Grice, D. A. Dahlstrom

The vacuum filter operating variables that influence cake moisture are discussed. The influence of temperature control, particularly through application of steam to the cake, is emphasized. Results of pilot plant studies on filtration of fine hematite concentrates are presented and discussed, and are shown to support the theoretically-derived conclusions. Results on fine magnetite concentrates are also used to support the argument. The relative merits of disc and drum filters from the standpoint of cake moisture are discussed. Moisture content has always been recognized as one of the most important properties of concentrates used as pellet plant feed. Most iron ore concentrates are produced by wet methods, and are finally de-watered on filters. Obviously, a real economic advantage accrues to the ability of control the moisture content of the filter cake within the range required for optimum pellet production. Another consideration, also, has been receiving increasing attention recently. Transoceanic shippers of concentrate cargoes are critically assessing the hazards of excess moisture. The nature and magnitude of these risks have been described, ' and it appears that their elimination may require that residual moisture be somewhat lower than the limit for proper pelletization. Coarse, very free-filtering materials, such as the products of spirals, are usually best handled on top-feed types of machines. The moisture content of the cake may be held at a specified value by proper design and operation, taking into account cake thickness, air-flow rate, and drainage time. Fine-grained concentrates, with which we will be concerned here, must be filtered on Drum or Agidisc machines. With many of these materials, it is possible, by proper design, to meet cake moisture requirements with a conventional filter station. The first installations to produce high-grade pellets from magnetic taconites fell in this class. In fact, the design criteria were developed in connection with operations of Reserve Mining Co. at Silver Bay, inn.,2 and these have been verified repeatedly in other mills. The trend today, however, is toward the production of more difficultly dewatered concentrates. This is due on the one hand to the increasing attention being given to non-magnetic ores, which tend to be far slimier, and therefore much more retentive of moisture, than the magnetites. On the other hand, the pressure to improve the grade of the magnetic ores is leading to finer grinds, which also are more difficult to dewater. In the latter case, the decision to improve grade in an existing operation by finer grinding for better liberation may lead to two unattractive alternatives: 1) substantially higher bentonite consumption, plus the risk of poorer quality pellets, from high cake moisture, or 2) installation of a thermal dryer. There is, however, a third alternative. In recent papers by two of the authors3,4 it was shown that for many materials a significant decrease in cake moisture can be obtained by applying live steam to the cake face during the drying part of the filter cycle. Further, this limited drying appears to have distinct economic advantages compared to thermal drying. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the third alternative. To do this, the results of an extensive pilot study of steam filtration of a hematite flotation concentrate will be critically examined. This study was sufficiently broad so that a number of alternate suggestions (besides steaming the cake) for reducing moisture content were tested, and comparative data for both Drum and Disc filters were obtained. The work was particularly interesting since the concentrate has a high Blaine surface, and is therefore particularly difficult to dewater to the levels required. FILTER CAKE MOISTURE The significant difference between concentrate filter cake as discharged from the filter, a cargo of that same filter cake during or after shipment, and a green ball formed from that filter cake is in the relative volume of voids, or porosity. In every case, the material is a collection of small solid particles held together by the cohesive forces of a liquid. The physical properties of the aggregate are determined by the

Jan 1, 1967

By J. C. Martin

A theoretical analysis of steam stimulation is presented for single sands. The analysis includes the effect of steam production and most of the effects of heat conduction. The results show the effects of a number of important variables on the performance of an idealized well under steam stimulation. Calculated responses are presented which indicate the effects of steam production, amount of steam injected, water production, formation thickness and formation damage. Results indicate that steam production can cause large reductions in the heat contained in the formation. This effect can be eliminated by drawdown control. Water production reduces the amount of oil produced during stimulation. The optimum amount of steam to inject depends on economic factors as well as the well response. In many cases, the increased temperature resulting from stimulation reduces oil viscosity near the well sufficiently to overcome the effects of formation damage even if the damage is not removed during steam injection. Calculated responses for thin sands are more favorable than anticipated. INTRODUCTION Little has been published on the theory of steam stimulation'-' despite the interest it has created and the wide variation in well responses. The results of the present analysis provide an insight into steam stimulation, and the methods employed provide a foundation for future work. Analyses presented in Refs. 1 and 2 are very limited and apply to gravity drainage conditions. Ref. 3 contains an analysis similar to the one presented here. The idealized models used and the assumptions made in Ref. 3 are different from those used in this paper. The analysis assumes that after steam injection has heated a small portion of the volume within the radius of drainage of a single uniform sand, a shut-in soaking period is allowed before returning the well to production. The effects of gravity, capillarity, transient pressure and water-sensitive sands are neglected. The injection and soaking times are assumed short compared to the stimulated production time. The initial temperature is assumed uniform; thus, the results apply primarily to first-cycle stimulation. The effects of gas production other than steam are neglected, and the water-oil ratio during production is assumed constant. Steam stimulation involves the simultaneous variation of the temperature, pressure and saturations. General mathematical equations for these variations are complicated and can be very difficult to solve. Simplified equations based on idealized models are used to reduce the mathematics sufficiently to allow approximate solutions to be obtained. DISCUSSION INJECTION An idealized model for which heat conduction is neglected is used to represent the behavior of a well during steam injection. The mathematics for this model is presented in Appendix A which also contains an approximate solution for the behavior of the no-conduction model. SOAKING During soaking, the well is shut in. Only the temperature, pressure and saturation distributions at the end of soaking are needed in the analysis. During soaking the heat is considered to be conducted in a uniform medium from an initially uniformly-heated circular cylinder confined to the producing interval. At the end of soaking the saturations and pressures are assumed to correspond to the cold zone. Analysis of the heat flow during soaking is included in the next section. The radius of the heated cylinder is calculated from the following heat balance (for constant quality steam injection). At the end of the soaking period it is assumed that little or no free gas is present near the well, and that the soaking period has been sufficiently long that the steam zone has had time to expand and the steam has condensed. The condition where there is no soaking is considered in the next section. PRODUCTION In this section, an approximate method is presented for solving the equations of heat and fluid flow associated with the production of oil and water during steam stimulation. Where initial pressure drawdowns are sufficient to cause steam to flow into the wellbore, steam production is assumed to occur within a short initial adjustment period (Appendix B). The production practices followed soon after the well is returned to production can have a large influence on the amount of oil produced during the stimulation cycle. Under most conditions, there is a period of time in which some or all of the water in the heated zone is converted into steam and produced. This flashing of hot water is caused by the pressure in the heated zone dropping below

By E. J. KENNEDY

THE annual dinner-dance was held in the large ball room of the Commodore hotel Wednesday evening. A total of 577 were seated at the dinner, over which President Eavenson presided as chairman and toastmaster. In introducing George C. Stone, the James Douglas Medalist, W. R. Ingalls outlined the former's association with the zinc industry. He said, in part In designing and building Palmerton, Stone erected a metallurgical monument and won the title of chief engineer of the New Jersey Zinc Co., with transferal to its New York office in 1900. There lie held forth in dignity, efficiency, and with appreciation until his retirement from active service in 1929. After a few years lie was diverted from the position of chief engineer for his company to the superior one of chief metallurgist and that gave to Stone his next big chance.... This was the conception of a research department and the ability to persuade his directors to adopt it. I shall not pretend to summarize the great things that afterward developed. I shall mention only the institution of the manufacture of lithopone in this country, the charging of the Wetherill furnace with briquets, the mechanicalization of the Wetherills, the accomplishment of continuous distilling, and most recently the introduction of reflux-refining.

Jan 1, 1935

By H. C. Rogers

A phenomenological study of the failure of polycry stalline ductile metals at room temperature was carried out using light and electron microscopy. Tensile fractures as well as sections of partially fractured bars of OFHC copper in particular were examined. The initiation and growth of the central crack in the neck of a tensile specimen occurs by void formation. After the formation of the central crack the f'racture may be completed in either of two ways: by further void formation or by an "allernating slip" mechanism. The first leads to a "cup-cone" failure; the second, to a "double-cup" failure. In the past decade or decade and a half there has been a great deal of emphasis on the solution of the problem of the brittle fracture of metals, particularly those which normally exhibit considerable ductility such as steel. Since the problem of the fracture of metals after large plastic strains has less immediate commercial or defense significance, there has been considerably less effort expended in describing the details of the phenomenology and determining the mechanism of this type of fracture. The present research was undertaken to increase our knowledge in this area. The problem of ductile fracture has not been neglected completely, however. Ludwik1 first found by sectioning a necked but unbroken tensile specimen of aluminum that fracture began with a large internal crack which appeared to have started in the center of the neck. Examination of the fracture indicated that the crack had propagated radially with increasing deformation until a point was reached at which the path of the fracture suddenly left this transverse plane and proceeded at approximately 45 deg to the stress axis until the surface was reached. This gives rise to the commonly observed cup-cone tensile fracture. When MacGregor2 was attempting to demonstrate the linearity of the true stress-true strain curve from necking until fracture, he found that copper was anomalous in that the stress dropped off markedly from the straight line value before fracture occurred. Radiography indicated that in the copper an internal crack was formed long before the final fracture, the stress decreasing during the growth of this crack. One of the most significant advances in the understanding of ductile fracture was the result of work by Parker, Flanigan, and Davis.3 By the use of etch-pit orientations they were able to demonstrate conclusively that the fracture surface at the bottom of the cup, although on a gross scale normal to the tensile axis, did not consist of cleavage facets as had been previously supposed by many investigators. Recently, Forscher4 has shown evidence of porosity near the tensile fracture of hydrogenated zirconium which he attributes to hydride decomposition. The workers at the Titanium Metallurgical Laboratory5 have also shown evidence of porosity in a number of the commonly used metals after heavy deformation. Many metals have relatively low ductility during creep tests at high temperature. The fractures are intercrystalline, resulting from the nucleation and growth of grain boundary voids. The work in this area has been recently reviewed by Davies and Dennison.6 It is possible that some of the observations and conclusions may have a bearing on the present study? especially since at least two studies7,' have been extended down to room temperature and below using magnesium alloys. However, since magnesium does exhibit low-temperature cleavage, these results may not be pertinent to the present one. The use of the electron microscope as an aid to the study of fractures has been extensively exploited by Crussard and coworkers.9 The examination of direct carbon replicas of the fractures of a large number of metals and alloys showed that the bulk of the fracture surface was covered with cup-like indentations of the order of 1 to 2 µ in size. These frequently had a directionality by which Crussard claims to be able to tell the direction of the crack propagation. With this rather disconnected background of information, this investigation was undertaken in the hope of presenting a unified picture of the initiation and propagation of a fracture in a ductile metal. To this end all of the techniques previously used were employed simultaneously so that there might be a good correlation of the data obtained by different techniques. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The metal which was chosen as the starting material for this investigation was OFHC copper. Of the dozen or so materials considered, it best fulfilled the requirements of commercial availability in large sizes, good ductility, relatively high melting point compared with room temperature and

Jan 1, 1961

By William H. Hamilton

Tunnel-driving capabilities in terms of feet per hour have advanced several hundred percent in the last century. Indications are that this capacity will double each decade for the next three decades. These future improvements will be made possible by a greatly increased need for underground excavation and the awareness of industry of its own latent capabilities. The factors of most interest to any potential user of a tunneling machine are those making possible an increase in production. The first and most obvious factor, and probably the one that has created the excitement and interest of most people, is the increase in boring rate through faster rock fracture and improved support systems. Boring rate can be increased by more horsepower in the form of increased thrust, torque, and cutterhead speed, and by better cutters and cutting methods, better material-handling systems, and better ground-control systems. All of these items are extremely important and are the basis of much discussion and effort by everyone concerned with the excavation of tunnels by machine. The second factor, just as obvious and equally important as an increase in boring rates, is "increase in production through better utilization of the tunneling machine and related equipment," which means a reduction in downtime through greater reliability of equipment. Mechanical rock attack is presently capable of cutting hard rock at 5 fph and soft rock at more than 20 fph. In current practice, however, this advance rate is maintained for less than 50% of the shift time. I predict that tunnel-driving contractors and their supporting manufacturers of tunnel-boring equipment will provide machinery that will maintain these advance rates for more than 90% of the shift time. This increase in effective production will be due to the increase in reliability of the tunneling machine and tunneling system components. Such a percentage increase in utilization of the tunneling equipment is just

Jan 1, 1970

Charles Catlett, Staunton, Va. (communication to the Secretary*):—Mr. Chance's suggestions that the brown hematite-ores of the Potsdam formation are due to the alteration in place of iron sulphide, and that their extension may reasonably he expected to contain valuable deposits of unaltered sulphide, are interesting; hut the facts marshaled by him are too limited

Jan 1, 1909

By William B. Plank

ENROLMENT data given in this report of the seventh study of the schools by the Mineral Industry Education Division reveals the critical situation in the mineral engineering schools of the United States. Complete figures for the year 1942-43 show that at that time, about one year after Pearl Harbor, the enrollment of mineral engineers was 6385 or 30 per cent less than in 199441. By October 1943, however, enrollment had dropped to 2050, as reported in the Journal of Engineering Education of January 1944. This was a further reduction of 68 per cent in one year, or 77 per cent in three years. With accelerated programs in effect during the current year, with many graduations since last October, and with the military forces taking practically all the high school graduates, the present enrollment is, of course, much lower than the 2050 above given. There are no late data on the exact situation. In Canada, the same situation exists in the mineral engineering schools, only

Jan 1, 1944

By P. G. Winchell, J. K. Jackson

The strtcture of body-centered Fe-Ni-C alloys (0 to 16.5 wt pct Ni) containing less than 0.015 wt pct C was investigated by measuring the carbon-diffusion peak at low frequencies with a torsion pendulurrr. By determining the Snoek damping in ferrite and in quenched alloys of identical composition, the effects of nickel content and heat treatment were separated, and the existence of a structure in which Snoek damping is greatly reduced was revealed in the quenched ternary alloys. The relative amount of this structure increases with increased nickel content and cooling rate. It is proposed that this structure may be highly imperfect or tetragonal. In Fe-Ni-C alloys containing only ferrite the addition of nickel (0 to 5.1 wt pet) decreases tke area of the carbon-diffusion peak and shifts its position to lower temperatures but broadens the peak only slightljl. The decrease in peak area with increasing nickel implies that short-range interactions with the nickel atoms prevent some of the carbon atoms from participating in the relaxation process. The shift in the peak position indicates a long-range effect of nickel on the movement of carbon atoms so that at 300°K the diffisivity of carbon in -ferrite is increased by about 35 pct by the addition of 5.1 tut pct Ni. The results are presented as distributions of relaxation strength 072 the activation energy under the assumption that the frequency factor is invariant. BODY-CENTERED iron-base solid solutions dissolve carbon interstitially in the octahedral sites. The occupation of an octahedral site produces a tetragonal distortion of the surrounding lattice. These sites fall into three sets according to the orientation of the tegragonal distortion associated with each and may be identified by their lattice coordinates as: type 1/2 0 0, type 0 1/2 0, type 0 0 1/2. At low carbon levels in cubic ferrite the carbon atoms are distributed at random1 among these sites. In high-carbon body-centered iron-base solid solutions, which are unstable with respect to several two-phase mixtures, a tetragonal structure occurs as the product of the diffusionless transformation of austenite. This transformation is commonly accompanied by appreciable microstrain and its product is called martensite. The tetragonality of martensite, a supersaturated solution of carbon in a iron, is maintained prior to decomposition even though local diffusion of carbon occurs as evidenced by carbide precipitation. The tetragonality is taken as evidence that one set of octahedral sites is preferentially occupied by carbon. (This preferential occupation is called ordering below.) Support for this view is presented by the absence of strain-induced carbon-atom diffusion in high-carbon solid solutions (martensite). Such diffusion occurs in ferrite and produces the 40°C internal-friction peak observed at 1 cps frequencies.' Thus, there appears to be qualitative evidence favoring the view that at sufficiently high carbon levels tetragonality arises spontaneously as a result of the ordering of the carbon atoms; however, no experimental evidence exists concerning an equilibrium between cubic and tetragonal body-centered solid solutions. Moreover, attempts to estimate the energy of ordering7-' predict a value too low to maintain the tetragonality observed at medium carbon levels, 0.3 to 0.6 wt pct C. In the present work an attempt using internal-friction measurements is made to establish the presence or absence of tetragonality in low-carbon body-centered solid solutions formed by quenching austenite. Fe-Ni alloys containing about 0.01 wt pct and 0 to 15 wt pct Ni were selected for the study. While the work was in progress Gilbert and Owen10 reported that the transformation which occurs in these alloys during quenching at rates up to 5000°C per sec is not martensitic but is more properly categorized as massive. Thus, the solid solution

Jan 1, 1964

By A. W. Peake, F. O. Prior

Considering the great advance in the development and application of electricity, it is not strange that eventually a big field for its use has been found in oil-field operations. So far as is known, the first electric drive in oil-field operations was in the Russian field of Baku in 1900. The first application in this country was made by the South Penn Oil Co. near Folsom, West Va. in 1903. In 1916, electric power was first used in the Burma fields of India for drilling and pumping. Between 1916 and 1922, The Empire Gas & Fuel Co. made the first large electrical installation in the Mid-Continent fields. But although the first application was made 27 years ago, it is only within the last 10 years that oil companies have begun to look upon its use with much favor. Within the last few years, there has been a steady increase in the use of electricity in the oil fields. The first application of electricity for oil-field operations in Wyoming was in the Lander field in 1919; the second was in 1924 in Salt Creek; and the third, and last to date, was made by the Continental Oil Co. in the Big Muddy field during 1926. Lander Field The electrification of oil-field operations in Wyoming was initiated by J. W. Steele, superintendent of the Producers & Refiners Oil Corpn., in the Lander field in 1919. At that time, 32 wells were being pumped from five band-wheel powers, with oil engines as the prime movers. Eight barrels of fuel oil were used for power per day and at the price of 90 c. per bbl. the fuel bill was $36 per day. It was decided to try a 15 to 35-hp. oil-field motor on one of these powers. Electric power was generated with steam at the old Wind River refinery station. This test was so successful that in 1920 all five powers were equipped with 15 to 35-hp. oil-field motors, the power being obtained from the Sinks Canyon hydroelectric station. Four of these powers pumped wells at an average depth of 1450 ft., and the fifth pumped wells at an average of 2100 ft. In 1920, the average production per day from the 32 wells was 325 bbl. The power bill on the

Jan 1, 1928

By H. W. Smith

This paper presents a review of developments to date in computer control practice, based in large part on Canadian experience. The basic problem examined is that of stabilizing control; matters considered are control strategies, hardware and software aspects of system implementation, reliability, human factors, and economic results.

Jan 1, 1976

By Oliver C. Ralston, James E. Norman

SEPARATION of minerals by froth flotation is rightly called an art. It can truthfully be said that no two ores separate in the same way. The difference in results obtained when natural and synthetic mixtures of minerals are separated is so great that such tests frequently have been worthless in attempting to select conditions in which a natural mixture will separate. With a few rare exceptions, the natural mixture is much more difficult to treat than a synthetic mixture, and a much poorer separation is obtained. Perhaps several experimenters have wondered why 10 or 20 per cent of a mineral being floated from an ore does not float and is different from the 90 or 80 per cent that is recovered. In experimental tests on pure sphalerite, observers1 have noted that varying amounts of sphaIerite may be froth-floated with pine oil alone, the amount recovered in the froth depending apparently upon the source of the sulphide. The only explanation of results such as these, barring insufficiency of frother or time of flotation, is that the surface of the mineral floated is different from that of the mineral depressed. This difference often has been found to be caused by natural contamination of mineral surfaces, apparently brought about by weathering and exposure to natural solutions. There is virtually no rock that is absolutely unweathered. One of the writers had an exceedingly instructive experience in 1931 while working with United Verde copper-zinc iron sulphide ore in Arizona. Nonselective flotation of chalcopyrite and sphalerite away from some of the pyrite was all that could be accomplished. All known depressants produced only slight effect. Sodium cyanide showed some effect, but so much had to be used that only a small amount of chalcopyrite could be

Jan 1, 1939

By H. R. Hanley

The characteristics of alloyed anodes and their influence on the products of electrolysis and power consumption have been noted previosly ously in the literature.' This paper presents data in continuation of the subject given in an earlier paper by the authors.2 As noted in the authors1 previous paper, the objectives of this work are the reduction in the cell voltage and the purity of the cathode product resulting from the use of alloyed lead anodes. The fundamental facts developed in the previous paper were: (I) that the presence of a small amount of calcium lowers the anode potential approximately 50 per cent. below that of pure lead; and (2) that thallium when present to the extent of 4 per cent. rendered the anode practically stable, thereby lowering the contamination of the cathode by lead to a very insignificant amount. The specific features determined in this recent work are as follows: 1. The lowest limit of calcium in the lead which will still give maximum lowering of the anode potential. 2. The characteristics of the thallium-calcium-lead anode. 3. The characteristics of the silver-calcium-lead anode. 4. The characteristics of the thallium-silver-calciurn-lead anode. It was determined that 0.1 per cent. calcium in the anode was sufficient to lower the anode potential approximately 50 per cent. Table 1 shows the characteristics of alloyed anodes tested. The anode composed of 0.1 per cent. calcium, 4 per cent. thallium, and 95.9 per cent. * Professor of Metsllurgy, Missouri School of Mines. t Professor of Metallurgy and Ore Dressing, Hea.d of Department, Missouri School of Mines. Assistant Professor of Metallurgy, Missouri School of Mines. 1 Among others, see C. G. Fink and Li Chi Pan: Insoluble .Anodes for the Electrol-ysis of Brine [Trans. Amer. Electrochem. Soc., (1926) 49, 83-1341 and other papers by these authors. U. CJ. Taintori, 8. G. Taylor arid H. P. Ehrlinger: Lead Alloys for Anodes in Electrolytic Production of Zinc of High Purity. Truns. A. I. M. E. (1929) 192-200. 2 H. R. Hanley, C. Y. Clayton, D. F. Walsh: Investigation of Anodes for Production of Electrolytic Zinc. Trans. A. I. M. E. (1930) 275

Jan 1, 1931

By R. W. Raymond

(Cleveland Meeting, October, 1912.) UNDER the names of Conservation, Social Justice, the New Nationalism, and Progressive Democracy, many earnest reformers are calling for a new system of Federal government to replace the one which they ascribe to our fathers, and declare to have been outgrown. They are proposing the lease by the United States of certain natural resources on the public domain, for the profit of the U. S. Treasury, instead of the sale of such resources to private citizens or associations of citizens. In the present paper, I shall try to show that this notion is neither new nor good. It is clear that the United States is owner, as well as sovereign, of public lands acquired through conquest or purchase from other nations, as it was owner of the public lands expressly ceded to it by the original thirteen States. Its policy with regard to such lands involves, therefore, two entirely distinct questions: What shall it do as owner ? and, What shall it do as sovereign ? The latter question, it must be confessed, has played but a small part in our history. All the prerogatives of sovereignty which were not explicitly conferred upon the Federal government by the original States were retained by them. The ownership or control of precious or other metals or minerals in the earth, for instance, was thus reserved to the several sovereign States. New York, South Carolina, and other States have passed laws on this subject, without regard to Federal authority. As new States have been successively admitted to the Union, the tacitly accepted theory has been,. that they thereby acquired all the reserved rights of the original States. These newer States largely outnumber the first. thirteen; and it is inconceivable that they would submit to any deprivation of sovereignty based on historical grounds. One of them-Texas-came into the Union by its own voluntary

Oct 1, 1912

By V. H. Wilhelm

WITH rapidly diminishing oil reserves: a great percentage of which are uneconomical at present prices, some of the existing methods of development and production will have to undergo radical re- visions to meet the changes continually taking place in the petroleum industry. Imagination in an engineer is a great asset. The fancy of today is found to be the realization of tomorrow, and with this thought in mind, there is here presented a more or less imaginative picture which, to my mind, has a meritorious basis. Directed drilling has reached a stage of accuracy sufficient to allow the prediction that this art will be used in the future development of oil structures, especially those \\,it11 thin sand bodies 'and steep dips. Directional drilling in a number of fields in California has gratifying results. Wells which practically laid pipe lines through the oil sands have enjoyed a greater drainage radius with a consequent greater initial and cumulative production. In one field where the vertical thickness of sands was approximately 550 ft., wells drifting at an angle as great as 55 deg. fro111 vertical had over 1100 ft. of perforated pipe in contact with these sands. These wells were, and are, remarkable for their great initial pro-

Jan 1, 1936

By O. W. Ellis

Before entering upon a general discussion of the fascinating, but at present rather controversial, subject of gases in copper, the author feels that some attention should be directed to the work which has been carried out on the solubility of gases in metals. The outstanding contributions to our knowledge of this subject have been made by Sieverts and his collaborators(1) † and by Iwasé.(2) Both the German and the Japanese investigators employed apparatus of the same general design in their investigations. Full reference need only be made, therefore, to the German scheme, which is diagrammati-cally illustrated in Fig. 1. This, to use the words of Sieverts, which he employed in describing his arrangement of apparatus at the 1928 meeting of der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Metallkunde(10): shows a diagram of the usual mode of procedure. A quartz flask contains the metal (for high temperatures a highly refractory porcelain tube is used) and is connected with the rest of the apparatus by means of a stopcock. The other parts consist of a burette divided into 1/10 c.c., a leveling tube, and an adjustable mercury reservoir. The burette is connected on one side with the gas inlet and on the other side with the absorption flask; the connection can be interrupted by means of suitable taps. Another tap permits the connection of the flask and the Töpler pump. In an experiment the quartz flask is first exhausted and then a measured quantity of gas is let in from the burette. In the first place the volume of the flask when empty is found by calibration with an inert gas. The pressure is read off on the level tube of the burette, and the temperature measured by means of a thermocouple whose welded junction lies close to the outside of the quartz flask, which is heated in an electric furnace. In several experiments the quantity of absorbed gas was transferred to a burette by means of a pump and measured. Care was taken by Sieverts to cool the ground-in joint between the reaction flask (or tube) and the rest of the system. Suitable precautions

Jan 1, 1934

By G. Pizzi, G. M. Ciucci, G. L. Chierici

The use of the material balance equation to estimate the volume of hydrocarbons originally present in a reservoir, whose producing mechanism is partly due to water drive, has been discussed in the literature by several authors. There is no general agreement upon the possibility of obtaining reliable results by this method. Gas reservoirs in contact with an active aquifer are considered in this paper. Theoretical considerations based on the cybernetic principle of uncertainty (which states that the internal structure of a system cannot be uniquely determined from its observed external behavior) lead to the conclusion that the volume of gas originally present in a reservoir of this type cannot be uniquely determined from its past history. The range of values which encompasses the actual value of the reserves varies from case to case and must be determined by either numerical or analogical methods. Results obtained for six gas fields are reported. All these fields were produced with small fluctuations in their production rates, as is common practice for gas reservoirs; no gas storage fields were considered. Results obtained show that reserves values in a range of 1 to 2, associated with appropriate aquifers, allow the matching of the reservoir past history with mean-square deviations less than the experimental errors involved in pressure and produclion measurements. Similar results have been found in several other partial water drive gas reservoirs. From these results it is concluded that gas reserves cannot be uniquely determined from the past performance of partial water drive reservoirs, at least in cases where the reservoir has been submitted to small fluctuations in the production rates, and pressure data of normal accuracy are available. INTRODUCTION A number of authors have analyzed the problem of estimating the reserves originally present in a partial water drive reservoir from its past pressure-production performance. Literature which deals with this subject can be grouped, according to their conclusions, as follows. 1. A reliable value for the reserves can be obtained even if reservoir data (pressure and cumulative production) are affected by errors within the normal range.'-' 2. A reliable value for the reserves can be obtained only if reservoir data are very accurate'- or if past production performance has been subjected to abrupt variations in the production rate."' 3. No unique value for the reserves can be obtained from reservoir past production performance. This conclusion has been based upon theoretical considerations" and verified in several field cases. The purpose of this paper, which deals only with partial water drive gas reservoirs, is to test the above conclusions against actual field cases. Some theoretical considerations on this problem are also presented. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS As the behavior of a gas reservoir communicating with an aquifer depends on both the aquifer and the reservoir characteristics, the physical system to be studied is the combined gas reservoir plus aquifer. The information which is available for studying the performance of such a system is the well production rates and bottom-hole pressures, all given as functions of time. The external behavior of the reservoir-aquifer system is therefore described by 2n input variables (Gp, Wp,) and n output variables (p,), n being the number of wells in the reservoir. In reservoir engineering it is common practice to consider the reservoir as a whole, disregarding the internal distribution of pressures and of producing wells. This practice is equivalent to substituting the above multi-variable system with a single-variable system, where the average reservoir pressure is the only output variable and the cumulative production G,(t) and W,(t) are the input variables. The internal structure of such a system, defined by initial gas reserves G, aquifer shape and dimensions, boundary conditions and petrophysical parameters distribution throughout the aquifer, is unknown. Therefore, from a cybernetic point of view the system is a "black-box It has been demonstrated" that for a blackbox the indetermination principle holds. Accordingly, the number of different internal structures (or set of parameters) which can account for the observed external behavior is infinite. As a consequence, the initial reserves cannot be uniquely determined from the reservoir past performance. When W,(t) is known, the determination of G from