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By Z. D. Hora

Numerous asbestos occurrences are known, and the Cassiar Mine in Northern British Columbia has been a major producer since 1952. The Kutcho Creek deposit is a large medium-grade deposit of potential economic interest. OF THE numerous British Columbia asbestos occurrences, only one mine exists. Another property, at Kutcho Creek, may be commercially viable. Cassiar Mine, in the northern part of the province, has been producing high-quality asbestos since 1952 and is described elsewhere in this volume. The Kutcho Creek property is situated north of Letain Lake about 125 km southeast of Cassiar Mine. The Kutcho Creek asbestos deposit comprises zoned chrysotile fibre veins in a well jointed and locally sheared serpentinite sill. The sill intrudes, more or less concordantly, a sequence of Devonian to Mississippian argillaceous Industrial Minerals in Canada metasedimentary, calcareous, and volcanic rocks. The light to dark green serpentinite contains crossfibre chrysotile veins that are usually less than 1 cm in width but up to several metres in length. Typical sections in exploration drillholes grade between 2.5 and 3.0 per cent fibre. According to the last assessment report submitted, test results indicate that the Kutcho Creek property may contain a large, medium-grade asbestos deposit of potential economic interest.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. Vanvoren

"Since 1975, the Aluminium Pechiney Research Centre at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne (LRF) has been concentrating its efforts on designing, testing and perfecting the Aluminium Pechiney point-fed prebaked reduction cell.In 1979, the AP18 cell (180 kA) was industrially launched with the construction and start-up of the F line in Saint-Jean. The following generation, the AP30 (300 kA), with prototypes started in 1981, was launched in 1986 on the Saint-Jean G line. Along with cell design, efficient process control systems were developed to pilot alumina feeding and bath composition. Together, these pots are currently producing 4.6 Mt of aluminum, i.e., 18% of the world’s overall yearly production.In 1989, the research centre faced a new challenge: to push the limits for the size of a reduction cell to further improve the profitability of Greenfield projects. This new generation development was also the opportunity for a significant redesign of the Aluminium Pechiney electrolysis information system.With a track record of ten years of semiindustrial operation with three prototypes, the AP50 technology is now ready for industrial implementation and enables a significant breakthrough to be made in terms of return on investment of a Greenfield smelter."

Jan 1, 2002

By S. Kaushik

The control room in a mineral processing plant has become increasingly complicated with complex unit operations coupled with rapidly evolving systems of sensors and control. Even with significant automation, human intervention is required to counter various scenarios that play out every day. A typical control room operator must monitor over 300 individual points of data in order to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the plant. At the same time, the experience of the workforce is decreasing as operators retire and the new generation enters the concentrators. Global competition for skilled operators continues to be strong and the opportunity to apprentice has diminished. The challenge is to provide a skill foundation for the operators so that they can be effective in the concentrator in a timely and safe manner. Progressively, the industry is turning to dynamic simulation tied into the control system. The simulator environment operates behind the control system to emulate the plant operation, reacting as the plant would when a change is made. The operator drives the process, with realistic feedback, which enables learning in a safe environment. This paper will take the reader through a green-field case study and discuss the effectiveness of integrating an operator training simulator (OTS) on the operator’s learning curve.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. W. Langenberg, D. E. Macdonald, R. S. Strobl

"The successful marketing of Alberta coals will increasingly depend, to a large degree, on an extensive coal quality information base. This information, at present, is generally based on a deliverable, cleaned coaland is confined to existing mine sites. Coal quality information is not as well understood for raw in situ coal outside of mine sites and even less is known about the geological factors that control it.If new uses and markets for Alberta coal are to be developed, such as gasification, coprocessing, and exploiting high rank coals for combustion, it will be imperative that the coal quality parameters important for these utilizations be known. These parameters need to be known for existing deliverable coals and, just as important, for as yet unexploited in situ coal. Factors such as the Cl, No, K, Co, P and trace element contents should be addressed to meet the requirements of these new utilizations.The geological characterization and explanation of what factors control these coal quality parameters is part of research being done at the Alberta Geological Survey. In-seam vertical profiling has been undertaken within the plains and foothills/mountains coals to determine exactly where coal quality variations occur and why. In the Ardley coal zone at the Highvale Mine it has been found, for example, that the ash content of the mined coal is made up of discrete partings and of microsized particles associated with inertinite macerals. The in-seam characterization of coal seams will lead to a better understanding of in situ coal quality variations, leading to new uses and markets for Alberta coal."

Jan 1, 1993

By T. Crivits

"Phase equilibria in the ‘Cu2O’-‘Fe2O3’-SiO2 system, the base slag system in copper production, were recently determined. However, the addition of MgO, commonly present in the slag, drastically changes the phase equilibria in this system. The present study focuses on the phase equilibria in the ‘Cu2O’-‘Fe2O3’-MgO-SiO2 system in equilibrium with metallic copper.Recently, an experimental procedure has been developed that resolved a number of experimental difficulties. This procedure has been successfully applied to characterise several complex industrial copper slags. It includes a high-temperature equilibration followed by rapid quenching and electron probe X-ray micro-analysis (EPMA). The methodology was adapted to the present system and used to determine the liquidus at SiO2 saturation and in contact with high-MgO phases in between 1100 and 1250 °C in Cu2Orich slags.The results indicate a maximum solubility of MgO in the system at 1200 °C of 5 wt%. The boundary line between tridymite and spinel lies 3-4 wt% closer to the SiO2 apex for every 2 wt% MgO added. These new data on the high-copper slags are important for optimisation of the direct-to blister"

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Jeffkins

Visibility is restricted when operating load haul dump vehicles resulting in a number of serious accidents in the Ontario Mining Industry. One of the leading causes of these accidents is the inability of the equipment operator to see clearly people, objects or hazards around the machine. Previous line of sight testing by the research team found specific machine characteristics were responsible for blind spots and impaired visibility. In order to identify feasible design modifications a computer simulation program, Classic JACK 3.1, was utilized. Program features include human factors analysis, which allows evaluation of line of sight and operator posture in order to decrease risk of musculoskeletal injury. Research within the virtual computer environment consisted of a Visibility Audit and a Target Audit in order to quantitatively determine how certain components of the LHD design affected the line of sight around the vehicle. Results indicate that modifying the LHD light brackets, engine profile, cab posts and other components will enhance visibility. The addition of cameras located on the front and rear of the vehicle were able to enhance the operator?s sight lines to previously obstructed areas. Modifications to seat height and the operators orientation both improved sightlines and decreased risk factors associated with back and neck musculoskeletal disorders.

May 1, 2003

By Isabel F. Barton, Matthew J. Gabriel, Mark D. Barton

Process control, mine-to-mill optimization, and other mining operations depend on having robust, comprehensive mineralogical and chemical characterization. However, current characterization methods rely primarily on analyzing samples from trenches, channels, blast holes, and drill holes and interpolating between them, and are not always sensitive to some minerals (such as clays) that cause major problems for mining and mineral processing. Continuous characterization is possible with techniques such as hyperspectral remote sensing, which measures reflectance or absorption of light in the visible to near infrared (VNIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Absorption and reflectance features are characteristic of different chemical bond types, so each spectrum corresponds to a different mineral or material. In remote sensing, each pixel in the scanned area has both a location and a spectrum. This makes hyperspectral remote sensing potentially useful for characterizing mine site materials. In this study, we tested a hyperspectral remote sensing system as a method of characterizing the mineralogy and material types at mine and metallurgical sites. Our test site was a small open-pit copper mine and leach operation in the southwestern U.S. We scanned mine highwalls, dump piles, leach pads, and nearby rock outcrops with drone- and tripod-mounted VNIR-SWIR spectrometers. We collected ground-truth data through geologic mapping, sampling, and spot analyses with a portable short-wave SWIR instrument. The results show that the hyperspectral remote sensing system that we tested is capable of distinguishing the types and distribution of spectrally active minerals and other materials in diverse mining settings, including showing wet and dry areas of leach pads; clay and carbonate type and distribution on mine highwalls, leach pads, dumps, and rock outcrops; plant type and distribution; fault zones, bedding planes, and other geological features; and qualitative spectral matches between dump piles and areas of the mine highwalls. Hyperspectral sensing proved particularly sensitive to the presence and type of clay and carbonate minerals, which cause geotechnical and metallurgical problems such as highwall failure, gangue acid consumption, and flotation sliming. Examples will be presented and discussed at the conference. Areas of continuing research include automating and streamlining the data reduction process, integrating hyperspectral data with block modeling and mine planning software, and testing the results of hyperspectral sensing in different geological environments.

Jan 1, 2019

By Marko Lampi, Ross Andrews, Jouni Pihlasalo, Robert Matusewicz

With widespread discussion on reducing carbon, sulphur and other emissions, use of sustainable energy sources and the pivotal circular economy theme, consideration needs to be given to pyrometallurgical operations broadly and more specifically, non-ferrous metallurgy. These themes present a number of challenges in terms of current operations and the view of processing the metals which are largely taken for granted in day to day living. This paper considers how these themes will impact pyrometallurgical flowsheets using the non-ferrous base metals as an example. It will examine the flowsheet chain to offer views on the boundaries of flowsheet optimization and the application of available tools to meet these future goals and challenges. INTRODUCTION The themes of reducing footprint through lowered CO2, S and other emissions, together with process sustainability (e.g. lowered energy) and links to the circular economy are well known to everyone in the metals industries. Whether it is reducing greenhouse gas emissions or analysing the importance of metals recycling in the circular economy, all these themes carry with them the fundamental premise of any change being considered; how can you best optimize a system to meet your aims? Of course, this depends on the available tools and the approach used for optimisation.

Jan 1, 2019

By Xuanxue Mo, Kaihui Yang, Steven D. Scott

Abstract -The Changning-Menglian metallogenic belt in western Yunnan, China, is characterized by the occurrences of both Pb-Zn-Cu and Cu massive sulfides in Permo-Carboniferous mafic volcanic sequences. These deposits were formed in a back-arc basin at a rifted continental margin in the Paleozoic Tethys Ocean. Pb-Zn-Cu deposits are associated with alkalic basalt, andesite, and lesser felsic volcanic rocks intercalated with limestone, which probably formed along an immature rifting segment on a continental basement. These volcanic rocks are enriched in K, Ti, LREE, and other incompatible elements, and have the attributes of alkalic within-plate basalt. An extensive unit of sulfide- carbonate-silica shale in proximity to massive sulfides contains high values of Mn, As, Mo, W, Sn, Sb, and Hg, and has REE patterns that are similar to the volcanic rocks. This, together with the graded bedding in the footwall volcanic rocks, suggests that the sulfides precipitated in a shallow, unstable, and carbonate-saturated volcanic basin. A stringer zone is traced downward for 500 m below the massive sulfide orebodies. It is characterized by an upper sericite-quartz zone and an extensive lower skarn alteration with enhanced W, Sn, and Bi. Lead isotope data show both continental basement and magmatic sources may have supplied the ore metals. Cu deposit and occurrences are hosted by tholeiitic units that represent the mature spreading segments in the back-arc basin. The tholeiitic lavas have LREE-depleted or flat REE patterns similar to MORB or back-arc mafic lavas. The cupriferous massive sulfides are overlain by an extensive unit of chlorite-magnetite or ochre, suggesting a relatively oxygenated oceanic basin. Ni and less Co mineralization is found in dolomite veins of the stringer zone. Enhanced concentrations of Ni, Co, Au, and As are found in the massive sulfides and in sulfide-rich tuffites. The geological setting and mineralization of the Changning-Menglian belt has similarities with modern back-arc basins such as the Manus Basin in the western Pacific.

Jan 1, 1999

On the 26th of June 2000 a hydraulic fill retaining barricade failed at the Bronzewing mine in Western Australia. The barricade failure resulted in the release of 19,000 m3 of saturated hydraulic fill into the mine and caused the deaths of three miners. Following this tragic accident, the practices and procedures of mines using hydraulic fills came under intense scrutiny by regulatory bodies and mining companies. At this time, the use of hydraulic fill at Normandy?s zinc/copper Scuddles mine was suspended and waste rock became the sole backfill material in use underground. By 2003, development of the adjacent Gossan Hill mine had progressed to a point where a self supporting fill material was required to enable full recovery of high grade ore. Cemented hydraulic fill (CHF) was identified as the optimal fill type and work began on designing appropriate management procedures and controls to ensure the safe implementation. This work included definition of the fill properties, plant design and construction, reticulation system design, design of stope barricades and drainage systems and fill placement control and monitoring practices. CHF placement began on 16th July 2004 and has continued to date. Significant operational experience has since been gained in areas including plant performance, fill product quality assurance, barricade construction, stope drainage and in-situ performance.

May 1, 2007

By Carl Edmunds

Talk Outline Deposit?s Vital Statistics and Economic Environment Regional Geologic Setting Deposit Geology UBC Research Search Model and Current Exploration Plans Kemess Operations Kemess South Mine Mining rate (2006) ?135,000 tonnes / day Mill throughput (2006) ?52,000 tonnes / day Average Annual Production ?300,000 oz gold and 75 million lbs copper ?Production until mid-2009 Kemess North > Open pit reserve 423.8 million tonnes @ 0.3 g/tgold and 0.18% copper > 4.1 million ounce gold reserve (127 tonnes) > 1.45 billion pound copper reserve (636,000 tonnes) > 0.75:1 Strip Ratio

May 1, 2006

By A. Galibois, R. Singhal

"This paper highlights some of the potential application areas of knowledge-based systems in the mining industry. The basic theoretical principles associated with knowledge-based systems are discussed and the justification for mining applications is given. The paper concludes with a brief description of a prototype knowledge-based system applied to scraper selection that was developed at Université Laval on a LISP machine. IntroductionThe beginning of Artificial Intelligence coincided with the conception and development of the first computer systems some thirty years ago. At that time researchers were euphoric about the possibility of modelling the human reasoning process. Soon, however, they discovered that the combinatorial aspect of the set of possible solutions to a particular problem did not permit an in-depth evaluation.In the mid-60s researchers started to look at the heuristic approach because it was more suited to human behaviour with its congnitive abilities (i.e. representing, reasoning, problem solving and advising). The heuristic approach allows possible results rather than exact solutions and it is more rapid and cost effective than the exhaustive combinatorial analysis. The heuristic approach did allow some noticeable progress in the seventies with the development of the first expert system called MYCIN with the objective of diagnosing blood infection diseases."

Jan 1, 1988

By Michael B. Cortie

Mesoporous gold sponge has the unique property of being both metallic and highly resistant to oxidation. It has potential application in catalysis, in bio-sensors, in optical coatings, in analytical chemistry and, as we show here, as the basis for a new kind of ultra-capacitor. Due to the cost of gold, the most probable niche for a gold-based ultra-capacitor would be in the high-power/high-energy regime, a region where gold would compete with devices based on RuO2. A high internal resistance limits the power that can be usefully drawn from existing carbon-based ultra-capacitors, and that this problem can potentially be overcome by gold-based devices. A simple proof-of-concept ultra-capacitor based on mesoporous gold is described and its behaviour during charge and discharge cycles examined. In this work a step change in the input or output voltage of the device was used as the controlling parameter. There was also a residual faradaic current resulting from traces of undissolved aluminium left over from the AuAl2 precursor used to make the sponge, and some charge storage due to polarization of the solution. Deconvolution of these three effects was not entirely accomplished, but an ostensible capacitance of about 7 to 14 mF/g Au was demonstrated. Further improvement from these early results seems likely.

Oct 1, 2003

By Stephen L. Chryssoulis, Stamen Dimov

"Preg-robbing has been known for many years, where increased losses are suffered because dissolved gold is removed from solution by adsorption onto carbonaceous matter. In direct cyanidation circuits it is reasonable to conclude that the preg-robbed gold is either in a gold cyanide [Au(CN) - 2, AuCN] or metallic [Au°] form. However, in circuits with a pre-oxidation step possibilities increase and multiply even further because of water recycle streams containing apparent and not-so-apparent gold ligands. It is in these circuits where speciation of sorbed gold, i.e. the identification of the gold compound, is useful. The importance arises from the fact that proper identification of the sorbed gold species can be used to determine how, when, where and why gold was removed from solution, thereby identifying the exact cause of the problem and providing clues as to how it may be rectified.INTRODUCTIONTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt ever to speciate gold preg-robbed by carbonaceous matter using a surface sensitive microbeam technique. This approach enables the direct determination of gold species sorbed on carbonaceous particulates, opening an entirely new field in the understanding of the chemistry of gold sorption on carbon. The reasoning behind this effort was to add to the current knowledge of the detrimental effect chloride ions have on gold recovery by the pressure oxidation and in particular why in the ensuing CIL step, gold is not being desorbed from the surface of the carbonaceous particles (Table 1)."

Jan 1, 2004

By T. G. Carter

"This paper traces the introduction and use of fire-resistant (FR) fluids in hydraulic systems at underground mines in British Columbia. Reasons are given for the decision to make compulsory the use of such fluids in underground mines after January 1, 1975 by provincial government legislation. Examples are quoted of fires caused, or supported by, mineral oils which have resulted in loss of life and property.The basic principles of hydraulic systems are reviewed in order to present the effects of changing a system operating on mineral oils to one which must operate on FR fluids. Approximations of the cost of system conversions are given for certain machines and a brief survey is made of the various pieces of underground equipment which contain hydraulic systems operating on FR fluids.IntroductionIn 1948, Admiral Ben Moreel , who was then president of Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation in the United States , wrote:""Although safe and healthful working conditions can be justified on a cold dollars-and- cents basis, I prefer to justify them on the basic principle that it is the right thing to do. ""(1)This paper will outline the introduction and use of fire resistant fluids at mine operations in the Province of British Columbia. That it was the right thing to do in enhancing the safety and well-being of every person employed at the mines was the prime consideration. That it may be justified on a cold dollars-and-cents basis is left for the reader to judge. The prime purpose of this paper is not so much to trace the efforts made by the individual mines to successfully introduce and use fire-resistant (FR) fluids in hydraulic systems, but to present an over-all picture of what occurred, in a collective sense, at the majority of mines which have ended up with a working FR fluid system. The problems attendant to the introduction of an FR fluid will be recounted in a manner which, it is hoped, will prove useful to those contemplating system conversions. Because the predominant fluid now in use is an invert, or water-in-oil. emulsion, this will be the FR fluid considered.Fluid Loss from SystemsThe quantities of various fluids required for use in hydraulic systems are extremely high. This statement in itself may appear to be redundant in that the capacities of the various systems should demand that a fixed amount of fluid is required for the initial filling of a system, with a further amount of fluid scheduled for use during subsequent fluid changes, i.e. at the recommended change intervals . If only this were the case!"

Jan 1, 1981

By Chris D. Veldhoen

If you ask most diamond drillers if they have ever encountered methane gas, the answer would probably be yes. This paper explores a serious methane gas explosion that the author experienced while diamond drilling at a northerly Ontario mine. It is hoped that by documenting this event, people may be alerted to the hidden danger posed by confined methane in underground workings. Methane gas tends to be a problem the deeper you get in any Canadian gold mine. Common procedure when encountering methane is to take readings at the collar of the hole and at different lengths from the source. Monitoring continues until the readings drop below 0.25 ppm. Methane is a tasteless odorless gas that is usually locked up in the seams of the rock or is a product of decaying organic material. Occasionally, the gas is released abruptly over a short period of time. Sometimes the gas can continue to vent for months or even years. In small concentrations, methane is relatively safe. In concentrations under 0.25 ppm methane gas is considered safe to work around. Concentrations over 0.25 ppm can become dangerous. During the summer of 2001, Chris Veldhoen was drilling at a gold mine in Ontario. There were three electric hydraulic diamond drills on the 39 meter level, approximately 5200 feet deep. Two Longyear LM 55 drills were about 40 feet apart and another LM 75 was about 2000 feet away. The two LM 55?s were set up to drill holes no deeper than 350 meters. All three drills had been set up on the same spot for more than a month. None of the three drills had ever encountered methane gas in the entire time they had been drilling on the level. On the day shift of July 13 2001, the driller on Chris? cross shift hit a small pocket of gas. He tested the hole and got a reading above 0.25 ppm. He proceeded to rope off the area with a ?DO NOT ENTER - METHANE GAS? sign and a rope denying access beyond the sign. On Saturday, July 14, Chris was instructed to install a Margo plug in the hole that was emitting methane gas. Methane is usually odorless, but occasionally when encountered underground, is accompanied by a rotten egg smell. As he walked to the drill, he could not smell methane gas. He proceeded to test the hole and got a reading of 0.22 ppm methane. This number was in the acceptable range for drilling, but he plugged the hole anyway.

May 1, 2004

By Y. M. Shneerson, I. V. Fomenko, M. A. Pleshkov, E. A. Ospanov, A. A. Shakhalov, S. S. Naboychenko

Low-grade copper concentrates (with copper content less than 20%) often contain impurities such as arsenic, zinc, lead, mercury, antimony and bismuth. The pyrometallurgical treatment of such concentrates is associated with several problems, which will ultimately affect the cost and the quality of copper cathodes as well as by-products. SRC Hydrometallurgy proposed a complex hydrometallurgical technology which allows the removal of impurities and the enrichment of low-grade copper concentrates to a quality which will be more suitable for pyrometallurgical processing. Laboratory batch tests and pilot plant results for the pressure leaching steps are shown in this paper. The key parameters of the leaching steps were determined and optimized. The quality of possible by-products were also determined. The developed flowsheet includes two pressure leaching steps: pressure oxidation (POX) and hydrothermal alteration (HTA). Both operations are carried out at 170°C with subsequent flotation of POX and HTA residues and recovery of copper, zinc and lead into separate concentrates for further processing. The development of the flowsheet was based on the Balkhash Zinc Plant (Balkhash, Kazakhstan), which had been non-operational since 2009. The developed flowsheet for processing of low-grade concentrates will utilize 80% of the existing equipment of the Balkhash Zinc Plant, thus leading to a significant reduction in required capital expenditure. INTRODUCTION As the age of copper mining operations advance, copper grades continue to diminish and impurity levels increase. Therefore, copper producers are forced to look for new innovative hydrometallurgical technologies which are able to handle low-grade raw materials and solve problems associated with impurities in an economically justifiable way. New technologies allow to extract valuable components selectively and to process low-grade concentrates which had previously been marked as non-technological and economically unviable. Hydrometallurgical technologies for processing of copper-containing materials can be divided into two main categories: chloride and sulfate (atmospheric, autoclave and bacterial) based technologies. Since the 1970s, many autoclave techniques for the processing of copper-containing materials have been developed and implemented (Naboichenko, 2002; Dreisinger, 2005; Habashi, 2009; Shneerson, 2011). The mineralogical composition of the ore (or concentrates), geographical location of the deposit, distance from industrial areas, availability of existing treatment facilities, availability of skilled labor, cost of electricity and cost of neutralization are some of the factors which are usually considered when the appropriate technology is selected (Halbe, 2002).

Jan 1, 2019

By Y. Hanada

Electrorefining at higher current density is desirable due to the increase in productivity attained without expanding the plant size. However, increasing the current density in common commercial practice causes problems such as anode passivation, dendritic deposition, cathode impurities and energy consumption. In general, agitation of the electrolyte is effective in suppressing these problems. To apply the agitation to commercial practice effectively, the method of agitation is important. One possible method is agitation by gas injection. In this study, fluid motion characteristics with gas injection between electrodes were investigated using a water model. Flow patterns were observed and fluid velocity was measured using a particle tracking method. It was found that the time-averaged velocity near the electrode walls was of the order of 0.1 m/s in the conditions. The flow was highly turbulent. The turbulent component of velocity was the same order as the time-averaged velocity. The mass transfer coefficient between the wall and fluid doubled when the effect of turbulent intensity was taken into account. The effects of gas injection on the electrolysis behaviour at high current density were discussed in terms of the mass transfer. It is suggested that gas injection could suppress the problems at high current density.

Jan 1, 2007

By L. Contretras

This study has as an objective to analyze and to propose actions to improve the quantity and quality of the graduate education in the area of mining industry, specifically of mining engineers, metallurgists, geologists, to satisfy the expectations of professionals in the mining industry. Included are an analysis of the present scenario and the future demands in countries like Chile and proposed plans for the Establishment of Educational Initiatives, country policies and market forecast, vis-a-vis the experience of Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America.

Jan 1, 2007

By Patrick Polk

For many years, sulfuric acid producers all over the world have been forced to meet ever more strict environmental regulations to reduce SO2 emissions. The sulfuric acid industry has implemented new solutions in order to comply with the new lower SO2 emissions target. Haldor Topsoe (Topsoe) has responded to this challenge by continuously improving the range of VK sulfuric acid catalysts and providing tailor-made catalyst solutions to meet the demands of the sulfuric acid producers for lower SO2 emissions. Reducing emissions through catalysis: requires less capital than installing a scrubber, requires no additional process chemicals, generates no waste or by-product to dispose of. In 1996 Topsoe introduced VK69, a cesium-promoted vanadium catalyst, designed for operation in the pass(es) after the intermediate absorption tower in double absorption plants. The high activity of VK69 allows for a more than 50% reduction in SO2 emissions from existing double-absorption plants. Topsoe currently has more than 110 installations of VK69. To comply with the still more stringent regulations being placed on the sulfuric acid industry to lower SO2 emissions, Topsoe has developed a new sulfuric acid catalyst designated VK-701 LEAP5™. This catalyst was introduced to the market in 2010. VK-701 LEAP5™ is based on a novel technology which circumvents the internal transport deficiencies of existing commercial sulfuric acid catalysts and thereby offers exceptionally high activity in strong, SO3 rich gases. Sulfuric acid plants have used this catalyst to meet emissions requirements lower than previously believed possible with a catalyst only solution. This paper will present examples on how to reduce emissions by implementing a tailor-made catalyst solution using VK69 and VK-701 LEAP5™.

Jan 1, 2014