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By Feng Wang, Guojing Shi, Yangyang Xie, Zizong Zhu, Qiang Wu

The coal chars from northwestern part of China are characterized with high reactivity and low strength after reaction. Four type of coke-making coals selected from northwestern part of China were studied by proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, vitrinite reflectance analysis, and FTIR with curve-fitting analysis to obtain information on their chemical composition and chemical structure. The results show that the studied coals have relatively high values of final contraction of coke residue index (x) and relatively low values of maximum thickness of plastic layer (y) and average vitrinite reflectance. Based on the curve-fitting analysis of FTIR spectra, the aliphatic carbon (Cal), the aromatic carbon (Car), and the molecular structural parameters such as CH2/CH3, fa, Hal/Har, and (R/C)u are determined. The results of curve-fitting analysis indicate that the studied coals are characterized by a large amount of oxygen-containing functional groups and aliphatic side chains.

Mar 1, 2018

By Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa, Jorge Alberto Soares Tenorio, Amzy Tania Vallenas-Arevalo, Carlos Gonzalo Alvarez Rosario

Cyanideisatoxicchemicalusedinminingindustrytorecovergoldand silver in leaching process. Effluents containing cyanide can be treated by biore- mediation instead of physical and chemical processes which are often more expensive and less efficient. This study evaluated the capacity for free cyanide degradation of a Bacillus licheniformis strain previously isolated from an aban- donedgoldmine.First,bacterialgrowthinLBmediumthroughOD wasstudied. 600 Then,bacteriawasadaptedtogrowonalkalinemediumusingCAPSbuffertokeep pH10. Finally, cyanide degradation assays were performed using a 500 mgL −1 KCN pH10 50 mM CAPS solution. Free cyanide was measured using a polaro- graphicmethod.Temperatureinfluencewasevaluatedat27,32and37 °C.Results showedthat B. licheniformis was able todegrade 99% offree cyanide after 5 days of incubation and works better at 32 °C showing the strain potential for cyanide biotreatment in mining industry. (cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1)

Mar 1, 2018

By Sibin Zhang, Shengli Wu, Youhao Yin, Yuandong Pei, Zhixing Zhao, Jiangshan Shi, Zhengyun Fan

Spraying medium to achieve an energy-saving and emission reduction for iron ore sintering has been researched, such as spraying natural gas, coke oven gas, oxygen, sintering flue gas and gas from annular cooler. This paper focuses on effect of spraying steam on sintering surface on reduction of NOx and dioxin emissions in practical sintering production in Shougang Jingtang. It can be found that, with the increase of sintering bed spraying steam amount, NOx and dioxin of flue gas showed a decreasing trend. As spraying steam 1 t/h for 550 m2 sintering machine in Jingtang, NOx content decreases 2.6–9.5 mg/Nm3, and dioxin decreases 0.007–0.014 TEG ng/Nm3.

Mar 1, 2018

By Lu-ming Zhao, Li Zhao, Yu Wang

Mould flux is a vital functional material which is based on silicate including flux and framework material. The effects of magnetic field intensity and frequency on viscosity of mould flux were tested by rotational viscosity tester and a measurement device for electromagnetic characteristics of mould flux viscosity under high temperature conditions. The results show that: with the magnetic field intensity rising (0 –30 mT), the viscosity of mould flux increases by 1.3–1.8 P. With the frequency rising (6–12 Hz), the viscosity of mould flux is increased by 1.2–1.4 P. When the binary basicity is 1.08, the viscous flow activation energy increases with the increase of the magnetic field intensity and frequency. It can be the main reason for the increase of mould flux viscosity that the electromagnetic forces disrupt the ordered structure of mould flux and make the ion migration rate increase.

Mar 1, 2018

By Helio Wiebeck, Vijay Rangari, Julyana Santana, Francisco Valenzuela-Díaz, Esperidiana Moura, Marcus Vinicius de S. Seixas

Closed-cell polyethylene (PE) foams have been extensively used in many applications such as packaging, transportation, sports, construction, and agriculture because of their variety of properties including light weight, chemical resistance, thermal and electrical insulation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of electron-beamirradiation on the properties of LDPE/EPDMblend foams. The LDPE/EPDM blend (80/20 wt%) were prepared by melt extrusion, using a twin-screw extruder machine. The foam structure of LDPE/EPDM blends was obtained by melt extrusion process, using a special single screw for foaming with 1.5 wt% of foaming agent as blowing agent. The foam samples were irradiated by electron-beamat radiation dose of 25, 50, 75 and 100 kGy and submitted to heating in an oven at 100 °C. The specimen tests samples of irradiated and non-irradiated foams were submitted to mechanical tests, DSC, TG analysis and density measurement.

Mar 1, 2018

By Liugen Sun, Xingming Jiang, Weijiao Yang, Yihang Hu, Yongqiang Yang, Hua Wang

During the past decades, cyclone electrowinning (CE) has been regarded as a novel separation technology, which can be used for direct electrowinning of metals from low concentration solution. Recently, CE was proven effective for the treatment of antimonic gold concentrates. The experimental results of cyclone electrowinning of antimony show the current efficiency increases from 43.8 to 72.2% with the increasing current density (from 254.8 to 647.3 A/m2), and on the other hand, power consumption per ton antimony decreases from 6100 to 4200 kWh with the aforementioned increasing current density. The grade of the obtained cathode antimony could reach 98.6%. Compared with the traditional electrowinning using parallel-board electrodes, the economic profit of CE was 33.1% higher attributed to the high current efficiency of CE. In addition, CE could adapt to high current density. All these characteristics indicate the CE method can be implemented commercially for processing antimonic gold concentrates.

Mar 1, 2018

By Z. Jing, L. Qihou, C. Jun, L. Hui, Z. Yumeng

Three phases of Bi2O3 were first synthesized by extraction-stripping precipitation and post decomposition from BiCl3 leaching solution. The as-prepared Bi2O3 were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic performances of the oxides were investigated by decomposing rhodamine B (RB) under visible irradiation. It shows that the Bi2O3 with different crystal structures and morphology were obtained under different decomposition temperature. The band gaps of as-prepared samples were 2.36, 2.41, and 2.78 eV for b-Bi2O3, a-Bi2O3, and d-Bi2O3, respectively, and the photocatalytic activities followed the order: b-Bi2O3 > a-Bi2O3 > d-Bi2O3, which was in good accordance with the photoluminescence spectra measurement results. The b-Bi2O3 exhibited the best photocatalytic performance which can effectively degrade 99.23% RB within 240 min.

Mar 1, 2018

By Felipe P. D. Lopes, Caroline G. de Oliveira, Sergio N. Monteiro, Lucas A. Pontes, Janine F. de Deus

For decades, natural fibers have been studied as an economical and environmentally viable alternative to use instead of some types of synthetic fibers, for example fiberglass. To find the best way to make composites, the investigations shall be under various configurations, which is extremely important to understand the potentialities and facilities. To aim the comparison of impact performance of epoxy matrix composites reinforced with ramie fabric, the composites were produced by two different methodologies: under pressure and vacuum. The results show that the composites produced under pressure have greater resistance to both the Charpy and Izod Impact than under vacuum conditions.

Mar 1, 2018

By Shengli Wu, Jiacong Zhang, Kai Gu, Bingjie Wen, Heng Zhou

In practical production process, the average of silicon content in hot metal (HM) of COREX process (the average is 1.58%) is obviously higher than that in blast furnace (the value is below 0.6%), which leads to an increase in the cost of steelmaking. In this work, the factors affecting and impact mechanism of silicon content in HM were investigated by statistical analysis using actual operating data. The analysis indicates that the fuel rate, binary basicity of slag and the temperature of HM are positively correlated with the silicon content, while the sulfur content of HM and binary basicity of burden are negatively correlated with the silicon content. On this basis, a back propagation neural network was developed to predict and control the silicon content in HM. All the findings of this work are useful for guiding and optimizing the COREX operation.

Mar 1, 2018

By Liuyin Shi, Kang Liu, Fengqi Zhao, Yan Song, Zhiping Yang, Xing Fan

Due to the high energy consumption, long technical process, low usage rate of vanadium during the traditional smelting vanadium steel process, a new method for decarburization by CO2 to directly smelt vanadium-containing steel in blast furnace was proposed. In this paper, the thermodynamics of CO2 decarburization in molten iron process was calculated out by FactSage. The thermodynamic calculations indicated that in standard state, the transformation temperature of C and V was 1357 °C; the oxidation order of element was Si, C, V, Mn and S when using CO2 as oxidant. The experiment of blowing CO2 temperature showed that decarburization reaction temperature was 1550 °C, carbon content could be decreased to 0.676%, the decarburization rate was 88%. There was no effect on vanadium content in molten iron during the decarburization process, vanadium content was 0.323%, which meets the request of vanadium mould steel.

Mar 1, 2018

By Rongjin Zhu, Yue Wu, Shuxing Qiu, Qingyun Zhang, Shengfu Zhang

Co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal was investigated as an effective way to reduce the greenhouse gas emission. The effects of poplar on the thermal behavior of fat coal were studied using thermogravimetric analyzer. The blended samples heated to characteristic temperature were subjected to attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) to characterize the macromolecular structure. The results indicated that the synergistic effects existed in co-pyrolysis process of blends since lower char yield than calculated values, and the synergistic effects presented positive and negative trend with the increase of temperature, respectively. The carbonyl/carboxyl C=O stretching vibration functional groups and aliphatic side chain from individual fuels were decomposed in advance during co-pyrolysis. Furthermore, the hydrocarbon-generating potential (A-factor) and thermal maturity(C-factor) of the mixtures showed nonadditivity performance.

Mar 1, 2018

By Carlos Maurício F. Vieira, Lázaro A. Pizatto, Marcus Paulo Cardoso, Sergio Neves Monteiro, Joao Victor C. Nunes, Gustavo S. R. Matheus, Frederico M. Margem

The interest in composites with natural fibers is due, among other factors, to the growing worldwide concern with the preservation of environment and renewable raw materials. The natural fibers have many particular properties that make them an attractive alternative to traditional synthetic fibers. The advantages of using these fibers are: low cost, renewability, biodegradability, low toxicity, abundance and specific strength. The searching for new suitable, economically viable and technologically advanced materials justifies the accomplishment of this work that aims at comparing the mechanical behavior of polyester matrix composites with epoxy matrix composites reinforced with hemp fibers Izod impact tested. The specimens with dimensions: 10 63 12.7 mm, made in different volume fractions of fiber: 0–30 vol%. The samples were tested at PANTEC pendulum model XC-50 located at LAMAV/UENF. With this research was possible to analyse the mechanical properties of these two new materials.

Mar 1, 2018

By Maria Leikola, Joseph Hamuyuni, Petteri Halli, Fiseha Tesfaye, Mari Lundström

In a race to save the planet of its rapidly depleting natural resources, the use of Secondary Raw Materials (SRMs) as replacements in several processes is currently intensively pursued. In fact, this is currently one of the European Union (EU)’s mandates. Valorization of SRMs is consistent with circular economy, where resource efficiency is maximized for the benefit of both businesses and the environment. In line with this mandate, this paper focuses on investigating process phenomena related to hydrometallurgical recycling of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) dust. In the experimental study, selective dissolution of zinc and other metals is investigated to acquire a recyclable leach residue. Based on the experimental and theoretical investigations, zinc could be extracted from the EAF dust and a recyclable leach residue produced, having chemical composition suitable as a feed material into electric arc furnace.

Mar 1, 2018

By Victoria Vaccarezza, Corby Anderson

Due to the demand for rare earth elements for everyday technology and applications, there has been much research initiation into the extraction and recovery of rare earth elements. An otherwise unknown mineral, eudialyte is a zircon silicate consisting of rare earth oxides, specifically the heavy REO yttrium (III), with only trace amounts of thorium and uranium. The first part of this project aimed at finding an efficient way to liberate and upgrade eudialyte to concentrate the REO content. A combination of gravity and magnetic separation techniques were employed, resulting in limited success. The second part looked at the hydrometallurgical processing of eudialyte through various leaching experiments with sulfuric acid. In all, this project will discuss why certain processes were utilized over others, as well as the difficulties that arose during processing.

Mar 1, 2018

By Shaohua Ju, Feng Jiang, Jian Jian, Hongying Xia, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang

Microfluidic solvent extraction of zinc from sulfate solution was studied using di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid, D2EHPA, in sulfonated kerosene as diluent. The influence of different parameters on the extraction of zinc, such as flow rate, temperature, flow rate ratio, extraction concentration, and saponification ratio of extractant were investigated and the conventional and micro fluidic extraction were compared. Under the optimized conditions, micro fluidic extraction efficiency of zinc is up to 97.1%. It is better than that conventional extraction. Therefore, microfluidic solvent extraction can achieve high efficiency and low consumption of extraction process.

Mar 1, 2018

By Maria das Graças da Silva Valenzuela, Guillermo Ruperto Martin Cortes, Francisco Rolando Valenzuela-Diaz

Bentonites are an important kind of industrial clays with more than a hundred different uses. In the oil and gas industries they are used as thixotropic additives for drilling fluids and also as sorbents for purification of flows and effluents. Due to the mechanical and thermal properties that they exhibit, bentonites will become in a near future important fillers in clay/polymer nanocomposites which could be used in the oil and gas industry for replacement of various metal components. In this paper a chocolate color bentonite from the state of Paraiba in Brazil was characterized by diverse techniques such as XRD, DSC/TGA, surface area, and cation exchange capacity and it was studied its potential use as thixotropic additive for oil and gas drilling fluids and assorbents of oils. The bentonite showed good potential for use in those applications.

Mar 1, 2018

By Jian Li, Pei Liu

In recent years, focused ion beam (FIB) has become a powerful microscopy tool. Creating large FIB cross sections are often required to characterize important microstructure features e.g. the depth and morphology of pitting corrosion and stress corrosion cracking in natural gas pipeline steels. Large FIB sectioning often takes long time that not only occupy valuable FIB microscope time, but also consume often expensive consumables that include gallium ion source, aperture and deposition gas etc. The new plasma FIB developed by FEI can speed up milling process by using much larger beam current. However, for most of the laboratories that is limited by conventional Gaion FIB, the milling speed is limited by the relatively small beam current. In this paper, FIB milling rate are studied against milling parameters that include beam dwell time and pixel overlap. By optimizing the milling parameters, milling rate can increase significantly.

Mar 1, 2018

By Marcel Magnusson, Guozhu Ye, Pekka Vaananen, Yang Tian

The most used technology for recycling of spent alkaline batteries consists of crushing, magnetic separation and processing of the nonmagnetic fraction, black mass, using a rotary kiln. In the process only zinc is recovered and all manganese in the black mass is lost. According to the EU regulation for recycling of batteries, more than 50% of batteries should be recovered. To meet the demand, Swerea MEFOS has together with a major battery recycler IsoLogistics in Finland and Sweden developed technologies for efficient recovery of zinc and manganese aiming for >50% recovery. This paper will focus on a treatment process using a DC furnace to produce a ZnO- and a MnO-product. The process has been demonstrated in pilot scale, 1 ton/h. The major outcomes will be highlighted. Another approach by using thermal vacuum technology for distillation of zinc metal has also been demonstrated in laboratory scale which is also reported in this paper.

Mar 1, 2018

By Jorge Gibson, P. Chris Pistorius, Megha Jampani

Increased utilization of natural gas in blast furnace ironmaking can decrease both the cost and the carbon intensity of ironmaking, given current US natural gas prices. In this paper, three ways to utilize natural gas are compared: tuyère injection, prereduction of iron ore, and shaft injection. The basis for comparison includes coke replacement ratios, carbon intensity and furnace productivity. These were calculated using relevant mass and energy balances, a blast furnace productivity correlation based on the bosh gas flow rate, and measured and modeled prereduction kinetics. Of the natural gas utilization methods, prereduction has the highest effective coke replacement ratio (and hence the largest advantage in raw material cost), but is likely to have the highest capital requirement.

Mar 1, 2017

By Ali Tabeshian, Ragnhild E. Aune, Reza Beheshti

Today’s lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are found in more than half of the hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the marked, all-electric vehicles, and nearly all consumer electronics. As a result, recycling of LiBs will be a strategic necessity in the near future. In the present study, the feasibility of application of conventional aluminum recycling process (secondary aluminum production) as a suitable process for treatment of LiBs was studied. The overall idea is to recover aluminum, copper and lithium from a mixed waste stream of LiBs and aluminum scrap. A two-stage process, consisting of a preheating step and a melting step, were tested on cell phone batteries mixed with pure aluminum in a ratio 1:10 and the distribution of elements between the metal phase and the slag phase evaluated. The obtained results are compared and discussed based on the thermodynamic calculated by the use of the FactSage™ software version

Mar 1, 2017