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By W. F. Whittaker

Systematic control of process parameters during electrorefined copper cathode production and final product inspection ensures high quality of produced "ORC brand copper. Since 1986, substantial increases in tankhouse productivity have been achieved by a number of technological and process control changes. This paper reviews the changes implemented to achieve higher productivity and cathode quality.

Jan 1, 1992

By Richard B. Stein

Bechtel's BEMSIM computer program is a useful tool for solvent extraction-electrowinning plant design optimization. Its power (up to 90 stream components, 240 process streams, 180 process steps) has been applied to investigate floweheet configurations in order to perform basic engineering, sizing of plant equipment and to optimize performance of commercial-size copper plants. Flowsheet variations presented include series, parallel and series-parallel extraction stages, while heat balances simulate operations in summer and extreme winter conditions. The BEMSIM program has also been applied to nickel-cobalt, gold and manganese extraction.

Jan 1, 1993

In the new flowsheet for Inco Limited's S02, Abatement Project at the Copper Cliff, Ontario operations, a copper/nickel sulphide flotation concentrate will be flash smelted, then converted to Bessemer matte. As in current practice, this will be slow-cooled and separated into components by magnetic separation and flotation. The copper content will emerge as a chalcocite concentrate (impure Cu2S), containing some nickel. This copper sulphide will be converted to copper metal.

Jan 1, 1993

By Xueqin Li, Xuewei Lv, Yu Zhang, Wenchao He

In order to make full use of the chromium-bearing vanadium titanium magnetite with chromium, a new process of “direct reduction-electric furnace smelting separation” has been developed for recovering the iron, vanadium, titanium and chromium in recent years. In this paper, FactSage, one of the most frequently-used thermodynamic calculation software, was used to calculate the reduction degree of Fe, V and Cr with different n C/nO (mole ratio of carbon and oxygen). It was found that the suitable operating conditions of direct reduction process were n C/nO > 1.07 and T > 1473 K. In addition, the direct reduction experiment of Hongge vanadium titanium magnetite was carried out and the obtained samples after direct reduction were analyzed by XRD and chemical composition. The result shows that the metallization rate of carbon-containing pellet is nearly 90%.

Mar 1, 2018

By Kun Wang, Weipeng Luan, Qingbo Yu, Qin Qin

The oxygen uncoupling property of the oxygen carrier is essential for the chemical looping gasification process. In this paper,the combined Cu-based oxygen carrier were prepared by mechanical mixing method. XRD and SEM were used to characterize the oxygen carrier prepared. TG experiments were performed in a thermal analyzer to investigate the oxygen uncoupling property. The XRD pattern of the fresh oxygen carriers showed that the phases of the oxygen carriers were stable.The active phase of oxygen carrier was CuMnO. With the increasing of x 3-x 4 heating rate, the starting and ending temperatures of the reduction reaction increased. However, the reaction time decreased and the reduction rate increased. With the increasing of oxygen concentration, the starting temperatures of the reduction reaction shifted to high level. Temperature had great effect on the reduction rate and the reduction rate increased with increasing of the reduction temperatures.

Mar 1, 2018

By Jorge A. S. Tenório, Pedro F. A. Prado, Denise C. R. Espinosa

There has been an increasing push to develop environmentally sound recycling processes of electronic waste (WEEE), including end-of-life photovoltaic modules, to reclaim materials such as silver which is both valuable and pollutant to human health and wildlife. However, process sustainability and economic feasibility of PV panels recycling is strongly tied to the materials separation step, which currently presents challenges due to use of high temperature treatments and strongly acidic solutions. A method using an easily accessible solvent — isopropanol— dissolved the silicone-based encapsulant of crystalline silicon PV modules in 2 days at room temperature, separating the module into semiconductor wafer, glass, ribbon and backsheet.

Mar 1, 2017

By Bing Ji Yan, Cui Wang, Ya Peng Zhang, Chuan Hui Li, Hong Wei Guo, Jian Liang Zhang

There are a lot of research of the chlorine element’s influence on blast furnace, and mainly pay close attention to the harm to gas pipes and equipment. There are three kinds of chloride in the blast furnace gas, including HCl, NH4Cl, and NaCl (or KCl, ZnCl, etc.). This paper mainly analyzes all kinds of phenomenon of the chlorine element overflowing blast furnaces in Jinan Steel, and puts forward some different viewpoints, which are that the chloride overflowing out of blast furnace in the types of HCl, NH4Cl, or NaCl (KCl) not only has much to do with raw materials of chlorine load level, at the same time with the blast furnace burden distribution. On this basis, comes up with countermeasures for the different situation, such as adjusting the burden distribution matrix to guarantee the central gas flow smooth and changing the kind of raw materials to reduce the chlorine quantity, which will be helpful to prevent the harmful influence of chlorine element.

Mar 1, 2017

By Ahmad Ghahreman, James McNeice

Separation of rare earth elements (REE) is often achieved by acid leaching of mineral concentrates followed by subsequent solvent extraction (SX), to purify individual rare earth metals (REM). Cerium, the most abundant REE, is usually the largest component of these ores. Demand for less prevalent REE, such as praseodymium and dysprosium; have led to a market saturation and price collapse of cerium. One method of improving the economics of REE separation is to remove cerium from solution prior to SX. This is accomplished via the oxidation of cerium (III) to cerium (IV), which precipitates as cerium hydroxides. This study probes the efficacy of four oxidants; hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite, potassium permanganate, and Caro’s Acid with the goal of improving cerium removal whilst minimizing REE and reagent losses. The effect of oxidant type and dosage, pH, cerium concentration, and temperature on the kinetics of the process will be discussed.

Mar 1, 2018

By Pamela Bogust, York R. Smith

Photovoltaic (PV) modules are becoming an ever increasingly larger part of our energy portfolio. As more and more PV modules are installed and come on-line, management of end-of-life (EOL) modules becomes an important issue. Currently, management of overburden EOL PV modules is not an issue, but is anticipated to be by 2030. Recovery and recycling of valuable metals in PV modules presents several environmental and economic advantages. In this brief review, we will describe processes for refurbishing and recycling of PV silicon. These processes involve some combination of mechanical, thermal, and chemical processing, all of which all have their oPV) modules have become wn respective challenges. Also, projections of PV module material streams are also highlighted.

Mar 1, 2018

By Mairyanne S. S. Souza, Sergio Neves Monteiro, Victor Tomazinho Bartolazzi, Dienifer Daiana Konzen

Clay is used in the production and manufacture of materials for the construction of buildings from remote periods. Advances and improvements of its properties have allowed several applications to this raw material. In this work the quality of four types of ceramic tiles manufactured or used in the northwest of the state of Rio de Janeiro and in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais was evaluated. Geometric, physical and mechanical aspects were evaluated according to the Brazilian standard NBR 15310:2009. The results indicate numerous nonconfor- mities with highlights for geometric parameters, surface flatness and yield tests. The nonconformities found in the samples indicate that there was a failure in the production control of the product and in the approval of the control of the lots.

Mar 1, 2018

By Ozgul Keles, Dila Sivlin

Lithium ion batteries are potential energy source of next generation electric vehicles (EVs). However, some problems such as safety, durability, low capacity, cycle life etc. restrict their use in EVs. These problems mostly related with cathode materials, an improvement in cathode materials may cause significant changes in battery performance. In this work, to overcome cycle life problem Al2O3 coating on LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2 cathode material produced by sol-gel method. The surface modification of LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0,2O2 was started by adding LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2 powders into alumina sol. Then, sonication was started and two different sonication powers were tested (45, 100%). After the second gel is obtained, last heat treatment for Al2O3 crystallization was done at 600 °C for 4 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements showed that the material had a well-ordered layered structure and Al was not in the LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2. Al2O3 coated materials show better cycling performance compared to the pristine material. It is believed that, this improvement is caused by the fact that Al2O3 layer prevents direct contact between active material and electrolyte and reducing decomposition reactions.

Mar 1, 2018

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 Carlos Maurício F. Vieira, Giulio R. Altoé, Maria Carolina A. Teles, Sergio N. Monteiro, Maycon A. Gomes, Frederico M. Margem, Gabriel O. Glória

Due to growing concern about the ambient impacts, the society is demanding for materials that are environmentally friendly. The lignocellulosic fibers, like PALF fibers, appears like an option to replace the synthetic ones in composites with polimerics matrices. Besides the environmental advantages, the lignocellulosic fibers have economical and some properties advantages like the low density in comparison with the synthetic fibers. Nowadays the lignocellulosic are used in industries, like the automobile and aerospace. This objective of this study was to analyze the absorbed impact energy of the composites reinforced with PALF fibers. The fibers were incorporated into the polyester matrix with volume fraction from 0 to 30%. The results showed increase in the absorbed impact energy with the increase of the percentage of fiber incorporated. The fracture surface of the specimens were analyzed by SEM (scanning eléctron microscope) and indicates that the PALF fibers act as reinforcement for the polyester matrix.

Mar 1, 2017

By Shusen Cheng, Kun Yan

A three-dimensional mathematical model of hot blast stove pipe shell has been established and used for analyzing the stress distribution and deformation. The results show that stress concentration happens along the intersection line of hot blast main and the hot blast manifold. There is no plastic deformation on the whole pipe region. The shell near the intersection elongates along the vertical direction and shortens along the horizontal direction, and deforms into an oval. The shell of hot blast main rises up, and inclines upward around the end of hot blast main. The hot blast main moves away from the hot blast and the displacement near the middle region is larger, the main deforms into an arch on horizontal surface. The deformation of shell may form a gap between shell and refractory inside and damage the security and stabilization of hot blast stove piping.

Mar 1, 2017

By Amjad Asad, Boyd Davis, Kinnor Chattopadhyay, Rüdiger Schwarze, Christoph Kratzsch, Donghui Li, Lei GAO

Sodium (Na) and Lithium (Li) are produced using molten salt electrolysis. The electrochemistry of the electrolyte is well-researched; however, there are benefits to understanding the melt flow and implications on it for cell design modifications. The basic configuration of alkali metal cells is the Downs cell. This consists of a central anode surrounded by a cathode, and this geometry was the basis for this mathematical modeling study. The behavior of gas bubbles in molten electrolyte was studied in both Na and Li cells through the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. The distance between the anode and the cathode was varied in the CFD model to ascertain whether strong circulatory flows would change significantly in the cell. The standard k-ε turbulence model was used to mimic turbulent flow, and a two-way coupled Discrete Phase Model (DPM) was adopted to simulate flotation behavior of chlorine bubbles and liquid metal droplets. The liquid metal distribution on the free surface was predicted using the Volume of Fluid (VOF) multi-phase model.

Mar 1, 2017

By Yuzhe Zhang, Xiaodi Huang, Xinli Wang, Bowen Li, Matthew Andriese, Xin Yan, Jiann-Yang Hwang, Zhiwei Peng

Using a TM0n0 cavity system as the main reactor, an integrated process was developed to find the best condition for waste tire rubber to absorb microwaves. The penetration depth was the main character for determining the best condition. The penetration depth is defined as the distance from the surface into the materials at which the traveling wave power drops to from its value at the surface. The waste tire powder was irradiated by two different microwave frequencies, including 915 and 2466 MHz. The study was conducted with same powder size and atmospheric condition. The effects of temperature and microwave frequency were analyzed based on the experimental data. The main trends are higher the temperature, the absorption will be better and the higher the frequency, the better the absorption will be.

Mar 1, 2017

By Hiroki Kumakura, Kotaro Seki, Takashi Nagai, Masahito Abe, Daiki Noguchi

A large amount of platinum group metals (PGM) are used in automobile catalyst. It is important to recover the metals from wasted catalyst. PGM in the catalyst are supported by ceramics for four-wheel vehicle or metals such as stainless steel for two-wheel ones. The recycling process of PGM from the metal-supported catalyst has not been developed, while the process for ceramic-supported catalyst was developed, such as Rose process. We designed a noble recycling process of PGM from metal-supported catalyst using complex oxides between PbO and PGM oxide. In this study, complex oxides, PbPt2O4, PbPdO2, PbRh2O4 and so on were synthesized at about 773–973 K. And the dissolution behavior of these compounds to hydrochloric acid was investigated. PbPt2O4 and PbPdO2 were dissolved to hydrochloric acid easily, but PbRh2O4 was not.

Mar 1, 2017

By Shengli Wu, Yuandong Pei, Shaoguo Chen, Zhixing Zhao, Haijun Kang, Jiangshan Shi, Wen Pan, Zhengming Cheng, Yaosheng Luo

Grate bar is the key component of the sinter machine used for loading sinter and raw materials. Bar channels are sometimes bonded into blocks, which affects the service life of bar, and more importantly reduces the effective ventilation area of the sintering, affecting the normal production of sintering, resulting in unstable negative pressure, higher electricity consumption, and lower production and quality of sinter. In order to solve this problem, the systematic study was done on bonding materials of bars, based on which bonding mechanism of sinter grate bars was obtained. The KCl is an important characterization of bonding. Control standard of blending ore that prevents bonding is K2O content below 0.06% and Cl content below 0.05%.

Mar 1, 2018

By Tianzu Yang, Xunbo Deng, Weifeng Liu, Lin Chen, Shuai Rao, DUCHAO ZHANG

To overcome the shortcomings of traditional cyanidation process for refractory gold ores, the smelting processes have been proposed. These smelting processes could be divided into two kinds, namely, indirect smelting and direct smelting. In the indirect smelting process, the calcine of refractory gold ores are added in the copper or lead smelting processes during which gold can be enriched into copper matte or crude lead. Then gold is extracted from the anode slimes. In the direct smelting process, refractory gold ores are smelted directly with gold enriched into ferrous matte. Then gold is extracted from ferrous matte. Based on the direct smelting process, the metallurgy-beneficiation united process for refractory gold ores has been proposed. In this process, gold is firstly enriched into ferrous matte by direct smelting, then the grinding-flotation process is used to obtain gold-rich sulfurous iron ore, and finally gold is extracted via hydrometallurgical method.The metallurgy-beneficiation united process has advantages of high gold recovery ratio, environment-friendly and low cost, which provides a new idea for the extraction of gold from refractory gold ores.

Mar 1, 2017

By Qiang Guo, Zongliang Zuo, Mengqi Wei, Qingbo Yu, Qin Qin

Activated carbons, derived from waste ion-exchange resin by CO2 physical activation, were applied to separate CO2 from flue gas against global warming. The BET specific surface areas of activated carbons at different activation temperatures and times were investigated. The CO2 adsorption capacity was tested under non-isothermal and isothermal conditions. The experimental results show that when keeping the activation temperature constant, the specific surface area increases firstly and then decreases with increasing activation time. For the given activation time, the specific surface area rises firstly and then declines with increasing activation temperature. The adsorption capacity decreases with increasing temperature. The maximum adsorption capacity is 51.46 mg/g under the condition of 298 K and pure CO2. Fractional order kinetic model is the best one to describe the kinetics of CO2 adsorption. The activated carbons show the potential to be an effective adsorbent for the removal of CO2 from flue gas.

Mar 1, 2018