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By H. -Peter Sattler

The laser sorting technique for replacing the handpicking of the non-ferrous metal scrap from auto shredders was first introduced 1990, The process is based on the use of atomic emission spectroscopy induced by lasers to identify the scrap particles and sort them with adequate systems into main fractions of Al-, Zn-and Cu-alloys, stainless steel and lead, In the meantime the handling technique for the scrap, i.e. the singling and sorting technique as well as the analytical detector were further developed for more efficiency and higher reliability, i,e. less maintenance, minor sorting errors etc. These developments were mainly based, on and initiated by operational experiences from the startup phase of a first production plant. Part of the on going research work was the development of an ,aluminium detector which makes it the first time possible to sort mixed aluminium scrap automatically into specific alloy fractions.

Jan 1, 1995

By Wenzhou Yu, Cong Zhang, Wenhui Ma, Gang Wang, Kuixian Wei

"A novel technique was successfully developed for nickel further purification by vacuum directional solidification. The removal effect of impurities in nickel was studied based on theoretical analysis and experiments. High removal efficiency of impurities in nickel can be realized according to theoretical analysis. The experimental results show that the vacuum directional solidification treatment could increase the nickel purity from 99.96% to 99.996%. Since vacuum directional solidification could effectively remove the impurities from nickel with low contamination and low cost, it is a potential route to obtain high-purity nickel for commercial application.IntroductionNickel is widely used in metallurgy, machinery, petroleum industry, chemical industry, construction industry, light industry, and other industries for its ductility, medium hardness, ferromagnetism and high chemical activity. Nickel-based alloy is an important material for the key parts of aircraft, tanks, submarines, radars, nuclear reactors and aerospace fields [1-5]. Generally, nickel contains Si, P, S, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Sn, Sb, Pb, Bi, Al, Mn, Mg and other impurity elements, which may hinder the commercial application of nickel. Therefore, it is necessary to refine the crude nickel for the high purity nickel."

Jan 1, 2014

By Run-boWang, Fan-yi Meng, Jian-Liang Zhang, ZheWang

To elucidate the influence of high Al2O3 content on sinter softening and melting behavior, heating-up reduction test under load was carried out. In addition, microstructure study of sinter bed structure change at a different temperature was also made and the mechanism that the effect of Al2O3 content on sinter softening and melting property was discovered. SEM results showed that the increase of Al2O3 content favored the formation of Al2O3-rich slag phase, such as the eutectic (2CaO·SiO2-2CaO·Al2O3·SiO2-FeO) and gehlenite (2CaO·Al2O3·SiO2), resulting in the decrease of sinter Ts temperature. Further, high Al2O3 content improved the concentration of metallic iron and lowered the dripping temperature due to the decrease of slag liquidus temperature and viscosity. At a fixed basicity, it was indicated that there was a relationship between Al2O3 content and sinter softening-melting property. Based on the results, counter strategies to cope with the adverse effect of high Al2O3 content on the cohesive zone property were also proposed. It could provide guidance for the blast furnace operation of sinter with high Al2O3 content.

Jan 1, 2015

By Christina Viklund-White

Life Cycle Assessment has been used to compare the environmental performance of landfilling versus recycling of the zinc used for galvanizing steel. Hypothetical process routes were com-posed involving four different EAF dust treatment processes; Waelz kiln, DC-furnace, EZINEX and slag fuming, as well as scrap dezincing. The study shows that recycling of zinc used for galvanizing steel has environmental benefits in that it saves zinc resources. However, zinc recovery does not necessarily decrease the potential impact on global warming and acidification. The magnitude of these two impact categories is tightly correlated with the amount and type of primary energy consumed in a process. Due to the high electricity consumption in the dezincing process, this route has the highest impact on Global Warming Potential as well as Acidification Potential. The major part of the energy requirement for the production of zinc from primary and secondary sources is consumed in the reduction of ZnO to Zn. The consequence is that the theoretically possible savings in primary energy by recycling zinc-containing materials are relatively minor. The impact categories "land use" and "waste generation" are not considered in this study, but most likely the evaluation of such impacts would further increase the potential environmental impact of the landfill alternative. The results also show that the location of an electricity-intensive process highly affects the potential environmental impact. Comparing process and material alternatives in LCA studies where branch average data is used, is considerably more complex than when LCA is used within a company.

Jan 1, 2000

By R. R. Beebe

"Laboratory and pilot-scale tests are almost invariably required before metallurgical development can proceed. Difficulties with sampling, as well as with classical chemical and physical scaleups, are normally anticipated and relatively well-understood, but more subjective factors also come into play, including misunderstandings of the operating scheme chosen, wrong ""lessons"" learned from similar operations, failures to handle data appropriately, and even arbitrary intervention by management. The paper examines some of these subjective factors and suggests ways to guard against them. Several anecdotal case studies are used as examples, including when and where to heap leach or to mill specific types of gold ore.When the Romans first exploited the gold-rich gossans at Rio Tinto, they were guided by analyses and tests that delineated the ore deposits, identified the richer portions, and measured the gold recoveries achieved. There is little evidence, however, to suggest that test data were used to develop improved methods of metallurgical extraction. Indeed, it is likely that ores too difficult to treat were simply passed by, at least until improvements in full-scale operations could deal with them. For example, it is not difficult to imagine that an early metallurgist might test a tin ore by placing some in a fire; a smallscale emulation of the method actually used in practice."

Jan 1, 1997

By A. Lackner

Using the CFD software package FIRE, the smelting process inside a cyclone reactor is modelled. The fluid flow is calculated 3 dim., using different turbulence models. The effects of design parameters (length and diameter of the cyclone, concentrate feeding tangentially or from the top,..) and operating conditions are investigated. Single particle traces illustrate how to increase particle retention time before the particles reach the liquid film flowing down the cyclone wall. Moreover a two phase flow approach is developed, based on the "Discrete Droplet Model". The position, velocity, diameter and temperature of each reacting particle is described. The results show the advantages of top concentrate feeding, large height/width ratio of the tuyeres and increasing number of tangentially gas inlets.

Jan 1, 1995

By Y. Ono

In lightweight metal processing such as aluminum (AI) and magnesium (Mg), metal cleanliness is a crucial process parameter for refining, part manufacturing and recycling in order to obtain high quality parts and products. In this paper, techniques for cleanliness evaluation of molten AI and Mg using ultrasonic probes with clad steel buffer rods having high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are presented. Due to the high SNR of the ultrasonic probes used, backscattered ultrasonic signals from inclusions, which may be oxide films and/or particles, in molten Mg and those from silicon carbide particles, having an average size of 50f.Ull, added in molten AI are successfully detected with reflection configurations of pulse-echo and/or pitch-catch modes at an ultrasonic frequency of 10 MHz. In addition, relative cleanliness evaluation of molten Al and Mg is demonstrated. In order to establish the procedure and to investigate the optimum system configurations for cleanliness evaluation of molten metals, particle flow simulation system using water and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) particles has been constructed. Counting the number and measuring the size distribution of the PVC particles, having an average diameter of 128um, suspended in water with the PVC volume concentrations of 5ppm and 10ppm are performed with ultrasonic pitch-catch mode. The counted numbers of particles by the presented method and system have good agreement with the calculated results with a count error of less than 10% or two counts. Based on the results obtained with water simulation experiments, the prototype system for cleanliness evaluation of molten Mg by counting and sizing inclusions has been developed. Keywords: Ultrasound, Clad buffer rod, Molten metal, Aluminum, Magnesium, Inclusion detection, Cleanliness measurement, Counting, Sizing

Jan 1, 2003

By Anupam Madhukar

The essence of an atomistic unified kinetic model of strained thin film growth and defect initiation is presented along with a comparison of its consequences obtained from computer simulations with experiments. Within the competing kinetics of a strain dependent activated incorporation of atoms and an asymmetry between upwards and downwards inter-layer migration, the model provides a consistent description of 2D versus 3D morphology evolution accompanied by the appearance of surface vacancies and steps at no energy cost. The correlated migration of these precursor defects offers an atomistic mechanism for the emergence of surface half-loops from the growth front (thus accounting for configurational and thermal entropy) governed by activation energies closer to their correlated motion under the evolving strain fields and thus substantially less than those calculated with respect to the perfect crystal as the reference state. The essential mechano-chemical nature of the problem is compared and contrasted with the historical literature of such phenomenon as precipitation hardening and sintering in metallic and ceramic composites.

Jan 1, 1994

By J. Kevin Cotchen

The results of "submerged arc" electric furnace processing of a variety of materials is discussed with respect to the process and products, including the characteristics of the products (e.g. TCLP or Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure). The materials melted include slags and wastes containing various metal oxides including copper, tin, lead, zinc, chrome, nickel and other associated elements. The findings of these tests are compared to those reported in the literature for other operations treating similar "wastes".

Jan 1, 1992

By Yin Zhang, Xiaoyu Huang, Mi Wang, Bencheng Du, Youduo He

"Burners are important facilities for blast furnace stoves to raise hot-blast temperature up to 1200°C. Common types of two-ring ceramic burners have very long flames so that part of combustion occurs in the upper part of the chequers and will cause damage to the refractory materials. Using computer simulation to analyze the turbulent diffusion flame in the combustion chamber, some good results were obtained. A new type of ceramic burner will be installed by Anshan Steel Complex in stoves of blast furnace number 4. A pilot experiment was done on the new burner. The experimental data have shown that the mixing condition was improved and the length of flame was shorter with the new type of ceramic burner.IntroductionPulverized-coal injection can give significant operating saving, reducing coke rate in blast furnace(BF) operation. However, during high rates of coal injection, extra heat must be compensated in hearth to maintain certain raceway adiabatic flame temperature. One of the effective methods for heat compensation is to raise hot-blast (HB) temperature up to 1200°C. Nowadays, since the fuel being combusted in stoves is BF gas only, in which the calorific value is down to round 3000 kJ/m3 , to increase the combustion ability and to provide a suitable length of flame in combustion chambers of stoves becomes more important. In other words, designing a good ceramic burner which will affect to HB temperature and stove lifetime is drawing more attention."

Jan 1, 1999

By Andreas Nolte

In 1999 HÜTTENWERKE KAYSER AG (HK) in Germany will produce more than 180,000 t/y of electrolytic refined copper. To achieve this production from materials with copper grades from two to seventy percent and diverse copper alloys, HK operates three blast furnaces, one holding furnace two Peirce Smith converters and two anode furnaces. Technical, metallurgical and economic factors for the ongoing process optimization are outlined. The fluctuating quality and quantity of raw materials renders complex this optimization. The principal variables are the quality and quantity of process consumables: coke, copper-iron, limestone, oxygen, as well as the blending of feedstock and a new organization of the operating crews. The search for new metallurgical process parameters is ongoing. HK started with an intensive research programm in November 1997. As a result it will be possible to cut processing costs by about ten per cent, to increase the blast furnace capacity by ten per cent and to lower the metallurgical losses of copper and tin in the slag by more than ten percent. The presentation concludes with information on future steps to continue the optimization process.

Jan 1, 1999

By John W. Graydon

Incineration is an attractive alternative to the disposal of MSW in landfill sites. However, the process of incineration generates fly ash which contains significant levels of leachable heavy metals - particularly cadmium, lead, and zinc - and it is essential to manage this fly ash in an environmentally sound manner. The compositions, phases, textures, morphologies and size of fly ash particles have been studied by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray microanalysis, and X-ray diffraction. The detailed spatial relationships and speciation of the environmentally significant constituents have received particular emphasis. The information obtained is useful in understanding how fly ash is formed during incineration, in understanding the leaching behavior of untreated fly ash if it is disposed of in a landfill and, most importantly, in guiding the development of the best treatment strategies for fly asti to mitigate its environmental impact.

Jan 1, 1992

By Wan Entong, Xie Junlin, Jiann YangHwang, Yang Chengwei, Chen Junfu, Zhang Jianjun, Cao Tongyou, He Feng, Peng Zhugang, Fang De

During the solidification process of peritectic steel (PS), the peritectic reaction often causes volume contraction which associated with surface longitudinal cracks, and using mould flux with low heat flux density help for alleviating surface longitudinal cracks. New peritectic steel mold flux with Co2O3 doping reduced the heat flux density, and the optimal content was found to be 2.0 wt %. Furthermore, basicity and Na2O addition were designed, and the minimum heat flux density required basicity of 1.4 and 10.0 wt %. Na2O content. As a result, the optimal peritectic composition was CaO(35.67wt% ), SiO2(25.48 wt %)，Al2O3(3.7 wt %)， MgO(2.53 wt %)，Na2O(10 wt %)，CaF2(14 wt %)，Co2O3(2 wt %).

Jan 1, 2015

By Yapeng Zhang, Zhiwen Shi, Chaoquan Yao, Fei Wang, Xinyu Li, Jianliang Zhang

A great deal of iron ores which have special elements have been applied in the sintering process with the decreasing of high-grade quality iron ores resources. In this paper, the laterite nickel ores were added into three different kinds of iron ores respectively to make liquid phase formation research by software of Factsage and high temperature characteristic sintering experiments. The results showed that the adding proportion of laterite nickel ores should be less than 15% when the high temperature properties of the mixing ores were well. Increasing the mixing ration of laterite nickel ores in the sintering blending would play an important role in the reduction of the sintering cost.

Jan 1, 2015

By N. Kanari

The kinetics of oxychlorination of MgO by Cl2+O2 was studied in the temperature range of 850 °C - 1025 °C, using thermogravimetric analysis. The effects of C12/02 ratio, gas velocity, temperature and partial pressure of reactive gases on the reaction rate were investigated. The oxychlorination process was characterized by an apparent activation energy of about 214 kJ/mol. The reaction orders with respect to C12+O2. C12 and O2 at 950 °C were about 0.65.0.98, and -0.37, respectively. Some data about oxychlorination kinetics of MgO, Cr2O3, and MgCr2O4 contained in chromite were compared. Efficiency of using oxychlorination for the removal of iron oxides contained in magnesia was demonstrated.

Jan 1, 1999

By E. Oshima

The only one reverberatory furnace smelting in Japan has been alive in Onahama Smelter, Onahama Smelting and Refining Company. The fuel for the reverberatory furnaces had been changed from bunker C-oil to mainly coal and partially waste tires to reduce the energy cost. The steam, recovered by the waste heat boilers of the reverberatory furnaces, has been utilized fully for the power generation to save the purchase power. Copper concentrate has been smelted also by injection through tuyeres in the P.S. converters since 1983. The amount of concentrate, treated in the converters, was increased by the construction of small oxygen plant in December, 1990. In the paper, the current practice and improvements in the reverberatory and converter operations are described.

Jan 1, 1993

By K. D. Mondale

The chemical and physical properties of samples from ten sedimentary zeolite deposits. (representing chabazite, clinoptilolite, erionite and mordenite types), have been determined as a prelude to the development of a wet beneficiation process. The mineralogical composition of each deposit and such properties as morphology, size, apparent density, surface area, pore volume, relative hardness and zeta potential in solution have been determined. Some of these properties, especially apparent density and relative hardness, were found to differ significantly from textbook values. Based on differences in properties between the zeolites and their associated gangue minerals, a wet beneficiation process has been developed which makes use of selective grinding, sizing, sorting and gravity concentration. Additionally, an alternative upgrading process using flotation has been developed for one of the deposits.

Jan 1, 1988

By Jiang Feng, Zhang Libo, Peng Jinhui, Guo Zhanyong, Ju Shaohua, Lei Ting

The clean utilization of the residue containing chloride, CuCl residue, produced from zinc hydrometallurgy is very important for the recycle of valuable metals. And drying is the main process in recycling. In this study, response surface methodology was used to optimize operating conditions of the drying of CuCl residue in a convection oven and desirability function used as the methodology for the optimization. Optimization factors were air temperature (80–100°C), material thickness (10–25mm) and process time (80–120min) while investigated responses was final moisture content. The optimum conditions were found to be the temperature of 95.48°C with the material thickness of 13.47mm for the process time of 89.48 min. Under optimum conditions, the predicted moisture content of CuCl residue was 4.11% while the experimental date was 4.13%. The experimental value after process optimization was found to agree satisfactory with the predicted value. After drying, XRD was used to analyze the main phases of CuCl residue. The CuCl residue is made up of CuCl,Cu2O, ZnS and other compounds.

Jan 1, 2015

By Fan Jiang, Haigang Wang, Shi Liu

"This paper describes several applications of Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) in gassolid two phase flows. A new image reconstruction algorithm was evaluated by both simulation and experiments. It is then applied to the online measurement of solids distributions in square circulating fluidized beds (CFBs) and good results were obtained. From the measurement of solids distributions in the bottom zone of a CFB, a bubbly fluidization pattern is identified. A cross-correlation technique was combined with the solids concentration measurements to obtain the flow rate through the dip leg of the cyclone, i.e. the circulating rate of a test CFB. The same· technique was applied in a dense phase pneumatic transport pipe provides the solids concentration, and the flow rate of a wavy gas-solids flow.IntroductionElectrical capacitance tomography (ECT) has been developed for imaging multiphase distributions in the 90's of the ·last century. It is a non-intrusive method. The principle of ECT can be firefly described as follows:Firstly ECT uses a number of electrodes to surround the measuring zone, depicted by Fig. I. The capacitances between the electrodes are measured in turn and an array C is obtained that contains a total number of m independently measured capacitances. Meanwhile the measuring zone is virtually divided into a grid of n pixels, represented by an array G, named the image vector, the gray level of each pixel represents the local value of the concentration of the material. As the material distribution will be reflected by the capacitances between each pair of electrodes, such distributions can be reconstructed according to the measured capacitance, a process called image reconstruction. A common image reconstruction method is called linear-backprojection (LBP). It linearize the relationship between the dielectric distributions in the measuring zone and the capacitances between the electrodes as the following:"

Jan 1, 2004

By Eulogio Velasco, Jose Nino, Marcos Cardoso

"Recycling of aluminum scrap for production of secondary alloys used for automotive applications is increasing continuously. Automotive alloys require a strict control to remove alloy impurities, inclusions and excess of magnesium. The advantage of aluminum is its recyclability with large energy and emission savings with minimal loss in material properties. The aim of this work is to study the magnesium removal from recycled aluminum by chlorine injection in a reverberatory furnace, and removal by an oxidation process at high temperature in an industrial rotary furnace.The magnesium removal by gas injection is carried out by the reaction between chlorine and magnesium, with its efficiency associated to kinetic factors. In the rotary rapid oxidation of aluminum and magnesium elements at high temperature is characterized by the formation of surface films composed of magnesium oxide. Additionally this work reviews the benefits of an efficient demagging process.IntroductionThe advantages of using light alloys for automotive applications include fuel economy improvement, greenhouse gas reductions and polluting emissions. These characteristics makes the aluminum alloys an attractive option for automotive components such as powertrain products and other critical parts like cylinder heads and blocks. [1]Aluminum alloys coming from recycled automotive components, used beverage cans (UBC) and wrought alloys have positive effects in the energy savings and current environmental trends. Producing a scrap recycled aluminum ingot consumes approximately 5% of the energy required to produce a primary aluminum ingot from bauxite ore. [2]"

Jan 1, 2011