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By V. Tsukerman, Ivanovam L.

"The potential of hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic oil and gas provinces is enormous. Oil, gas and condensate constitute the basis of mineral resource base of the shelf zone of the Russian Arctic; summary volume of hydrocarbons exceeds 100 billion tons of conventional fuel. Only in the Shtockman gas condensate field in the Barents Sea explored balance reserves equal to 3.2 trillion m3 of gas. It is necessary to establish a special regime of nature management in the Arctic. Environmentally oriented economic activities should be more actively stimulated. The Energy Strategy plans that starting from 2010 in the Barents and Pechora Seas up to 10 million tons of oil and 50 billion m3 of gas will be extracted, reaching the level of 30 million tons of oil and 130 billion m3 of gas in 2020. This task cannot be solved without intensification of geological exploration on the continental shelf. IntroductionThe elaborated strategy of mining enterprises should correspond to the modern paradigm of mining industry development which is not only for extraction of minerals but also for multi-profile structure having comprehensive use of the resources on the rational basis intended for rational complex utilization of mineral resources of the Arctic zone of Russia which by the definition includes maximally full use of the whole aggregate of resources on the economically rational basis with obligatory environmental with resource reproductive and socio-economic functions and deterrents"

Jan 1, 2008

By Leiv Kolbeinsen, Stian Seim, In-ho Jung

"The current work presents new experimental data in the iron-unsaturated region of the FeTiO3-Ti2O3-TiO2 slag system. The samples are prepared by melting pure reactants in a high frequency induction furnace that employs a cold crucible. A similar experimental set-up has been described in literature and proven suitable to investigate high titania slags. The FeO content of the samples range from 3.7 to 21.8 wt% and the Ti2O3 content range from 3.6 to 30.1 wt%. The liquidus temperatures of the samples are measured in-situ by a spectropyrometer and range from 1450 to 1645 °C.In addition, an improved thermodynamic database for the FeO-Ti2O3-TiO2 system has been developed. Ternary parameters have been included and optimized to fit previously published experimental data. This optimization minimizes the discrepancy between experimental data and thermodynamic calculations as previously discussed in literature. New liquidus projection plots are proposed for the FeO-Ti2O3-TiO2 and the FeTiO3-Ti2O3-TiO2 systems.IntroductionIlmenite (FeTiOs) smelting is a relatively small industry world-wide. However, a reasonable focus on the process has been applied in Norway due to the location of one such smelter in Tyssedal, which is located in the western part of Norway. The process is essentially carbothermal reduction, where most of the iron in the ilmenite is reduced to its metallic state, and the titanium oxide is concentrated in the slag product. The metallic iron is sold as a high purity pig iron and finds applications in cast products. The slag concentrate is further processed for the production of TiOvpigment and/or titanium metal. This further processing can be performed through different routes according to the purity of the slag concentrate."

Jan 1, 2012

By Adam Powell, David Dussault

"Electric Field-Enhanced Smelting and Refining is a process for driving the reaction between carbon in hot metal and iron oxide in slag, for example, in a steelmaking reactor. This process involves inserting electrodes into the slag and metal phases, such that the overall reaction FeO + C -> Fe + CO is separated into two half-cell reactions: Fe2+ + 2e· -> Fe at the cathode in the slag, and C + O 2 • -> CO + 2e· at the anodic slag-metal interface. Without the electrodes, the reaction is very slow, but with electrodes, the additional surface area available to the ferrous ions for reduction accelerates the reaction even without any applied bias. When a bias is applied to the electrodes, the electric field across the slag further accelerates the overall reaction.With or without applied bias, the process is first-order in the ferrous ion concentration, and limited by ferrous ion transport to the cathode. To complicate matters, as the liquid iron is reduced at the cathode, the Mullins-Sekerka instability leads to formation of dendrite-like liquid iron fingers which grow into the slag. Because of this, the design of the cathode can have a significant effect on the overall process kinetics, and understanding of the dynamics of these fingers and of their effect on mass transfer is necessary for the intelligent design of the overall process and the cathode in particular.Toward this end, a detailed mesoscopic two-phase slag-metal model is presented here which describes multi component diffusion in the slag and fluid flow in both phases in the vicinity of the cathode. Diffusion in the slag is driven by chemical and electrical potentials. The phase boundary is modeled as a diffuse interface using a phase field approach. Because this electrochemical reaction occurs at high-temperature, the kinetics of charge transfer and adsorption through the double layer are fast relative to transport, permitting the use of simple linear reaction kinetics. This also eliminates the need to discretize the double layer, with the result that charge neutrality may be assumed everywhere in the domain. Introducing electric field dependence of the gradient potential and well height coefficients in the free energy function allows the model to capture electrocapillarity at the interface."

Jan 1, 2001

By Pinakin Chaubal

An analysis of the blast furnace and the low-pressure shaft DR furnace is carried out by redefining the reaction zones. The concept of a characteristic reaction gas temperature (CRGT) is introduced and the two reactors are compared and contrasted using some recent process developments with an aim to develop a platform for further synergistic innovations.

Jan 1, 2006

By Gustavo E. Lagos

Mining is one of the oldest and most important productive activities in Chile. In the latter half of the 80's &d during the 1990's Chilean mining has experienced explosive growth fundamentally due to legislative changes which have encouraged an influx of foreign capital. Fine copper production has grown from 1,4 million tons in 1987 to 3,4 million tons in 1997. Gold production has increased from 17.03 tons in 1987 to 49.46 tons in 1997. In both cases private investment has driven this growth. The direct impact of mining on the Chilean economy has been considered one of the fundamental pillars of the growth of the country in the last years. The indirect impact that has generated on the other sectors of the Chilean economy and in particular the regional economies, has not been analyzed. This paper outlines a methodology for estimating the impact of mining investment and mining operations in different sectors of the Chilean economy at both regional and national levels. It applies this methodology to the case of Minera Escondida, the largest copper mine in the world, analyzing its economic impacts on the regional and national levels.

Jan 1, 1999

By Dao Su, Kelang Mu, Yufeng Guo, Jinghua Zeng, Tao Jiang

"The influence of high pressure roller grinding (HPRG) on sintering of iron concentrate fines was investigated. Results of mini-sintering tests showed that assimilation temperature of iron concentrate fines decreased from 1230 ? to 1220 ? and assimilation time was shortened from 10 min to 5 min when the iron concentrate fines was pretreated by HPRG. Sinter pot tests showed that the yield of sinter increased from 60.33% to 72.92% , tumble index increased from 44.35% to 46.66%. The investigation indicated that, after being pretreated by HPRG, iron concentrate fines are improved in ballability and the fraction of fine particles increased, resulting in the improvement of granulation property and reactiveness in solid state reaction. As a result, sintering of iron concentrate fines were strengthened.IntroductionWith the rapid development of iron and steel industry and the decrease of high-grade ores, the imports of iron ore are increasing continually. It is of immensely strategic importance for development of iron and steel industry and energy security in our country to make good use of iron concentrate fine which is low price, high grade and has a refractory sintering property. When iron concentrate fine is used in sintering, granulation property of sinter mixture and permeability of sinter bed get poor. As a result, yield and quality of sinter fall down. Many researches show that, when HPRG is used in pelletization, quality of pellets is improved dramatically. Meanwhile, HPRG has a low energy consume, a large handing capacity and it is benefit for environment protect. At this theme, strengthening of sintering of iron concentrate fine pretreated by HPRG was investigated in this paper."

Jan 1, 2012

By J. E. Jacoby

Scrap recycling has become an increasingly important source of metal units for the aluminum industry during the past 25 years. Aluminum scrap from the manufacture and recycling of cans, automobiles, buildings and other products has created an industry that melts these products and delivers the metal in molten or sow form to companies that make cast parts or fabricated products This rapidly developing recycling industry has contributed a large number of severe (Force 3) molten aluminum explosions (25) with associated fatalities (19) to the Aluminum Association data accumulated during the past nineteen years. The explosions that occurred in recyclers plants represent 17% of the total explosions, 33% of the Force 3 explosions and 37% of the fatalities reported. These explosions can be prevented! This paper will identify causes of these explosions and procedures that can be used to prevent them.

Jan 1, 2000

By Antonio Martin, Jesus Hurtado, Francisco Jimenez

"Atlantic Copper is one of the largest copper producers in Europe. Its production facilities, including a primary copper smelter and an electrolytic refinery, are located in Huelva, on the southwest coast of Spain. These installations enable the smelting of over 1 million tpy concentrates to produce up to 260,000 tons per year of cathodes and 900 ktpy of sulphuric acid.Since 1970, several improvements have been made at the Converters Area such as modifications of primary hoods, operations with an OPC system, installation of scrap chargers, the recent installation of the secondary hoods and other environmental projects. All these modifications have been aimed at increasing the capacity of our smelter while keeping our continuous environmental commitment.This paper describes the modifications and improvements carried out at the converters area and our proposals for future developments."

Jan 1, 2012

By A. H. Rosenberger, M. A. Tschopp, M. A. Groeber, K. N. Solanki, A. L. Oppedai, J. D. Miller

"Characterizing the spacing of primary dendrite arms in directionally-solidified microstructures is an important step for developing process-structure-property relationships by enabling the quantification of (i) the influence of processing on microstructure and (ii) the influence of microstructure on properties. The research objective herein is to evaluate the capability of various conventional approaches, as well as new or modified approaches, for spatial point pattern analysis with application to characterizing experimental dendritic microstructures. Both computer-generated and experimental dendritic microstructures are used for this analysis along with numerous techniques based on the nearest neighbor spacing, Voronoi tessellation, Delaunay triangulation, or graph theory. Comparison of new metrics with traditional primary dendrite arm spacing metrics will also be discussed for both local and global measures. The current methods investigated will supply information of local spacing and coordination number while addressing edge effects, parameter sensitivity, and correlation with interdendritic features, thus providing insight into how processing affects properties.IntroductionDeveloping an enhanced understanding of mechanical behavior in materials relies upon sufficiently characterizing microstructure details at the relevant length scales that contribute to this behavior. Moreover, to truly enhance the predictive capability of processing-structureproperty models that aim to improve material performance requires a quantitative description of the relevant microstructure features and, thereby, the material itself"

Jan 1, 2013

By Viktor. P. Popov, Oleksandr. V. Derev'yanko, Oleksandr. I. Raychenko

"This paper is devoted to scrutiny problem of obtaining electro-contacts by electro-discharge sintering technology. A new unconventional method of electro contacts production (on Aggraphite base) can yield essential optimization resource.Review of three electro-technological methods of processing contacts materials is presented:- using graphite powder cladded by Ag;- mixture of graphite powder(which is a non-cladded powder) with Ag powder and addition of Fe powder particles;- method of infiltration of melted Ag into graphite piece without deformation and rupture of object.This technological approach can give the possibility to increase of compression strength of electro-contacts materials up to 340 MPa and more under conditions of additional reinforcing components (for example, by Fe).IntroductionThe electric current can be an active ""participator"" of the powder metallurgy technology [l]. At the passage of electric current through powders or some powder mixtures the phenomena including phase transformations arise. Here such effects, which are observed in the Ag-graphite and Ag-Fe-graphite powder mixtures and in the pair Ag-porous graphite, are described.The Ag-graphite composition materials (CM) are used, for example, as electric contacts [2, 3]. Since a material being produced is destined for the contacts it is necessary to take into account the following aspects: commutating current, its character and voltage, active or reactive character of working load, geometrical dimensions of contacts, quantity and frequency of switching on and switching off, pressure on contacts, distance between contacts, method of arc control, surrounding medium, its content, pressure and temperature. Thus, these and, maybe, choice of some other circumstances influence design, materials and production technology of contacts. The range of problems concerned dictates such steps as alloying of contact materials, optimization of structure, selection of kind of graphite, its connection with metal [4-10]. It is expedient to recall the main procedures of the first stage of the conventional technology: dosage of the initial graphite powder and binder-phenolic resin plastic varnish (for example, Bakelite), mixing, densification, thermal treatment, crushing, grinding, sieving, drying, dosage of grained graphite, dosage of the initial silver powder, obtaining of the silver salt solution, settling of salt, filtration, washing, drying of the cladded graphite powder, thermal treatment, obtaining of the graphite powder of particles cladded by silver. The second stage of the convectional technology starts by obtaining of the cladded graphite powder and finishes by annealing of the pressed blanks (Fig. 1)."

Jan 1, 2004

By M. Cassir

"The unique properties of molten carbonates offer a large scope of applications in the field of energy. In effect, these molten salts are in the center of chemical and electrochemical reactions involving carbon and carbonaceous species, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, significant for energy generation or even for the production of fuels. Moreover, such media have also an oxidative character; they dissolve molecular oxygen and oxygen reduced species, O 2-, O22- and hypothetically o-, which may have an important role in waste treatments, homogeneous catalysis and synthesis of oxides. In this presentation, an overview will be given on the principal physicochemical properties of molten carbonates, before focusing on their main known application, the molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). Progress in other new fuel cells applications will also be analyzed, such as direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC), hybrid carbon fuel cell (HDCFC) and composite high-temperature fuel cells combining the features of MCFC and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Afterwards, membranes for the separation and capture of C02 will be reviewed. Finally, other topics, as the oxidative coupling of methane in molten carbonates, will be briefly mentioned.IntroductionIn the thirty past years, the molten carbonate science and advances have been mainly dedicated to the understanding and optimization of the molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), which is still a major issue in the heart of a new vision of energy development. More recently, new topics related to other kinds of fuel cells (DCFC, composite SOFC/MCFC systems) and C02 capture have emerged and are concentrating important research and technological efforts. Moreover, new fields of implementation, related to molten carbonates, are also present: geology, glasses, production of nanocarbon particles etc. Considering other areas where this molten phase plays a major role, such as catalysis, waste destruction, surface treatment, it can be confirmed that the field of molten carbonates is very rich and offers many opportunities for fundamental science and competitive applications. Whatever their specific application, molten carbonates activity is associated to more efficient energy systems with low production of C02 and, in a prospective sense, to non-polluting energy using the value of C02. A recent event, the International Workshop on Molten Carbonates & Related Topics, IWMC201 I, held in Paris in 2011 , have put in evidence the importance to improve and exploit this investigation and technological domain."

Jan 1, 2012

By M. C. Ruiz

The conventional pyrometallurgical methods to treat copper sulfide concentrates include generally, one or more oxidizing steps where the formation of SO2 gas can not be prevented. From the economical point of view and the nature of some of the processes in which SO2 is produced, its complete capture is not feasible; therefore an important fraction is released to the atmosphere as fugitive emissions. In this research, the reduction of chalcocite was studied in the presence of lime as an alternative method, which overcomes the pollution problems related to SO2 emissions. The effect of temperature, time, concentration of carbon and CaO on the reduction rate were studied. Among these variables, temperature affects most the reduction rate. Conversions over 95 % can be obtained in less that 20 minutes at temperatures over 1000 ° C. The measured partial pressures of the gaseous components indicated that the chalcocite reduction proceeded through the gaseous intermediate species CO, C02, and the overall kinetics was controlled by the Boudouard reaction. The kinetic model In(1-X)= kt fits well the experimental data. Apparent activation energy of 3 14 kJ/mol was calculated for the temperature range of 900 0C-1050 °C.

Jan 1, 1999

By Orlando C. Gaspar

The textures of the ores, the fine mineral intergrowths, the complex distribution of the deleterious minor elements, and the low base metal contents in some ore types, pose many technological problems to the beneficiation of the volcanogenic massive sulphides occurring in the Iberian Pyrite Belt. In particular fine intergrowths of the base metal sulphides with pyrite impose extremely fine liberation sizes (Kao=15 to 25um). The mineralogical, textural and metallogenic studies have provided an understanding of the distribution of vertical and lateral metal zoning in the ore bodies. Mapping of the ore types, carried out by mine geologists, and the metal zoning patterns computed from data base have shown that ore types are distributed as ore lenses, and that vertical and lateral base metal zoning exists in several orebodies. Since ore processing efficiency is affected by ore textures, and because the same mineral often shows different textural features, a relationship between the textures of the feed ores and those of the middlings must be established for all ore types defined at the deposit scale. For supplying, on time, the information needed for the optimization of the concentration processes, empirical methods of determining the mineralogical and textural characteristics of the several ore types have been developed.

Jan 1, 1995

By Damien Wagner

To reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by the steel industry, particularly for ironmaking, the production of DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) using hydrogen as the reducing gas instead of carbon monoxide is being considered. In this context, the reduction of pure hematite by hydrogen was studied at the laboratory scale, varying the experimental conditions and observing the rate and the course of the reaction. All the reduction experiments were performed in a thermobalance and supplementary characterization methods were used like scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Mössbauer spectrometry. The influence of rising temperature in the range 550-900°C is to accelerate the reaction; no slowing down was observed, contrary to some literature conclusions. A series of experiments consisted in interrupting the runs before complete conversion, thus enabling the characterization of partially reduced samples. Interpretation confirms the occurrence of three successive and rather separate reduction steps, through magnetite and wustite to iron, and illustrates a clear structural evolution of the samples. Finally, the influence of the sample type was revealed comparing a regular powder, a nanopowder and a sintered sample. The regular powder proved to be the most reactive despite its larger grain size, due to a more porous final structure.

Jan 1, 2006

By Michael S. Moats

As commercial copper electrorefineries look to expand their capacities by increasing their operating current density, the likelihood of anode passivation intensifies. To improve the industry?s understanding of the passivation phenomena, the role of anode composition was evaluated. While previous studies have focused on studying one impurity element at a time, this study was conducted using forty-four commercial electrorefining anode samples supplied by ten copper companies The passivation response of each sample was evaluated under accelerated galvanostatic conditions in synthetic copper electrowinning electrolyte at 65°C. This information allows for correlations between composition and passivation tendencies over a wide range of impurity elements and concentrations. It was found that selenium, tellurium, silver, lead and nickel accelerated passivation. It appeared that oxygen accelerated passivation when increased from 500 to 1500 ppm, but further increases did not have an effect. Arsenic was the only impurity found that inhibited passivation.

Jan 1, 2006

By Alexander I. Raitchenko

"An electroconductive viscous liquid may flow in laminar or turbulent regime under Lorentz-force generated by the intercrossed electric current and magnetic field. When there is a starting flat layer between hard and free boundaries with surface tension the spatial Lorentz-force can create a specific stationary regime of flow: the plane free surface will transform into the wavy one, and the movement in the depth will be not laminar and not turbulent, but this regime will be characterized by organized forms with indications of ""rolling of long cylindrical drops"". Wave-length is determined by the viscosity, the density, the surface tension, the average thickness of layer, and Lorentz-force. ·The limit of wavy regime is determined by most long of wave which is directly proportional to the critical value of specific flow and inversely proportional to the kinetic viscosity. The proper critical value of Reynolds number is determined by the dimensionless combination containing surface tension, density, viscosity, and Lorentz-force. The mentioned dimensio.nless combination in our case is some criterion substituting the known Kapitsa number for case of the thin viscous liquid layers under gravity. Spreading of admixture by mechanism of wavy regime is more rapid than by common diffusion or by laminar flow. The suggested conception can be a contribution into the theoretical basis for elaboration of some specific liquid metals technologies."

Jan 1, 1999

By Sergio N. Monteiro

Fibers extracted from the ramie plant have been traditionally used in textile and are now being considered as polymeric composite reinforcement owing to their superior strength. Recently the mechanical behavior of ramie fiber reinforced polyester composites was investigated but no significant improvement was found. Therefore, the objective of this work was to carry out a similar investigation by changing the type of polymeric matrix. Specimens with up to 30% in volume of ramie fibers incorporated into epoxy were bend-tested until fracture. The results showed a moderate improvement with a tendency of decreasing stress for higher amounts of ramie fibers due to the weak interface developed with the epoxy matrix.

Jan 1, 2009

By Santhanam Ramesh

"The shell (exoskeleton) waste of shellfish such as shrimps and crabs is the raw material in the extraction of chitosan, a polymer. Chitosan has several medicinal values such as reduction in cholesterol, urea and creatine in the blood. It is estimated that about 40000 tonnes of chitosan may be obtained from all chitin yielding invertebrate sources of India and a foreign exchange of 600 million US$ could be earned annually. Awareness has to be created among sea food processors to put up plants to convert shellfish wastes into chitosan. Similarly pharmaceutical industries may use chitosan in the development of new drugs. Types of training and awareness programmes to be organized for entrepreneurs, sea food processors and pharamacists are discussed in this paper.IntroductionIndia earns annually foreign exchange to the tune of 0.8 million US$ by exporting processed marine crustacean shellfish resources such as shrimps, crabs and lobsters (Figure 1) through 300 sea food processing industries. At present, only a small quantity of shell wastes (exoskeleton) generated from the above is utilized as an ingredient in fish feeds and hence much of the wastes are disposed off either as land fill or by direct dumping in sea. These wastes containing primarily chitin could be the major raw material for the production of a proteinaceous byproduct viz. chitosan, a highly valued pharmaceutically important source"

Jan 1, 2008

By Robert S. Sokolowski

The future of Materials Processing in Space (MPS) in the Space Station Era is being assured today by a strong coordinated science program which looks to solve these problems, the answers to which serve to underpin the technical foundation upon which future metallurgical and materials processes will be built. The critical link between the product and process development activities that accompany this science endeavor is the "nuts and bolts" hardware that will ultimately operate in the space environment. Ground-based facilities including drop facilities and aircraft provide excellent product development and process concept study tools. Shuttle flights with Spacelab and commercially developed space facilities represent the evolutionary path to Space Station processing facilities. Today the most promising areas of MPS are crystal growth, containerless, and quasicontainerless processing. The unique features of these processes will be highlighted. Finally a more visionary perspective of MPS will be presented that incorporates the limits of today's knowledge with the economic "necessity" of tomorrow.

Jan 1, 1988

By Han Yi

The coarse indium ingots produced by Shaoguan smelter contained a lot of impurities. In order to produce the high pure indium with the purity more than 99.99%, the appropriate refining processes were designed and the practice of combined application of Glycerin-KI process and electrolysis in Shaoguan smelter was introduced.

Jan 1, 2005