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By Dale A. Zuck

Recovery of aluminum metal from drosses? is a major factor in the recyclability success story enjoyed by the United States aluminum industry. Today's modern dross processor uses the latest technology to maximize metal recovery at the lowest cost while complying with all environmental laws and regulations. Most dross processors, however, pay little attention to the resulting saltcake, the end residual of dross recyCling, and rely on landfills for .disposition of this material.. The alternative is to recycle the saltcake, but the success of this technology is dependent on the development of reliable outlets for each of the saltcake constituents. This paper discusses the evolution of an aluminum dross oxide processing technology that ,produces an economically attractive source of alumina for the production of portland cement.

Jan 1, 1995

By J. Phillip Mackey

The Peter Hayes Symposium on Pyrometallurgy, held as part of Extraction 2018, is an acknowledgement of his contributions to the basic science and principles underpinning modern pyrometallurgical processing. After completing his PhD at Strathclyde University, Scotland, in 1974, Peter took up a teaching position at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1976. Peter Hayes’ research at the University since then has been focussed on: • The mechanisms and kinetics of heterogeneous solid/solid, gas/solid and liquid/ solid reactions, and • Experimental measurement of phase equilibria in complex high temperature metallurgical systems. This paper provides a brief biography of Dr. Peter Hayes and gives a full listing of Peter Hayes’ publications.

By C. J. Newman

Production levels at the Kidd Creek copper operation increased during the 1980's by expansion of both the smelter and refinery and by major modifications to equipment which was causing bottlenecks. As a result, there was a significant reduction in the unit cost, some manpower reductions and hence a significant increase in productivity. In the last two or three years, there have been no major expansion projects leading to unit cost reductions and yet these have still been attained. This has been achieved by the development and implementation of various techniques designed to maximize the inherent potential of the operators and maintenance employees. This paper will initially describe the operation but will then place emphasis on employee involvement through such methods as idea awards, incentive schemes, loss control and continuous improvement programs. Organizational changes are discussed, particularly with reference to changes from the traditional operator role to one which encompasses maintenance skills and to cross-training of maintenance employees into multi-discipline fields. The effect of these changes are discussed by a review of the salient plant parameters of safety, production levels, cost and quality.

Jan 1, 1993

By Karl A. Gschneidner

The magnetocaloric effect has been known for 120 years and has been utilized for cooling about 70 years. But in the last four years significant advances have been made to show that magnetic refrigeration is a viable and competitive cooling technology. Most of the work has focused on reciprocating devices, but rotary apparati are being developed. To date the magnetocaloric properties have been characterized for more than 200 materials. The magnetocaloric effect behaviors have been classified into three types of behaviors. The most common one is found in magnetic materials which exhibit a second order magnetic phase transition. Magnetic materials which exhibit a first order magnetic phase transition account for the second group of materials. Materials which exhibit multi-magnetic phase transitions make up the third group. The best candidate materials for magnetic cooling over the range from -4 to -1 350 K are also presented.

Jan 1, 2002

By Tim J. A. Smith

Fundicion Refimet S.A. has operated a custom copper smelter at La Negra, near Antofagasta in northern Chile since 1993. From an initial operation based on Reverb smelting and Peirce-Smith, converting, the plant was expanded from 90 000 t/y to 160 000 t/y copper production in early 1997, by conversion to oxy-fuel smelting and use of concentrate injection on Converters. As part of this expansion a novel reverb gas cooling and cleaning system was developed and designed by Kilborn SNC-Lavalin Europe, the London, UK-based mining and metals; Office of Canada's SNC-Lavalin group. The reverb gas cooler needed to satisfy several very specific requirements including low cost, flexibility, robustness and simplicity of operation. Of particular importance was the requirement to cool and clean the ,oxy-fuel reverb gases and render them suitable for subsequent treatment in a conventional sulphuric acid plant. It was also important to avoid accretion or dust handling problems. This paper describes the key design features and subsequent successful installation, commissioning and operation of the unit.

Jan 1, 1998

By Oszkar Bíró, Peter Mittag, Bernhard Aigner, Stefan Pirkeri, Philipp Glttleri

"This paper considers CFD modeling of processing and melting of small metallic particles by means of electrical heating. The particles fall continuously onto a liquid metal bath which is heated by an electric arc. After melting of the particles liquid metal is tapped.The charging behavior of the particles in the supply unit as well as in the reactor freeboard is studied by means of Euler-Euler granular simulations. The flow situation in the metal bath due to gas injection and magnetic fields is calculated by combining Navier-Stokes and Maxwell solvers. The macroscopic melting process occurring during the continuous charging of the particles is studied by kinetic laws for melting reactions. The temperature field is evaluated by balancing heat sources due to Joule's heating and heat losses due to latent heat of melting as well as convection and radiation.As a result of these simulations the fully three-dimensional flow fields of particles and gas in the atmosphere is obtained. Furthermore the flow field as well as the magnetic field in the metal bath can be studied. As a main result the three-dimensional concentration field of the still unsolved particles in the liquid metal can be evaluated.IntroductionIn this paper a metallurgical process for melting small iron particles is investigated by means of CFD-simulations. In a first process step the preheated and already mostly reduced iron particles fall continuously into the reactor through a vertical tube mounted at the lid of the furnace. In a second step the particles are melted in the liquid metal bath. Meanwhile the melt is heated by electric arcs to provide the heat needed for melting the incoming particles.In Figure I a sketch of the geometry setup considered in this paper is provided. The particles fall from a height of approximately 12 meters onto the bath surface in the center of the furnace. The melt is heated by electric arcs that are placed symmetrically around the center axis."

Jan 1, 2001

By Arthur E. Morris

Process modeling software is used extensively in process engineering, but there is a notable lack of affordable software for educational uses. This paper describes two educationally oriented software programs for thermochemical modeling of processes involving metals, minerals, and ceramic materials. Both programs run as Excel@ spreadsheet files. The first is FREED, a thermodynamic database program containing datafiles for 2500 species. It contains the entire U. S. Bureau of Mines and most of the U. S. Geological Survey database, plus data for scores of other species drawn from various sources. Several modules are available for manipulating and viewing the data. The second program is THERBAL, for making thermodynamic calculations using FREED data. Equilibrium calculations can be made for systems with non-ideal solutions, for a specified set of pressure, temperature, and input amounts of reactants. An optional heat balance is also calculated. The results are displayed as tables or charts in Excel worksheets. Examples of the use of THERBAL will be given for the reforming of natural gas for DRI production, DRI production, and EAF steelmaking. Some observations will be made on its use in the classroom. The development of FREED and THERBAL was initially carried out at the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, University of Missouri - Rolla as part of a project to preserve and enhance the Bureau of Mines database. The current versions were developed privately by the authors.

Jan 1, 2002

By W. Drummond

The cooling of smelter gases by air dilution, adiabatic evaporative cooling and indirect heat exchange is discussed with reference to the process, to the subsequent cleaning of the gas. and to the use of the heat extracted from the gas. The method of reducing the effect of acidic sulphide formation on the corrosive properties of the gas and the dust and the development of surface cleaning mechanisms?are discussed. The development of indirect recuperators using air, water or steam cooling, made possible by the control of surface fouling is traced. The application of the modern Waste Heat Boiler to the new sulphide smelting processes is discussed with respect to the natural and forced circulation concepts. Case histories are presented to illustrate mistakes made with respect to designs produced without recourse to sensitivity analysis and without an appreciation of "worst process? conditions".

Jan 1, 1992

By Cynthia Belt

"Energy management is critical to aluminum processing given the high energy requirements of melting and processing aluminum. Energy costs have always been a high percentage of the total production costs within this industry. Energy management at many plants relied on better technology that many times required high capital. As carbon management has grown in importance and project payback becomes more critical, a larger view of a plant's process is required. This paper looks at the energy requirement due to current typical practices in overall product recovery, metal loss, utilization, and technology to understand potential methods of reducing overall energy within a plant and within the aluminum processing industry.IntroductionFor many companies that process aluminum, energy is a major portion of their costs that can surpass the cost oflabor. Aluminum processing can include secondary processing of scrap and prime aluminum into sows and/or molten aluminum or casting aluminum by various methods such as direct chill, continuous casting, low or high pressure casting, mold casting, and extrusions. In the case of this paper, we are considering only plants that include the melting process as a portion of their process. The process of melting aluminum takes energy. In most cases, the aluminum must then be heat treated one or more times. Post processing of the aluminum includes rolling mills used for making sheet, extrusion lines, and machining such as saw cuts, drilling, or surface finishes that all take additional energy.While these high energy costs directly affect the profits of the company, energy management within the metals industry is still not widespread. A co=on misconception is that the solution to high energy costs is high cost capital equipment. While state-of-the-art equipment can certainly improve energy efficiency, it is not the only solution. To obtain a truly energy efficient plant, several directions needs to be addressed through an energy management thought process with a wider scope. Impact on potential savings is possible through: product recovery, metal loss, utilization, and new technologies. An understanding of the potential costs and savings from these means is important. Several of these methods provide low cost approaches to saving energy.The background data used in this paper is not a random sample within aluminum processing but yearly averages from various plants in different aluminum processing industries. As is normal in this industry, the plants have been under different corporate management over the years with different strategies for energy management. This data is not meant to be accurate for the entire industry but to suggest areas for energy efficiency work."

Jan 1, 2012

By William C. Spindler

Five industrial installations of large lead-acid battery energy storage systems in operation in the United States, West Germany and the 'Republic of South Africa will be described. One example is for a deep mine shaft in which air ventilation and personnel evacuation require the highest reliability for emergency power. The battery system is designed for additional cost-effective benefits of peak load lopping and reactive power control. Commercially available lead-acid batteries of the following types are in use1 traction, truck, submarine, high power, and gel. Electrode grids of both the calcium and antimony alloy types are used. Applications include deep and shallow cycling as well as float and intermittent use. The advantages of sealed lead-acid batteries in UPS (uninterruptible power source) systems are well established throughout the world, and such system suppliers could readily develop markets for industrial emergency and peak power lead-acid storage battery installations.

Jan 1, 1990

By K. P. V. Lei

The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated a hydrothermal sulfidation procedure to recover lead and silver from plumbojarosite. The plumbojarosite, generated during pressure-oxidative leaching of zinc concentrate in a commercial operation, contained, in percent, 25.4 pb, 18.8 Fe, 1.4 Zn, 29.5 SO,2-, 3.2 s?, 13.4 total sulfur, and 7.4 oz/ton Ag. The sulfidation was conducted in an autoclave and converted the plumbojarosite to amorphous iron oxide and liberated the lead and silver as sulfides. The best operating conditions were using 50 9 of plumbojarosite and 7 pct s? (2.04 9 S? added) in 500 mL of 2.0 mol/L NH3, 150? C, and 1 h. The sulfidation product contained, in percent, 37 Pb, 28 Fe, 6 S2-, 2 SO,2-, and 11.2 oz/st Ag. Ferric chloride leaching extracted 98 pct Pb and 97 pct Ag from the sulfidation product.

Jan 1, 1990

By Yun Li

An innovative lead recycling process from scrap lead-acid battery paste is presented. The novelty in the process is avoiding SO2 generation and emission by using reductive sulfur-fixing technique. Iron-bearing secondary wastes produced from metallurgical industry were utilized as sulfur-fixing agent to capture sulfur in the form of FeS (s) instead of generation of SO2 (g). Na2CO3 molten salt was added to the smelting system to speed the reactions and improve valuable metals’ recovery and sulfur-fixation efficiency. Furthermore, this process can simultaneously co-treat various lead and iron-bearing wastes. At the same time, some precious metals, such as Au and Ag, contained in iron-bearing wastes can be recovered. The feasibility and reliability of this process was investigated thermodynamically and experimentally with the help of HSC 9.0 database and XRD and SEM-EDS analysis. A possible reaction mechanism and path in PbSO4–Fe2O3–Na2CO3–C smelting system was also clarified.

By B. C. Blakey

Unlike most hydrometallurgical slurries, those containing significant concentrations of goethite are typically highly viscous and shear-thinning, even at solid volume fractions below 5%. The viscosity may also depend upon time. These characteristics must be taken into consideration in slurry transport and heating. The technical literature is replete with apparent contradictions regarding the viscous behavior of these slurries, which may be due, in part, to variations in viscosity-measuring techniques. We present techniques that yield consistent results suitable for use in process design. A striking degree of time-dependent behavior is demonstrated for a laterite slurry. Reliable methods to design and analyze tubular transport and heating systems for time-independent slurries are summarized. Rules of thumb are then offered to account for the effects of time-dependency.

Jan 1, 2000

By A. Haxhiaj, Mitovica, E. Haxhiaj

"The paper discusses problems encountered during the release and possibility of using the thermal gas quantity Mathematical models are used to calculate the positive thermal effects of the gases and losses of thermal quantity with gases in the melting process of electric furnaces. The paper discusses in details the percentages of CO, CO2, H2S, O2 and the humidity in gases and their impact on the technological process in electrical furnaces in Drenas. The paper also confers the quantity and temperature of gases, the transfer of thermal quantity and dust with gases in the environment. The paper presents the percentage of humidity in the load which is added in electric furnace for melting and its impact on thermal and environmental balance in the technological process of melting in electric furnaces. Key words: Furnace, load, temperature, humidity, gases.IntroductionNickel easily reacts with gases in the atmosphere of the furnace in which the nickel ore is processed. Such reactions can explain challenges in producing high quality nickel. Reductive atmosphere with the surrounding gases composed of sulphurous anhydrite has harmful effects on the production of nickel. This is mainly due to solubility of hydrogen as well as nickel oxide in the melted metal. Nickel reacts with carbon monoxide and forms carbide of nickel and nickel oxide which dissolve in the melted metal. Carbon monoxide also dissolves in the melted metal. The presence of carbon dioxide and water vapor in the atmosphere of the furnace impact the decrease of acidity in reductive atmosphere of the furnace. The carbon dioxide reacts with nickel and forms nickel oxide and carbon monoxide. Water vapor reacts with nickel and forms hydrogen and nickel oxide that have negative impact on the structure of nickel and its alloys. In this paper the analytical and experimental analyses are proposed that lead to minimization of the negative effects of gasses and humidity in the melting process. As the practical example, the electrical furnace in Drenas is analyzed.1. The Load and Its CompositionThe basic function of the rotational furnace is drying and reductive roasting of the ore which directly is loaded into the electrical furnace for melting. It is important to mention that the degree of roasting and pre-reduction of iron-nickel oxides is reached if the roasting process of the load in the rotational furnace is done at the temperature of 900°C to 1000°C, with the reductive atmosphere in the furnace and with minimal amount of oxygen in the processing gas. The optimal process of roasting and pre-reduction of the load in its mass is around 13 wt%. With the removal of the humidity and the sterile pare of the ore, with the positive impacts in utilization of the thermal and electrical energy in the melting process in electrical furnaces."

Jan 1, 2013

By Mark William Kennedy

Modern metallurgical plants typically have complex flowsheets and operate on a continuous basis. Real time interactions within such processes can be complex and the impacts of streams such as recycles on process efficiency and stability can be highly unexpected prior to actual operation. Current desktop computing power, combined with state-of-the-art flowsheet simulation software like Metsim, allow for thorough analysis of designs to explore the interaction between operating rate, heat and mass balances and in particular the potential negative impact of recycles. Using plant information systems, it is possible to combine real plant data with simple steady state models, using dynamic data exchange links to allow for near real time de-bottlenecking of operations. Accurate analytical results can also be combined with detailed unit operations models to allow for feed-forward model-based-control. This paper will explore some examples of the application of Metsim to real world engineering and plant operational issues.

Jan 1, 2014

By Atinuke Oladoye, David Esezobor

"Particulate Copper Silicon carbide (Cu-SiCp) composites find application as wear and heat resistant materials in electrical sliding contacts such as in homopolar machines, railway overhead current collector systems where high electrical/thermal conductivity combined with good wear properties is required. However, challenges occur during machining due to the presence of hard reinforcement in the matrix. This may lead to high turnover of tool wear and poor surface finish. The adoption of near-net shape technology to produce such hard-to-machine metal matrix composites and subsequent finish machining with its attendant cost has reported limited success. This paper critically appraises the challenges and opportunities in the improvement of tribological characteristics of particulate Cu-SiC composites and identifies low cost reinforcement material that could be used to improve its tribological characteristics.IntroductionTribology consideration is increasingly becoming a decisive factor in the design and selection of materials for applications involving interacting surfaces in relative motion. The consideration is mainly on the combined effects of friction and lubrication on material's wear integrity and performance amongst other. Annual losses due to tribology in the US industries are estimated at between 1-2% of the Gross National Income [1], in Russia it is about 1-4% of the GDP [2]. Thus, the attributes of tribology has become imperative in modem machinery especially those applications involving sliding and rolling surfaces, and electrical contacts [3- 8].These are readily found in homopolar machines, internal combustion engines, aircraft engines, gears, cams, seals and railway overhead current collector systems [9-12]. In these systems, the dissipation of frictional heat arising from the interacting surfaces as quickly as possible imposes constraints on the choice of materials for such application to prevent softening, plastic and shear flow and the transfer of metal as wear debris onto the interacting surfaces. If these possibilities occur, system performance is compromised and premature failure may result. Materials for these systems are expected to possess high electrical and thermal conductivities, low coefficient of thermal expansion, good corrosion resistance and high melting point [3-8, 13]."

Jan 1, 2011

By Reza Kamali, Mohsen Bashiri, Hadi Fanisalek

"Nomenclature: A: area (m2), C: heat capacity (WIK), cp: specific heat (J/Kg K), d: internal tube diameter (in), F: correction factor for multi-pass and crossflow heat exchanger, h: convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K), k: thermal conductivity (W/mK), L: length (m), m: mass flow rate (Kg/s), W: flow rate, N: number, Q: heat rate (W), R: thermal resistance, T: temperature (°C), U: overall heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K), ;1,,P: pressure drop (Pa), ;1,,T: temperature difference (°C), p: density (lb/ft3), N: number of tube passes, U,: velocity in tubes, iJh: head loss in feet of flowing fluid, Up: velocity in the pipe leading to and from the heat exchanger (ft/sec), µ: viscosity ( cp ), Llpf frictional pressure loss (psi/l 00 equivalent ft of pipe) Subscripts: b: baffle, c: cold, cf counter flow, ex: exchanger, f: fouling, h: hot, i: inlet-inner, ib: inlet baffle, lm: logarithmic mean, m: mean, o: outlet-outer, s: shell, t: tube, w: wall AbstractThe main bottleneck for primary aluminum production industry is dealing with a huge amount of input energy. The fact is that part of provided energy to aluminum production smelters will be lost as waste heat and it never used for aluminum production. One part of waste heat is escaping from the potroom exhaust gases, which was studied for possible recovery in a desalination plant to produce distilled water and the paper was presented in 2011 TMS Annual Meeting. However, it was shown that waste heat recovery plant to produce distilled water is highly profitable but the main fact is that the exhaust gases from potroom are highly corrosive, abrasive and dusty. The main challenge for desalination plant construction, which is using aluminum smelter exhaust gases as the main heat source, is the highly corrosive environment that makes the situation difficult and complicated for equipments design and plant construction. In this paper, we are trying to study a detailed investigation regarding the heat exchangers fouling, corrosion in heat exchangers including heat exchangers' material, how often we need to shut down the plant for maintenance or cleaning, and plant thermal efficiency with considering fouling."

Jan 1, 2012

By J. K. S. Tee

Using a novel method, zinc has been selectively removed from galvanized steel scrap on a laboratory scale. The separation is based on thermodynamic principles: during chlorination in air-chlorine (10:l) mixtures at 800 OC, zinc forms a volatile product (zinc chloride) while iron does not chlorinate as its oxides are more stable than the respective chlorides. As much as 92 % of zinc is removed from the surface of steel within 10 minutes. This process overcomes tedious and costly preparatory stages associated with leaching - electrowinning methods.

Jan 1, 1999

By N. L. Piret

In copper smelting minimization of solid waste generation is receiving increased attention with more stringent environmental legislation and lower disposal space availability. Copper smelting slags generally being valorizable, solid waste generation is attributed to the presence in the feed of unvalorizable impurities which do not report to the slag and to the unavoidable formation of contaminated dilute acid solutions which need neutralization. As to unvalorizable impurities, solid waste minimization is achieved by rejecting them in the highest possible concentration. Dilute acid is mainly due to the formation of SO3 in the smelter gases and to the discard of decopperized bleed-off electrolyte. Its generation is substantially lowered by preventing SO3 formation, by converting the dilute acid to a valorizable product, e.g., by thermal decomposition for H2S04 recovery or by precipitation as chemical gypsum, and by suitable treatment of the bleed-off electrolyte for impurity removal. Industrial processes are evaluated and alternatives are discussed.

Jan 1, 1994

By Tapani Järvinen

Non-ferrous metals and metals in general are considered as being non-renewable natural resources. Metals are needed because of their excellent and irreplaceable properties. The consumption of metals, with the exception of carbon steel, is steadily growing by 1-3 % annually, and that of stainless steel as much as 3-6 %. This is a general trend, which is periodically disturbed by cyclical variations. In recent years so-called "New Economy" has become prominent in the public media and the market value of the traditional industry has been well below its real value and importance. Nevertheless, the modem society requires metals today and also in the future, and the companies using the most modem technology in a responsible way and innovative solutions not only in technology, but also in everything they do will survive. This paper describes the role of Europe as a producer of primary base metals and as a supplier of technologies in the base metals industry. It concentrates on the development and commercialization of technologies and project implementation in the metallurgical industry. As one example of a European approach to these matters the paper presents Outokumpu' s response to the future challenges in the base metals industry. Outokumpu Oyj is one of the leading metals and technology companies in the world of stainless steel, copper, zinc, and sales of technology in metals and minerals businesses. Outokumpu applies its knowledge of metals and processing to generate value for its customers and shareholder. Everything we do, we do in an economically, environmentally and socially responsible way.

Jan 1, 2003