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By Yoshio Waseda

A laser flash method has been applied to obtain the thermal diffusivity values of Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 alloy in the liquid, glassy, crystallized and supercooled liquid states. The electrical resistivity of this particular alloy was measured in the glassy, and crystallized states by a direct current four probe technique. A specific heat of Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 alloy was also determined by a differential scanning calorimeter in the glassy state. On the other hand, thermal diffusivity values for two alloys of Zr60Al15Ni25 and Zr65Al7.5Cu27.5 were measured in the crystallized and liquid states. The thermal diffusivity values of three Zr-based alloys in the liquid state are summarized in the linear equations with positive temperature dependency and it is noted that the lower the thermal diffusivity values of Zr-based alloys at liquidus temperature, the lower the critical cooling rate to obtain metallic glass phase becomes. The thermal diffusivity values of Zr-based alloys were compared with those of Pd-based alloy case. These results suggest that thermal diffusivity of alloy liquids might be an indicator of the glass-forming ability of Zr-based and Pd-based alloys.

Jan 1, 2006

By Zachery Zanetell

Flotation circuit performance has become increasingly more challenging due to the complexity of available ore sources. To optimize value mineral recovery, the mineralogical composition of the ore should be evaluated and understood. Utilizing a variety of mineralogical and analytical tools, flotation processing challenges can be overcome and potential limitations understood. In this paper, several case studies will be discussed in terms of the value that has been provided through the use of mineralogical analysis to optimize flotation performance.

By Pragna Bhakta

The use of microbes for sulfide oxidation was investigated as a potential treatment option for low-grade refractory gold ores at Newmont Mining Corporation. The resulting patented technology for heap biooxidation maximizes oxidation rate by distributing the microbial population on the ore before placement on a heap. This paper presents data on global oxidation rates based on oxygen uptake in a 50-kg column for sulfidic refractory ores from the Gold Quarry mine. The oxygen uptake data was converted to a global oxidation rate. The calculated global oxidation rate was used to determine heap cycling times for Newmont?s commercial heap biooxidation facility.

Jan 1, 2003

By Lianjun Liu, Ying Li, Qianyi Zhang

"Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 by H2O for production of Cl fuels (CO and CH4) was studied using copper and iodine co-modified TiO2 (Cu-IffiO2) nanocomposites, with copper deposited on the surface and iodine doped in the lattice. The nanocomposites were prepared via a combined hydrothermal and wet impregnation process. All I-doped samples demonstrated visible light activity. Under UV-vis irradiation, co-modification of Cu and I significantly increased TiO2 photoactivity compared with bare TiO2 or those modified with only one species.IntroductionThe photoreduction of CO2 into fuels on photocatalysts such as TiO2 has been regarded as an important approach to solve both energy shortage and globe warming problems [1]. However, the wide band gap and fast recombination ofphotoinduced hole (h+) and electrons (e"") limited the application of TiO2 in CO2 photoreduction reaction. Extensive research has been conducted to improve the photocatalytic ability ofTiO2 by depositing or doping foreign ions that can enhance charge transfer and/or creates intra-band-gap states to induce visible light absorption at the subband- gap energy. Compared with mono-doping, co-doping of metal/nonmetal species has been reported to have higher photocatalytic activity for TiO2 [1-3]. Our previous studies showed that Cu deposited on TiO2 [4] or iodine doped in TiO2 [5] significantly enhanced the catalytic efficiency for CO2 photoreduction and increased the response to visible light. We hypothesize that there could be a synergetic effect if TiO2 is co-modified by both Cu and I species resulting in further improvement in CO2 reduction efficiency. In this work, we synthesized and characterized Cu-IffiO2 samples and investigated their activity toward CO2 reduction under visible and UV-vis illumination, respectively.Experimental MethodsMaterialsTitanium tetra-isopropoxide (TTIP, 98%) and isopropanol (C3HsO, 99.8%) were purchased from Acros Organic. Iodic acid (HIO3,99.8%) and Copper Chloride (CuCh, 99.9%) were purchased from Alfa Aesar. All other chemicals were analytical grade and used without further treatment."

Jan 1, 2012

By Fei Ruan, Chang Jie, Jieyu Zhang, Jifang Xu, Kuochih Chou

"Viscosity is an important physical parameter of slag in metallurgical processes. Most studies of aluminosilicate and aluminate systems assume that aluminum occurs in tetrahedral coordination. In this case, the O/Al value was utilized to describe the slag structure in terms of the network character of aluminosilicate and aluminate systems. Composition and viscosity data from the literature and the trends were analyzed according to the O/Al value and temperature. It is shown that the O/Al value explains the trends in more than ten systems, containing more than 200 data points. In aluminosilicate system, the trend that viscosity value changed with the O/Al value which implies that alumina works as network modifier such as basic oxides or works as network former. In aluminate system, irrespective of the system and temperature, viscosity decreased steadily when O/Al value increased.IntroductionMetallurgical slags, which are made of oxides and many also contain fluorides, play an important role in metallurgical processes such as iron making, steel making and secondary refining processes. Aluminosilicate slags are applied in a wide range in metallurgical processes. A polymerizing effect of the addition of aluminum and an association of aluminum with low-field strength cations is further supported by the physical variations in aluminosilicate and aluminate systems. The behavior of alumina in silicate melts has been studied by various authors [1-6]. It is generally accepted that Al2O3 is amphoteric [7] because Al3+ ions can behave in profoundly different ways in a silicate melt. When added to a pure silica melt, Al2O3 acted as a network modifier, breaking the bridging oxygen of the pure silica network, thereby decreasing the viscosity in a similar manner to other network modifiers, such as CaO, MgO etc. to form [1/2Ca (AlO4)]4- complexes. However, when added with alkali or alkali-earth metal oxides, some of the Al3+ ions assumed tetrahedral coordination and replaced Si in the liquid network, the missing charge was compensated by Me+ or Me2+ ions. Therefore Al2O3 acted as network former [8, 9]."

Jan 1, 2011

By D. Neuschiltz, M. Witthaut, R. Cremer

"Metastable (Ti,Al)N coatings with fee structure have been shown to exhibit superior performance as compared to TiN under conditions of wear at elevated temperatures due to their better oxidation resistance and hardness. The oxidation resistance of these coatings increases significantly with increasing Al-content. However, the deposition of (Ti,Al)N films with Ti/ Al ratios below about 30/70 leads to a hexagonal structure which is not suitable for tribological coatings. Only little is known about the location of the cubic to hexagonal phase transition and hence about the optimum composition of (Ti,Al)N hard coatings.To determine the position of this transition, Tii-xAlxN films with different Ti/Al ratios were deposited on high speed steel at substrate temperatures between 100 and 700 °C by means of reactive MSIP. The composition of the films was determined by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the crystallographic structure by thin film X-ray diffraction (XRD).It could be shown that in case of deposition temperatures of 300-700 °C a two-phase region exists in the metastable TiN-AlN phase diagram, which expands with increasing temperature, wheras at 100 °C substrate temperature no two-phase region was observed. But in opposition to the phase diagram known from literature, which is based on thermodynamic estimations, the detected two-phase region is narrow for typical PVD temperatures, thus allowing the deposition of cubic single-phase Al-rich (Ti,Al)N hardcoatings for tribological applications. Based on these results, a new Ti1-xAlxN film with x = 0.62 has been developed, which showed an increase of oxidation resistance by a factor of 4."

Jan 1, 1998

By S. J. Kohut

Until recently SX-EW technology has only been used to produce conventional cathode for the cyclical commodity marketplace. Unlike electrorefining, SX-EW lends itself to the integration with the downstream manufacturing technologies for direct mine site production of value added products. The integration of SX-EW and downstream manufacturing results in the elimination of redundant process steps, the cost savings, and the access to value added product markets which can buffer the producer from swings in the cathode market. SX-EW production of copper powder and powder-based products has been demonstrated at the pilot plant level. The SX-EW process has been successfully redesigned to meet the more specific demands of engineered products. Challenges include the solution purity, the cell ventilation, the high current density operation and the product handling. Successful demonstration of mine site production of value added SX- EW products opens up new non-commodity marketplaces to the mining industry.

Jan 1, 1999

Convential smelting of copper - cobalt - iron sulphide concentrates result in th eoxidation of cobalt and iron, which are subsequently lost into the slag. The emission of SO2 bearing gas from smelting causes serious health and environmentsl problems. In this investigation, three different types of copper - cobalt - iron sulphide concentrates, derived from froth flotation, were investigated, the concentrates, each containing more than 40 wt % percent gangue material, were directly reduced in the presence of lime and corbonin the temperature rnage of 1073 K - 1573 K, fo rthe production of an alloy containing copper, cobalt and iron. We demonstrate the basic principles of process physical chemistry for the recovery of alloy by carrying out a detailed process analysis utilising the predictions from thermodynamic equilibrium and results from the kinetics of reduction reaction. The effect of temperature on the reduction kinetics and alloy formation were determinedand analyzed in detail.

Jan 1, 2012

By I. Sofia Fernandez del Rio

This paper describes a process for the treatment of the dusts generated during the operation of blast and reverberatory furnaces in the lead smelter, to remove zinc, cadmium, arsenic and halides from the circuit. The process consists of a Pefloles' developed leaching/purification stage and a solvent extraction process developed by Lurgi. The plant capacity is 5,000 tonnes Zn/year. The feed to solvent extraction contains 8 g/1 Zn. Impurities such as copper, iron, arsenic and cadmium are removed by conventional cementation processes. The cadmium product is 99.99 % pure. The solvent extraction process consists of two extraction stages, one washing stage and two stripping stages. D2EHPA is used as the extraction agent and 25% ammonia as the neutralizer. The rich-zinc solution is sent to the electrolytic zinc plant for zinc recovery. The raffinate produced, which is a mixture of ammonium sulfate and chloride, is used for agricultural applications.

Jan 1, 2000

By Sharon K. Young

What might an ideal leach-to-cathode/product system look like in the next century? The paper looks at the synergies of the 60's and 70's that led to the highly effective copper leach SX-EW system of the 90's. Standing in the year 2020 focuses on what breakthrough technologies might make possible a next generation leach/extraction/metal recovery system. Many of the pieces of such a technology have been developed, even piloted: in situ leaching, enhanced bioleaching, heap leaching of fine particles, resin in pulp, ion exchange, alternate anode reaction electrowinning, novel anode coatings. With nearly non-existent research on the part of individual large companies, the greatest challenge may not be inventing the technologies but rather inventing an industry "will to create."

Jan 1, 1999

By Nourredine Menad, Christian Lucion, Maurice Save, Paul Hubaux, Solène Touzé

"The collection and treatment of WEEE has recently become mandatory in Europe and is now being organized. As the first step in current treatment processes is manual dismantling, we decided to investigate the development of an entirely automatic WEEE treatment procedure using physical separation techniques so as to limit manual sorting to the removal of hazardous components. Our approach was to test different wet and dry physical separation methods on bulk WEEE; i.e. gravity separation (jig and pneumatic table), electric conductivity separation (eddy currents), and particle shape separation (Lavodune classifier and vibrating helical conveyors). The results enabled us to determine a global treatment flowsheet of shredding, electromagnetic separation, eddy current separation, screening (2 mm), sink&float separation (d=1), and jigging. All the end products, except for the fine fraction, have possible recycling outlets. Batches of WEEE can thus be treated automatically once the problem of non-ferrous wires is resolved.IntroductionAccording to Ademe (French Agency for Environment and Energy Management; www.ademe.fr), France's annual production of WEEE is between 1.7 and 2.0 million tonnes. This waste, although of very varied composition, consists mainly of plastics and metals, and its collection and treatment has been mandatory in France since 2006; the modalities are gradually becoming organized. Existing treatment processes rely on a first step of manual dismantling which, though essential for removing dangerous components from the WEEE (e.g. batteries, cathode-ray tubes, ink cartridges, etc.), also includes separating out the decimetre-size plastic parts and metal parts. No fully automatic process has yet been developed for this type of waste. Moreover, the dismantling units in Europe are highly subsidized and call upon social workers. As this situation is not conceivable for the long-term, it is obviously important to develop entirely automatic WEEE-treatment technologies based on physical separation techniques. This would limit manual sorting to the removal of toxic components."

Jan 1, 2008

By G. C. Yao

Branch and needle-shaped intermctallic compounds of iron, silicon and aluminum normally exist in the molten aluminum. If a suitable amount of manganese metal is added into molten aluminum, the shape of the intermallie compound particlcs may become lumpish and spherical. According to the difference in electric and magnetic properties of these impurity particles and molten aluminum, these impurity intermctallie compound particles can be separated by applying an alternating magnetic field. In this experiment the alternating magnetic field was formed by a "C" type loop with AC (50Hz) current. The inner vacuum of the fireclay refractory separator is 25>< 15" 130mm3 with a lateral baffle inside. The separator was put into the interspace of the "C" type loop. It was found that the longer the separation time, the larger the amount transferred of impurities. The amount of transferred impurities increases with the increase of separation time and intensity of magnetic field. The addition of manganese metal enhanees signifieantly the efficiency of impurity separation.

Jan 1, 2003

By R. K. Mehta

Microorganisms have been increasingly used in applications such as-metal solubillzation, precipitation and recently being used as flocculants. Optimal control and on-line monitoring of these processes occurring in microbial reactors are of extensive interest but often difficult because of the unavailability of a mechanistic model of the process and on-line direct sensors. In this paper a dynamic populatlon balance model of microbial desulfurization will be presented. The influence of certain physical and biological parameters on the leaching rate will be illustrated via computer simulations and an extended continuous-discrete Kalman filter will be Implemented for estimation of unknown states.

Jan 1, 1991

By Tae-Hyun Kim, Shun Myung Shin, Jin-gu Kang, Jeong-Soo Sohn

We investigated about synthesis of Mn-Zn ferrite with spinel structure using sulfuric acid leaching solution of mixed spent zinc-carbon batteries and spent alkaline batteries. The waste batteries were prepared by physical treatment such as crushing, magnetic separation, and screening. After screening, the crushed batteries were separated to +8 mesh and -8 mesh powder. Among these, under 8 mesh powder was selected for leaching test. The leaching test was investigated at 2 M H2SO4, 4 vol.% H2O2, reaction temperature 60 ?, agitation speed 250 rpm, solid/liquid ratio 50 g/ 500 ml, reaction time 1 h. The leaching efficiency of zinc, manganese and iron were 99.0%, 98.9%, 58.5%, respectively. For co-precipitation of zinc, manganese and iron, 5M NaOH solution was used for pH control. Then in order to synthesize Mn-Zn ferrite powder, it was investigated according to reaction temperature, agitation speed and O2 partial pressure. We could synthesize about 20 nm of Mn-Zn ferrite with spinel structure.

Jan 1, 2008

By James C. Barker

Near Rainbow Mountain in the east-central Alaska Range an ultramafic complex forms a sill-like intrusion composed of dismembered bodies exposed along the south side of the Denali Fault and Broxson Gulch Thrust. The complex comprises dunite and peridotite with lesser gabbro, which together exhibit poorly defined, steeply-dipping compositional layering. The complex hosts four types of copper-nickel occurrences which have characteristic platinum-group elements (PGE), gold, and cobalt distributions. Three of the occurrence-types are considered to have formed as a result of primary mineral segregations which developed during intrusion of the complex. The fourth type of copper-nickel occurrence formed as a result of post-magmatic hydrothermal fluids at intrusive contacts. Scanning electron microscope examination indicates that PGE occur as micron-size telluride and arsenide minerals.

Jan 1, 1987

By Wang Shuchan, Zhang Zimu, Zhang Dianhua, Liu Yan, Zhang Ting-an, Zhao Qiuyue, Lv Chao

Rare earth extraction tank has many adverse effects like big floor space and high production accumulation during industrial production. Current researches usually focus on changing the device structure without making a breakthrough towards gravity clarification. This paper attempts to achieve this goal by using both the action of clarification by gravity and clarification by stirring. Because many physical parameters affect the clarification and separation rates, the density, viscosity and surface tension of the two phases were determined at different temperatures and different concentration of aqueous solution. The innovation of this research involves adopting the Karl-Fischer method to investigate water content in oil phase during the stirred separation process. In this paper, the separation effect of different physical parameters was studied and the dimensional equation between water content and the physical parameters was established by combining with the experimental data.

Jan 1, 2014

By Vladimir Lobanov, Pritchinm Alexander, Nikifor Ageev

"Sulfuric anhydride is one of the most voluminous technological emissions. The possibility of high-temperature SO2 oxidations without catalyst in presence of calcium-bearing filling materials (CaO, Ca(OH)2 and CaCO3) with obtaining of binding material on the basis of waterless calcium sulfate is studied. Due to application package HSC-4 the thermodynamic analysis of the specified interactions is made and following conclusions are drawn: 1) Reactions are feasible in the all range of investigated temperatures (400 – 1000 °?); 2) The best results should be expected at use of ???; 3) The heat of reaction does possible autogenous behavior of process. The researches have shown: 1) Practical possibility of the process; 2) SO2 oxidation without the catalyst is feasible in presence of ???, Ca(OH)2 and CaCO3; 3) The optimum temperature range is 600-800 °?; 4) The content of waterless calcium sulfate in a product reaches 48% that makes it possible to use as the binding material; 5) At excess of ??? the degree of SO2 collection is nearer to 100%. Introduction At processing of sulfide raw materials in metallurgical furnaces the significant amount of sulfur, mainly in the form of sulfuric anhydride is escaped. Rich gases (SO2>3 %) are used for the sulfuric acid or element sulfur production. Chemism of sulfuric acid manufacturing is based on catalytic high-temperature oxidation of anhydride. Poor gases of metal works (SO2 =2,5 %) and power combustion units (SO2 =0,5 %) after clearing discharge into the atmosphere. Commonly, to recovery of weak sulfuric anhydride the chemical and physicochemical methods are applied. A few chemical ways of recycling sulfur dioxide are applied practically. In a number of methods for SO2 recovery a pulp of metals oxides (magnesium, zinc, etc.) with formation of sulfites is used. In other case sulfuric anhydride is catch by weak sulfuric acid in the presence of an oxidizer (pyrolusite ore). Methods of absorption SO2 by solid sorbents, (carbon fibers, silica gels, zeolites) are known and put into practice. Regeneration of the saturated sorbents is realized by thermal decomposition or extraction. Obtained as a result high-concentrated solutions are a commercial product."

Jan 1, 2008

By Ricardo Morales

Reactions between solids and a gas phase have many interesting theoretical aspects as well as technological applications. The present group had carried out experimental investigations as well as theoretical studies of a number of gas-solid reactions over the past decade and was able to derive interesting results. Studies of the decomposition of alkaline earth carbonates were carried out by thermogravimetric analyses. The experiments were carried out using thin powder beds as well as iso-statically pressed compacts with thermocouples embedded in the same. The investigations revealed the complexity of the reactions and the impact of the heat- and mass transfer aspects on the reaction kinetics. In the case of BaCO3, the kinetics of decomposition was complicated by the formation of a liquid phase. In the case of SrCO3, the reaction kinetics could be simulated by theoretical modeling. Gas-solid reactions were also employed as a versatile process tool towards the production of alloys and intermetallics involving transition elements by hydrogen reduction of complex oxides involving transition metals. Thin powder beds were employed to examine the micro-kinetics, while fluidized bed technique was utilized to produce bulk alloys. Preliminary correlations could be drawn between the thermodynamic stabilities of the oxides and the activation energies of chemical reduction steps. Adjusting the process parameters, products at nano-scale could be produced. The structural, mechanical and thermal properties were investigated in the case of these products. The potentialities of this method as a green route to produce industrially important alloys and intermetallics with unique properties are demonstrated.

Jan 1, 2006

By Reuben John Mathew

"Oxygen evolution is the main anode reaction in industrial copper electrowinning. The oxygen bubbles do not conduct electricity, thus increasing the electrolyte resistance. The oxygen bubbles formed at the anode rise to the surface, occupying a larger volume of the electrolyte at the top of the cell than at the bottom. This oxygen bubble concentration gradient contributes to a gradient in electrolyte resistance and consequently a tendency toward uneven current distribution. This phenomenon increases the chance for uneven growth on the cathode and/or short-circuits, particularly on the lower portions of the cathode. This issue may be ameliorated by increasing the charge transfer resistance for oxygen evolution down the height of the anode. This concept was studied by solving the current distribution for a 2-D model of a copper electrowinning cell using COMSOL.IntroductionA copper electrowinning tankhouse aims to operate at the highest current density that will deposit on the cathode a layer of copper metal possessing the desired physical and chemical characteristics. The operating current density is directly related to the physical nature of the copper deposit on the cathode (Figure 1), limiting a copper electrowinning tankhouse to some operating current density that produces acceptable copper deposits.[!] The ratio of the operating current density to the limiting current density is typically around 0.3.[2] If the limiting current density for a cell could be raised, the operating current density could also be raised and thus result in savings in capital cost for a tankhouse. [3]The average operating current density in a copper electrowinning plant is 270A·m- 2 .[4] The value for average current density, however, obscures the fact that the face of a cathode does not experience this value equally. Indeed, the current density varies along the height of an electrode and is independent of the height of the electrode.[5] This phenomenon partly explains why the lower portions of a cathode tend to display a rougher copper deposit.In order to utilize a higher operating current density but still remain at 30% of the limiting current density, the limiting current density must be raised, but it is affected by the mass transfer regime at the electrodes. The mass transfer regime is currently poorest at the lower portions of the cathode and this is part of the reason for the tendency for poor cathode deposits to occur at the lower portion of the cathode.[6]"

Jan 1, 2012

By Xingming Zhang, Huawei Zhang, Yanxiang Li

"A hybrid porous metal with nano-micro double scale pore size and regular-random bimodal porous structure has been fabricated by unidirectional solidification of a lotus-type alloy followed by dealloying treatment to the base alloy. The base alloy selected is a Cu-Mn binary alloy. The lotus-type porous Cu-Mn alloy with straight pores of several hundred micrometers in diameter was manufactured by unidirectional solidification with a mould casting process. Dealloying treatment was then done to the lotus-type porous structure of Cu-Mn alloy. The solid Cu-Mn alloy wall of the lotus-type porous structure was transformed to random porous structure of dozens to hundreds nanometers. The influence of corrosion parameters, such as the current and time in electrochemical corrosion, temperature and corrosion agent in chemical corrosion, on the nano-porous structure formed has been studied systematically.1. IntroductionA hybrid porous metal is a kind of cellular structure with different porous or cellular forms inside, which possesses special properties and can be applied in many fields as fuel cells, catalysis, sensors, etc. Several means have been developed to fabricate this kind of porous material [1-2]. In this paper, a novel process of Gasar plus dealloying is introduced to fabricate a new form of hybrid porous metal with nano-micro double size and regular-random bimodal structure.The Gasar process, also called the metal-gas eutectic directional solidification, that invented by Shapovalov [3] in Ukraine and now in USA some twenty years ago, is used to fabricate porous metals with regularly aligned pores basing on the solubility difference of a gaseous element in solid and liquid metal. Nakajima and his colleagues [4] in Japan studied this process further and called this kind of structure a lotus-type porous metal. They put more attention to various fabrication techniques and properties of lotus-type porous metals. Li heading a group [5-6] in P.R. China studied the mechanism of Gasar process and process controlling techniques. The Gasar pore structure and porosity can be controlled by processing parameters, and a regular Gasar structure with oriented pores distributing uniformly in the solid matrix can be obtained under optimized processing parameters."

Jan 1, 2014