Search Documents

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 Abhishek Lahiri

Titanium dioxide is extracted from titaniferous ores by chloride and sulfate processes. These two processes produce wastes in the forms of iron chloride, iron sulfate and rare earth oxides gangue, each of which has to go through a further treatment before it can be disposed safely, which may be expensive. The shortage of high-grade ores is also making the two conventional processes less efficient. In view of the above mentioned problems, an alternate beneficiation process of roasting titaniferous ores with soda ash is discussed. The advantage of this process is that, there is no production of wastes. The impurities present in the ore can be selectively separated after the roasting process. The roasting of titaniferous ores with soda ash was carried out between temperatures of 873K and1173K for several hours. The roasting process resulted in the formation of complex alkali compounds and various sodium titanate compounds, depending on the Na2CO3to ore ratio. The phases formed after roasting were characterized using the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray florescence (XRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The phase equilibria in the Na-Ti-O system are evaluated and compared with the phases obtained after the roasting process. The effects of temperature and the proportion of sodium carbonate on titaniferous ores are also discussed. From the experimental data, the overall reaction kinetics and phases formed were analyzed to ascertain the mechanism of overall reaction and the rate-limiting steps.

Jan 1, 2006

By R. Padilla

Enargite (Cu3AsS4) occurs normally associated with copper sulfides, mainly chalcopyrite. When the enargite content in chalcopyrite concentrates is high, direct smelting of the concentrate presents problems related to environmental pollution and contamination of the final metallic copper. Leaching processes are viable alternatives to treat copper concentrates with high content of enargite. Consequently, in this paper, the pressure leaching of enargite in sulfuric acid-oxygen system is discussed. The leaching rate was studied in the range 160 to 220 °C and partial pressures of oxygen of 74 to 200 psi. The enargite dissolution increased substantially with temperature increase. Complete dissolution of enargite was obtained at 220°C, and 100 psi of oxygen pressure in 90 min. The shrinking core model controlled by surface reaction was used to analyze the kinetics of enargite dissolution. Activation energy of 70 kJ/mol was obtained for the temperature range 160 to 220 oC.

Jan 1, 2008

By J. Y. Aubut

The modernization of the CCR Refinery to permanent cathode technology is presently underway. The 360,000 mt/y refinery is being retrofitted to accept the Kidd process. Part of this modernization includes the installation of Kidd stripping machines, and the total replacement of the materials handling equipment. It also involves the reinforcement of building structures to accept the new equipment and the ability to operate in different modes. The future equipment will interface with some existing apparatus, which is being retained for future operations. The whole operation will be automated and will allow product traceability for quality purposes. This retrofit poses important challenges given the size and scope of the modernization project and because it is being undertaken concurrently with normal plant operations.

Jan 1, 1999

By A. Bruynesteyn

It is well known that most North American gold deposits are of a hydrothermal origin and therefore they are often associated with sulphide minerals such as pyrite and arsenopyrite. When the precious metals in such ores are held captive inside sulphide crystals, the ores are called refractory because they do not respond to treatment by direct cyanidation. In these cases, it is necessary to recover the contained precious metals using high temperature treatments such as smelting or roasting, or high pressure leaching processes to break down the sulphide crystal matrices and thus liberate the precious metals for subsequent extraction by cyanidation. Sulphidic gold ores containing arsenic and/or antimony are considerably more difficult to treat because, in addition to their refractory nature, the arsenic and antimony content also prohibits treatment by direct cyanidation or amalgamation. These ores must be milled and their sulphidic gold values concentrated by flotation. The resultant concentrates must then be roasted to break down the sulphides before cyanide treatment can be applied.

Jan 1, 1985

By T. A. Venugopalan

The 'Hall-Heroult' Process of reduction of Alumina to Aluminium has remainded basically the same for over 100 years, but the technology has been undergoing drastic changes with respect to selection of materials for Cathode and Anode, and also energy consumption. The latest generation pots have a working life of about 1800-2000 days normally. After the failure of the pots, the Cathode Lining is dug out and disposed of on land. Since the lining contains objectional materials causing pollution, various processes have been tried for re-processing of this waste. However, most of the processes have been unsuccessful from the techno-economic point of view. At Hindalco a new chemical process for converting the fluorine values of the dug out material to Cryolite was developed in 1988 and a" one ton per day Cryolite production plant has been operating since 1989. This process is especially applicable where the integrated Alumina and Smelter Plants exist side by side. The experience in operating this Plant is discussed in detail in the paper.

Jan 1, 1992

By Kimio Itagaki

As a fundamental study for smelting the copper matte with high contents of arsenic and antimony in a strongly reducing condition, phase relations between the liquid matte and copper-rich alloy phases in the Cu-Fe-S-As or -Sb quaternary system and between the liquid matte and iron-rich alloy phases in the Cu-Fe-S-As or -Sb system saturated with carbon were determined at 1473 K by a quenching method. Activities of arsenic and antimony in these systems were also measured at 1473K by Knudsen cell-mass spectrometry. Furthermore, distribution ratios of silver, gold and platinum between the liquid matte and copper-rich or iron-rich alloy phases were determined in relation to the arsenic or antimony content in the systems. On the basis of these data, the elimination of arsenic and antimony from the matte to the iron-rich alloy (speiss) and the recovery of precious metals in reduction smelting of the copper matte were evaluated. It was suggested that the addition of pig iron to make a strongly reducing condition and form the iron-rich alloy, which is fluid at smelting temperatures, will be useful for fixing arsenic in the speiss.

Jan 1, 2006

By Jafar Safarian, Merete Tangstad, Leiv Kolbeinsen

"Silicon and its binary alloys have several applications in metallurgical, chemical, photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. Silicon goes to its liquid state within its production, refining and when it is alloyed with other elements. Therefore, the characterization of silicon melts thermodynamics is important and useful. The liquidus and activities in several silicon binary systems have been recently calculated by the application of two liquidus constants, which were established using the experimentally determined liquidus data. In the present study, the thermodynamic properties of six silicon binary melts, which are simple eutectics, are calculated by analytical approaches. In this case, the changes in the partial and integral Gibbs free energies and enthalpies of mixing are calculated and compared with the experimental data in literature. The enthalpies are calculated by two methods and the calculation results are compared to the data from the literature. It is shown that thermodynamic properties of silicon binary melts can be accurately predicted without the use of complicated thermodynamic software.IntroductionSilicon and its alloys have several industrial applications. Silicon is used for making aluminium-silicon alloys to produce cast parts, mainly for automotive industry. Silicon in the form of ferro-silicon is used to deoxidize and alloy steel and cast iron. The photovoltaic (PV) industry has had a rapid growth in the recent years and silicon is the dominant material used for the fabrication of solar cells. Silicon is primarily produced through carbothermic reduction of quartz in electric arc furnaces and the produced metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) contains around 1 wt% impurities. It is further refined to produce solar grade silicon (SoG-Si) with above 99.9999 wt% Si to fulfil the chemical requirement for PV application. Since molten silicon is processed all along the metallurgical route, obtaining fundamental thermodynamics knowledge about silicon melts is valuable for the related industries."

Jan 1, 2012

By R. W. Lee

The first prototype plant using the Imperial Smelting Process commenced operation in 1950. It is timely therefore to review the developments that have occurred with the process over the past half-century. A major advantage claimed initially for the process was its ability simultaneously to recover zinc and lead from bulk concentrates. This has remained a fundamental advantage, but it has been extended by the increasing treatment of secondary materials containing zinc and lead. This has been facilitated by the development of hot briquetting and tuyere injection. These techniques and their impact on the technology of the operation will be described. The other major advantage claimed for the process was its potential to achieve new levels of productivity in the pyrometallurgical smelting of zinc. This has been realised with operating furnaces producing up to 400 t/d of zinc. The technical developments that have enabled this scale of operation will be reviewed.

Jan 1, 2000

By C. Sui

A common objective in many Cu/Zn concentrators is to reduce the loss of Zn to the Cu-concentrate. One suspected source of the problem is accidental activation of sphalerite by heavy metal ions such as lead. One method of quantifying surface metal ion concentration is extraction with ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetate (EDTA). This was used to survey Cu-rougher flotation at three Cu/Zn concentrators: Les Mines Selbaie, Falconbridge's Kidd Creek division, and Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Although all have less than 0.2% galena in the ore, Pb ions proved an abundant extractable metal. From a laboratory study a model of surface coverage of lead species generated by an ore was combined with an estimate of surface concentration of lead required to activate sphalerite to explore the possibility of accidental activation. Ores with Pb-grade as low as 0.1% can produce sufficient Pb to be a potential problem.

Jan 1, 1999

By Baohua Li, Yanhui Liu, Shengping Li, Xuewei Lv, Yun Chen

There are almost ten billion tons of vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite in Panzhihua-Xichang area. However, iron ores in Hongge, which has the most abundant reserves in the four mine areas in Panzhihua, have not been utilized sufficiently so far. The reason behind this is the relatively high Cr2O3 in the ores (0.49 %~0.82 %), that due to its high melting temperature will negatively influence the blast furnace reduction and slagging process. Therefore, in the blast furnace process, Cr is hope to be reduced into molten iron, which can reduce slag viscosity problems. Slag iron reduction experiments were conducted to quantify the Cr reduction. Experimental results shows that with the increase of TiO2, the content of Cr in the hot metal is decreased when balanced. And during the initial stage of the reduction reaction, the reaction kinetic model is a first-order reaction.

Jan 1, 2016

By Hongyang Cao

The iron constituents selectively separated from the modified copper slags by magnetic separation and flotation.were studied. The results of magnetic separation for modified copper smelting slags show that the grinding size, current intensity and dispersant agent had great influence on grade, and recovery ratio of TFe in preparation concentrate; The results of flotation for magnetic concentrate show that the positive flotation of sodium oleate negatively upgrade the grade of magnetic concentrate, but the reverse flotation of lauryl amine and soluble starch are effective. The grade of TFe can reach 54% and the recovery ratio can reach about 90% in magnetic concentrate, when the grinding size is 45.8µm and the current intensity is 2.5A. The optimal effect is obtained by using lauryl amine as collector and soluble starch as depressant to reverse flotate magnetic concentrate, and the grade of TFe is upgraded 2.37%.

Jan 1, 2009

By Steven E. Follin

In-situ leaching is commonly used to recover uranium from low-grade deposits in sandstone formations. Acceptable recovery rates can only be obtained if the formation retains its permeability during leaching. Field experiences indicate that microbial growth, stimulated by the leaching pro- cess, can cause plugging problems. To investigate this hypothesis, leach solution and solid samples from well casings and submersible pumps were obtained from four in-situ mining sites. Chemical and microbiological analyses were performed. Bacillus species, Micrococcus species, pseudomonads, and xanthomonads were isolated from these samples. A mixed culture of these organisms was inoculated into a uranium core that was being leached in the laboratory. The permeability of this ore sample decreased to one-third its original value after 16 days. The addition of hydrogen peroxide (0.2 g L-1) to the leach solution killed the microbes and restored the permeability to its original value. This suggests that periodic injection of hydrogen peroxide into production wells may reduce microbial plugging in these wells and the immediate surrounding formation.

Jan 1, 1985

By Qingcai Liu

The effect of the TiC addition on corrosion resistance of the Al2O3-C refractories in smelting reduction melts has been studied by quasi-station immersion and rotary immersion. The corrosion rate of Al2O3-C refractories is decreased with the TiC addition. The corrosion mechanism of Al2O3-C refractories is oxidization of graphite carbon by the oxides of the melts and the formation of deteriorate layer.

Jan 1, 2006

By T. L. Baum

External oxidation during in-line heat treatment of TRIP steels can cause problems for the subsequent coating process. This research aims to elucidate the kinetic rates of internal oxidation, external oxidation and decarburization and their interdependence under different gas atmospheres and temperatures. A rolled steel sample chemistry of 0.14 wt.% C, 1.8 wt% Mn, 0.6 wt.% Si and 1 wt.% Al is used as a case study. Thermogravimetric techniques are used to examine the net mass change in a sample during heat treatment and the results show an initial mass decrease and later an increase for particular partial pressures of H2O. SEM-EDS, optical microscopy and glancing-angle x-ray are used to quantify the microstructure. The cross-section of the samples have 4 distinct zones: (i) an external scale, rich in fayalite, (ii) an internally oxidized region with Al, Si and Mn oxides in an Fe matrix, (iii) a decarburized steel region, characterized by large ferrite grains and low carbon content, and (iv) a relatively unaffected steel core with a structure similar to the starting material.

Jan 1, 2006

By Olusegun J. Ilegbusi

"A two-fluid model is used to calculate flow and heat transfer characteristics of a plasma jet. This model accounts for both gradient-diffusion mixing and unmixing that may result from pressure-gradient-body-force imbalance in the system. The unmixedness is considered to be essentially a Rayleigh-Taylor kind instability. Separate transport equations are solved for the plasma and ambient gas velocities, temperatures and volume fractions. The two fluids allowed to exchange mass, momentum and energy through empirical interaction parameters. The empirical coefficients are first established by comparison of predictions with available experimental data for shear flows. The model is then applied to an Argon plasma jet ejecting into stagnant air. The predicted results show the significant build-up of unmixed air within the plasma gas, even relatively far downstream of the plasma torch. By adjusting the inlet condition, the model adequately reproduces the available experimental data on the temperature profile.IntroductionPlasma jets have important applications in materials processing, some of which include spray deposition, melting and refining, heat treatment and materials synthesis. In a typical reactor, the hot plasma stream entrains a surrounding gas and the resulting heat and mass transfer and the condition of operation of the torch, determines to a large extent, the performance of the unit. The entrainment may prevent uniform mixing and produce regions of unmixed hot/cold gases and non-uniform deposits as a result of insufficient melting of deposit in cold regions. This phenomenon may also affect chemical reaction rate in plasma systems for NOx reduction in exhaust gases.The study of plasma phenomena is often conveniently divided into three parts namely, the plasma torch, the plasma jet and analysis of the particles carried in the jet. The present work concerns processes occuring in the near-field of the plasma jet i.e. just downstream of the torch."

Jan 1, 1994

By Takahiro Miki

In order to use metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) as a starting material for solar cell, phosphorus has to be removed from silicon because phosphorus is a n-type dopant. On the other hand, silicon, ferrosilicon, and silicomanganese are widely used as deoxidizers in steel refining processes. Since most of the phosphorus introduced during the deoxidation process is brought into final products, it is important -to lower the phosphorus content of these alloys. Hence, thermodynamics of phosphorus in such metals is important for the evaluation of dephosphorization processes. In the present study, thermodynamic properties of phosphorus in molten Si-P alloys at 1723- 1848K and those of Si-Fe-P and Si-Mn-P alloys at 1723K have been determined by equilibrating respective metals in a controlled phosphorus partial pressure. The results are expressed as follows.

Jan 1, 1998

By David Hughes

The paper covers the utilization of on-line analysis in process control of solvent extraction in nickel leach solvent extraction processes in Finland and Australia and in copper heap-leach and solvent extraction in Chile. The goals of and requirements for controlling the solvent extraction stages of the processes are reviewed. The applications at three plants are compared. The development of the technology used is reviewed and design considerations are discussed. Requirements for on-line control and analyzer performance are compared. A new generation of analyzers and its effect on the set-up process of a project is introduced.

Jan 1, 2003

By M. Potesser

One of the main targets in the automotive mass industry and supplying industry is the weight reduction of the vehicle for decrease of the fuel consumption. For that reason combinations of different kinds of materials and connections of, for example, steel and aluminium are developed or are already successfully field-tested. A determining factor concerning the quality assessment of the welded joint during hybrid welding is the characterization of the intermetallic Fe-Al layer regarding strength, hardness, morphology and mainly the different phases in which Fe occurs together with the Aluminum (FeAl, Fe2Al5, FeAl3.). A combination of conventional light microscopy, SEM - EDX - analysis, the usage of an atomic force microscope including a Nanoindenter and theoretical thermodynamic calculations turned out to be highly effective. Based on the attained results, the constitution of the intermetallic FeAl layer, influenced by silicon, manganese and zinc, can be predicted.

Jan 1, 2006

By S. Peng, Vaughan R. Voller

"Free boundary problems are a common occurrence in materials processing operations. An important example is the filling of material into molds. This paper looks at filling problems associated with polymer processing, in particular Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) and Compression Molding. A general, single governing equation is developed which on numerical solution provides predictions for the position of the polymer front in the mold during filling. Both fixed and deforming finite element solutions are developed. Application to polymer filling test problems reveal that the fixed and deforming grid scheme are accurate and compare closely with each other.IntroductionProblems arising from the analysis of material processing operations often involve the tracking of a moving boundary, on which a balance conditions needs to be met, or the locating of a free surface that defines the solution domain. Material processing examples of so called ""free and moving boundary problems"" include; the tracking of solidification/melting fronts[l], the tracking of the metal/gas interface during the filling of a mold[2] and location and shape of a skull (freeze line) in a melting furnace[3].Computational solution of free and moving boundary problems usually fit into one of two classes, viz.1. Fixed grid scheme: In which the spatial domain is covered by a fixed grid (mesh) of node points and the solution uses an auxiliary variable (e.g. a local liquid fraction) to track the moving boundary or locate the free surface.2. Deforming grid scheme: In which the grid in the spatial domain is continuously deformed (or adapted in a steady state problem) such that a specified set of grid points lie on the moving boundary or the free surface.Details on the basic underlying features in these two classes of solution can be found in the excellent monograph by Crank [4]."

Jan 1, 1994