Search Documents

By Glenn Allen

SAN FRANCISCO Mines of Mexico, Ltd. owns and operates an extensive group of claims in the San Francisco del Oro-Santa Barbara district, about 15 miles southwest of Parral, Chihuahua. The property comprises the mines, aerial tramways, flotation mill, power plant, shops, offices, assay and testing laboratories, modern hospital, water and sanitary system, quarters for miners, mechanics and operators, a well housed colony for Mexican staff employees and residences for foreigners. Each colony has a club house and mess and tennis courts. The employees have constructed a nine-hole golf course. In other words, the property is self-contained and completely integrated for production of lead and zinc concentrates from complex sulfide ores.

Jan 1, 1930

By S. G. Malghan, A. L. Mular

Size distribution and surface area measurements play an important role in the characterization of crushed and ground granular materials properties. This paper outlines sampling methods of granular materials followed by a detailed treatment of principles of size and surface area measurements of a wide range of sizes from crushers feed to ball-mill ground sub-micron particles. Currently available equipment for size distribution and surface area analysis is described and critically examined with respect to advantages, range of application and precautions in their use. Equipment for on- stream size analysis is also evaluated. Finally, a list of criteria are given for selection of particles size and surface area measuring devices for a particular application.

Jan 1, 1982

In the hard rocks of the Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden and Finland underground works have a long tradition. Today the subsurface has been taken into use for a wide variety of purposes. In this paper only the more uncon- ventional examples are described such as caverns for drinking water, sand bunkers, molasses silos, wine and liquor stores, cold stores, heat storage, waste disposal and state archives. The particular use of unlined high pressure tunnels and socalled air-cushions for hydropower schemes is discussed. The dual use of subsurface air-raid shelters for sports activities seems to be a special Nordic tradition. Some cost figures are given and the advantages of using the underground is Discussed.

Jan 1, 1987

By Bruce T. Olenchuk, Wils L. Cooley

Electrical grounding is essential for the safe operation of power systems. A low-impedance path to ground is necessary to prevent the possibility of dangerously high potentials in human work areas. If for any reason this ground connection becomes faulty, a serious hazard may exist. One reason for faulty ground connections is ground bed corrosion. Corrosion of electrical ground rods has plagued the power industry and appeared in coal mine power systems. This paper will investigate ground rod corrosion, its cause, and possible solutions. Included is an evaluation of various ground rods for their ability to resist corrosion under stray current conditions. -The first known study of X-it3 Rod Corrosion is also presented.

Jan 1, 1979

By J. H. Fletcher

AIR has been cooled, heated, washed; humidified and dehumidified for many purposes and in many industries. At a number of metal mines air is conditioned to reduce the high humidity and unbearable heat found in deep workings, and at some mines air is washed to allay siliceous dust. Steam is introduced into the intake air at many coal mines, particularly in winter, for the purpose of keeping loose coal dust so moistened that the hazard of an explosion is lessened. This paper will describe a further successful application of air conditioning in a coal mine, where, for over three years, all intake air has been cooled to a constant temperature for the sole purpose of preventing roof falls.

Jan 1, 1931

By Louis W. Huber

The Liberty tunnels extend through a very steep hill in Pittsburgh (locally called Mount Washington) for a distance of slightly over a mile. The two tunnels parallel each other and are 59 ft. apart, center to center (Fig. 1) They are for vehicular traffic, and in each there is ample space for two lines of vehicles. Northbound traffic, toward downtown Pitts- burgh, is confined to the east tunnel and southbound traffic to the west tunnel. The South Hills residential district is separated from downtown Pittsburgh by Mount Washington, a steeply rising escarpment south of and adjacent to the Monongahela River. The Mount Washington district immediately south of the Monongahela River has been reached, for many

Jan 1, 1927

By Brent A. D, Olsen a. H, Mayfield P. L J, Grazier P. E

Concentrates produced from MnO2 and Fe203 ore fines have been targeted as potential feedstocks for direct metallurgical processing. Prereduction of pyrolusite-rich Mn02 sands to MnO has been investigated in batch and continuous experimental bubbling fluidised beds using CO-H2 reducing gas mixtures. This process has been found to produce a high grade feedstock suitable for smelting to ferroalloys or acid digestion for chemicals production. Similarly, production of highly metallised direct reduced iron (DRI) from hematite ore fines has also been investigated in batch bubbling bed reactors. Programs to characterise the reduction kinetics, fluidisation behaviour and defluidisation phenomena for both feedstocks are currently in progress to enable optimum process conditions to be determined.

Jan 1, 1995

By L. O. Millard

Stockpiles in the minerals industries serve a wide variety of purposes. Usually they are for surge between stages of processing, for a dependable plant feed in anticipation of delays, or to provide for single or double shift mining in conjunction with round-the-clock milling. Often surge piles are necessary to insure a uniform feed to continuous process equipment where the material is received as an intermittent or variable flow. Extensive use is made of stockpiling for the primary purpose of blending. The significant fact about all stockpiling of bulk materials is that storing and reclaiming are two separate and distinct operations and they may present widely different problems in the selection of methods and tools.

Jan 10, 1959

Legislation up to the early 1950s prevented the mechanical extraction of pillars. The mines operating at that time had formed extensive areas of pillars. When permission for the mechanical extraction was gazetted, conventional equipment was employed for pillar extraction and generally using hand mining systems. The mid-fifty's saw the of continuous miners. These machines eliminated the disadvantages of conventional equipment and the necessity for multiple working places. Some new layouts for panels emerged; however, actual extraction methods of pillars still followed closely that of hand mining. During the early sixty's the extraction of standing or new formed pillars was undertaken by the "open-end lift" or a "split and lift" method.

Jan 1, 1974

By Roozbeh Afzali

Designing an appropriate tunnel blasting pattern reduces the cost of rock breakage and subsequent operations such as loading, haulage and support of tunnels. For that reason, we developed a software that designs tunnel blasting patterns. Using this software, three different tunnel blast design models based on parallel hole cut, namely, Swedish, Konya and Energy Balance, were investigated and compared for a virtual tunnel. Accordingly, blasting patterns were designed, for different cross sections. The trend of parameters such as specific charge and specific drilling as functions of tunnel cross-section was determined for each model. Our results show that, in general, The Swedish model gives lower specific charge and specific drilling compared to other models.

Jan 1, 2008

By Joseph H. Bilbrey

COBALT is a silvery gray metal which closely resembles nickel in appearance and properties although it is somewhat harder and more brittle. It is rather widely disseminated and is estimated to make up about 0.001 percent of the earth's crust as compared to 0.020 percent for nickel. Cobalt, one of the four ferromagnetic elements, is used for many magnetic applications. It is oxidation resistant, a property which when coupled with its moderately high melting point of 1,495° C., makes it useful in high-temperature applications. Although cobalt had been used by man as a coloring agent for glass and other ceramic products for 4,000 years, it was not isolated as a metal until 1742 and not established as an element until some 40 years later. Early in the 20th century, cobalt began to be used in alloys, and soon these applications displaced ceramics as the major consumer of cobalt. The use of cobalt in alloys gave considerable stimulus to production, and the world output of cobalt increased rapidly, rising from 400 tons in 1920 to 1,400 tons in 1930 and 5,500 tons in 1940. With the advent of the jet plane in the mid 1940's and the consequent increased need for cobalt-bearing high-temperature alloys, cobalt production again increased, reaching 7,900 tons in 1950. The increased demand for cobalt during the Korean war coupled with a large demand for stockpiling caused world production to more than double within the next 10 years, reaching a peak of 17,300 tons in 1959.

Jan 1, 1962

By Rebecca Hardy

The escalating demand for coal, in addition to the steady depletion of reserves, has produced increasingly difficult mining conditions for coal mining companies within the United States, resulting in mining above or below previously mined areas. The safe and productive extraction of coal in a multiple seam environment requires specific design technology for effective mine planning. Presently, one of the most useful design approaches for multiple-seam feasibility analysis is using numerical modeling techniques. Therefore, numerical modeling programs LaModel 2.1 and Lam2D were used to determine the feasibility of mining the Herrin (No. 6) coal seam over an existing room-and-pillar mine in the Springfield (No. 5) coal seam in the Illinois Basin.

Jan 1, 2006

By Kazimierz Gwizdala

In the paper the method for estimation of settlement of vertically loaded piles in a group is presented. The method is generally based on the hybrid procedure with non-linear solution for single piles and with interaction between them for the low-strain shear modulus. Some attention is paid to the influence of deformation and strength parameters used in calculations. The applied model is verified in the framework of the research programme carried out recently in the Geotechnical Department of Gdansk Technical University. It concerns monitoring and analysing the settlements of the existing structures on piles. A comparison of calculation and measurements results for two tested buildings is presented as an example.

Jan 1, 2002

By W. W. Weller

Thermodynamic values for scandium and its compounds are very sparse. This is evident upon examination of any of the commonly used compilations of thermodynamic data. For example, National Bureau of Standards Circular 5004 lists only four heat of formation values, two free energy of formation values, and four heat-capacity values for scandium compounds. The entropy of crystalline scandium is one of the most fundamental values that has been lacking. This Bureau of Mines paper reports heat-capacity data for scandium metal in the temperature range from 50° to 298° K., together with the entropy value at 298.15° K. derived from these data through application of the third law of thermodynamics.

Jan 1, 1962

The applicability of borehole assaying techniques, both conventional and advanced, to orebody evaluation in the mining industry is reviewed and assessed, and the research, development, and demonstration programs necessary to apply the various logging techniques to mining are outlined. At present, the principal method of orebody evaluation in the mining industry is coring. However, coring is costly and time-consuming, and potentially great savings can be realized if all or part of d coring program is replaced by a borehole logging suite specialized to the needs of the particular mining industry. Using a set of 12 minerals, most of which are essential to the U. S. economy, an algorithm is presented for calculating the priority of developing suitable borehole assaying technology to replace all or part of the coring in each mineral industry, The priority is expressed in terms of dollars currently spent for that portion of present orebody evaluation techniques which may eventually be replaceable by in-situ assay techniques. The orebody assay requirements (grades, accuracies, etc.) of the 12 selected mineral industries, as determined from mining industry interviews and published literature, are compiled and represent performance criteria for borehole assaying instruments for the particular industry. Current logging techniques, applied chiefly in the petroleum industry, and advanced assay techniques which are or may be packageable for borehole use are evaluated to determine their performance characteristics. The performance characteristics of the various conventional and advanced techniques are then compared with the performance criteria in each of the 12 mineral industries in order to determine the potential benefit derivable from each technique. Finally, the benefit available from each technique, averaged over the 12 mineral industries, is compared with the cost of development of the technique, to determine the overall priority for investment in research to develop the technique for use in mining. The technology assessment and cost-benefit analysis shows neutron activation analysis in its various forms to have the highest priority for research and development as a borehole logging technique. Other techniques found to be promising include x-ray fluorescence, x-ray diffraction, photoluminescence (optical fluorescence), and infrared spectroscopy. Of the 12 industries considered in the study, those where the need for advanced borehole logging technology is greatest are uranium, copper, gold, and iron.

Jan 1, 1976

By C. C. Templeton, J. C. Rodgers

A key step in feed water treatment for generating wet steam for thermal oil recovery is the removal of calcium and magnesiunt hardness by cation-exchange series softening. Knowing the solubility of any scale forming salts in brines at elevated temperatures is necessary for fixing the level to which the feed water must be softened. Such calcium sulfate solubility data, previously not available above 392F, were determined by the authors in a flow equilibrium apparatus mud will be reported elsewhere. These data were used to develop a method for predicting the solubility of anhydrite in hot water or steam droplets for saturated steam pressures as high as 2,000 psig (637F). (The calcium sulfate solubility product is represented by a combination of two factors, one reflecting the effects of ionic strength and the other accounting for the effects of complex ion formation in either calcium-magnesium-rich or sulfate-rich brines.) The method is applied to a calcium-magnesium-rich brine If moderately high salinity from a pilot hot-water flood, I nd to several sulfate-rich, low-salinity feed waters and l lowdown (cooled steam droplets) samples from steam s ak operations. The predicted calcium hardness levels corresponding to the calcium sulfate solubilities agreed reasonably well with the results of laboratory solubility determinations run on the field samples. Further testing of the method is needed for brines of other composition classes. Existing field cation exchange softeners in the cases tested are performing adequately since all the samples were found to be undersaturated with respect to calcium sulfate at their operating temperatures. Introduction Prevention of scaling caused by precipitation of calcium sulfate (anhydrite) is of considerable concern in connection with thermal recovery processes using wet steam or hot water. To avoid anhydrite precipitation in a heated system, an engineer must keep the product of the calcium and sulfate concentrations in the water or steam droplets below the value of the solubility product of anhydrite for the temperature and brine composition in question. Usually it is most practical to keep the concentration product lower than the solubility product by keeping calcium low in the presence of high sulfate, or by keeping sulfate low in the presence of high calcium. This can be done by a choice of combinations of natural waters and water treatment processes (such as series cation exchange softening to remove calcium). Until recently, few anhydrite solubility data, particularly for solutions containing other salts, were available for temperatures above 392F (211 psig steam); Marshall, Slusher and Jones' studied the CaS0,-NaCI-H,O system up to 392F and surveyed the work of previous investigators. To model natural brines, one needs to study the solubility of anhydrite in aqueous solutions of sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and their mixtures. Since steam pressures as high as 2,000 psig (637F) may be involved in thermal oil recovery projects, a solubility study was conducted between 482 and 617F.' Discussed in this paper is the application of these data to the prediction of anhydrite precipitation in some practical steam soak and hot-water injection projects. Any simple method for predicting the solubility of an inorganic compound over a wide range of temperatures and solution compositions must be based on some assumptions, and therefore must yield approximate results. On the one hand, natural brines contain too many ionic species for all to be included in a simple scheme; on the other hand, there is no adequate theoretical basis for the exact prediction of solubility in even simple solutions of mixed electrolytes. However, it is possible at a given temperature to base a reasonable prediction scheme on two phenomena:'-' the increase in solubility with increasing total concentrations of all ions (as measured by the ionic strength; see the Appendix), and an increase due to formation of cornplexes between calcium ions and sulfate ions and between sulfate and magnesium ions. Stiff and Davis' developed such a scheme for predicting the solubility of gypsum (CaSO, ¦ 2H,O) in brines at temperatures u~ to 212F. However, for the higher temperaturei of present interest, the stable solid phase is anhydrite (CaSO,). This study involves a two-part method for predicting anhydrite solubility products. First, one predicts a value K, for a given ionic strength I and a given temperature T corresponding to mo./msr, = 1 from data of the CaS0,-NaCI-H,O system. Second, one determines a group of factors F .= F(Ca) • F(Mg) • F(SO,), where the individual factors account for increases in the solubility product due to complex formation by high concentrations, respectively, of calcium, magnesium and sulfate. Combining the two parts, one obtains the solubility product in molalities as

Jan 1, 1969

By C. G. Dunn, F. W. Daniels, M. J. Bolton

IN recent investigations1. a data on relative grain boundary energies in silicon iron have been obtained. The present investigation is a continuation of this work along similar lines for the purpose of obtaining additional information on boundary energies. One aim has been to extend the data for a (110) series, which was formerly studied,' to small differences in orientation, since a recent theory3,4 based on a dislocation model of grain boundaries predicts a E. ? (A-ln ? )* form of energy curve for small differences in orientation. Another aim has been to provide data for a (100) series—all grains having (100) planes parallel with the surface of sheet speci-mens—and to compare the results with the predicted form of energy curve. Finally, information on the nature of approach to equilibrium conditions was to be obtained through observations on the movements of grain boundaries. Recently published papers2,3,5 have treated the mathematical problem of expressing equilibrium conditions for grain boundaries for the general case when boundary energy depends upon boundary orientation. The equilibrium equations, which relate equilibrium angles and grain boundary -free energies, contain additional terms that express the variation of energy with boundary rotation. It has been necessary in the present investigation, however, to neglect these additional terms since no data for their evaluation were available. Dropping the additional terms leads to the following approximate equations which were used: E12/sin ?3 = E18/sin?2 =E28/sin?1 or those of the form: E28 + E13 cos ?3 + E12 cos ?2 = 0 Experimental Procedure Except for sample F1, all specimens were made from two lots of silicon iron called C and L respectively. The compositions of these are listed in table I. In the preparation of 12 three-grain specimens for the present investigation, a controlled grain growth technique, which has been described previously,' was used. After preparation, the specimens were notched at the boundaries to shorten them as a means of providing more rapid approach to equilibrium in the anneals. Initial grain boundary angles were determined from micrographs taken at X500. Seven anneals, totaling about two days at 1300°C and two to four days at 1400°C, were run in an atmosphere of pure dry argon as described in a previous paper.' Boundary changes generally could be followed without metallographic surface preparation, because thermal etching occurred during the anneals. These observations indicated angle changes of as much as 35" in some instances, with the major changes occurring during the first anneal. Annealing was discontinued when the angles reached stationary values. Fig. 1 gives a schematic diagram for purposes of defining crystallographic and boundary directions for three grains with common plane parallel with the sheet. Differences in orientations (expressed by A) are the angles between [00l] directions. They can be calculated with the aid of the ?'s. The grain boundary angles can be calculated from the w'S. Results Results are given in table 11. Types of crystal-lographic planes refer to those parallel with the sheet. Orientations are given in terms of [00l] direc-tions as shown in fig. 1. Except for grain 3 of specimen H6, which was unintentionally tilted 7" out of a (100) plane, all grains generally were within 1" or 2" of the plane specified. The directions of boundaries were measured generally to within 1" on both upper and lower surfaces, and the average direc- tions were determined for use in calculating the grain boundary angles. Variations in grain boundary directions refer to deviations from average directions. Boundaries near the junction point for all specimens generally were very close to perpendicu-

Jan 1, 1951

By G. R. Countryman, G. H. Thomas, I. Fatt

Procedures are described for scaling up turbulent friction pressure drops of inelastic fluids and laminar friction pressure drops of inelastic/elastic fluids in circular ducts. The laminar scale-up calculation method does not require the use of arbitrarily defined flow models, and can be performed directly from laminar capillary viscometry data, or by means of a numerical solution of the integral equation for Poiseuille flow, inputing true shear rate-shearing stress data from other simple shearing experiments. e.g. Couette and plane Poiseuille flows. The turbulent scale up procedure, based on the Dodge-Metzner correlation for inelastic fluids, requires evaluating the characteristic rheological parameters at the existing wall stress under laminar flow conditions. Since the wall stress is the quantity sought in a pipe flow scale-up problem, a trial-and-err or solution is indicated, and therefore a calculation method has been developed and programmed for a medium-size magnetic-drum-memory digital computer. Laminar flow data from other somces may also be adapted to this turbulent scale-upmetbod for inelastic fluids. Comparisons between predicted and experimentally observed friction losses for generalized Reynolds numbers ranging from 3 — 32.000 indicate an error band width of less than 10 per cent in circular tubes ranging in size from 0.5 to 1.89 in. in diameter. INTRODUCTION Considerable effort has been devoted to the problem of establishing an accurate procedure for predicting the laminar and turbulent flow behavior of non-Newtonian materials in pipes from data obtained with small scale laboratory or pilot plant equipment, as evidenced by the variety of reviews on the subject.1-3 Although there does not appear to be a universally accepted scale-up method for laminar flow, the various methods currently employed can be divided into two principal categories depending upon whether a functional relationship between shear rate and shearing stress is assumed, or whether a generalized correlation is adopted. The methods of Hedstrom4 and of Weltmann are typical of the first category, while the generalized correlation of Metzner and Reed6 illustrates the second category. Under appropriate conditions either approach yields a reasonably satisfactory description of laminar flow behavior. In contrast, the prediction of non-Newtonian transitional and turbulent friction losses is much more complex. For example, certain types of materials have been observed to sustain laminar flow at much higher flow rates than Newtonian liquids. When turbulence does develop, the level of agitation is damped to such an extent that the friction factor is lower than that of the original low viscosity Newtonian medium. Extremely broad transition regions and "diameter effects" have also been noted in the turbulent flow of certain chemically complex materials.' Aside from the latter complications, which are attributed in part to viscoelasticity, the existence of a variety of scale-up procedures for predicting transitional and turbulent friction losses is due principally to the chioce of viscosity parameter used in the definition of the Reynolds number. In contrast, Dodge and Metzner have demonstrated that the friction factorReynolds number relationship for inelastic fluids can be satisfactorily generalized provided the fluid property parameters are evaluated at the existing wall shearing stress.* However, the quantity usually sought in a pipe flow scale-up problem is the wall stress, and hence a trial-and-error procedure is required when dealing with non-power law materials. In this report we discuss two calculation methods: (1) for determining the wall stress, and hence the friction pressure drop, for inelastic fluids under conditions of turbulent flow by means of an iterative procedure, and (2) for predicting laminar friction pressure drops without recourse to arbitrarily defined flow models.

By B. H. Caudle, R. L. Slobod, E. R. Brownscombe

An earlier publication has discussed three methods lor obtaining relative permeability data on small core sample-: and the apparatus and technique for the capillary pressure displacement method. This paper describes the apparatus and technique for the solution gas and the dynamic displacement methods and presents a routine procedure for obtaining oil-gas and water-oil relative permeability data. Theoretical and experimental considerations are presented to show that the end effect commonly associated with the dynamic flow mechanism is extremely small where constant rates are employed in the flowing phase. An effect of flow rate on relative permeabilities obtained by the dynamic system is found only when gas is one of the flowing phases and this effect is ascribed to a form of channeling in the capillary system. The apparatus and procedure* used to obtain relative permeability data with three phases flowing are described and some preliminary results of the use of this method are shown. INTRODUCTION In a previous publication from this laboratory there appeared a brief discussion of the concepts behind three basic methods for obtaining relative permeability data.' These three methods were called the capillary pressure displacement method. the solution gas displacement method, and the dy. namic displacement method — the names being suggestive of the type of process used for obtaining the desired saturation prior to making the permeability measurements. In the same publication, the apparatus and technique for the capillary pressure displacement method were described and some typical results obtained by this method were presented. This paper will present: 1. The routine procedure used to obtain complete relative permeabilitv data (In small core samples with two phasec flowing; 2. The experimental techniques for the solution gas and dynamic displacement methods for obtaining relative permeability data; 3. The results of some studies on the mechanism of fluid flow through consolidated porous media; and, 4. The preliminary results on the determination of relative permeability for a system in which three phases are flowing. TECHNIQUE AND APPARATUS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF RELATIVE PERMEABILITY WITH TWO PHASES FLOWING In order to obtain relative permeability data on a small core sample which will describe the various phases of reservoir depletion. it is necessary that the methods used duplicate, as closely as possible, the various mechanisms involved in rescbrvoir depletion. It is important that. in any type of relative permedbility determination. the core be originally at virgin reservoir conditions with respect to the fluids within the pore *paces. (for example. oil used to displace water from core until connate water saturation estahlished). and that the subsequent saturation changes in the core be analagous to tile reservoir depletion mechanism for which the data are to he used. PROCEDURE OF DETERMINING RELATIVE PERMEABILITY DATA WITH TWO PHASES FLOWING A standardized procedure has been set up for obtaining relative permeability data and other information on small core samples. This procedure essentially consists of 11 steps as shown below: 1. Determination of tile capillary pressure curve.'! This information is used to help select samples for relative permeability determinations and to charactrrize. in general. the pore size distribution of the sample. 2. Determination of the specific permeabilities to air, oil. and water. These values are those on which the relative pern~eahility calculations are based. 3. Reduction of the core to connate water by an oil drive using the high speed centrifuge. 1. Determination of the critical gas saturation value and the associated relative permeability to oil by the solution gas drive method. 5. Determination of the relative permeabilities to oil and gab in the region where both phases are flowing by the capillary presqure method. 6. Reduction of the sample to residual oil in the centrifuge by an air drive. and the determination of the relative permeability to gas at this point.

Jan 1, 1951

By F. W. Jessen, R. W. Durie

The development in the laboratory of mall salt cavities illustrated that the rate at which salt dissolved was affected by the rate at which fresh water was injected into the cavity. Experiments carried out with small salt cores indicated, however, that the rate of salt removal with forced convection was not significantly different from that with natural convection, provided the flow was in the laminar range. The rate of salt removal was apparently controlled by the water salinity, which was indirectly determined by the rate at which fresh water was injected. With turbulent flow at the salt surface, the rate of salt removal could be increased several-fold with the same salinity in the cavity. A quantitative evaluation of the rate of salt removal under natural convection was attempted by using techniques developed for the analogous heat convection system. The values of the rate of salt removal obtained experimentally were considerably greater than the calculated values due to surface irregularities. To determine the effect of these irregularities, the rate of salt removal was found for a smooth surface by experimentally determining the rate of salt removal as an irregular surface developed and then extrapolating this trend back to initial time. Excellent agreement between the experimental and calculated values then were obtained. INTRODUCTION Underground cavities leached from massive salt formations have been used extensively for many years for storing LPG products. The development techniques for storing methane gases in the liquid state at a low temperature leads to speculation that underground salt cavities of controlled geometry may be quite important in this field. In any case, the increasing number of salt cavities used for storage indicates an impending need for a better knowledge of the washing process to efficiently develop maximum storage volumes within specified regions. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss some aspects of -the mechanism of the dissolution of salt in the formation of cavities of controlled geometry. Although no attempt is made to resolve the problems that may be associated with the storage of methane in the liquid state in salt formations, the fact that salt cavities can be formed at reasonable cost would appear to justify investigation in this direction. Further, underground cavities have the advantage of allowing storage at higher pressures (and hence higher temperatures) than surface installations. Although the thermal conductivity of salt is somewhat higher than frozen earths, 0.017 cal/(sec) (cm)(c) for salt at 32F vs 0.005 cal/(sec) (cm) () for ice at this temperature, this disadvantage is offset by the higher storage temperature in underground cavities. For example, at atmospheric pressure, the temperature of liquid methane would be —258F. In a storage cavity at 2,000 ft, the pressure would be approximately 1,000 psia, which would allow a storage temperature of -9OF. The formation temperature would be roughly 110F at this depth, hence the total temperature differential would be 200F. Under surface storage conditions the corresponding temperature difference would be some 333 F (75 F + 258 F). The results of this difference can be compared more readily by substituting the appropriate values of thermal conductivity, temperature difference, heat capacity and density into the solution of the diffusion equation for the unsteady linear conduction of heat. For the underground salt storage, the heat flux is 15cal/(sec) (sq cm), where t is the time in seconds from the initiation of the cooling. For the surface system, and using the thermal properties of ice at the average temperature, the corresponding figure is 21cal/(sec) (sq cm). Hence, the heat losses through ice under surface conditions would be some 30 per cent higher than the underground salt storage. This ratio would vary, considerablv. Of course, for other conditions, but it indicates that an advantage over surface facilities may be obtained by storage in underground salt cavities.

Jan 1, 1965