Search Documents

By David W. Evans

"Induced hydraulic fracture of strata during roof bolt installation is a potentially prevalent, but masked phenomenon within the underground coal industry. Previously reported resin testing programs (McTyer et al., 2014) examined the relationship between resin mixing effectiveness and varying bore hole diameter. The methodology employed within this earlier test program facilitated a further critical area of research – the measurement of back pressures generated within the bore hole during standard rock bolt installation practices. Experimental data has indicated that fluid resin can be pressurised to levels where it exceeds the compressive strength of the strata, inducing hydraulic fracture within the immediate area of the bolting horizon. The routine cycle of roof bolting serves to propagate this effect, progressively fracturing and delaminating the roof during mine advancement. This masked phenomenon can lead to a perception of difficult ground conditions - mining efficiencies and costs are therefore affected, with increased needs for additional support subsequently required to restabilise the inadvertently damaged roof.Further analysis of the parameters associated with resin bolt installation has now been conducted, assisting in the development of an empirical relationship between bore hole pressure, bore hole diameter and bolt insertion times. This relationship has been analysed for 15:1 ratio resins and 2:1 ratioresins, within 28mm and 30mm boreholes. Further to this, load transfer performance has been comparatively assessed for both 28mm and 30mm boreholes, suggesting that for 2:1 resins, acceptable resin mixing and load transfer can be obtained within a 30mm bore hole. The combination of 2:1 resins, utilised within a 30mm bore hole, may well provide the optimal solution to reduce the risk of hydraulic fracture in weaker strata during resin bolt installation.INTRODUCTIONA growing number of industry papers have previously investigated areas of concern associated with the performance of cartridge style resins in roof bolting, predominantly focussing on the effects of plastic film gloving, inadequate resin mixing and the pressurisation of resin within the bore hole. These three effects have a critical influence on the load transfer of the steel bolt element, through the cured resin and into the surrounding strata.Gloving occurs due to the plastic film of the resin cartridge partially encasing or wrapping around the steel roof bolt element – a known phenomenon over many years (Pettibone, 1987). The plastic film creates regions of discontinuity between the bolt, cured resin and borehole, reducing effective load transfer into the strata. Experimentation conducted into the effects of bolt ends fully encased by plastic film (Pastars and MacGregor, 2005) revealed that load transfer can be reduced by 85 to 90% in worstcase occurrences. It is also known that the aggregate filler size used within the resin can assist in shredding and breaking up the plastic film – this effect was observed in a previous study on resin mixing effectiveness (McTyer et al., 2014)."

Jan 1, 2015

By C. S. Finney, John Mitchell

The decline of the beehive coking industry was inevitable, but it had filled the needs and economy of its day. A beehive plant required neither large capital investment to construct nor an elaborate and expensive organization to run. The ovens were built near mines from which large quantities of easily-won coking coal of excellent quality could be taken, and handling and preparation costs were thus at a minimum. The beehive process undoubtedly produced fine metallurgical coke, and low yields were considered to be the price that had to be paid for a superior product. Few could have foreseen that the time would come when lack of satisfactory coking coal would force most of the beehive plants in the Connellsville district, for example, to stay idle; and if there were those like Belden who cried out against the enormous waste which was leading to exhaustion of the country's best coking coals, there were many more to whom conservation was almost the negation of what has since become popularly known as the spirit of free enterprise. As for the recovery of such by-products as tar, light oil, and ammonia compounds, throughout much of the beehive era there was little economic incentive to move away from a tried and trusted carbonization method simply to produce materials for which no great market existed anyway. With the twentieth century came changes that were to bring an end to the predominance of beehive coking. Large new steel-producing corporations were formed whose operations were integrated to include not only the making and marketing of iron or steel but also the mining of coal and ore from their own properties, the quarrying of their own limestone and dolomite, and the production of coke at or near their blast furnaces. As the steel industry expanded so did the geographic center of production move westward. By 1893 it had moved from east-central to western Pennsylvania, and by 1923 was located to the north and center of Ohio. This western movement led, of course, to the utilization of the poorer quality coking coals of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. These coals could not be carbonized to produce an acceptable metallurgical coke in the beehive oven, but could be so treated in the by-product oven. By World War I the technological and economic limitations of the beehive oven as a coke producer were being widely recognized. After the war the number of beehive ovens in existence dropped steadily to a low of 10,816 in 1938, in which year the industry produced only some 800,000 tons of coke out of a total US production of 32.5 million tons. The demands of the second World War led to the rehabilitation of many ovens which had not been used for years, and in 1941, for the first time since 1929, beehive ovens produced more than 10 pet of the country's total coke output. Production fell off again after 1945, but the war in Korea made it necessary once more to utilize all available carbonizing capacity so that by 1951 there were 20,458 ovens with an annual coke capacity of 13.9 million tons in existence. Since that time the iron and steel industry has expanded and modernized its by-product coking facilities, and by the end of 1958 only 64 pet of the 8682 beehive ovens still left were capable of being operated. Because beehive ovens are cheap and easy to build and can be closed down and started up with no great damage to brickwork or refractory, it is likely that they will always have a place, albeit a minor one, in the coking industry. The future role of the beehive oven would seem to be precisely that predicted forty years ago by R. S. McBride of the US Geological Survey. Writing with considerable prescience, McBride declared: "A by-product coke-oven plant requires an elaborate organization and a large investment per unit of coke produced per day. Operators of such plants cannot afford to close them down and start them up with every minor change in market conditions. It is not altogether a question whether beehive coke or by-product coke can be produced at a lower price at any particular time. Often by-product coke will be produced and sold at less than cost simply in order to maintain an organization and give some measure of financial return upon the large investment, which would otherwise

Jan 1, 1961

By Takashi Ohya, George V. Keller, Richard G. Geyer

One aspect of a program to improve the chances of survival following coal mine disasters is the development of a communications system which will allow surviving miners to make their circumstances known to rescue teams. At present, it appears that an electromagnetic system may be most practical. The development and design of an effective electromagnetic communications link for signalling between mine workings and the surface requires knowledge of pertinent physical properties of the rocks overlying the mine workings and the characteristics of the ambient noise against which a communications signal must be recognized. Knowledge of the overburden electrical transmission properties is useful not only for determining a practical operating transmitter frequency at a given mine, but also for ensuring the best possible electromagnetic coupling for routine or emergency communication purposes. Field studies of the electrical transmission properties of the overburden of coal mines in Colorado, Illinois, and Pennsylvania generally show that a rela- tively uniform and unimodal electrical conductivity distribution exists provided that the region has not been subject to considerable structural or metamorphic deformation such as that observed in the Gary District of West Virginia. Measurements of ambient surface electromagnetic noise levels at several mines in Colorado, Illinois, and West Virginia were taken and analyzed and are presented in the form of amplitude histogram plots both as a function of frequency and time of day. These amplitude histograms may be used in conjunction with overburden resistivity data in implementing an uplink communications beacon system which will yield a specified signal-to-noise ratio at the surface. Numerous C.W. field transmission tests were made in various coal mining environments with use made of either a buried vertical-axis transmitting loop or a short insulated grounded current line. These transmission tests were made from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz in frequency and at several geographic surface receiving sites. The results of these field measurements show, in general, good agreement with theoretically calculated results. Since the produced surface magnetic field from a buried vertical-axis loop source or the produced surface horizontal electric field from a buried horizontal current line show better agreement with theoretical results, they could be used for beacon location system. One criterion would be in detecting the equatorial and polar null lines of the horizontal electric field component which is normal to the direction of emplacement of a buried transmitting line current source. A second criterion would be in the surface mapping of the maximum in the vertical magnetic field directly over a vertical-axis loop transmitter and the associated null in the vertical magnetic field at a horizontal offset distance which is about 1.4 times the depth of burial of the transmitter. Finally, a third criterion would lie in the surface mapping of the null in the horizontal magnetic field directly over the vertical-axis beacon and the associated maximum in the horizontal magnetic field at an offset distance from the transmitter axis of half the depth of burial of the loop transmitter. In mapping the vertical magnetic field over a buried vertical-axis loop transmitter, the size effect of the transmitter loop must be taken into account when the separation distances between the transmitter and receiving sensor are less than ten times the effective radius of the source loop; increasing the size of the transmitting source relative to the source-receiver separation distance shifts the null in the vertical magnetic field to greater offsets. In mapping either the vertical or horizontal magnetic field over a buried vertical-axis loop transmitter, care should be exercised in ascertaining that measured nulls and maxima are along radials through the axis of the buried source loop. For the main part, coupling experiments show that ambient electromagnetic noise in coal mining districts is less of a problem above 1000 Hertz. But secondary and perhaps undesirable maxima and null phenomena (as well as penetration problems) would occur in many coal mine provinces in the behavior of the surface horizontal magnetic field (over a buried vertical-axis loop transmitter) if transmission frequencies as high as 10 kHertz were used.

By G. S. Cole, G. F. Bolling

A series of Al-Cu alloys has been cast from constant superheat to solidify either with a hot top or with a free liquid/air interface. All the other variables which affect relative fluid motions were kept constant except the imposition of slow rotations m oscillations of the mold. Depending upon the exact circumstances, evi-dence could be found for the nucleation of equiaxed grains from dendrite bits detached from the columnar zone, or from the free surface, or from solid bits induced at pouring; a special experiment showed the solute buildup during ingot solidification and by inference the reality of constitutional supercooling. All methods of grain nucleation are thus supported. When solidification is arranged in a static mold the columnar- to-equiaxed transition occurs by one of these nucleation paths, subject to the natural decay of temperature gradients which promotes nucleation or the survival of nuclei. But when solidification is forced under special fluid flows it may display odd transitions. In one of these the equiaxed zone is synihesized from. dendrite bits detached from the solid/liquid interface. These survive under the concurrent lowering of temperature gradients and eventually cause transition by impeding columnar growth. GRAIN structure control is desired because real experience shows that specific properties are associated with specific cast grain structures. But since control is thus a matter of need and does not require understanding, much of casting remains art. For example, the manipulation of relative fluid motions in simple ingots provides a control of grain structure development,1-4 but theoretical insight is not required in order to broaden its potential applicability. Fortunately, however, once a variable like fluid flow is recognized it can also provide paths toward new insight. New observations using this variable have provided an insight which is curious. All the theories or descriptions of the columnar-to-equiaxed transition (CET) seem to be supported as long as the appropriate experiment is carried out. In order to develop this idea, let us ignore segregation, the chill zone (until a later section of this paper), and the origin and development of the columnar zone.= The details of questioning how equiaxed material forms in a casting may be divided in two. The first part is simply a questioning of the origin for equi-axed grains: are there fresh nuclei from heterogeneous nucleation, or dendrite bits broken off or melted from the columnar zone or elsewhere,6 or other solid bits surviving from the outset of freezing? The second is more complex, a questioning of the CET: does columnar growth slow down and allow the dominance of equiaxed grains, however they are formed, or do equi-axed grains take over and force columnar growth to stop? This "chicken-or-the-egg" second question can be quite useful, especially because it allows us to delineate the ordinary or NATURAL EQUIAXED ZONE and the induced or SYNTHETIC EQUIAXED ZONE. A natural equiaxed zone occurs if solidification proceeds in the absence of disturbances or extraneous forces such as ultrasonics, stirrings, and so forth. Both the CET theory proposed by Winegard and Chal-mers, 7requiring constitutional supercooling, and the CET theory suggested by Chalmers,8 requiring nuclea-tion only on pouring, pertain to the natural equiaxed zone. The best collating evidence to date for both these theories is contained in the work by Biloni and Chal-mers;9,10 the former theory7 is supported by special versions of the unidirectional growth experiment performed by Plaskett and winegardl1 and the latter theory' is supported in detail for the solidification of small ingots. An equiaxed zone can be synthesized when disturbances caused by forced fluid flows2-4 or other artificial means9,10 break off or melt off dendrite tips from an advancing solid/liquid interface,* if (and only if) temperature gradients in the melt are (forcibly) reduced enough to ensure the survival of these bits of dendrites, 2'3 Willful disturbances even so trivial as those produced by rapping a mold might be included here; as will be shown for example, this follows Southin's suggestion that the free liquid/air interface

Jan 1, 1970

By E. H. Bunce, H. M. Haslam

The "direct process" for the manufacture of pigment zinc oxide produces the oxide directly from ore. This is accomplished by reducing the zinc by means of carbonaceous fuels and immediately burning the evolved zinc vapor to zinc oxide. For many years this was done by smelting a loose charge of ore and fuel on perforated grates. Since this process was developed in America and was extensively used here, it has become known as the "American process." Alternative methods of producing pigment zinc oxide are the "indirect process " and the "wet process." In the indirect process the raw material is metallic zinc, which is volatilized and burned to the oxide. For a long time this has been done in externally fired horizontal refractory retorts. This process has become known as the "French process," from the country of its origin. The wet process precipitates the carbonate or hydrate from zinc-bearing liquors and then calcines the precipitate. This method has been but sparingly used for producing commercial quantities of zinc oxide. It appears to be advisable to restrict the use of the terms "American process" and "French process" to the methods of the earlier periods and to consider the terms "direct process" and "indirect process" as generic terms to designate, first, all methods of producing pigment zinc oxide directly from ores, and, second, to include all those methods of producing zinc oxide from metallic zinc and metallic zinc-bearing substances. American Process In 1796 John Atkinson was granted British Patent No. 2094/1796 entitled, "Manufacture of White Paint." This patent describes a method of producing zinc oxide in which roasted zinc blende or calcined calamine is mixed with charcoal, and the mixture heated in a muffle to liberate zinc vapor, which is then burned to obtain zinc oxide fume. About 1850 The New Jersey Zinc Co., at its plant in Newark, N. J., attempted to make zinc oxide by smelting, in a reverberatory furnace, a mixture of coal and ore from its Franklin mine. A considerable amount

Jan 1, 1937

It was said that the coal operators are losing a great advantage in permitting the oil producers to take the domestic market away from them. Coal is so much less expensive and more economical than oil that even the oil producers themselves are burning coal under their stills. No longer is the housewife afraid of machinery. Not only does she operate an automobile, but in her home she is used to vacuum sweepers, washing machines, refrigerators, and multitudinous devices. She is no longer machine-shy. An electrically operated stoker, if properly introduced and guaranteed with only a fraction of the enthusiasm that the oil furnace salesman shows, would get a ready reception. Several devices now on the market are much less complicated, much less apt to get out of order, than the oil burners. In place of an increased cost for the sake of convenience, the stoker will give all this convenience at a decreased cost. So said Mr. Herres. He said, however, that it must be enclosed so that the working parts are not too much in evidence. MR. McAULIFFE: While it appears possible to adapt a continuous feed to the needs of the furnace in an apartment or a house burning thirty tons or more annually, it is not yet possible to get a furnace that would satisfy the home which burns only seven or eight tons in a season. A delegate described the Garrison stoker which is designed to care for this problem. Mr. Herres said that the Pacific Coal Company had a small stoker furnace more simple than the Harrington. Pulverized coal equipment is being adapted to use in apartment houses. The stoker designed by Lloyd Garrison, State Engineer of Utah, was described, and also one which Mr. G. W. Megeath of Omaha, Nebraska, had manufactured, which Mr. McAuliffe says, is recommended only for Rock Springs coal. It was brought out that there are over forty installations of the "Iran Fireman" in Salt Lake City. For apartment buildings, there is no question as to their satisfaction. Many of the down town office buildings are so heated.

Jan 1, 1925

PUBLIC hearings began before the Committee for Reciprocity Information on May 24, 1950, for the purpose of unearthing data and opinion that will be helpful in the forthcoming reciprocal tariff and other trade-barrier negotiations at Torquay, England, on September 28th of this year. The conference this fall will constitute the "third round" of tariff negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade concluded at Geneva in 1947. The United States plans to negotiate with 17 other countries on possible tariff modifications on various articles all the way from baby carriages and bottle caps to lead and zinc-bearing ores. On May 31, June 1 and June 2, spokesmen appeared before the Committee for Reciprocity Information on behalf of the domestic lead and zinc mining industries. Producers of these metals protested the inclusion of paragraphs 391 (lead-bearing ores, dust and mattes), 392 (lead bullion, lead in pigs and bars, and scrap lead), 393 (zinc-bearing ores of all kinds), and 394 (zinc in blocks, pigs or slabs, and zinc dust) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended in the list of articles to be considered for possible tariff concessions at Torquay. It was pointed out that although operating costs have more than doubled since 1939 tariffs on these metals were actually higher in that year than at present. This, coupled with the detrimental effects of the recent series of devaluations, has sounded the death knell for a substantial number of domestic lead and zinc mines-a most undesirable development in the face of the ominous international situation, according to these spokesmen. It was urged that higher rather than lower tariff rates are needed on these metals. The opinion was expressed that it was inconsistent to foster a high living standard in our western areas and then, once it is attained, to undermine that condition by minimizing the protection that was partly responsible for it. The main theme of some arguments implied that although every effort should be made to close the "dollar gap" abroad, serious consideration must be given the methods employed lest our national security position be jeopardized in the process. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs completed hearings on H. J. Res. 236, to provide for United States membership and participation in the International Trade Organization. Hearings began on April 19th and ran for over five weeks. Many witnesses from industry and government presented voluminous testimony, which will not be available for public distribution for several weeks. However, it is no secret that the most controversial provisions of the Draft Charter of the ITO are: (1) Article 17 (Chapter IV on Commercial Policy) which would obligate members to negotiate for the reduction of tariffs and the elimination of trade preferences; (2) Article 20 which would prohibit the use of quantitative restrictions for protective purposes; (3) Article 16 which promulgates rules to implement the principle of non-discrimination in international trade; and (4) provisions permitting the use of protective measures for promoting economic development, particularly in backward areas, even though such provisions are inconsistent with those of the three articles cited above. United States membership in the International Trade Organization is essential to the successful operation of that body in view of this country's position as the economic giant in the present international trade pattern. Many countries are reluctant to take any action toward the ratification of the charter until it is known what course America will pursue. However desirable or undesirable the ideal of free multilateral trade may be it is unlikely that this Government's participation in the ITO will materialize soon. Advices in Washington indicate that H. J. Res. 236 will not be enacted during the present session of Congress. The legislative pattern designed to secure Congressional approval of the ITO is similar to that of the St. Lawrence Seaway project. The Seaway project was pending in treaty form for several years before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate and when the Administration decided to incorporate this project into bill form it was found that, while it passed the House promptly, the Senate decided to pigeonhole it because of the obvious intent to circumvent the constitutional prerogative of the Senate to advise and consent to the ratification of treaties. The ITO bill may be slated for a similar fate. It is deemed essential by western Senators and Congressmen that the present session of Congress enact some form of mining legislation before its adjournment, now set for July 31st. These legislators from prominent ore-producing states do not desire to return to their home areas in the fall emptyhanded. Aside from that, it is entirely superfluous to reiterate the necessity for maintaining a healthy domestic mining industry as a bulwark against a sharp rise in the temperature of the "cold war". Now that S. 2105 has failed a new bill is taking shape in the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee. It is similar in language to H. R. 8221 (to encourage the conservation and development of the mineral resources of the United States) reported by the House Public Lands Committee on May 3, 1950, but so far has failed to receive approval of the House Committee on Rules. There are some qualified observers in high circles in Washington as well as in the mining industry who favor a tax incentive program to stimulate investment in mining enterprises, as opposed to a conservation and exploration program. The Bureau of Mines and the Treasury Department have undertaken a joint study to determine the need for modification of the tax laws as they apply to mining. The study is scheduled for completion before the end of the year, and appears to be supplementary to the investigation initiated by the National Minerals Advisory Council which culminated in the submittal of recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior in December 1949. The "cold war" is largely responsible for the increased demand for metals. Stock-pile purchases and heavy industrial demand due to military needs distort markets and disrupt normal price trends. Such activity has an unhealthy influence on metal production, luring some producers into a state of dependency on the continuation of this condition. When stock-pile objectives are met sometime in the future purchases must then come to a halt unless international "fireworks" are touched off. It can only be hoped that technological improvements and further mechanization of mines coupled with the stimulus of a rising population will offset the anticipated drop in industrial demand and cessation of stockpile purchases when the international crisis abates.

Jan 7, 1950

By J. E. Burke

Recent investigations have elucidated many of the phenomena of the grain growth process, but have also revealed some conflicting and unexplained results. Beck and his co-workers 1,2,3 have shown that grain growth continues with continued heating at one temperature until the average grain size approaches the thickness of the specimen. Plotting the logarithm of the average grain diameter, D, against the logarithm of the annealing time, t, they find the straight line relationship given by the equation: D = Ktm [,] with possible small deviations at short annealing times. K and n are constants at constant temperature. On the other hand, Wa1ker4 finds that, in alpha brass) the rate of growth falls off more rapidly than indicated by Eq i after long annealing, so that an equilibrium grain size is approached. Burke5 showed, using Walker's data, that time and temperature for grain growth are apparently related through an activation energy, H, according to the relationship: ] where h and tz are the annealing times necessary for the average grain size to increase from Do to D at temperatures T1 and T2 and R is the gas laws constant. In the case quoted, H had the value 60,000 cal per mol. The apparent validity of this relationship, at least up to 700°C, and the approximate value of H were later confirmed by Beck3 The results obtained by Beck Kremer, Demer and Holzworth2 for aluminum and aluminum-magnesium alloys could not be satisfied by such a relationship, since the slope of the isothermal curves increased with increasing temperature. These data indicate and Beck, Holzworth and HuV ater demonstrated expcrimentally that the only apparent factor controlling the rate of grain growth at constant temperature is the grain size. While many of the phenomena have been elucidated, a reasonably quantitative explanation of the process is lacking. There exists uncertainty even as to the primary driving force for grain growth, although there is a considerable body of indirect evidence that the interfacial energy of the grain boundary is responsible.7,8,io Making implicit use of this assumption, several authors14,16 have pointed out that grain boundaries should migrate toward their center of curvature. Harker and Parkerg have advanced this concept furthest, and show that one can expect grain boundary migration to occur only when the grain faces are curved, or when they meet at non-equilibrium angles. When the face is curved toward a grain A, for example, the atoms in the surface of grain B, on the other side of the boundary7 are on the average more surromded by the atoms of their lattice than the atoms on the surface of grain A. Because of thermal motion, the atoms at the interface will sometimes be attached to grain A and

Jan 1, 1949

THE ladle is a small hearth made on a cage of iron bars like a bird-cage, and has a handle so that it can easily be taken from the forge and carried wherever desired. It is a common device and is much used among masters for small castings, but with a large weight you would have difficulty in lifting it by hand even though you were aided by levers and winches. If you should indeed do it, it would be just as if you had lifted the aforesaid hearth by force, and this would be unwise if you could do anything less difficult. A forge is likewise made for this, with a good pair of large bellows that are well covered with cloth. When the small hearth has been made with good clay, baked, and well covered with ashes, it is placed in front of the mouth [of the bellows] and a crown of two or three brick ends is built around it on top of the rim so that the charcoal may be held better and in greater quantity. Then, having lit the fire and heated the ladle and the charcoal, the pieces of material that you wish to melt are gradually put on

Jan 1, 1942

By D. Rajkovic

Geothermal sources are exploited in two basic forms, i.e., the primary form of thermal energy and that converted into electrical energy by using an adequate thermodynamic cycle. There is a possibility of applying several processes for the conversion of thermal into mechanical or electrical energy, which depend on the thermodynamic characteristics of the geothermal water. Geothermal sources in Croatia do not contain steam of relatively high temperature, like in Italy, although both countries are nearly in the same position with respect to geothermal belt. Geothermal sources in Croatia are mostly so-called low-temperature geothermal sources with water temperatures lower than 100°C (Cubric and Jelic, 1993). A few of them have been exploited, although the percentage of utilization of their available power is still very small. The low-temperature potential is a major disadvantage when it comes to power generation, since state-of-the-art geothermal power plants require reheated steam or hot water to operate. There is a common belief that the optimum way of exploiting low-temperature geothermal sources is heat generation. Therefore, this analysis is especially aimed at potential users and showing the technical and economical possibilities of using low-temperature sources for conversion of thermal energy into mechanical work and electrical energy.

Jan 1, 2003

Coal-bearing beds underlie 23,000 square miles, about one third of Missouri's total area. Twelve out of more than twenty named coal seams have been or are being commercially mined. The remainder are too thin for commercial production. The coal is high volatile bituminous, with reserves estimated to be six billion tons, 1.24percent of U.S. coal reserves. Coal-bearing strata are generally thin seams which can be up to five feet thick. Typically, mined seams are about 28 inches thick. Coal deposits were first mined in Missouri in the 1840s, with the coal used primarily for domestic heating and blacksmithing. Production increased with the introduction of steamboats on the Mississippi. Coal production in 19 17 was six million tons. Production has steadily declined from a high of nearly seven million tons in 1984 to 2.3 million tons in 1991. Declining production is the result of several factors, including competition from other energy sources and the high sulfur content of Missouri coal. Today, coal-fired electric generating plants are the biggest consumers of Missouri coal. The Missouri regulatory program was conditionally approved November 21,1980, and fully approved January 17,1983. Its Abandoned Mine Land program was approved January 29, 1982.

Jan 1, 1992

The useful minerals can be subdivided into two large groups. One comprises those which are mined because of their chemical composition. They represent the natural resources of certain materials or of energy (coal). The second group is used not because of their chemical composition but because of certain physical properties or combinations of physical properties. A large number of minerals are mined because of their hardness, their electrical and thermal properties, their color or plasticity. There has been increasing recognition of the value of mineral synthesis during the past 30 years. This is illustrated by the development of improved aircraft spark plugs and chemical porcelain about the time of the first World War. During World War II the impact of crystal chemistry upon ceramics became most pronounced. New ceramic bodies were tailor-made, such as those designed with a high dielectric constant and low power loss, for use in high-voltage, high-frequency communication. In the field of refractories special materials were needed for unusual heat-resisting service in jet and rocket engines, and in the processing of fissionable materials. The synthesis of natural minerals in the laboratory has long been of aid to geologists and mineralogists in their study of the origin of minerals and physico-chemical conditions under which certain minerals were

Jan 1, 1950

By S Freij, P W, R Gunawan, D Zhang, B Feng

The Mt Whaleback iron ore mine is located adjacent to Newman, approximately 1200 km north of Perth, in the Pilbara District of Western Australia. Approximately 15 per cent of the waste materials are in the zones with high concentrations of sulfide and carbonaceous minerals and are referred to as æreactive shaleÆ. The reactive shale has the potential to undergo self-heating and can react with the ammonium nitrate (AN) based explosives used in mining operations, resulting in spontaneous combustion and spontaneous explosion. The sulfide-rich shales also have the potential to produce acid rock drainage (ARD). In the present study, over 200 shale samples have been collected from different locations in the Mt Whaleback iron ore mine, including blasthole drill cuttings, fresh mine faces and waste dumps. These samples have been systematically characterised for their geochemical properties. Based on the characterisation results, a pH test was developed as a cost-effective, fast and efficient tool for the assessment of reactive ground in the mining industry. This paper summarises the results of the sample characterisations and discusses the key findings arising from the interpretation of results. These results have significant implications in the safe storage of the reactive shales and the prevention of spontaneous explosion, spontaneous combustion and ARD.

Jan 1, 2005

By Victor S. Sazhin, Alexander Kostenko

The hydrochemical method, which is based on the separation of aluminium oxide and silicon oxide by the hydrothermal decomposition of aluminosilicates by alkaline solutions in the presence of calcium oxide, can be effectively used for the complex processing of high-silicon aluminium ores. In this case, the silica is bound to a slightly soluble compound: Na20.2Ca0.2Si02•H20 (under the conditions: [&k]= 9, CaO/SiO2 = 1.05, alkali concentration in the solution: over 300 g/l Na20, T = 240...300 °C). If alkaline solutions of 100...150 g/l Na20 concentration are used, Ca0•SiO2•H20 or 2Ca0•Si02.0.5H20 compounds, depending on calcium oxide dosage, are formed at 280...320 °C. New methods for the crystallization of Na20.Al203.2.5H2O from concentrated alkaline solutions rand low-concentration solutions are proposed to isolate aluminium from solutions. The hydrochemical method, which involves no sintering process allows one to decrease the expenditure of heat by a factor of two, to reduce the investment and to exclude the pollution of the ambient air by dust-laden gases. The expansion of the raw-material resources base of

Jan 1, 1984

By H. A. Baumann, C. C. Wright, T. S. Spicer

A LTHOUGH the efficiency of coal utilization has A improved steadily since the turn of the century as a result of continued research and development, little of this increase in efficiency can be credited to improvements in the single retort stoker. There are still numerous problems connected with the burning of coal on this type of unit, the solution of which would be a stimulus to coal and stoker sales and a boon to the user. Among the more critical of these problems is that of burning slack bituminous coal of strong caking tendency and containing large percentages of fine material. With the increased trend toward mechanical mining, it may be expected that in the future an even larger percentage of the coal available for use on this class of stokers will contain higher percentages of the fine sizes, thus aggravating an already serious problem. During the war, the problem of efficient and economic burning of available coals on the single retort industrial stoker, particularly the class 4 stokers (301 to 1200 lb per hr), became quite critical in many localities. In addition to the inherent problems associated with the use of this class stoker, the coals available were frequently not those best suited for use on this equipment and the manpower shortage made it difficult as well as expensive for the consumer to provide the labor necessary to keep the iires in reasonably satisfactory condition. Although exact figures on the number of class 4 stokers are not available, the yearly tonnages of coal consumed are of considerable consequence and have been estimated* at between 15 and 20 million the stoker research staff of the Mineral Industries Experiment Station of The Pennsylvania State College was requested to study the performance of the single retort industrial stoker and to undertake a program of research on the more efficient burning of bituminous coal on this class of unit. Various aspects of overall problem have been investigated since the inception of this program in 1942, only one of which is here reported. General Considerations There are numerous factors which appear directly or indirectly to affect the overall performance of bituminous coal underfeed stokers, such as the caking or matting properties of the coal, the contact relationships between coal and air, the ash fusion characteristics, the burning rate, and the design of the stoker and furnace in which the coal is burned. An analysis of the influence of each of

Jan 1, 1951

By H. A. Baumann, T. S. Spicer, C. C. Wright

A LTHOUGH the efficiency of coal utilization has A improved steadily since the turn of the century as a result of continued research and development, little of this increase in efficiency can be credited to improvements in the single retort stoker. There are still numerous problems connected with the burning of coal on this type of unit, the solution of which would be a stimulus to coal and stoker sales and a boon to the user. Among the more critical of these problems is that of burning slack bituminous coal of strong caking tendency and containing large percentages of fine material. With the increased trend toward mechanical mining, it may be expected that in the future an even larger percentage of the coal available for use on this class of stokers will contain higher percentages of the fine sizes, thus aggravating an already serious problem. During the war, the problem of efficient and economic burning of available coals on the single retort industrial stoker, particularly the class 4 stokers (301 to 1200 lb per hr), became quite critical in many localities. In addition to the inherent problems associated with the use of this class stoker, the coals available were frequently not those best suited for use on this equipment and the manpower shortage made it difficult as well as expensive for the consumer to provide the labor necessary to keep the iires in reasonably satisfactory condition. Although exact figures on the number of class 4 stokers are not available, the yearly tonnages of coal consumed are of considerable consequence and have been estimated* at between 15 and 20 million the stoker research staff of the Mineral Industries Experiment Station of The Pennsylvania State College was requested to study the performance of the single retort industrial stoker and to undertake a program of research on the more efficient burning of bituminous coal on this class of unit. Various aspects of overall problem have been investigated since the inception of this program in 1942, only one of which is here reported. General Considerations There are numerous factors which appear directly or indirectly to affect the overall performance of bituminous coal underfeed stokers, such as the caking or matting properties of the coal, the contact relationships between coal and air, the ash fusion characteristics, the burning rate, and the design of the stoker and furnace in which the coal is burned. An analysis of the influence of each of

Jan 1, 1951

By Raymond M. Howe

Some time ago, a prominent engineer asked a representative of the firebrick industry to prepare a comprehensive paper on blast-furnace refractories. It was to have been the purpose of this paper to gather practical experiences from widely different sources, in the hope of determining what kind or kinds of firebrick were best adapted for certain uses. This engineer sent questionnaires to the large consumers of blast-furrace linings and stovebrick and received very detailed replies as to their experiences. These replies are conflicting, but, having been turned over to the writer, form the basis of this attempt to meet the request. Because of the impossibility of making final recommendations at this time, a few of the more interesting and commonly known methods of studying refractories are also discussed, as well as the more recent developments in this field. The first reply to the questionnaire stated that good service was being secured from the linings. This satisfactory condition was attributed to the use of a very good distributor. The writer believed that manufacturers try to and do produce a good product and that the proper handling of equipment is of the utmost importance, if good results are to be secured. The type of bricks used was not mentioned. The second reply stated that good life was secured from the furnace linings, but that the writer had had soft-fired stovebrick crumble and, for that reason, preferred a hard-fired product for use in this position. The type of bricks used was not mentioned. The third reply stated that firebrick had crumbled from the mantle up; the cause was not known. The fourth reply stated that the stove linings were satisfactory. Hand-made furnace linings failed after.4 years' service so a steam-pressed lining- was installed which was still good after 4 years of service. Consequently, a second steam-pressed lining was installed but this disintegrated at the top after the furnace had been in blast 7 months. The firebrick manufacturer attributed this failure to the expansion of iron blocks that had been installed at the stock line to prevent erosion. The fifth reply stated that the present "hard-burned" hand-made furnace lining had worn away very uniformly to the depth of only 5 in.

Jan 1, 1920

By W. R. Wilcox

The camphor-anthracene system was chosen as a transparent low-melting analog of the zirconium carbide -graphite system. Camphor and zirconium car -bide both grow nonfaceted, while casting of mixtures yields platelets of both anthracene and graphite. Zone melting of thin layers of organic was observed under the microscope. Irregular lamellar structures were produced at high values of the ratio of the temperature gradient G to the zoning rate V. The anthracene invariably led the camphor, indicating lower kinetic undercooling for the anthracene. The lamellar spacing was an order of magnitude greater than typical spacings for metal eutectic systems. Exact behavior depended on orientation of the anthracene. Oriented dendritic structures were produced at low values of G/V. Transient and oscillatory behavior were also observed—much of it unexpected. A.RC-CAST refractory carbide-graphite mixtures are promising thermal-shock resistant materials. Oriented structures of these materials would be superior to arc-cast materials for many applications. Mollard and Flemings1 and Cline2 have shown that aligned structures can be obtained for a wide range of Pb-Sn alloys. However, these metals both solidify in a nonfaceted manner while graphite yields platelets or flakes. In addition only small diameter samples of Pb-Sn alloys were produced because it was necessary to avoid free convection and to have high temperature gradients. The purpose of the present work was twofold: 1) To observe the solidification of a transparent low-melting analog of carbide-graphite systems and 2) to see if larger diameter samples can be produced. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE When zirconium carbide-graphite mixtures are cast, the resulting structure naturally depends on composition. Carbide-rich mixtures yield metal-like nonfaceted carbide dendrites in a eutectic matrix. Graphite-rich alloys have graphite platelets in a eutectic matrix. Empirically it was found that camphor-anthracene mixtures produce similar structures with camphor being nonfaceted and anthracene forming plates. The organic eutectic melted at 116°C and was composed of 78 wt pet camphor.3 The camphor used was U.S.P. grade from Fisher Scientific Company; the anthracene was 98+ pet fro Aldrich Chemical Co. The impurity content is judged to be on the order of 1 pet. Mixtures ranging from 50 to 88 wt pet camphor were employed for the experiments. All but one of the experiments were performed on the microscope-stage zone melting apparatus described in detail elsewhere.4 The organic mixtures were contained in horizontal cells made of microscope slides or cover glasses. In most of the cells the organic was present as a very thin layer, thus giving almost two-dimensional growth behavior. The cells were moved slowly under a heated wire, which caused a molten zone to move through the solid at rates ranging from 0.01 to 5.4 cm per hr. The temperature gradient was estimated before moving the zone by measuring the distance between the line where all solid was melted (freezing point) and that where solid first began to melt (eutectic temperature). The temperature gradient was found to be 465°C per cm in the thinnest cells used, which were made by pressing together two microscope cover slips in the organic melt and then rapidly withdrawing them. RESULTS The experimental results are described in four parts: simultaneous growth, dendritic growth, irregular growth, and transients and erratic phenomena. Steady state data are summarized in Fig. 1. Except where noted all comments are for the cells containing a thin layer of organic. A) Simultaneous Growth. Simultaneous and roughly parallel growth of anthracene and camphor was obtained over the full range of compositions investi-

Jan 1, 1970

By Martin Mayers

IT has long been recognized that it would be highly desirable to be able to predict the temperatures at various points in a burning fuel bed and their variations with changes of the properties of the fuel and the rate of air supply. Experimental investigations of fuel-bed tempera-tures1-4 have not been lacking, but the absence of any theoretical back-ground has made it impossible to use the results of these tests as a basis for prediction, except in a very general way. A mathematical analysis5, based on a somewhat simplified theory of the distribution of heat in a, fuel bed, has recently been completed by the author. Even though numerical values of some of the coefficients are not. known, the calcula-tions result in some conclusions of general significance. Thus, for example, it appears that when the temperatures throughout the fuel bed can be calculated, the rate at which ignition of the fuel by underfeed action can be maintained can also be calculated. The uncertainty concerning the values of the coefficients referred to above is a serious limitation on the use of that method. The following paper presents a discussion of these coefficients and includes estimates of their values based on the data now available. A brief description of the theory on which the analysis is based, and some results of the calculations showing their degree of agreement with experimental results, are presented by way of introduction to the discussion of, the coefficients. For a more extended discussion of the theory, see the A.S.M.E. paper5.

Jan 1, 1937

By D. L. Katz

The critical phenomena have been studied during the past century but our knowledge of the critical temperatures and pressures of complex hydrocarbon mixtures still is very limited. The critical temperatures and pressures of pure substances have been examined in large num-bers,20 and in great detail.11,17 No experimental determinations of the critical phenomena have been reported on such complex hydrocarbon systems as a reservoir fluid. The critical temperature is defined by Taylor18 as follows: "there is some temperature for each gas above which the gas cannot be liquefied. This temperature is called the critical temperature." The critical pres-sure of a pure substance is the vapor pressure at the critical temperature. It should be noted that these definitions refer to a given substance in the pure state and do not mean that the pure substance cannot be liquefied in the presence of a second constituent. The normal procedure for obtaining the critical temperature of a substance is to heat it in a glass tube 1,20 under pressure until the meniscus between the liquid and vapor phase disappears, although other methods, especially for mixtures, have been used. 11,14 However, when considering oil and gas reservoirs, it is more enlightening to consider a critical phe-nomenon that occurs when a mixture of oil and gas are compressed at a reservoir temperature until the meniscus disappears because the two phases become equal in composition. This conception, along with erroneous applications of the definition of the critical phenomena of a pure substance to that pure substance when it is part of a complex mixture, has caused confusion even among persons familiar with the classical theories.

Jan 1, 1938