Search Documents

By L. H. Van Loon

INTRODUCTION THE property of Madsen Red Lake Gold Mines, Limited lies between Russet and Faulkenham lakes in Baird and Heyson townships, district of Patricia, Ontario. It is about six miles south west of the town of Red Lake, with which it is connected by an all-weather road. All orebodies found to date at the property are silicified lenticular bodies which lie within tuff beds. The ore bas a specific gravity of 2.95. It consists of mica and chlorite schist, silicified and containing a considerable amount of disseminated carbonate, and mineralized with pyrite, pyrrhotite, magnetite, arsenopyrite, and chalcopyrite. Of these, pyrite, in coarse to fine disseminated grains, is by far the most abundant. Pyrrhotite occurs in ?the gangue material as medium to fine disseminated grains. A very small amount of arsenopyrite, in small crystals, is associated with the pyrite, and small grains of chalcopyrite occur in both gangue and pyrite. Although some of the gold present in the ore is quite coarse, a good deal of it is extremely fine.

Jan 1, 1951

By J. J. McKetta, O. L. Culberson

INTRODUCTION The equilibrium constants for methane and for water, and for ethane and water have been calculated from experimental data for the two binary systems.2,3,11,12 These constants are for the two-phase systems for the temperature range of 100" to 340°F and the pressure range of 200 to 10,000 psia. The constants for ethane are greater than those for methane. Equilibrium constants for a natural gas from a natural gas-water system6 are about the same as those for methane. Equilibrium constants for water in all three systems are very nearly the same over the greater part of the range of temperatures and pressures studied. In ideal solutions, the vapor-liquid equilibrium constants for a component should be the same in all such solutions at a given temperature and pressure.5 Few solutions are ideal, and consequently the use of generalized constants often leads to error in situations where they do not actually apply. In decidedly non-ideal systems, it is desirable to have equilibrium constant data for the specific system. Vaporization equilibrium constants may be calculated either by thermodynamic methods or from experimental vapor-liquid equilibrium data. In the thermodynamic calculation. the equilibrium constant K may be shown to be" K = fP,/fl'..........(1) where fPi is the fugacity of the pure component i at the given temperature and at the vapor pressure of the pure component, and fp is the fugacity of pure i in the gaseous state at the temperature and total pressure of the system. At best the thermodynamic calculation results in a K applicable to ideal solutions. Equilibrium constants calculated from Equation (1) have been found to have only limited agreement with experimental values, even though the solutions for which they were calculated approached ideality."'" If the more volatile component is at a temperature above its critical, the accuracy of the equilibrium constant for the component is made more doubtful by the use of the vapor pressure term under such conditions. In order to make the thermodynamic calculation on a component above its critical temperature, one must resort to one of the empirical methods of extrapolation of the vapor pressure to conditions above its critical point.13 Application of the thermodynamic equilibrium constant then to the methane-water or the ethane-water systems would be risky since the systems are non-ideal, and the methane and ethane are above their critical in most petroleum operations. ETHANE-WATER SYSTEM In the temperature range of from 100° to 340°F and for pressures up to 10,000 psia, the vapor-liquid equilibrium data 'References given at end of paper. Manuscript received in the office of the Petroleum Branch March 16, 1951.

Jan 1, 1951

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 R. L. Parsons, Herman Dykstra

A numerical method for solving partial differential equations in steady state fluid flow is described. This method, known as the "relaxation method," has two advantages over analytical methods: (1) practically any problem can be solved, and (2) a solution can be obtained quickly. A disadvautage is that the solution is not general. The method is applied to core analysis and relative permeability measurement to calculate constriction effects and to calculate the true pressure drop measured by a center tap in a Hassler type relative permeability apparatus. Further applications are suggested. INTRODUCTION Many problems in fluid flow cannot be solved analytically because of the nature of the boundary conditions. For many problems, however. an exact answer is not necessary because boundary conditions are not exactly defined or the parameters describing the porous medium are not accurately known. The relaxation method can be used to obtain an approximate answer easily and quickly for the flow of incompressible fluids in porous media. The method can also be used for other types of problems, such as determining the stress in a shaft under load. or the temperature distribution during steady state heat flow. In this discussion only calculations concerned with the flow of fluids in porous media will be considered. The method was introduced by R. V. Southwell in 1935.' THEORY The treatment given here follows that given by Enimons.2 Consider a porous medium to be replaced entirely by a net of tubes of equal length and uniform cross-sectional area as shown in part in Fig. 1. Assume that the net of tubes behaves exactly like the porous medium which it replaces; that is, the net can be made fine enough to reproduce exactly the porous medium. Assume also that Darcy's Law can be used to calculate the flow from one point to another point through these tubes. The flow from point 1 to point 0 is KA . ------ P-P) .......(11 where a is the distance between points: K is the "permeability" of a tube; A is the cross-sectional area of a tube; is the viscosity of the liquid in the porous medium; and (P1 — P0) is the pressure difference between point 1 and point 0. In like manner the flow can be calculated from points 2, 3, and 4 to point 0. The net flow into point 0 is Qo = KA/µa (P1 + P2 + P33 + P4-4P0) . . (2) MB For an incompressible fluid the net flow into point 0 will be zero or, Q. = 0. This says that at point 0 fluid is neither being accumulated nor depleted. 'Therefore. P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 - 4P0 = 0 .... (3) . If. now. with specified boundary conditions. the pressure i.; known at a finite number of points in a given region, as at the points shown in Fig. 1, Equation (3) will be satisfied at every point. If, on the other hand, the pressure is not known, the pressure can be guessed at these points. Then. unless the guess is perfect. Equation (3) will not be satisfied at all of the points. When Equatiol~ (3,) is not satisfietl. let d = P1 + I?, + P, + P, - If' .,....(4) where 6 is an apparent error and is called the residual at point 0. Equation (4) shows how much the pressure guess is in error at point 0 with respect to the surrounding points. A positive residual means that the pressure is too low, and a negative residual means that the pressure is too high. To bring the residual, 6. to zero in order to satisfy Equation (3). it is necessary to make changes in the pressure guesses. Equation (4) shows that a +1 change in Po will change the residual at point 0 by -4. A +1 change in the pressure at any of the four surrounding points will change the residual at point 0 by +l. Thus it can be seen that a change at any point will affect the residual at that point and the four surrounding points. By changing the pressure from point to point, all of the residuals can eventually be brought nearly to zero and the problem will be solved. This procedure is the essence of relaxation methods and is used to relax the residuals so that Equation (3) is satisfied at every point. The procedure can be most easily explained in detail by solving a simple problem. as Southwell says, "To explain every detail of a practical technique is to risk an appearance of complexity and difficulty which may repel the reader. A

Jan 1, 1951

By E. C. Roberts

TO facilitate some recent microscopic investigations it was necessary to devise special mounting techniques for the polishing of two quite different metallographic specimens. These techniques are extremely simple and are submitted for whatever value they may be to other investigators. The first specimen mount proved very satisfactory for the study of untempered martensite. Since it was undesirable to heat the specimen, lucite or bakelite mounting materials could not be used in the conventional manner. A cold mount was made by drilling a hole of the same diameter as the specimen in a cylindrical piece of polystyrene then press- ing the steel specimen into the hole on an ordinary vise. A prefabricated disk of lucite should work equally well. The only precautions necessary are that the hole be drilled out cleanly and the piece of steel be pressed into the plastic uniformly, otherwise the mount will crack. The second type of mount was required for the study of slag specimens by reflected light. Mounting these specimens in bakelite and then attempting to rough finish the surfaces on graded emery papers resulted in a considerable amount of chipping and breaking out of the slag particles. This made further satisfactory polishing almost impossible. It was found, however, that if the bakelite-mounted specimen was first rough finished to a point where a good specimen surface became visible, the interstices in the specimen surface could be filled and the polishing completed. This filling was accomplished by placing a small amount of lucite powder in the bottom of the steel specimen mold then reinserting the bakelite-mounted specimen on top of the lucite powder. Reheating the mold to the proper temperature and applying the required pressure resulted in the formation of a thin disk of lucite on the bottom of the bakelite specimen. By carefully grinding the lucite away a uniform surface including the slag specimen was obtained and further polishing was unhampered by slag disintegration.

Jan 1, 1951

By G. O. Hiers

IN 1948 in the United States, 184,300 tons of lead was fabricated as coverings for electric power and communication cables. Such covering generally is called "sheathing" for the principal lengths of the cables, while the short lead encasements of the joints are called "sleeves." For the purpose of this paper, both lead sheathing and lead sleeving can fittingly be called lead tubing. In the United States in the same year, 34,262 tons of lead was consumed in making extruded lead pipes. Such pipe is employed frequently for water or chemical solution conveyance with gage pressures up to 100 psi. Consequently, the walls are thicker in ratio to diameter than is the case with the cable sheaths. For this discussion, lead pipes can be thought of as tubes or tubing. About 19 centuries ago, the Romans produced metallic lead of about 99.9 pct purity. Evidently this was cast in flat sheets of Y8-in. thickness, for instance. Such sheet of 10-ft lengths was bent around a removable core producing a tube somewhat oval in cross-section and with a typical internal diameter of, say, 3 in. This method of production necessitated a seam or longitudinal joint evidently made by casting the seam metal adherently. The seam metal, as analyzed recently, contains about 1 ½ pct Sn. Blow pipes were said to have been employed when the joint was made. Specimens of such pipe were found both in Italy and in the British Isles. It is believed the pipes conveyed water for drinking purposes and for baths. Numerous specimens are still in existence in a good state of preservation, due to lead's usual inertness in air or water. According to Claude E. Pearson,1 there were various stages in the evolution of lead extrusion presses for making tubes: I. First press by Joseph Bramah, 1797. 2-First successful press by Thomas Burr, 1820. 3-First bridge die press, J. and C. Hanson, 1837. In 1845, Wheatston and Crooke made the first lead sheathed electric cable. Flat lead strip was wound spirally around the insulated conductor. Overlapping edges of lead were soldered. Early cables were also made by pulling insulated conductors into 50-ft lengths of lead tube. Borel in France, and Wesselau are credited with devising the first presses for extruding lead sheaths directly on cables in 1879. In the United States, Eaton, in 188o, and Roberston, in 1885, introduced new presses of improved design. Following Cunningham's original idea of making lead traps and. bends in 1873, the presses apparently were improved and made successfully soon thereafter. Between the years 1930 and 1940, two continuous extrusion presses for lead were developed abroad. One apparently was originated by Dunsheath and made by the Henley Telegraph Works Co. The other was developed by the Pirelli-General Cable Co. CURRENT PRODUCTION In addition to the several descriptive chapters on lead extrusion in Pearson's book, the Metals Handbook2 recently described pipe, sheath, and collapsible tube production. The latter is by impact extrusion.

Jan 1, 1951

By W. C. Merrill, P. G. Nahin, A. Grenall, R. S. Crog

A progress report of an experimental investigation into the role of clay in reservoir performance is presented. The Paper gives some of the reasons for considering clay as a significant component and outlines the objectives of a broad field of stud) which it is intended to pursue. Descriptions of the analytical methods used are given; these include X-ray diffraction. elec tron miscroscopy, thin section petrography, infrared spec-troscopy, and cation exchange analysis. A suite of the more important clay minerals has been assembled and characterized l~y these methods for use as standards in core analysis. From the data obtained it appears that although no one method of analysis is diagnostic for all of the clay minerals the infrared technique shows considerable promise in this direction. For the present, one or more supplementary methods should be used to confirm the clay mineral identifications. The methods of analysis are applied to field cores taken from repesentative and widely differing strata especially as regards their susceptibility to damage by fresh water. well.; completed in the stevens and Gatchell zones in San Joaquin valley are I,articularly clear-cut examples of this behavior with stevens zone wells being more adversely affected by fresh water. cores from these zones have been studied and are discussed. It appears that differences in this behavior can be ascribed to differences in the nature of the contained clays. The value of the infrarecl spectra of the clay fractions in establishing the identity of the predominant clay minerals is given particular emphasis. INTRODUCTION It is a challenge to the technical resources of the petroleum industry that when the economic limit of production is reached, from 40 to 70 per cent of the oil in California reservoirs remains unproduced even by use of the best presently known methods of recovery. The magnitude of this abandoned volume of oil can be appreciated when it is considered that to 1950 in excess of 8 billion bbll has been produced from California reservoirs with estimated economically recoverable reserves in known fields and pools totaling nearly 4 billion bbl.24 If for every barrel of oil produced there is at least another barrel still in place, it is evident that the revenue obtained from the recovery of only a .few per cent of this volume would repay the cost of the required research manyfold. From well completion experience. production behavior, and a growing body of laboratory data it now appears certain that the mineral composition of a producing stratum has an important bearing on the productivity and ultimate yield. In addition to the organic component and water, the cores con,ist of gravel, sand. silt, and clay" in diverse variety of (a, composition and (b) texture. It is the composite effect of these two factors which is probably responsible in large measure for the way in which the oil flows to the well. The role of the clay and fine-size accessory minerals is not clear but there is a growing opinion, based on their physical and chemical properties, that it is a significant one. of particular importance are the prime facts: 1. The silt and clay fractions of the reservoir matrix possess the highest surface area per gram, and 2. The silt and especially the clay fractions are the most chemically reactive of the inorganic constituents present. Only within the last few years has the knowledge of clay mineralogy and the techniques of identifying the clay minerals reached such a stage as to enable reliable inquiry into the composition of argillaceous sediments.2,8,10,11,12,16,26 It is the purpox of this and succeeding papers to add to the fund of information on the role which these materials play in the production of petroleum from California formations by correlating their presence and associated properties with observed reservoir behavior. In the present paper attention is directed to their possible influence on damage by fresh water. OBJECTIVES The attack on this problem divides naturally into two broad phases: 1. Determination of the nature of the clays and their relationships to the other mineral components, and 2. Determination of the physico-chemical relationships between the clays and the interstitial fluids. In the work described in this paper the emphasis has been on phase 1, which stems logically from the necessity of identifying and understanding the materials to be dealt with in Phase 2. Based on the authors' present opinion that not all of the minerals which occur in oil-bearing formation are of equal importance in their effects on the flow and recovery of oil, it was decided to focus attention first upon the clay minerals content and then. later perhaps. work into the field of the normally larger size non-clay minerals and fractions. The

Jan 1, 1951

By O. W. Simmons, L. W. Eastwood, C. M. Craighead

Binary alloys of titanium with silver, lead, tin, nickel, copper, beryllium, boron, silicon, chromium, molybdenum, manganese, vanadium, iron, and cobalt were studied. One-half-pound ingots of the alloys were prepared in an arc furnace, employing a water-cooled copper crucible, an argon atmosphere, and a water-cooled tungsten electrode. The half-pound ingots were fabricated by forging at 1700°F in air to 1/4-in. slab, followed by hot rolling at 1450°F to 0.060-in. sheet. Tensile properties, minimum bend radii, hardnesses, response to heat treatment and aging treatment, and phase relationships were determined for these alloys. EARLY in 1947, as one phase of the evaluation of materials for Air Force Project RAND, Battelle successfully arc melted Bureau of Mines titanium and obtained a few basic properties of unalloyed titanium and several titanium-base alloys. The low density, excellent resistance to corrosion, and high tensile properties of these materials stimulated a great deal of interest among metallurgists and designers seeking better materials of construction. As a result of this early work, Battelle, under contract with the Air Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, has continued extensive studies of titanium alloys. The result of the first year's work is described in three papers. The present one deals with binary alloys, the second with ternary alloys, and the third paper with quaternary alloys. Melting Method The arc furnace for melting titanium and other refractory metals was developed at Battelle Institute under Air Force Project RAND. During the present work, considerable improvement has been made in the design and operation of this furnace for making small ingots of titanium and titanium alloys. The improved furnace design is illustrated by fig. 1, which shows a cross-sectional view with the dimensions of various parts and their relationship to one another. The essential features of the furnace are the inert argon atmosphere, the water-cooled copper crucible, and the water-cooled tungsten elec- trode. The melting crucible is formed by spinning 0.064-in. annealed copper sheet. A groove for an O-ring seal is spun into the flange of the crucible. A fiber gasket between the crucible flange and the water-cooled brass cover provides electrical insulation. The brass cover is fitted with a sight glass, an opening for the water-cooled electrode, and a tube through which the material is charged. Direct current is used for melting, with the positive electrical terminal connected to the water jacket and the negative terminal to the electrode. A typical heat is made in the new furnace as follows: Approximately, 0.20 lb of titanium under 2 mesh per in. and the alloy addition, if any is to be used, are placed in the bottom of the crucible. The cover is clamped on the crucible so that the O-rings make a tight seal. The remainder of the charge is placed in a glass bottle, and this is connected by a rubber hose to the charging tube of the furnace. The crucible and the charge are evacuated with a mechanical pump to a pressure below 50 mm of mercury, or less if desired, and held at this reduced pressure for 5 min. Hot water is circulated through the jacket during the evacuation period to assist in outgassing the crucible. Following the evacuation, tank argon of 99.92+ pct purity is flushed through the crucible for 5 min and then adjusted to give a positive pressure of 1 to 2 psi. During subsequent operation, an argon pressure regulator introduces only enough argon to compensate for the small leakage which occurs through a mercury trap. Re-evacuation and reflushing the melting chamber with argon produced a negligible reduction in contamination. Two 550-amp generators, connected in parallel, constitute the power source. Normally, about 800 amp are used for melting alloys which are not extremely refractory. The generators are set for 90 v open circuit and 200 amp. The arc is struck and the electrode is withdrawn to produce an arc of 23 to 26 v. This voltage is maintained while the electrode tip is moved slowly around a circle 1 in. smaller than the diameter of the ingot. The current

Jan 1, 1951

By Louis C. McCabe

The control of dusts and fumes of submicron size is involved in many process industries. This paper presents in tabular form the quantitative data from a number of metallurgical operations and discusses allowable discharge in terms of effluent-weight ratio. Typical installations for recovery of stack effluents are cited. THERE are many sources of smoke, fumes, gases, and dusts that may cause undesirable contamination in an industrial area. Fumes and gases are the result of chemical action or volatilization, while dusts are produced in processes of disintegration and dispersion. Commonly, smokes are suspended particles formed by combustion or destructive distillation. Methods for controlling smoke are generally known, and great improvements have been made in equipment for removing fine dusts and fumes from gases. In most of the industrial centers of the country, the chief duty of the air-pollution abatement agency is the elimination or reduction of emissions resulting from improper combustion. Correct methods of firing, proper fuel selection, and installation of properly designed equipment may accomplish this. It is becoming more widely recognized that much of the contamination of an industrial atmosphere is caused by dusts, fumes, and gases that are not related to the process of combustion. As such emissions are usually a functional part of plant operation, they rarely can be prevented even by better design and careful operation. When dusts, fumes, and gases are an integral part of the operation, mechanical equipment must be designed to remove these emissions. Most of the dusts and fumes that should be controlled are less than 1 micron in size. Control of such small particles is largely a new and untried field in many industrial areas. However, where conditions have been critical, effective control equipment for dusts, fumes, and gases has been in operation for many years. The problem is not one of smoke abatement and requires an entirely different set of standards for effective solution. Identical standards need not be applied to all industrial areas because of differences in meteorology, physiography, plant location, plant density, and nature of stack effluents. In this paper, discussion of control of atmospheric contamination by industrial plants refers specifically to the Los Angeles area, but the method of approach is applicable to any area where similar problems are encountered. Quantities of particulate matter reported in analysis of stack effluents indicate the need for standards of emission. Many types of dusts and fumes that contribute materially to the air-pollution problem are discharged into the atmosphere at a lower rate than 0.40 grain per cu ft at standard conditions. On the other hand, some stacks discharge at a higher

Jan 1, 1951

"In the spring of 1927, six members of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers met for dinner at the Chemists' Club in New York to discuss the possibility of setting up a committee within the Institute to further the current interest in the science of steelmaking. Attention' to this subject had been crystallized by a symposium held by the Faraday Society in 1925. ' After a prolonged discussion, ranging from thermodynamics to slag conditioning, it was decided to approach the Institute with the request that a standing committee on "The Physical Chemistry of Steel Making" be set up. This committee proposed to promote scientific and practical papers on the subject, and was designed to cooperate with the Open Hearth Committee of the Institute in bringing scientific developments to the attention of open-hearth operators throughout the country... . "As the life of the [Physical Chemistry of Steelmaking] Committee lengthened and general interest in the technical phases of steelmaking grew, it became evident that there was a distinct need for a book that might serve the open-hearth interests to better advantage than standard texts whose scope is necessarily wide and whose detailed exposition of the open-hearth process is, therefore, somewhat limited. With this thought in mind, the Committee, after some years of consideration and debate, embarked on the venture of writing a manuscript on `Basic Open Hearth Steelmaking'." The foregoing paragraphs, taken from the introduction by C. H. Herty, Jr. to the first edition, well describe the circumstances which led to the publication of "Basic Open Hearth Steelmaking" in the spring of 1944. The book consisted of nineteen chapters contributed by twenty-three authors and edited by the staff of Alloys of Iron Research and T. S. Washburn, B. M. Larsen, and J. S. Marsh with Frank T. Sisco as consulting editor. The Engineering Foundation and the Open Hearth Steel Committee of the Iron and Steel Division, AIME, made financial grants; steel companies and other organizations supported the publication by contributing time and expenses of staff members in their capacity as authors or editors. The volume was sponsored by the Seeley W. Mudd Memorial Fund and appeared under the

Jan 1, 1951

By T. E. Ockershauser

The Southwest Antioch Oil Field located in T2&3N - R2&3W, Garvin County, Okla., was discovered in February, 1946, by The Globe Oil & Refining Co. and The Vickers Petroleum Co. at their Melinda Gibson No. 1. Oil production was encountered at a depth of 6,525 ft in 14 ft of lower Pennsyl-vanian sandstone. The producing sand, locally called the ."Gibson" or "Third Deese," is a sand bar deposit strung along the west flank of the Pauls Valley uplift in a northwest-southeast direction. The oil reservoir is defined to the east by the edge of sand deposition along the uplift and to the west by the gradation of sand into shale. Within the Antioch Unit, the sand dips from 150 to 400 ft per mile southwesterly and has a pay thickness varying from 10 to 55 ft and averaging 28 ft. Several areas of Gibson production have been developed, including the Katie pool on the south, the Elmore Area of the Southwest Antioch Gibson Sand pool. the Southwest Antioch Gibson Sand pool proper, the Southwest Maysville pool and the New Hope pool on the north. Production extends over a belt 22 miles long by about two miles wide and is continuous except into the Katie and New Hope pools. It appears that drilling will soon prove these intervening areas productive. To March 1, 1950, approximately 18,000 acres have been developed with 450 Gibson wells. It is likely this count will ultimately reach 32.000 acres with 800 wells. RESERVOIR The natural production of oil from the Gibson reservoir is primarily due to solution gas expansion though gravity also plays a part. There is no indication of water drive or evidence that an initial gas cap existed. Gibson oil has a stock tank gravity of 43" API and was saturated at the original reservoir pressure of 2.925 psi. It contained 1,3440 cu ft of gas per bbl in solution and had a high shrinkage of 70 per cent. Connate water amounts to 15 per cent. Reservoir temperature is 130°F. Porosity averages 15.5 per cent and permeability ranges from less than one md to over 1.000. Based on meacurement of 400 core plugs from 15 wells, 78 per cent of the permeabilities fell within the 10 to 1,000 md bracket and averaged l67. Primary oil recovery is estimated at 140 bbl per acre-ft or 22 million bbl for the present 137-tract unit. Due to unitization

Jan 1, 1951

By R. H. Eckhouse, M. R. Geer, H. F. Yancey, C. L. Allyn

W. M. Bertholf—This is an excellent report of a well-conducted investigation, of sufficient scope to provide generally useful information. Some years ago we had occasion to test the Humphreys spiral on the middling from our table plant. The conclusions reached in this investigation come as no surprise to us. In certain applications it is virtually impossible to improve on the spiral from the monetary returns point of view even though its "efficiency" may be low. We have noted that in all successful applications of the spiral the feed is "classified," hence we were somewhat disappointed in the showing the spiral made on the Poplar Ridge coal, the only one of the four which could really be considered the equivalent of a classified feed. As was noted in the paper, however, this coal contained a considerable amount of middle and high-gravity material, apparently more than enough to make up for the theoretical advantage of small particles in these categories. A comparison of particle size in the various specific gravity classes of the four coals is given in table XXV. Table XXV. Comparison of Particle Size in Various Specific Gravity Classes. (Unit size, 150 m to 0.105 mm) Black Eagle Clements Poplar Ridge Rosly,n 1.3 Float 7.47 10.60 8.68 9.66 1.3 x 1.4 7.89 7.96 7.58 8.20 1.4x1.6 7.24 8.36 5.58 6.85 1.6 x 1.8 7.98 8.31 3.42 7.33 Sink 1.8 7.85 7.13 5.09 7.41 Avg 7.69 10.08 7.15 8.38 This tabulation indicates that there was very little difference in the size of the various gravity fractions for three of the coals, Poplar Ridge varying the most. Examination of figs. 3, 6, 7, and 8 reveals a general similarity of behavior for all coals except Black Eagle. Would the authors care to speculate on the reasons for the difference in the distribution curve for the sink 1.60 material in the washed coal of fig. 3 as compared to the others? This difference is particularly noticeable in the 8xl4-mesh size. Was there a "shape effect"? J. D. Price and W. M. Bertholf—The performance data on three of the coals studied appear to be typical, but there are certain departures from the general pattern in the case of the Poplar Ridge coal which are large enough to deserve special consideration. For example: 1. Despite the high proportion of sink 1.60 material in the feed, it was not possible to make a corresponding proportion of high-ash reject. (See table XVI.) 2. Even though approximately 70 pct of the feed was 1.40 float with an ash content of 6.6 pct, and this

Jan 1, 1951

By Harlowe Hardinge, R. C. Ferguson

Laboratory and plant data covering 12 different operations show that lower than "standard" ball mill speeds increase grinding efficiency. In the case of high pulp-level mills, the gain is so great that the increase in capital cost of the larger lower speed mill will pay for itself in less than a year's time. THE object of this paper is to show the economic advantage of operating ball mills at relatively slow speeds. Although many operators know that grinding costs are reduced by operating mills at low speeds, they seldom do so for a variety of reasons. When capital is limited, first cost is of primary importance, and installation of the less costly, highspeed mill is favored. When materials are in short supply, as during a war period, capacity rather than economy is the primary consideration. Existing mills are then speeded up to provide the desired increase in capacity, and new mills are purchased without consideration of maximum grinding efficiency. When the mill speed is increased to secure more production, the increase in grinding costs is often obscured by the total benefit derived from the additional output. This increase in grinding cost is seldom recognized as being sufficient to be worth correcting. For these reasons one may be lead to the erroneous conclusion that slow-speed operation is only occasionally applicable. The effect of mill speed on grinding efficiency has been studied in laboratory tests."! The results of some of these tests are given in tables I and I1 and fig. 1. In these tabulations, batch tests using ore charges of 125 to 200 lb were considered comparable to high pulp-level operation and charges of 50 to 100 lb comparable to low pulp-level operation. For the high pulp-level operation, these tests indicate the existence of a maximum in efficiency for operation at a speed of 50 pct of critical, both for the soft (dolomite) and hard (chert) ore. In low pulp-level operation, a decrease in speed increases the efficiency of grinding dolomite; no maximum of efficiency appears in the range of speeds tested. The results with chert were inconclusive. If the performance of large mills is indicated

Jan 1, 1951

By R. E. Gilmore

PREAMBLE THIS PAPER comprises material presented in two separate 'Papers at the British Commonwealth Scientific Specialist Conference on Fuel Research held in London, England, in July, 1950. These papers are now available for publication in Canada, since only essential parts of the conference discussions, in addition to the resolutions resulting therefrom, will be published in the official Proceedings of the Conference. Inasmuch as the information presented concerns Canadian organizations and training facilities for fuel research, it should be of general interest to Canadian scientists, and especially to the Coal Division of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Part I, the alternate title of which is Facilities in Canada for Fuel Research and for Exchange of Information and Staff, does not include research on peat, oil shale, petroleum oils in general, and natural gas, and omits studies of the geology, constitution, and production of coal. Special reference is, however, made to research on the heavy crude oils and bitumen of the Western Prairie Provinces, and particularly to their production and treatment to produce crudes for oil refinery processing.

Jan 1, 1951

By E. T. Turner

Introduction 1n assembling material for this paper on Wood Refuse Burning 1 turned first to the records of our early studies of the problem in order to learn how and why certain basic decisions were arrived at and also how it came about that the completed central steam plant differed so much from the original plans. It may be of interest, therefore, to outline the engineering problems as they presented themselves in the early part of 1948, and to indicate the economies involved. Although the principle of using wood refuse as boiler fuel instead of burning it to waste was quite sound, and in fact the practice had been in use for a long time in the boilers of many lumber companies, there was some guesswork as far as Hollinger was concerned in deciding how best to handle the large quantities of wood refuse involved and as to the type of boiler equipment necessary to .burn it efficiently. These problems will be examined first. Hollinger Boiler Equipment in 1948 Hollinger had four separate boiler houses, at Main, No. II, and No. 19 shafts, and a small unit at the compressor plant for heating purposes. Main and No. Il boiler houses operated all the year round; No. 19 and the compressor plant only in the winter. At Main there were four 36-year-old HRT boilers with total available h.p. of 500, at No. II, three 30-year-old HRT boilers with 195 available h.p., and at No. 19 two old field-type locomotive boilers capable of producing 95 h.p.

Jan 1, 1951

By James J. Dowd

The investigation to evaluate the reserves of coking coal in the United States suitable for the manufacture of metallurgical coke is being made by the Bureau of Mines in three parts: (1) To estimate known (measured plus indicated) recoverable reserves of all coking coals; (2) to upgrade marginal coals through effective preparation; and (3) to study the carbonizing properties of coals and coal blends not now widely used for metallurgical coke making. This is the fourth of a series of reports giving the results of studies by counties under phase (1) of the investigation. It covers Armstrong County, Pa., which comprises parts of the Foxburg, Clarion, Brookville, Kittanning, Bural Valley, Smicksburg, Freeport, Elders Ridge, and Indiana quadrangles. (See fig. 1.) A base map for each bed in each quadrangle was made to the scale of 1 inch equals 1,200 feet. Maps of mines, locations of drill holes, bed and total coal thicknesses, and the outcrop of the bed were plotted on the maps. With all available data plotted, isopach lines were drawn to limit areas of known unmined reserves in beds 0 to 14 inches thick, 14 to 28 inches thick, 28 to 42 inches thick, and more than 42 inches thick. These areas of coal reserves also were divided into "measured" and "indicated" categories. All areas in each thickness range and in each category, mined-out areas, areas excluded from the estimate, and areas outside the outcrop were measured by planimeter on the base maps, Estimates of total reserves 14 inches and more thick and maps for individual beds were prepared from these data.

Jan 1, 1951

By E. W. Shaw

The past year (1950) has been a big one for the oil industry in Canada, with new records being set in almost every phase of exploration and development activity. New highs were reached in acreage holdings, in geophysical activity, in wildcat drilling, and in field development and production. The only item that did not show a substantial increase over recent years was the amount of reserves added by new discoveries. This was not due to a decrease in the number of new discoveries, however, hut rather to the fact that most of the discoveries were made during the later months in the year and could not be fully evaluated by the year end. The foregoing remarks pertain mainly to activity in Western Canada. In Eastern Canada, operations continued on a modest scale. with exploration drilling down slightly from the previous year but with development drilling and production at about the same level. Returning to Western Canada, it is observed that the general exploration play was one of expansion and intensification. The issuing of new petroleum and natural gas regulations by the province of British Columbia precipitated a moderate entry of companies into the northeastern part of the Province.

Jan 1, 1951

By James J. Dowd

The investigation to evaluate the reserves of coking coal is being made by the Bureau of Mines in three parts: (1) To estimate known (measured plus indicated) recoverable reserves of all coking coal, (2) to upgrade marginal coals through effective preparation, and (3) to study the carbonizing properties of coal and coal blends not now widely used for metallurgical coke making. This is the seventh of a series of reports giving the results of studies by counties under part (1) of the investigation. (See appendix.) This report covers Floyd County, KY., which comprises parts of the Paintsville, Prestonsburg, Harold, Hindman, and Pikeville quadrangles. (See fig. 1.) A base map for each bed in each quadrangle was made to the scale of 1 inch equals 1,200 feet. Maps of mines, locations of drill holes, bed and total coal thicknesses, and the outcrop of the bed were plotted on the maps. With all avail-able data plotted, isopach lines were drawn to limit areas of known unmined reserves in beds up to 14 inches thick, 14 to 28 inches thick, 28 to 42 inches thick, and over 42 inches thick. These areas of coal reserves also were divided into "measured" and "indicated" categories. All areas in each thickness range and in each category, mined-out areas, areas excluded from the estimate but which may contain reserves based only on geologic inference, and areas outside of the outcrop were measured by planimeter on the base maps. Estimates of total reserves 14 inches and more thick and maps for individual beds were prepared from these data.

Jan 1, 1951

By L. D. Jaffe, R. K. Pitler

IT would clearly be advantageous to produce molten titanium, suitable for alloying and casting, directly from the relatively inexpensive tetra-chloride, without using a metallic reducing agent. Accordingly, a preliminary investigation has been made of the production of titanium by hydrogen reduction of the tetrachloride in an electric arc furnace. For the reaction: TiCl4(g) + 2H2(g) ? Ti(s) + 4HCl(g), Lockhart and his colleagues' have calculated equilibrium constants at 800" to 1500°K, based on tables of Brewer.' Extrapolating these data on the assumption that the heat of reaction varies linearly with temperature, and using Brewer's value for the heat of fusion, there is obtained for the reaction: TiCl4(g) + 2H2(g) ? Ti(l) + 4HCl(g) an equilibrium constant at 2100°K (100" above the melting point) Kp = (PHCl)4/pTlcl4 (Ph2)2 = 0.167 atm. If this is correct, starting with hydrogen saturated with TiC14 at 25°C, where the vapor pressure of the latter3 is 12.6 mm, and maintaining the overall pressure at 1 atm, 99 1/4 pct of the TiC14 would be reduced to Ti at equilibrium. An arc furnace designed for the melting of titanium and lined with water-cooled copper was used for the preliminary experimental check. Its inside diameter was 2 7/16 in. and height 6 in. The water-cooled electrode was tipped with 3/4 in. diam tung-sten. In the one run carried out, the furnace was charged with a starting batch of 293.35 g of scrap titanium,' analyzing 99.24 pct Ti. After the system was twice pumped out and flushed with argon to remove air, the arc was struck in argon and kept at 400 amp dc, electrode negative, for 1 min to melt the starting batch. Commercial tank hydrogen, dried by passing over silica gel and bubbled through technical grade TiC14 at room temperature, was then admitted to the furnace. The inlet tube directed this gas downward toward the arc and melt; the gas outlet was at the top of the furnace. The quantity of gas passed through was not measured accurately but is estimated to be about 50 liters per min at a few mm of mercury above atmospheric pressure. The arc was held in the H2-TiC14 mixture at 400 amp with little difficulty. After 10 min the arc burned through the copper lining above the melt, admitting water and ending the run. (This had happened frequently in straight melting runs under argon, and is not thought due to the atmosphere used.) In the furnace were found an ingot, several small pieces, and a little metallic powder, evidently formed when water entered the hot furnace. Some titanium also clung to the electrode. The portions were weighed and separately analyzed for titanium. Their total weight was 321.76 g of 94.82 pct overall purity. Much of the impurity consisted of tungsten broken off when the titanium was removed from the electrode. No detailed impurity analysis was made because the starting materials were impure and flooding the furnace introduced further contamination. Thus, the metal recovered contained 305.08 g Ti, as compared to 291.12 g in the starting batch. Titanium could not have been carried over from previous melting runs in the furnace, as the interior was sandblasted and the electrode ground clean before the run. Evidently at least 13.96 g of Ti were produced from TiCl4. Since this would require complete reduction of 430 liters of TiCl, gas at 12.6 mm of Hg, the efficiency of the process must have been rather high. Experimental work is continuing. No reason is seen why the process could not be scaled up to the size of a 30-ton steel-melting arc furnace. In a large unit there would be a large molten pool from which liquid metal could be withdrawn for alloying and casting. The problems of electrodes and power supply are similar to those arising in arc furnaces for melting titanium. Unreacted TiC14 and the HC1 in the exhaust gases could be recovered; unreacted H2 could be dried and re-used. The melt would be saturated with hydrogen, whose solubility in liquid titanium is unknown. Small amounts of hydrogen seem to have little effect on the properties of titanium.5 If the amount introduced was so large as to impair properties or cause casting difficulties, it could be reduced by holding the melt under an inert gas or by pumping on it, prior to casting. Acknowledgment The authors would like to thank I. Preble and M. Goldman for their valuable aid in the experimental work and the thermodynamic calculations, respectively. References 1R. J. Lockhart, J. J. Ward, M. J. Hussey, and J. W. Clegg: In unpublished report, "U. S. Air Force Project Rand. Titanium and Titanium Base Alloys." Battelle Memorial Institute (1949) 37-44. 2 L. Brewer et al: Chemistry and Metallurgy of Miscellaneous Materials—Thermodynamics. Ed. by L. L. Quill. pp 13-39, 60-192. (1950). McGraw-Hill Book Co. 3 K. Arii: Scientific Reports. Tohoku Imp. Univ. (1933) 22, 182. 4 R. S. Dean, J. R. Long, F. S. Wartman, and E. L. Anderson: Transactions AIME (1946) 166, 369-381; Metals Technology (Feb. 1946) TP 1961E. * R. I. Jaffee and I. E. Campbell: Transactions AIME (1949) 185, 646-654; Journal of Metals (Sept. 1949) TP 26813.

Jan 1, 1951

By C. A. Siebert, O. S. Duffendack, A. W. Herbenar

IN metallurgical problems involving the study of equilibrium in binary systems, the ,existence of an additional vapor phase, due to the presence of a volatile component in the alloy, has often been neglected. This is well indicated by the modified form of the phase rule, usually accepted in condensed systems in which pressure is not considered as a degree of freedom. In many cases the vapor pressure of the volatile component is exceedingly small and for all purposes can be considered negligible, in which case this form of the phase rule is applicable. However, alloys containing Hg, Cd, Zn, or Mg, tend to show very marked equilibrium vapor pressure, even in the solid state, and therefore present cases where the modified form of the phase rule no longer holds true. A quantitative determination of the vapor pressure of zinc in alpha brasses is not only of practical interest because of the loss of zinc in the processing of these alloys, but also of theoretical interest in that such measurements provide a means of applying the principles of theoretical physics and physical chemistry to problems of applied metallurgy. A number of investigators have reported vapor pressure measurements of zinc in alpha brasses. Hargreaves1 made extensive measurements which were used by Birchenall and Mehl² and Guttman³ for the determination of activity coefficients of zinc in alpha brasses. Hargreaves1 used a differentially heated quartz tube and measured the condensation temperature at one end corresponding to the temperature of the heated brass at the other end. Birchenall and Cheng outlined the condensation method of obtaining vapor pressure of zinc and Cd over some of their silver alloys." The primary object of the present investigation was to increase the range and accuracy of the vapor pressure data for the alpha brasses. Preparation of Alloys: Six alloys were prepared from Bunkerhill zinc and O.F.H.C. copper, both of 99.99 pct purity. The cast ingots were annealed for 24 hr at 550°C, scalped, cold rolled 40 pct and annealed for 50 hr at 550°C. The annealed bars were then surface ground and degasified for 30 min at approximately 550°C in an induction heated vacuum furnace. The surface of the bars was removed before milling the bars into relatively fine chips for chemical analysis and samples for the equilibrium cell. The analyses of the six alloys are given in table I. Experimental Method: The vapor pressure of zinc over the various alloys at a number of temperatures was determined from absorption spectra data. The spark source was produced by means of a high tension discharge between two electrodes of pure zinc. The design of the absorption vessel is shown in fig. 1. The vessel was constructed of transparent quartz which transmits the whole of the visible spectrum and the ultraviolet down to a wave length of 2000 A. The thickness of the vapor space was set at 0.8 mm so as to permit a relatively wide range of measurements without altering the vapor space, and thereby necessitating recalibration of the vessel. The furnace used for heating the absorption vessel consisted of a split wound furnace as shown in fig. 2. The spectrograph used in obtaining the transmitted zinc spectra was a double prism type especially designed for a region of 2500-3500 A. A step diaphragm used in conjunction with a tungsten filament provided the necessary intensity patterns required for calibration of the photographic plates.

Jan 1, 1951