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By A. W. Gauger

It is with some trepidation that I approach my subject, for I know that I shall at once incur the suspicion of the mechanical engineer, with his concern for boiler tests and efficiencies; of the mining engineer, with his mechanization problems; and of the chemical engineer with his unit processes. Nevertheless, it must be recognized that the technology of fuels, the systematic body of knowledge relating to the production, processing and utilization of mineral fuels, has grown to such proportions and involves so many widely diverse applications of fundamental science and engineering that it behooves us to stop and consider just what its status is in relation to other technologies, as well as in relation to the present and future needs of the social order. The time has come when technologists, applied scientists and engineers must consider the possible effects that their achievements may have on Society. The development of a machine to - -replace -several hundred men is a fine achievement when considered solely from the point of view of creative endeavor. But what of the men who are displaced by the machine! Does not the responsibility for the development of this machine embrace as well the consequences of obsolescence and technological unemployment resulting from such development? I believe that it does and that we must recognize this fact in our practice of engineering and tech- nology as well as in the training of future engineers and technologists. Magnitude of the Fuels Industry Fuel technology is the body of knowledge that relates to the mineral fuels. The fuels industry is by far the most important of all Our mineral industries. The chart in Fig. I, reprinted from U. S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular No. 6643, indicates the compartive values of metals, fuels and other nonmetallic minerals for the year 1929. Of the grand total of 13¼ billions of dollars in value of minerals at the mines, the mineral fuels contributed 48 per cent. Coal, with 34.4 Per cent, exceeded the value of any other single mineral. In fact, the value of the production of the Pennsylvania anthracite mines alone anand exceeds the value of the gold production of the entire world. Petroleum and natural gas in 1929 contributed 14.3 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively, of the total value of world mineral production. So much for the world picture; let us now look at the situation in the United States. Over the 60-year period 1880 to '939, $46,409,727,000 of metal1ic products, $80,788,852,000 of fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas, natural gasoline) and $27,871,-ooo,ooo of nonmetallic minerals other than fuels were produced. The mineral fuels have contributed 52.7 per cent of the entire mineral wealth produced over this period that has seen such tremendous industrial development in our Our As a matter of fact, our present industrial civilization has been made possible through the use of the

Jan 1, 1942

By Alfred H. Bell

The upswing in oil production and drilling activity in Illinois that began in 1937 gained momentum in 1938 and promises to bring a new and higher peak in the state's annual production in 1939. In 1938 the production totaled 23,929,000 bbl., as compared with 7,426,000 bbl. in 1937, more than a threefold increase. The number of producing oil wells in the new fields was 230 at the end of 1937 and it increased to 2157 at the end of 1938. Daily production for the whole state increased from approximately 35,000 bbl. at the end of 1937 to approximately 135,000 bbl. at the end of 1938, nearly a fourfold increase. Of a total of 2539 wells completed in 1938 in Illinois, 1984 produced oil, 26 produced gas and 529 were dry holes. Of the total, 377 are classified as "wildcat" wells, defined as wells drilled outside of proved territory and more than one mile from the nearest production. The remainder, 2162 wells, were drilled in or near proved fields. Of the 377 wildcat wells (Table 2) 32 were successful in discovering oil or gas in commercial quantities, either new fields or extensions of old fields. Four of these discovery wells mere gas wells, which are not yet commercially productive owing to lack of pipe-line facilities. A special effort was made to ascertain the reasons for the locations of as many as possible of the wildcat wells and the results of this investigation are set forth in the following table:

Jan 1, 1939

By Alfred H. Bell

The upswing in oil production and drilling activity in Illinois that began in 1937 gained momentum in 1938 and promises to bring a new and higher peak in the state's annual production in 1939. In 1938 the production totaled 23,929,000 bbl., as compared with 7,426,000 bbl. in 1937, more than a threefold increase. The number of producing oil wells in the new fields was 230 at the end of 1937 and it increased to 2157 at the end of 1938. Daily production for the whole state increased from approximately 35,000 bbl. at the end of 1937 to approximately 135,000 bbl. at the end of 1938, nearly a fourfold increase. Of a total of 2539 wells completed in 1938 in Illinois, 1984 produced oil, 26 produced gas and 529 were dry holes. Of the total, 377 are classified as "wildcat" wells, defined as wells drilled outside of proved territory and more than one mile from the nearest production. The remainder, 2162 wells, were drilled in or near proved fields. Of the 377 wildcat wells (Table 2) 32 were successful in discovering oil or gas in commercial quantities, either new fields or extensions of old fields. Four of these discovery wells mere gas wells, which are not yet commercially productive owing to lack of pipe-line facilities. A special effort was made to ascertain the reasons for the locations of as many as possible of the wildcat wells and the results of this investigation are set forth in the following table:

Jan 1, 1939

By A. G. McGregor

During the past 5 years, five new copper-smelting plants have been built and put into operation in the State of Arizona. The monthly copper output from these plants averages from 5,000,000 to 18,000,000 lb. Previously, there never was as much activity in copper-smelting plant construction in the same length of time in all the rest of the world. Naturally, in this amount of work, some new problems were met and new features in plant design and equipment developed. Some of these features are described in this paper. Concentrate Hauling, Unloading and Sampling System (a) Concentrate Car The International Smelting Co. has provided at its plant at Miami specially designed cars for hauling the concentrates from the mills of the Inspiration Copper Co. and the Miami Copper Co. The car has a bottom that is readily made tight to hold flotation concentrates and is quickly and cheaply unloaded. Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show views and details of the car. The main feature of this car is the slot in the bottom throughout its length, which is closed by means of short planks that overlap like ship-lap as shown by Fig. 1. At one end of the car an iron gate operated by a screw and hand wheel is provided, which clamps or presses the planks together, making the bottom tight. A removable tapered plug rests vertically over this gate when the loading of the concentrates at the mill commences. A concentrate unloading pocket (Fig. 4), 180 ft.long, is provided at the smelting plant, which has a conveyor belt running throughout its length underneath the track. To unload a car, the vertical plug at the end of the car is lifted by means of a chain hoist which is supported by a trolley overhead. The gate at the end of the car is opened approximately 18 in. The removal of the plug leaves a hole down through the concentrates. The concentrates are poked through the hole from the top of the car until it is convenient for a man to stand on the bottom and draw one of the slats in the bottom toward the gate end of the car. The concentrates are then raked down with hoes on their natural angle of repose,

Jan 1, 1917

By R. Gibala

Internal-friction measurements on hydrogen-charged iron over the temperature range 4° to 300°K are reported. Two relaxation peaks, the hydrogen Snoek peak at 48 °K and the hydrogen cold-work peak in the range 145" to 2200K, are observed at 80 kc per sec. The effects of hydrogen-charging, aging, and deformation on the internal-friction results are determined and are used to show evidence of partitioning of hydrogen between solid solution and dislocations. The hydrogen-dislocation binding energy is estimated from the behaviors of the relaxation tiwzes and relaxation strengths of the Snoek peak and the cold-work peak. Its value is approxi,mately 6400 cal per mole. MANY investigators have demonstrated the usefulness of internal-friction measurements in determining the manner in which interstitial impurities interact with dislocations in bcc metals. Part of this success has resulted from the existence in bcc interstitial alloys of two anelastic relaxation peaks—the Snoek peak' and the cold-work or Koster peak2 (designated hereafter by SP and CWP, respectively). The SP has its origin in the redistribution of interstitials in solid solution among sites made energetically nonequivalent by an applied stress. The rate at which the redistribution occurs, measured by the relaxation time for the process, is related in a simple way to the diffusion rate of the interstitial in the free solution. The relaxation strength is proportional to the concentration of interstitial in solid solution. The CWP appears to have its origin in the relaxation of an interstitial-dislocation complex for which the relaxation time at a given temperature is much longer than that for the SP. The relaxation strength depends strongly on the concentration of interstitial and the amount of deformation at relatively low concentrations and deformations.2-8 From the dependence of the relaxation strength on interstitial concentration, the SP and CWP may serve as measures of the concentrations of interstitials in free solution and bound at dislocations, respectively. Thus their behaviors have been used to investigate interstitial-dislocation interactions in Fe-C, Fe-N, and several refractory metal systems.'-' However, the Fe-H system has not been studied extensively,? even though disputes in recent years over the mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement in steels involve argument over the extent to which lattice hydrogen and hydrogen-dislocation interactions play an important role.?-'' Previous work on Fe-H indicates the internal-friction behavior to be qualitatively consistent with that for other systems. Apparently, both a SP and a CWP are observed in the temperature ranges 30" to 50°K and 100°to 140°K, respectively (at 1 cps). However, there is neither sufficient nor accurate enough information to identify convincingly these peaks with their supposed counterparts in other systems. Nor have there been any attempts to make quantitative use of these peaks to study hydrogen diffusion, aging, or interaction processes. In this paper, an attempt is made to obtain more complete information on internal friction of hydrogen in iron than presently available. Internal-friction measurements in the range 4° to 300°K on hydrogen-charged iron show that the two peaks discussed above are in fact the hydrogen SP and CWP. Several effects of hydrogen charging, aging, and deformation on these peaks are observed and are used to determine the partitioning of hydrogen between solid solution and dislocation sites in iron. EXPERIMENTAL Materials. The starting material for this investigation was a high-purity iron supplied by National Research Corp. as a 1-in.-diam rod. The following analysis was given (inwt pct): C, 0.004; N, 0.0003; 0, 0.007; P, 0.002; S, 0.005; Si, 0.006; Mn, 0.001; Cu, 0.002; Ni, 0.005; Cr, 0.001; Mo, 0.001. After an initial vacuum anneal (-5 XTorr) at 700°C, the rod was cold-

Jan 1, 1968

By Alfred H. Bell, George V. Cohee

Illinois produced 146,788,000 bbl. of oil in 1940, or nearly 11.0 per cent of the total for the United States, and ranked fourth among the oil-producing states. Its production was only slightly less than that of Oklahoma, which produced 11.5 per cent of the national total. Illinois' production in 1940 represents an increase of 55 per cent over the previous year, when it amounted to 94,912,000 barrels. The development of the Devonian limestone in the Salem and Centralia fields is largely responsible for the increase in production during 1940 Production from the Devonian limestone in these two fields was estimated to be 36,698,000 bbl., or 25 per cent of the state's total production (Table I). The increase in production during June, when the state's daily average production attained a peak of 518,200 bbl. for the week ending June 29, was due to the Devonian production at Centralia (Fig. I). The initial production of the best Devonian wells in the Centralia field was as high as 12,000 bbl. in 24 hr. Daily average production in IIIinois for 1940 was 400,000 bbl. of oil, but actually daily production fluctuated widely during the year. At the beginning of 1940 daily production was approximately 330,000 bbl. During the first hali of the year it in-creased irregularly to the peak in June mentioned above and as the prolific Devonian producing areas were drilled up, the state's daily production declined rapidly during July and continued to decline, although more slowly, until the end of the year, when the daily production was approximately 325,000 bbl. The daily average production per well in the new fields at the end of the year was approximately 40 bbl. (Fig. I). Oil from the Devonian was also produced in the Bartelso field, Clinton County, the Sandoval field, Marion County, and the Irvington field, Washington County, bringing the estimated total production from the Devonian limestone to about 26 per cent of the state's total production, The remainder was obtained largely from the Mississippian system. About 2 per cent of the total was from Pennsylvanian and Ordovician strata. The decline in the Devonian limestone production has been so rapid that the 1941 output from this system will probably be only a small fraction of that of 1940 unless large new reserves are discovered. The "Trenton" (Ordovician) limestone has been tested in two wells in the Centralia field and both were small oil producers at a depth of about 4000 it. The "Trenton" also was found productive in the Salem field at a depth of 4500 ft. (Table 5). The initial production of the discovery well, which was completed shortly after the end of the year, was 130 bbl. on pump. Other wells drilled early in 1941 had initial productions averaging 172 barrels. The outlook for 1941 is for a continuation of drilling activity in Illinois, but at a declining rate (Fig. I, upper curve). The most active area at the end of 1940 was in the deep basin area in Wabash, Edwards, White, and Hamilton Counties.

Jan 1, 1941

By Alfred H. Bell, George V. Cohee

Illinois produced 146,788,000 bbl. of oil in 1940, or nearly 11.0 per cent of the total for the United States, and ranked fourth among the oil-producing states. Its production was only slightly less than that of Oklahoma, which produced 11.5 per cent of the national total. Illinois' production in 1940 represents an increase of 55 per cent over the previous year, when it amounted to 94,912,000 barrels. The development of the Devonian limestone in the Salem and Centralia fields is largely responsible for the increase in production during 1940 Production from the Devonian limestone in these two fields was estimated to be 36,698,000 bbl., or 25 per cent of the state's total production (Table I). The increase in production during June, when the state's daily average production attained a peak of 518,200 bbl. for the week ending June 29, was due to the Devonian production at Centralia (Fig. I). The initial production of the best Devonian wells in the Centralia field was as high as 12,000 bbl. in 24 hr. Daily average production in IIIinois for 1940 was 400,000 bbl. of oil, but actually daily production fluctuated widely during the year. At the beginning of 1940 daily production was approximately 330,000 bbl. During the first hali of the year it in-creased irregularly to the peak in June mentioned above and as the prolific Devonian producing areas were drilled up, the state's daily production declined rapidly during July and continued to decline, although more slowly, until the end of the year, when the daily production was approximately 325,000 bbl. The daily average production per well in the new fields at the end of the year was approximately 40 bbl. (Fig. I). Oil from the Devonian was also produced in the Bartelso field, Clinton County, the Sandoval field, Marion County, and the Irvington field, Washington County, bringing the estimated total production from the Devonian limestone to about 26 per cent of the state's total production, The remainder was obtained largely from the Mississippian system. About 2 per cent of the total was from Pennsylvanian and Ordovician strata. The decline in the Devonian limestone production has been so rapid that the 1941 output from this system will probably be only a small fraction of that of 1940 unless large new reserves are discovered. The "Trenton" (Ordovician) limestone has been tested in two wells in the Centralia field and both were small oil producers at a depth of about 4000 it. The "Trenton" also was found productive in the Salem field at a depth of 4500 ft. (Table 5). The initial production of the discovery well, which was completed shortly after the end of the year, was 130 bbl. on pump. Other wells drilled early in 1941 had initial productions averaging 172 barrels. The outlook for 1941 is for a continuation of drilling activity in Illinois, but at a declining rate (Fig. I, upper curve). The most active area at the end of 1940 was in the deep basin area in Wabash, Edwards, White, and Hamilton Counties.

Jan 1, 1941

By C Gunther

The term metamorphism as commonly used means any change in a rock in either form or composition, from whatever cause. By metasomatism, according to Lindgren, is meant a metamorphism that involves a change in the chemical composition of a rock by the addition or subtraction of substance. Certain types of metamorphism are due to the action of mineralizing solutions, and are closely connected with ore deposition; they form, therefore, valuable guides in the exploration for ore-deposits. Other types of metamorphism are due to regional processes, and are not connected with ore deposition. By dynamo-regional metamorphism is meant a primary alteration of rocks over large areas under conditions of pressure, flow- age, and heat. This process produces schists and gneisses from either sediments or igneous rocks. It is thought that there is little migration of minerals or of elements in dynamo-regional metamorphism, and that the changes are due chiefly to recrysallization and rearrangement of original minerals in bands with their major axes oriented normal to the direction of greatest pressure. Under these conditions limestones are commonly altered to marble, and sandstones to quartzite, basic igneous rocks to greenstone or serpentine, while rocks of normal or acid com- position commonly yield the usual types of schist or gneiss. Dynamo-regional metamorphism, extending over large areas, has no connection with mineralizing processes, and is, therefore, no guide to ore deposits; while this process has certain features, such as characteristic mineral associations, in common with contact metamorphism, the results of the two processes may usually be distinguished without difficulty.

Jan 1, 1932

By Kurt Stock

The grades of spelter demanded by the consuming industries were not definitely established until the American Society for Testing Materials undertook to fix specifications, based on the varying percentages of the common impurities (lead, iron, and cadmium) as follows: Total, Not Leap, Iron, Cadmium, Over. Per Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Cent. A. High grade.................. 0.07 0.03 0.05 0.10 B. Intermediate................ 0.20 0.03 0.50 0.50 C. Brass special................ 0.75 0.04 0.75 1.20 D. Prime western............... 1.50 0.08 The question which grade was the best for certain purposes and why was left unanswered. The conservatism of the zinc-smelting industry and the unwillingness of the spelter-consuming industries to engage in research work prevented the full benefits being obtained that such standardization promised. The custom smelters, producing spelter in pigs or plates, found it impossible to adhere closely to the established limits on account of the variety of ores treated; and the smelters with long-established and known brands, or those manufacturing their metal into marketable products, like sheet zinc, did not have to abide by the newly established grades based on chemical percentages. Smelters engaged in the smelting of custom ores had occasional complaints about the quality of their metal, as some of the consumers, especially brassmakers and some galvanizers, used the rigid standards of the A. S. T. M. as a basis for obtaining redress from zinc smelters whenever some of their work was faulty. Indirectly, much good resulted from such complaints; for while the brassmakers and galvanizers, on the whole, did not know what was wrong, the metallurgists in charge of zinc smelters were induced to abandon their conservatism and study the influence of impurities in spelter from the point of view of the consumer. For some of us, spelter gradually ceased to be considered merely spelter; it

Jan 1, 1925

By R. S. Goodrich, G. S. Ansell

The microstructure of three Al-Al2O3 SAP-Type alloys (containing 2.0, 3.0, and 5.7 wt pct alumina, respectively) was studied utilizing transmission electron microscopy. These alloys were fabricated from aluminum powders by powder-metallurgical techniques, cold-rolled into thin strips, and recrys -tallized. Thin foils suitable for an electron-transmission study were then prepared from the strip material by electropolishing. The microstructure of these alloys is shown to consist of small (0.1 mean diameter) plate -shaped alumina particles finely distributed in an aluminum matrix. In the higher-oxide content alloys the platelets are somewhat larger and more irregular in shape. The distribution of oxide particles is not uniform and there is an increasing tendency toward clumping SINCE the discovery by Irmann1 that aluminum alloys produced by compacting, hot pressing, and extruding fine aluminum powders possess remarkable high-temperature mechanical properties, the Al-A12O3 SAP-Type alloys have been utilized extensively as model dispersion-strengthened alloys in both experimental and theoretical invest igations.2-8 The use of the SAP-Type alloys as model dispersion-strengthened alloys implicitly assumes that their microstructure has been completely delineated. This is, however, not the case. with increasing oxide content. In all the alloys studied, the mean center-to-center spacing of particles was quite small (0.2 u) due to the very fine oxide debris present. Selected-area diffraction of the specimen identified the oxide as either y Al2O3 or y' Al2o3. The re crystallized MD-5100 alloy exhibited a mean grain diameter of only 0.7u, while the grain size of the other alloys was several hundred microns. Severe pinning of the grain boundaries by oxide particles was rarely observed, and the grain boundary triple points in the small-grained MD-5100 alloy were often particle -free. Diffraction contrasts visible around the particles are attributed to elastic strain fields set up by differential thermal contraction during cooling from the recrystallization anneal. Early investigation demonstrated that optical metallography did not possess sufficient resolution to observe the microstructure of the SAP-Type alloys.' Later, extensive use was made of replication techniques to study the microstructure by means of electron microscopy.7-9 These studies indicated that the SAP-Type alloys consist of a dispertion of irregular Al2O3 platelets, approximately 150A thick 9 and a micron or so on edge,9 distributed in a matrix of commercial-purity aluminum. These oxide platelets tend to be oriented in the aluminum matrix, with their largest dimension parallel to the extrusion direction. 8,9 A study employing polarized-light techniques1' indicated that the grain size of a series of as-extruded SAP-Type alloys was several microns in diameter, while the grain size after re-crystallization was several millimeters in diameter. A more recent study 12 utilizing surface-replication techniques examined the particle morphology,

Jan 1, 1964

By R. F. Campbell, R. F. Miller

SIXTEEN steels containing different combinations of chromium and molybdenum, in amounts up to 5 per cent of each element, were examined for microstructure and hardness after air cooling and after furnace cooling from suitable austenitizing temper- [ ] atures. Diagrams summarizing the structures and hardness resulting from these two cooling rates are presented (Figs. 3, 4, 7).† Data were also obtained on the influence of these two elements, individually and in combination, on the depth 0f decarburization observed after furnace cooling (Fig. 8). COMPOSITION OF MATERIAL The chemical composition of the steels investigated is given in Table I. The plain carbon steel was made in a 25-ton Heroult electric-arc furnace, while the alloy steels were made in a 4.5-ton Ajax-Northrup elec- [ ] tric induction furnace. The cast ingots were hot-rolled to I.75-in. bars. AIR-COOLED SERIES The I.75-in. bars were forged to flat plates, 0.25 in. thick, from which specimens 0.5 in. wide by 2 in. long were cut. The specimens were pretreated to improve their homogeneity by heating to I830°F. (1000°C.) for 20 min. and oil quenching. They were then reheated to I740°F. (950°C.) for one hour and air-cooled, after

Jan 1, 1941

By Charles H. Fulton

Experimental work on the process was begun on a laboratory scale at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914, and transferred to East St. Louis, Ill. in 1916, where a commercial sized furnace was in technical operation until January, 1918. The essential steps of the process are as follows: Oxidized zinc ore or roasted zinc concentrate is mixed with crushed coke and coal-tar pitch and formed into briquets 9.25 in. (23.5 cm.) in diameter and 21 in. (53 cm.) long in a manner similar to that used in the manufacture of graphite or carbon electrodes, except that much less care and time are required. The composition varies with the nature of the ore; in one case, the composition was 100 parts ore, 70 parts coke, and 18 to 20 parts pitch. These briquets maintain their form and volume during and after the distillation of the zinc. This object is gained by using coke as the matrix and coal-tar pitch as the binder; this pitch becomes coke on heating and unites the ore particle and the original coke particle into a continuous mass. The briquet is an electrical conductor but only to such a degree that it can be used as a resistor. The size of the ore, as in the present practice of zinc metallurgy, ranges from fine material, such as flotation concentrate, to coarse table and fine jig concentrate. The process is not restricted to any particular kind of ore, but is applicable to pure high-grade ores, ores high in iron, and complex zinc-lead ores, since the residue from the distillation IS held immovably in place within the briquet. In the case of complex zinc-lead ores, the distillation is conducted with a carefully regulated temperature so that a high percentage of lead is retained in the distilled briquet, which may then be smelted for its lead content. In present zinc smelting practice, the reduction fuel is from 40 to 50 per cent. of the weight of the ore. In the briquet, it is from 60 to 85 per cent. of the ore; but unless the ore is exceptionally high in residue, the distilled briquet may be used over again as coke, or as a high ash coke for fuel purposes in power production. Baked briquets are hard and tough and may be handled roughly

Jan 1, 1921

By H. Rush Spedden

R. T. Hukki has extended his study of ball mill grinding at supercritical speeds with an excellent mathematical analysis of tumbling mill grinding. When he speaks of supercritical speeds he is referring to the original Fahrenwald critical-speed formula. He said that, as an example of the use of supercritical speeds, if a fine grinding mill of any type is wet-grinding ore of 3.5 sp gr with steel balls at a certain conventional subcritical speed, the same power input and capacity should be obtainable with autogenous medium of 3.5 sp gr at a speed 100 to 120 pct of the critical in a grate- type mill of the same effective size. In addition, he introduced what he calls the base mill concept which, he stated, makes it possible to compare performances of mills of different sizes grinding with a metallic medium or with an autogenous medium of any specific gravity and at any speed. He showed the use of this concept and explained how it makes possible the evaluation of mill sizes and motors for any grinding purpose at any accuracy well within the conventional standards of design in milling practice. He further stated that the maximum capacity in pilot plant mills with various media, either metallic or autogenous, has always been found to be within the supercritical speed range. In his discussion of this paper he substantiated these findings with statements showing the increased capacity obtained in a milling plant in Finland which followed his principles.

Jan 7, 1960

By R. S. Dean

MANY studies have been made of the properties of steel produced by adding varying amounts of sponge iron to the charges used in steel-making furnaces.1-3 The results of these previous studies, however, have failed to disclose a reason for the belief of steelmakers that steel made in this way is definitely different from steel made entirely from scrap or iron melting stock. This paper deals chiefly with the structure of the sponge iron, of the wrought iron made by welding the sponge iron into blooms, and of the steel made by melting the forged and rolled blooms. It is believed that the structure of the final steel is inherited from the ore and that this inherited structure produces marked differences in the properties of the steel and explains the feeling of steelmakers which is based on their experience. Three kinds of sponge iron were used in this investigation: One made from a limonite ore reduced with natural gas, one made from a hematite ore reduced with natural gas, and one made from a magnetite ore reduced with charcoal. The sponge iron made by reduction with natural gas

Jan 1, 1935

By B. M. Larsen, T. E. Brower

A perspective is presented of the steel plant sulphur distribution and elimination problem from coal to liquid steel ready for teeming, giving distributions of sulphur over a range of coke sulphur content, and some methods of sulphur control, in the blast furnace, external desulphuriza-tion between blast furnace and open hearth, distribution between fuel, slag, and metal, and methods and limitations of control of sulphur in the open hearth furnace. AS a part of the 1951 AIME symposium on sulphur in steelmaking, it was thought that a discussion of the distribution of sulphur throughout the whole series of operations, from coal and ore to finished steel ingots, might have some value in giving a perspective on the whole problem. The following discussion is an attempt to present such an overall picture. The order is that of the actual plant operations, beginning with a very brief consideration of the coking process. Sulphur in Coal and Coke Since by far the largest source of sulphur entering the steelmaking cycle is in the coal used to make coke for the blast furnace, it would seem reasonable to eliminate some of it, either from the coal, or the coke, or during the coking process. This has appeared impracticable up to the present, at least, for two main reasons: the low activity of the organic sulphur in either coal or coke, and because of price limitations involved in treating a low cost material such as coke. A variable portion, usually M or less, of the sulphur is present in coal in the form of pyrites or similar compounds, and a large part of this sulphur may be removed in the coal washery. Most of the sulphur, however, is normally present as "organic" sulphur, intimately associated with the coal structure. Its distribution prevents any separation by mechanical means. Its low activity makes improbable ' any rapid chemical removal, although hydrogen will remove sulphur from both coal and coke. Thus, prolonged recirculation of coke oven gas in the coking process would tend to leave a smaller percentage of the total sulphur in the coke residue. Table I shows a typical distribution of sulphur from coal into products in the coking process. As the sulphur in the coal increases, the sulphur in the coke tends to increase in about the same proportion. Sulphur in the Blast Furnace The best picture of the situation in the blast furnace is provided by a sulphur balance of raw materials entering, and of products leaving, the furnace. The difficulties in accurate weighing and sampling of the variable solid materials entering this process, and the number of hours required for the raw materials to descend through the furnace under variable operating conditions, make it difficult to obtain an accurate balance. However, balances made over periods of weeks or months tend to average out some of these uncertainties. Table I1 presents three typical sulphur balances similar to a number that the writers have calculated. In most of these the slag volume calculated from the sulphur balance is, in some instances more, and in other instances less, than the value corresponding to the best input and output balances of the other slag constituents (lime, silica, alumina, etc.). Probably the greatest source of error in these calculations is the sulphur content of the slag. Despite some possible inaccuracies the balances of Table II show rather definitely the following points: 1—That 87 to 95 pct of the total sulphur input is in the coke and 95 to 97 pct of the total sulphur output is in the slag. Also, that if any sulphur leaves the furnace with the gas it is relatively small, amounting to a possible 1 pct or less. 2—At the lower sulphur coke level of 0.86 pct the total amount of sulphur charged is 15 Ib of sulphur per ton iron increasing to 26 lb per ton at the higher sulphur, intimately associated with the coal struc-rare burdens containing sulphur-rich ores will the total sulphur burden fail to be nearly proportional to the content in the coke used. 3—The 7 to 9 pct of the total sulphur input from the limestone of furnaces B and C is due to the relatively high sulphur content of the stone, 0.226 and 0.265 pct, respectively. In the case of furnace A, the sulphur content of the limestone was only 0.06 pct which resulted in only 3 pct of the total sulphur input coming from this source. It is rather interesting to compare the sulphur balances of a typical ferromanganese furnace with

Jan 1, 1952

By J. Kitagawa

INTRGDUCTION The Paragsha concentrator is the largest of Cerro de Pasco Corporation's base metal beneficiation plants operating in Peru. At present, this plant is treating an average of [ ]

Jan 1, 1970

By R. S. Hadi, L. Svarovsky

SUMMARY This is a report of a new development in on-line particle size measurement of fine powders in dust-laden gases. A continuous sample of the solids-air suspension is drawn from the process stream via a sampling probe by means of an air operated ejector into a cyclonic separator whereby the sample is subjected to a particle size dependent separation process and split into two streams, "overflow" and "underflow". The overflow stream carries most of the fines at a relatively low concentration and the underflow stream carries the coarse particles at a relatively higher concentration. The concentration of solids in the two streams is detected by electrostatic noise level technique which utilises the electrostatic charge accumulated on the solid particles due to their high velocity in the turbulent air stream, for the mass concentration measurement. The ratio of the solids concentration of the fines stream to that of the coarse stream is then correlated against the average particle size in the main process stream by a calibration curve. The in-plant tests clearly indicate that this relatively simple instrument offers good sensitivity in the size range from 2 to 6 µm, and is capable of giving a continuous indication of average particle size for process control purposes. Although the instrument was developed for a particular application, it may be used in other situations where fine powders are conveyed in gas streams. British and foreign patents are applied for.

Jan 1, 1980

By Benjamin Petkof

The mineral mica, which has been known to man since ancient times, has played an impor¬tant role in the development of our modern industry. In the latter part of the 19th century sheet mica began finding use as a dielectric insulating material in the newly developing electrical industry. Later, when modern elec¬tronics began to develop, it became a vital insulating and dielectric material for use in electronic equipment. Both the electrical and electronic industries were greatly dependent on some form of natural mica. The manufacture of electric motors of varying sizes, electronic tubes, and other electronic items was dependent on an adequate supply of sheet mica. During World War II this material was so vital to national defense that special efforts were made to mine it in the United States as well as to obtain it from overseas mica-producing areas. However, advancing technology has successfully begun the progressive development of man-made mica-based and non-mica-based materials that can replace mica for many uses. In addition, developing technology has dictated changes that have made sheet mica unnecessary for some uses. As the demand for sheet mica declined, the demand for scrap and flake mica has continued to increase. In fact, today the domestic production and use of scrap and flake mica far outshadows the necessity for good¬quality sheet mica in this country. Historically the United States has always been dependent on foreign sources of material for good-quality sheet mica and imports practically its entire requirement. In the case of scrap and flake mica, the United States is the dominant world producer and consumer. End Uses Sheet mica (Chowdhury, 1941; Rajgarhia, 1951; Skow, 1962) is available in many com¬mercial forms, but these forms can be broadly classified into manufactured and unmanufac¬tured mica. Manufactured mica consists of mica that has been shaped, punched, or other¬wise processed into some form, suitable for a particular end use. Unmanufactured mica con¬sists of partially hand-trimmed or processed material that has not been prepared for any particular end use. Unmanufactured mica is broken into two commercial classes consisting of sheet mica and scrap and flake mica. These classes of mica differ greatly in their ultimate end uses and marketed forms. Sheet muscovite mica can be classified by color, degree of prep¬aration of the crude material, thickness, size, visual appearance, and electrical quality. In addition, phlogopite mica is also classified by its thermal stability. Scrap and flake mica consist of mine, trimming shop, and factory scrap that occurs as remnants from mining, processing, and manufacturing operations, and small particle size mica that is available from the beneficiation of pegmatites, clays, schists, or other mica-rich host rock. The end uses for sheet mica vary so greatly from those of scrap and flake mica that it is necessary to discuss them separately. Sheet Mica Sheet mica consists of relatively flat sheets of material which have been mined as naturally occurring books or runs of mica. These sheets are hand-trimmed to remove any imperfections and are punched or stamped into specified shapes for industrial use. Sheet mica can be further processed and is described or specified as block, film, or splittings based on thickness. Block mica is not less than 0.007 in. thick with a minimum usable cross-sectional area of 1 sq in. Film mica is split from the better quali¬ties of block mica to specified thickness groups ranging from 0.0012 to 0.004 in. Splittings are sheets of mica with a maximum thickness of 0.0012 in. and a minimum usable area of 0.75 in. Other small sized, lower quality block mica

Jan 1, 1975

By R. P. Rothwell

About thirty miles north of the city of Belleville (which is situated on a branch of Lake Ontario), and in the township of Marmora, Ontario, there is found a belt of gold-bearing quartz veins, which present geological mineralogical, and economic features of great interest to the profession. The district in which these veins are found is characterized as a rolling country, with low rounded hills of syenitic granite, overlain on the flanks of the hills by Silurian limestones, which lie in nearly horizontal beds, and in some places are so fine in texture as to afford lithographic stone of a fair quality. The gold-bearing veins run north and south through this belt of syenitic granite, and are quartz-filled true fissures, with micaceous or talcoid slates forming the walfs of and horses in the veins. This

Jan 1, 1881

By F. S. Crawford

IRON and copper are mined in the Lake Superior district. The iron mines of the district have the best safety record for that industry in the country as a whole, while the copper mines of the district rank second in two of the four years recorded (Table 1). In Utah copper comes mainly from open-pit mines, which enables that state to lead easily in safety. All of the Michigan production comes from deep underground workings. About 60 per cent of the iron miners in St. Louis County, Minnesota, are employed at open-pit mines; this favorably affects the combined open-pit and underground accident-frequency rate, as this county provides most of the Minnesota-mined iron ore. In Michigan, however, there are few open-pit mines, the bulk of the production coming from underground mines, while all of the Wisconsin production, just across the state line from Michigan, is from underground mines. In spite of the fact that fewer mines in Michigan use the safer open-pit method, the iron-mining industry of that state maintained a consistently low record from 1931 to 1934; however, it was many points behind its nearest competitor, Minnesota, with its much greater production from open-pit mines.

Jan 1, 1939