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By Boyd Davis, Vladimiros Papangelakis, Joshua LaMarre, Jan de Bakker

"HCl leaching using molten salt hydrates has the potential to improve the extraction of nickel from laterite ores. However, as in other HCl leaching applications, recovery of HCl is key to process economics. Spray pyrohydrolysis, which is used in current chloride-based flowsheets, is associated with a high energy cost. The authors have developed a proposed laterite leach circuit using an alternative HCl recovery route. The leach circuit envisions a leach by concentrated (33%) HCl in an MgCl2 molten salt hydrate (MSH) or brine medium, followed by Ni/Co recovery and iron precipitation. Magnesium and chloride are precipitated from solution as magnesium hydroxychloride; this hydroxychloride is thermally decomposed to produce HCl gas. The proposed flowsheet employs a chloride leach circuit with simpler equipment and lower energy cost than in the conventional practice of pyrohydrolysis. Laboratory work investigated key aspects of the flowsheet, including precipitation of magnesium hydroxychlorides and their composition; magnesium hydroxychloride thermal decomposition; and iron control.Introduction As sulphide nickel ores become harder to mine and more complex to process, laterite ores will increase in importance. Laterite ore deposits can be divided into two main mineralogies. Limonite ores consist mostly of hydrated iron oxide, FeOOH, with 1-3% nickel substituting for the iron. Saprolite ores consist of iron-magnesium silicates, (Fe, Mg)2Si04, again with some nickel substituting for the metal ions. Limonite ores can be treated using the HP AL (High Pressure Acid Leach) process, in which the ore is reacted with sulphuric acid at high temperature in an autoclave. HP AL, however, cannot in general be used to treat saprolite ores because the magnesium enters solution and consumes sulphuric acid, which results in excessive spending on lixiviant. It is therefore desirable to find a hydrometallurgical process specifically for saprolite ores that can provide better results than the treatment options currently available."

Jan 1, 2011

By Jerry L. Smith

Industry on a whole has not been very receptive to government prodding to implement waste minimization programs. Waste minimization has the appearance of substantial benefits, however, there are underlying difficulties and suspicions that need to be addressed before industry will support pollution prevention initiatives. They can be summarized as follows: - Human behavior resists change, uncertainty, and unknowns. - New waste minimization techniques are difficult to find and research. - Calculating the true cost of present waste practices as well as new techniques being considered is difficult and time consuming. - Getting a consensus opinion of all the individuals affected on the course or technique to be employed in a pollution prevention program. New software products have addressed many of the problems associated with implementing pollution prevention programs: They contain research on a large number of pollution prevention techniques and case studies; they generally are accessed by EPA ID number, chemical name, or synonym; and some programs have the option to print a comprehensive written user-specific pollution prevention program.

Jan 1, 1994

By W. John Rankin

The finite and non-renewable nature of mineral resources poses unique challenges for sustainability: How can mineral and material needs of society be satisfied indefinitely? How can the benefits of exploitation of minerals best be captured for present and future generations? How can the environmental problems caused by large scale mining and processing best be ameliorated? These issues are rarely addressed, or if so only incidentally, in traditional courses in geology, mining, metallurgy and materials yet addressing them will increasingly be a major role for professionals in the minerals and materials industry and related sectors and agencies. This paper describes a framework for examining these and other sustainability issues related to meeting future material needs from non-renewable resources. The framework may be useful for educational purposes, either as the basis of a dedicated subject or by including the elements of it throughout a traditional course in relevant subjects.

Jan 1, 2014

By Wenjun Duan, Zongliang Zuo, Qingbo Yu, Qin Qin, Junxiang Liu

Moving bed has been widely used in the field of heat and mass transfer and reaction between solid particles and gas. In order to enhance the heat exchange coefficient, there will be tube banks inserted in the moving bed. In the process of drying ammoniates particles or heat recovery from high-temperature particles with moving bed, the particles flow behavior around the tube banks is significant. In this paper, the particles flow behavior around the tube banks is investigated, and all the results can provide guidance for the design and operation of a moving bed.

Jan 1, 2016

By A. González

Arsenic is one of the main contaminants present in Chilean copper concentrates and its abatement represents a challenge for the process metallurgy, particularly under the strong environmental requirements in the global community. The possibility to form ferric arsenate directly from a gas phase by means of a heterogeneous reaction between an arsenic gas bearing and iron oxide was studied at laboratory scale. A thermodynamical analysis for the system Fe-As-O-S has been initially made, in order to obtain the stability conditions for the ferric arsenate or other FexAs2O2 type compounds. Experiments were made using an hematite sample suspended in a thermogravimetric device. AS4O6 gas generated from solid AS203 that was passed through the iron oxide sample and its instantaneous weight change was recorded directly. A kinetic study for the AS4O6 volatilization was made to control the gas composition. A chemical control between 300 and 600°C with an apparent activation energy of around 14 Kcal/mol As2O3 was determined. The samples after the reactions were chemically and XRD analysed. Arsenates detected corresponds to complex compounds. Results shows a dependence on temperature and oxygen content in the gas phase. The kinetics for iron arsenates formation is slow, reaching an arsenic capture of 6% after 80 minutes of reaction when an oxygen content of 50% is fed continuously at 800°C and 3,56% As in the gas. Experiences made at the same temperature but under higher oxygen content in a closed reactor, allowed arsenic capture close to 60%. For higher temperatures the capture is considerably lower.

Jan 1, 2003

By Hongmin Zhu, Guihua Wang, Xiangsheng Wang

"The anode process of carbon electrode in fluoride melt was studied by voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Anode gases were analyzed by gas chromatography on-line during controlled-potential electrolysis. Two peaks were observed on the cyclic voltammograms. According to the results of gas chromatography, the first peak was corresponded to the discharge of residual oxide ions, with the formation of CO and CO2. Discharge of fluoride ions occurred at 4.1 V vs. Li+/Li, and leading to the anode effect. With the occurrence of anode effect, small amount of CF4 was detected. As the potential reached 4.5 V, CF4 and C2F6 gas evolution occurred, and the current increased to form the second peak.1.IntroductionIn the primary production of Aluminum and some rare earth metals like neodymium, a departure from normal cell operation known as anode effect results in the generation of perfluorocarbons (PFCs), which have high global warming potentials [1]. Owing to the pressure of environmental protection, considerable research has been carried out to clarify the mechanism of anode effect and PFC generation of industry and laboratory cells in the aluminum electrolysis system [2-9]. The common result on PFC generation is that the PFCs are emitted from Hall-Heroult cells only when they are on anode effect. In this article, we selected LiF, the main electrolyte for the neodymium electrolysis [10-11], to perform further investigation on the underlying kinetics of PFC generation and the nature of the reactions at the electrode.2. ExperimentalAll experiments were carried out in an alumina tube reactor, which was filled with high purity helium atmosphere. Spectrographic graphite crucibles were used, which played the dual role of molten fluoride container and the counter electrode. Lithium fluoride was analytical grade. The experiments were carried out at 900 °C."

Jan 1, 2011

By Denise Corrêa de Oliveira

Household zinc based batteries, dry and alkaline, has become the most popular sources of electrical energy, and are widely used. Because of their heavy metals content such as mercury, zinc and manganese, spent batteries cannot be directly placed in common landfills without a pretreatment. As a municipal solid waste, these batteries may cause serious health problems and environmental impacts. These damages can be reduced by recovery (which means saving natural sources and energy), recycling and adoption of cleaner technologies. Although this worry has been increasing recently, and producers are doing efforts to reduce the mercury content, batteries still need proper safe disposal conditions or recycling processes. This work presents the efforts in progress to characterize and recycle mixed - dry and alkaline - spent batteries, by using low cost unit operations. Some possible recycling stages and recovery parameters of metals as zinc and manganese are also discussed.

Jan 1, 2001

By A. González

Arsenic is one of the main contaminants present in Chilean copper concentrates and its abatement represents a challenge for the process metallurgy, particularly under the strong environmental requirements in the global community. The possibility to form ferric arsenate directly from a gas phase by means of a heterogeneous reaction between an arsenic gas bearing and iron oxide was studied at laboratory scale. A thermodynamical analysis for the system Fe-As-O-S has been initially made, in order to obtain the stability conditions for the ferric arsenate or other FeAsyO2 type compounds. Experiments were made using an hematite sample suspended in a thermogravimetric device. AS4O6 gas generated from solid AS2O3 that was passed through the iron oxide sample and its instantaneous weight change was recorded directly. A kinetic study for the AS4O6 volatilization was made to control the gas composition. A chemical control between 300 and 600°C with an apparent activation energy of around 14 Kcal/mol As2O3 was determined. The samples after the reactions were chemically and XRD analysed. Arsenates detected corresponds to complex compounds. Results shows a dependence on temperature and oxygen content in the gas phase. The kinetics for iron arsenates formation is slow, reaching an arsenic capture of 6% after 80 minutes of reaction when an oxygen content of 50% is fed continuously at 800°C and 3,56% As in the gas. Experiences made at the same temperature but under higher oxygen content in a closed reactor, allowed arsenic capture close to 60%. For higher temperatures the capture is considerably lower.

Jan 1, 2003

By J. E. Dutrizac

The mineral forms of silver, lead and cadmium in the zinc concentrates and the various roaster products made by the Kidd Creek Division of Falconbridge Inc. have been elucidated. In the concentrates, all three elements occur mainly in sulphide form, either in solid solution in the principal ore minerals or as discrete mineral grains. During roasting, Ag, Pb and Cd are preferentially concentrated in the hot cyclone and ESP dusts of the roaster train. Silver is converted to <0.5 µm grains of silver metal and to Ag2S04 which dissolves in or impregnates silicates. Lead is converted to Pb-bearing silicates or to PbS04 and PbO which are present either as tiny free grains in ZnO or as an intergrowth with lead silicate. Lead is also a minor constituent of the ferrite phase. Cadmium occurs mostly as cadmium-bearing zno and ZnFe2o4 , but a significant amount also reports as Cd-bearing silicates or zinc sulphate.

Jan 1, 1990

By J. Alexandre

The use of bricks of soil-cement is proving to be an important constructive methodology due to low environmental impact in the production process of these blocks comparing with conventional bricks are burnt, besides being easy to produce. However during the process of production of bricks, which are compressed, knowledge of the properties of the soil used is critical to the quality and durability of the blocks. The objective of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of using soil from the municipality of Goytacazes for the production of soil-cement bricks. Assays were performed the compaction, liquid limit, plastic limit, particle size analysis, EDX and X-Ray diffraction for later pressed blocks and analyze their compressive strength and water absorption.

Jan 1, 2015

By Manoj Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Nikhil Dhawan, Manish Wadhwa

"Electronic waste (e-waste) is a collective name given to discarded electronic devices such as Television, Cellular Phones and Personal Computers. Among the heterogeneous metals present in the e-waste are the base metals: copper, aluminium, nickel, tin, zinc, iron and precious metals: gold, silver, palladium, platinum apart from several hazardous and halogens metals. Hence there is a need to recover these metals from electronic scrap by recycling and then re-use, which can meet large amount of metals demand. Hydrometallurgical processing was employed for the recovery of metals from television printed circuit board (TV PCB). Different lixiviants such as hydrochloric acid, Sulphuric acid, and nitric acid were used to understand the dissolution behavior of copper, iron and lead present in the TV PCB. Effect of increasing concentration of nitric acid was also studied. Selective recovery of tin over 95% in the form of tin oxide was precipitated. The precipitated tin oxide was identified by X-ray diffraction technique. Tin oxide of purity more than 99.9% was obtained.IntroductionThe electrical and electronic industries comprising computers, television, mobiles, etc, which are manufactured utilizing printed circuit, boards, capacitors, resistance, soldering material etc. During production, at the end-of service life and degradation due to the advanced version with latest features generate valuable metallic and non-metallic constituents. European Union Council on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has classified these into different categories as listed in Table 1 [Streicher-Porte et al., 2005]. Among these the information technology, telecommunications and consumer equipment constitute electronic waste (e-waste) [EC, 2002]. Almost all e-waste consists of an integrated part of printed circuit boards which is a valuable source of several metals such as copper, tin, lead, aluminium, iron, silver, gold, platinum etc. [Relay et al., 1990]."

Jan 1, 2008

By Michel Boisvert

Noranda Metallurgy is presently completing construction of the new Noranda Converter (NCV) at its Home Smelter in Rouyn-Noranda. This capital investment of CDN$56M is the continuation of the Emissions and SO2 Reduction Program that was initiated in the late 1980s with the acid plant for Reactor off-gas treatment. The Patented Noranda Converter was developed and pilot tested at the Home Smelter in the early 1990s. The project will replace the Peirce-Smith Converters and enable sulphur fixation to be &apos;increased from 70% to over 90% by 2002 with an accompanying reduction of dust emissions to the atmosphere. The construction site is an extension of the present Noranda Reactor area. A number of existing facilities including the acid plant and process air supply were used to minimize the capital cost of the project. This paper provides a brief history of the Noranda converting process, the Home Smelter Emissions and SO2 Reduction Program, ,project implementation and construction, a description of the different facilities, and preparation of human resources for start-up.

Jan 1, 1998

By J. A. Innes

"""The oxygen, next uniting with the carbon, sent up an ever-increasing stream of sparks and a voluminous white flame. Then followed a succession of mild explosions, throwing molten slags and splashes of metal high up into the air, the apparatus becoming a veritable volcano in a state of active eruption.""IntroductionHenry Bessemer F.R.S(An autobiography, 1905)Thank you Mr Chairman for the opportunity to speak: at this, the opening session of your International Symposium on the subject of ""Injection in Pyrometallurgy"". Judging from the list of papers to be presented over the next three days, the Symposium promises to provide a most valuable addition to our existing knowledge base in what is now an extremely active area of R&D investigations. Whilst we have obviously come a long way since Sir Henry Bessemer's pioneering experiments of the mid-19th century, there is still much for us to learn.Most importantly, the Symposium offers a further opportunity to acknowledge the many significant technical contributions made in this field by the Organising Committee's special guest, Professor Howard Worner - one of this country's most respected research leaders.When first approached to give this talk I had two areas of concern. Firstly, I was not entirely clear just what injection metallurgy was meant to cover. How should the overall scope of this particular subject be defined?My second concern related to Howard Worner himself - a man for whom I have the highest personal regard and who, in fact, played a most influential role in respect of shaping my own career. Having already spoken about Howard's achievements on earlier occasions, I wondered what I could sensibly add.Notwithstanding these personal reservations, I am delighted to be here with you this morning. If my thoughts on the meaning and scope of injection metallurgy appear to be slightly off-course, and if Howard should perhaps recognise some repetition in my remarks, then I hope I can be forgiven."

Jan 1, 1996

By M. F. El-Demerdash

The activity distribution diagrams for different species in aqueous systems are developed. Computational method may be considered as an extension of the Activity-Term method introduced by the authors to construct EH-pH diagrams. In the Activity-Term method, all activities of different species are evaluated before deciding the most stable one. In the present study, a factor is assumed to allow for the conservation of the element. At any point, the total concentration of all species should contain only the input m moles of the element (elements) considered. This approach is applied to Zn-, 5-, and Zn-S-H2O and activity distribution diagrams are plotted as a function of pH, at different potential levels and at different temperatures.

Jan 1, 1990

By G. G. Richards

The zinc slag fuming process is used to recover zinc from molten iron-calcium silicate slags by treatment with pulverized coal and air. The rate of zinc fuming is controlled by the complex interaction of several kinetic factors including the rate of entrainment of coal in the slag, the extent of the coal-slag reaction and the rate of ferrous oxide oxidation to ferric oxide. This paper briefly outlines the mechanism of fuming and, on this basis, optimization of process parameters is discussed. Modelling analysis and recent industrial trials at Cominco show that coal entrainment in the slag, bath temperature, and bath depth are critical variables affecting process rate and efficiency. The first step in process optimization is to assess coal bypass of the bath. In general, changes which promote operation at a higher temperature, greater coal entrainment in the slag and extended residence time of the coal in the bath increase fuming performance. Coal entrainment is controlled by injection conditions whereas bath temperature is a function of coal combustion and ferrous oxide oxidation. Residence time of the coal is largely a function of bath depth. The implication of model predictions for continuous fuming is shown.

Jan 1, 1994

By C. D. Adams, R. T. Tuenge, C. N. King, J. A. Samuels, B. F. Espinoza, R. C. Dye, C. F. Schaus, D. C. Smith, N. M. Peachey

"Recently, doped calcium thiogallate (CaGa2S4) phosphors have been investigated for use in electroluminescent flat panel displays. The current technique used for the deposition of thin film calcium thiogallate is sputtering. Unfortunately, this requires a high temperature annealing process to provide the desired crystallinity of the phosphor. Recent efforts have focused on the possible use of metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) to produce the CaGa2S4 layer. The use of MOCVD provides an attractive alternative to sputtering since it does not require heating above the strain point temperatures of the glass substrates used for the display panels. To accomplish this, the deposition of both Ga2S3 and CaS is investigated as these compounds are intermediate steps in the development of the phosphor deposition. Uniform, crystalline films of both Ga2S3 and CaS were deposited and the process shows promise for successful deposition of the CaGa2S4 phosphor.IntroductionThe lack of a satisfactory blue phosphor having sufficiently high luminances at low power has hampered the development of high resolution flat panel displays. Recently, a new series of blue emitting materials have been investigated for use in thin film electroluminescent (TFEL) devices. l ,2,3 These phosphors are based on a series of alkaline earth thiogallate host materials of the form MGa2S4:RE where M can be either calcium, strontium, zinc, or barium and RE is a rare earth ion. A full-color VGA TFEL panel using CaGa2S4:Ce as the blue phosphor has recently been fabricated and tested. l This FPD provided a luminance of 10 cdlm2 at 60 Hz. The enhanced blue in this display allowed its color capabilities to approach those of the conventional CRT.The method of depositing the phosphor onto the display panels in these test devices has been sputtering. Unfortunately the phosphor as deposited does not possess the crystalline properties required for optimum luminance. The crystalline structure is achieved by subsequent annealing of the deposited material. Although this post deposition anneal provides the desired crystal structure, it occurs above the strain point temperature of ordinary glass. Consequently, the implementation of these phosphors requires the use of glasses capable of withstanding high temperatures, adding to the cost of the final display unit."

Jan 1, 1994

By G. H. Khoe

Neutralisation of acid uranium mill tailings with lime or other alkaline materials is usually practised to reduce the dissolved concentration of heavy metals and radio nuclides. Computer modelling of this process was carried out using the geochemical equilibrium code MINTEQA2. Computed dissolved metal and sulfate concentrations were compared with laboratory-based experimental data. It was found necessary to include the modelling of adsorption of trace metals (such as uranium and lead) by the precipitated ferric hydroxide in order to obtain acceptable concentrations in the neutralised liquors. There were limitations of the modelling exercise due to important aspects which were not addressed or properly accounted for such as chemical reaction kinetics and the effect of high ionic strength. These are discussed in the paper.

Jan 1, 1991

By Deepak Malhotra

Rosario Dominicana, S.A., operates a gold processing complex at Pueblo Viejo, northwest of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). The plant processes approximately 10,000 mtpd of oxide gold-bearing ore with a work index of 11 kWh/mt. The ore hardness has increased to about 17 kWh/mt. Metallurgical auditing of the plant was conducted? to find ways to modify the circuit to process hard ore without sacrificing throughput. In addition, unit operations were optimized to increase recovery and reduce operating cost,. The results of modifications made in the plant are discussed in this paper.

Jan 1, 1989

By J. -P. Nepper

It has been possible to largely contain converter aisle emissions of SO2 and fumes in the case of batch-wise operated Peirce Smith converters during normal blowing periods with the help of suitably designed primary hoods. Controlling the escape of off-gas during the periods of turning the converter in or out of the stack has been problematic in the past. Effective automated control systems have been developed for the purpose and successfully applied in smelter operations in Spain, Taiwan and Germany. This has led not only to an effective reduction of emissions in the converter environment but also to an improvement in the converter operation.

Jan 1, 1992

By Gerhard Bayer

X-ray and thermoanalytical studies were carried out on the formation and stability of Ca-, Mg-and Mn-tungstate, and of the corresponding minerals scheelite and wolframite. The tungstates were synthesized by different methods: precipitation from solution, solid state reactions, displacement reactions with solutions and in the solid state. The reactivity of natural scheelite and wolframite with different salt solutions and in mixtures with other minerals was investigated.

Jan 1, 1989