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By Oliver Zach

To know as much as possible about the condition of the refractory material (lining thickness, slag layer, build ups, ...) in an high temperature furnace is very important due to the safety and economic impacts. The new CONSCAN system offers the possibility to measure the inner surface of an furnace, and based on this results to calculate the thickness of the refractory lining, slag layer, build ups,.... The CONSCAN System provides this results as figures and graphics. This system is also working under hot conditions so it is not necessary to cool down the furnace. Based on these results the process control and the refractory lining concept could be optimized for maximum campaign life of the furnace.

Jan 1, 2006

By Zhao-feng Xie

A new process of recycling valuable metals containing in the slag of jamesonite smelting in the blast furnace was studied. In this process, the valuable metals such as Pb, Sb, Zn and In etc. were fumed and volatilized and enriched in the dust firstly and then the dust was leached by sulfuric acid. In the leaching procedure, Zn and In in the dust entered into the leaching solution and were separated from Pb and Sb which remained in the residue.The optimal operation conditions of the fuming procedure are as follows: the mass ratio of the blast furnace slag, coal powder and lime are 100:22:10 respectively and the fuming time are 1.5~2.5 h, the fuming temperature is not below 1200C and the volatilization rates of Pb, Sb, Zn and In are 95%, 92%, 86% and 75% respectively. The optimal conditions for the leaching procedure are also presented: the consumption of sulfuric acid is 1.15 times of the theoretical consumption, the ratio of liquid to solid is 4:1 and the leaching temperature, leaching -1time and stirring speed are 90, 1.5h and 300 r?min separately. The leaching rates of Zn and In are 98.5% and 95.2% respectively. The experimental results shows that the valuable metals in the dust can be recovered and separated effectively by this process and the?ir recovery efficiencies are as follows: Pb94%,Sb91%, Zn84% and In69%.

Jan 1, 2009

By M. Potesser

One of the main targets in the automotive mass industry and supplying industry is the weight reduction of the vehicle for decrease of the fuel consumption. For that reason combinations of different kinds of materials and connections of, for example, steel and aluminium are developed or are already successfully field-tested. A determining factor concerning the quality assessment of the welded joint during hybrid welding is the characterization of the intermetallic Fe-Al layer regarding strength, hardness, morphology and mainly the different phases in which Fe occurs together with the Aluminum (FeAl, Fe2Al5, FeAl3.). A combination of conventional light microscopy, SEM - EDX - analysis, the usage of an atomic force microscope including a Nanoindenter and theoretical thermodynamic calculations turned out to be highly effective. Based on the attained results, the constitution of the intermetallic FeAl layer, influenced by silicon, manganese and zinc, can be predicted.

Jan 1, 2006

By M. Fujikawa, S. Goto, M. Nishikawa

"The semi-pilot scale plant for injection smelting of zinc calcine was operated under the committee of Joint Research Organization of Injection Metallurgy. The capacity of the plant is 10 ton metallic zinc per day. The plant was designed by the resul ts of basic and bench scale tests of the capacity of 1 ton metallic zinc per day which was published at ""Zinc '85"". The equipments of the plants, operational conditions, results of the operation such as recovery of zinc in injection furnace and condenser, combustion rate of powdered coke and consumption of energy in this process are presented in this paper. The results of the study of the feasibility of the commercial plant of 100,000 ton zinc per year by the injection smelting are also discussed in the paper. IntroductionThe research committee of new smelting process of zinc by injection was established in 1981 under the finantial support of Mining Promoting Foundation of Japan. Six zinc producing companies joined in this organization. The price of zinc was very low at that time and the energy cost, especially, cost of electric power in Japan was extremely high. Invention of a new economical process for zinc extraction had been stronglydesired. The author proposed a injection smelting of zinc as a economical process in energy saving after a calculation of thermodynamical equilibrium and heat balance(1 )(2).The research committee has been studying the injection process since 1981. The small basic experiment by using a crucible furnace was carried out from October 1981 to March 1983 and the reaction of reduction of calcine by injection smelting was ascertained (2). Vaporizatipon of zinc and behaviours of impurities were examined. After the basic experiment, the bench scale test with the production capacity of zinc of 1 ton per day was carried on from November 1983 to October 1984.The bench scale tests were carried out to obtain the proper design of feeding devices of calcines and coke into a furnace and also to obtain fundamental data for enlargement of this smelting process(3,4). The recovery of metallic zinc in this small equipments was about 50% and main loss of zinc was formation of dross in the condenser."

Jan 1, 1988

By Vijaya Thangavelu

Biological leaching of low-grade nickel laterite is based on a non-traditional leaching of oxide minerals using heterotrophic micro-organisms. The organisms solubilise metals by excreting organic acids; these acids then form complexes with heavy metals. High salinity of water supplies and soils in the vicinity of nickel laterite ore bodies is a major abiotic stress to fungi and represents a major challenge in the application of bioleaching process in-situ. Salinity exposes fungi cells to Na+ toxicity and osmotic stress. This study examined the salt tolerance development of Aspergillus foetidus based on gradual acclimatization of organism, its salt threshold and the salinity effect on its metabolism. The biological leaching of weathered saprolite ore with the resulting halotolerant organism under saline conditions was assessed. It was observed that salinity stress affected the organism?s growth and energy utilization

Jan 1, 2006

By Tian Sugui

By means of the measurement of the enduring property and microstructure observation, an investigation has been made into the influences of the element Re and TCP phase on the enduring property of the single crystal nickel base superalloys. Results show that the needle-like TCP phase is precipitated along the <110> orientation on {111} planes in Re-containing/free superalloys during the long term aging, the TCP phase is identified as µ phase, and the precipitated µ phase in 4.5%Re alloy is gradually spheroidized during aging. Thereinto, the needle-like µ phase may obviously decrease the enduring lifetimes of the alloys due to the consumption of the refractory elements and the effect of the stress concentration. But the stress concentration is not easily generated in the regions near the spherical-like µ phase, which is a main reason of reducing the enduring lifetime of 4.5%Re alloy to a small extent.

Jan 1, 2010

By R. G. Reddy

Reduction of different chromite ores with carbon was studied as a function of C/FeO ratio and temperature in the range 700 °C to 1100 °C by thermogravimetry (TGA) analysis. Powders of chromite ore(-150 mesh) and carbon(-150 mesh) were thoroughly mixed in a desired proportions and were placed in the reaction crucible. The reduction rates of reactions were determined by continuously monitoring the weight loss as a function of time at constant temperature using TGA set up. The analysis of results suggest that FeO present in the chromite ores is reduced to Fe involving gaseous intermediates CO and CO2. The overall rate of FeO reduction is controlled by the oxidation of carbon. A kinetic equation, that of random nucleation, was proposed. The activation energies for the reduction of FeO, present in Roast Movat and Transvaal ores, with carbon were determined to be 55800 and 23000 J/mole, respectively. The results of the present study are compared with the data available in literature. The low activation energy values as determined in this study suggest that the carbon oxidation reaction is catalyzed. It is concluded from the present investigation that the low grade chromite ores can be significantly upgraded to higher value added chromite that can be used as a feed source for economical smelting.

Jan 1, 1998

By Alberto Oalvez, Lucya Yunus, Pengfii Tan

"Laboratory flotation tests of slow cooled converter slag have showed that 92.5% copper recovery at the copper cut-off grade of 24 - 25 % can be achieved by using a 50:50 ratio of DSP330 and SIBX (sodium isobutyl xanthate) at the natural pH of 7 and with a grinding time of 18.5 minutes. 70ìéç is the P80 achieved at this grinding time. MIBC is the frother and the solid content of the flotation feed was 46%. In the plant trials, two types of collectors at two different feed particle sizes for both the normal and slow cooled slag were operated. The particle size was controlled by the feed rate. The P80 of 75 ìçé at a feed rate between 32 - 36 t/h were tested. The plant trials have demonstrated that the copper recovery in the milling and flotation process of the slow cooled slags was improved by 3%. IntroductionIt is proposed to float the slow cooled converter slag, in the auxiliary circuit of the copper concentrator at Mount Isa, by using the processing conditions identified from several laboratory flotation tests. Among these laboratory tests, one produced a copper recovery of 4 % higher than those achieved from a normal cooled slag with the same slag feed grade and the same copper content (24 - 26 %) in the concentrate. These test conditions were selected for further studies.Laboratory Test Work and Plant TrialsThere has been a lot of work conducted under laboratory and plant conditions [1]. However, the achieved results did not justify their total implementation in the Mount Isa Copper Concentrator. Initially, the lab trials were carried out with slag cooled 100% in air; then it was changed to combined cooling for 12 h with air and 2.5 days with water sprays. The reason for this change was the shortage of space when the slag was cooled 100% in air, as it takes several days to achieve safe temperatures for its removal. The San Manuel Copper Smelter has reported that their slag was left for air cooling in pits for 8 h and then was followed by water cooling for 2-3 days [2]"

Jan 1, 2012

By Alex Del Castillo

The mineral processing industry has followed the development of database control systems, and various systems have been installed in existing and new plants. The goal is to improve product quality, raise productivity and lower production costs. Improvements in different units for mineral .processing .have been applied. This has led to increasing information for the operators. To support the operators and for an easy overview of the process, a complete concept for an integrated process-control system is required. This paper describes the plant-wide [process control system for the Collahuasi copper project located in northern Chile. The total investment for the project was $1,700,000,000 and included a port area and two copper processing plants, an oxide plant with a cathode production of 50 tons per year and a sulfide plant with a concentrate production of 330 kilotons per year. The main characteristics of the plant-wide process control system include a 200- kilometer long redundant control network and a 24-kilometer long redundant serial network providing coverage for the entire plant. The plants are located around 4,700 meters above sea level, serial communication lids allow the integration of over 2,700 SCADA data units, and the system handles over 7,500 physical signals plus the SCADA data integration. The main equipment consists of 39 different sized controllers, 16 operator stations, 5 engineering stations, 2 information management systems and 4 X- terminals. The project management, control configuration, factory acceptance test, system integration test, training, commissioning and start-up were carried out in close cooperation with the customer. The result was completely satisfactory for the customer.

Jan 1, 1999

By F. Z. Utyashev

The present work considers the essence of fragmentation: on the level of a simple model as a material response to the curvature accumulated by it at large deformations. It is on this basis that the correlation between curvature and fragment sizes is determined. It is shown that at deformation the area of curvature center inevitably changes. It is revealed that a specific value of variation of center surface area, i.e. ^As parameter, is numerically equal to the value of curvature acquired by a material. Minimum sizes of fragments and grains depending on ^As have been estimated, and the dependence of this parameter on strain has been established. Besides, the present paper considers the effects exerted by curvature center geometry, material distortion, directions of deformation and thermal warming up in the localization zones on structure refinement when various techniques are applied.

Jan 1, 2006

By Hui Lu

The structural changes in solutionized AA2618 during natural aging and their effects on subsequent artificial aging were investigated by hardness measurements, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and transmission electron microscopy. The changes in lattice parameter and hardness during natural aging indicate that copper-enriched clusters form in the earliest stage, followed by the formation of magnesium-enriched clusters and coppermagnesium co-clusters. Prior natural aging consistently weakened the hardening during subsequent artificial aging at 180, 200 and 230 °C but had no effects on artificial aging at 150 °C. The decreased age hardening was attributed to the reversion of small clusters/zones that formed during prior natural aging. The lattice parameter exhibited erratic changes with increasing artificial aging time, reflecting the complex sequence of the reversion and precipitation.

Jan 1, 2006

By A. M. Ramalho

In the synthesis and sintering processes to obtain superhard materials, such as diamond and cubic boron nitride, deformable ceramic capsule is used as gasket to transmit and support the required high pressures and high temperatures, HPHT. The ceramics materials for these capsules should have special physics and chemical characteristics such as refractoriness, shear strength and compressibility. In this work, Bridgman?s anvil made of hard metal or speed steel was used to characterize some ceramics materials in terms of their maximum compressible thickness. Tests were also performed with different resin polymers used as binding mixture with ceramics powder. Chemical analyses and investigations through scanning electronic microscopic (SEM), X-ray and real tests for the synthesis of diamond were also performed. The results showed that local Brazilian calcite can be successfully used in the manufacture of HPHT gaskets.

Jan 1, 2006

By M. Hochenhofer

Due to economic aspects and environmental regulations recycling of slag and waste from ferroalloy production became a very important issue for the companies during the last years. The treatment of slag depends prior on the composition, especially on their content of valuable metals and impurities. The final aim should be a total re-use of these materials in the industry e.g. cement industry, pig-iron production etc.. Therefore, to reach the required physical and chemical properties for a further use, possibilities of a metallurgical treatment have been investigated. The conditioning of slag with a high V-, Mo- and P-content via reducing metal bath showed to be one alternative. To determine the optimal process parameters, practical investigations with different slag compositions and thermodynamic calculations were carried out.

Jan 1, 2006

By Batric Pesic

Solvent extraction of nickel and cobalt from the real leach solutions was studied by using a novel extraction system. The extraction system was a mixture of 2,6-bis-[5-n-nonylpyrazol-3¬y]] pyridine (BNPP) and dinonylnaphthalene sulfonic acid (DNSSA). The BNPP represents a novel molecule, which was designed and synthesized in our laboratory. Real solutions for the study were prepared by leaching of two different cobalt-nickel bearing concentrates, cobaltite [CoAsS] concentrate from Blackbird Mine, Idaho, and siegenite [(Ni,Co)3S4] concentrate from Missouri Lead-Belt. The major strength of the system was the selectivity of extraction toward nickel and cobalt from iron containing solutions. Other metals such as Mn, Mg, Ca, Al and As were not extracted. Due to the irreversibility of copper extraction, its removal from solution was required prior to the extraction of nickel and cobalt. Zinc was not as strongly extracted (i.e. its stripping was readily achieved) as was copper . Flowsheets for the recovery of nickel and cobalt were also developed.

Jan 1, 1997

By Hani Henein

Recent innovations in atomization of molten metals have occurred in the area of single fluid atomization. Impulse Atomization (IA), one of the single fluid techniques, provides unique capabilities to study different regimes of atomization in a controlled environment. By changing processing variables, a mono-dispersed distribution of droplets above one millimeter in diameter can be produced. This is accomplished through proper characterization of the forces influencing the process and in particular the flow of melt through the orifice. This paper will discuss the approach and illustrate results with molten aluminum and cobalt.

Jan 1, 2006

By Bowang Xiao

Recently more and more attentions are paid to high pressure hydrogen quenching (HPHQ) for its advantages such as environmental friendliness, low distortion, etc, compared to oil and water quenching. In HPHQ process, heat transfer coefficient (HTC) usually varies from part surface to surface because of the intense variation of gas velocity around the part. This article studies the effect of HTC distribution on part distortion after HPHQ and shows that finite element simulations considering HTC distribution predict different distortion from these without considering HTC distribution. It is also pointed out in this article that HTC distribution can be optimized by adjusting part orientation and HPHQ condition so that part distortion is minimized.

Jan 1, 2010

By Ovidiu Pasca

The Phelps Dodge Miami Smelter utilizes four Hoboken converters to process molten matte from the Isasmelt vessel. This paper presents past and present improvements in operation, maintenance and process optimization, based on data collection, which has led to increased converter campaign life and copper throughput.

Jan 1, 2005

By José Carlos D?Abreu

The Tecnored process is a new ironmaking technology, developed on a unique approach that combined empirical and theoretical knowledge backed by extensive tests carried out in a dedicated pilot-plant and with close support of universities and research centers. Campaigns in the pilot-plant focused on operate different reactors of different sizes, including a full size slice of the industrial furnace. This approach provided actual conditions to develop the main features of the process such as the internal dimensions, raceway pattern, thermal and gaseous profiles, etc, besides provide reliable data to feed and calibrate a specific mathematical process modeling. This paper presents the first computer model used by the Tecnored technical staff, focusing the behavior of a self reducing agglomerate in the upper shaft of the furnace (zone of solid state reduction). Some results of this model are given and discussed.

Jan 1, 2006

By H. Dong, J. J. Valencia, L. Nastac

"A comprehensive computer model was developed to understand and optimize the centrifugal casting process for manufacturing TiC/Al-bronze friction drums. Performance of these components requires proper distribution of TiC particles, which is shown by dimensional analysis to be dominated by centrifugal buoyancy effects and solidification kinetics.The model addresses the following: (1) a rheology-viscosity model of the interference between moving particles, (2) engulfment (entrapment) or pushing of particles in the mushy region by the advancing solid/liquid interface, (3) nucleation and growth of equiaxed and eutectic phases, (4) effects of particle size, particle concentration, and cooling rate on the final grain size, and (5) the impingement effect of particles on the nucleation and growth kinetics of solidifying microstructure.Parametric studies were conducted using the computer model to investigate the effects of various process and material parameters on the distribution of TiC particles. The effects of the volume fraction, size, and morphology of the particles (including clusters and agglomerates) on the particle distribution were evaluated in detail. The complex interaction between the solidifying structure and insoluble ceramic particles in centrifugally-cast metal-matrix-composites was also investigated.The model predictions of particle distribution and microstructure were validated with experimental data for centrifugally-cast A356/SiC and TiC/Al-bronze alloys.This work was conducted by the National Center for Excellence in Metalworking Technology, operated by Concurrent Technologies Corporation under contract No. N00140-92- C-BC49 to the U.S. Navy as part of the U.S. Navy Manufacturing Technology Program."

Jan 1, 2000

By Sergio Neves Monteiro

This work had as its objective the characterization of a waste material, steel slag, generated from an integrated steel plant, with a view to its recycling and incorporation into red ceramics fabrication. The characterization was performed in terms of chemical composition by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), particles size distribution, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis (DTA/TG) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that the steel slag presents high amount of Ca, Fe, Mg and Si. The weight loss of the steel slag at temperatures above 800oC is associated with calcium carbonate decomposition. The coarse particle size of the steel slag is inadequate for its direct recycling into red ceramic fabrication. It is necessary to screen or to grind the waste. As a possible solution, it is suggested that screening or grinding the steel slag to a convenient particle size distribution would allow its successful industrial incorporation into red ceramics products.

Jan 1, 2006