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By C. P. Bowie

[Frequent accidents in the transportation and. handling off petroleum and its more volatile products, serve as a reminder that this is indeed a hazardous undertaking and should always be conducted with due caution. On October 4, 1920, vapors in the held of the British tanks steamer G. R, Crowe became ignited and, caused an explosion which, it is reported, killed 5 men, injured. 40 others and endangered the lives of some 300 more. On November 10, 1920 the Morgan, Line freighter El Mundo was almost totally sot destroyed in New York harbor by fire caused by an explosion of gases in a fuel-oil tank. These two disastrous explosions emu emphasize the ever- present danger attending the use of petroleum products. This is also shown by the frequent occurrence of minor fires and explosions, caused by careless handling of baseline, which result in loss of life or serious injury to railroad employees, to oil-tank drivers, and to individuals in various walls of life. Statistics indicate that the lighter cuts of petroleum products, because of fire hazards, are dangerous, and are so considered by the railroad and other transportation companies. According o the Bureau of Explosives (Bar-eau of Explosives Report No. 13 p. 7) during 1919 transportation of gasoline in the United States resulted in 172 accidents, causing 2 deaths and 31 injuries, and a property loss to the extent of $687,966. Among the causes of ignition, an open light in the vicinity of the container stands out most prominently.]

Jan 1, 1920

By W. H. Ode, W. A. Selvig

Briefly, this swelling test consists in heating 1 gram of pulverized coal in a silica crucible over a gas flame under prescribed conditions to form a coke button which is compared in size and shape with a series of standard profiles numbered 1 to 9. These profiles are intended to cover the size and shape of buttons obtained from coals covering a wide range in plastic properties. The number of the standard profile with which the maximum cross-sectional area of the button most nearly corresponds is recorded as the swelling index. Although the swelling test showed poor relationships with the various tests that were used for measuring expansion or contraction of coal during carbonization, it gave indications of having value in measuring free-swelling and coking properties of coals when burned on fuel tests. An opportunity to investigate this occurred when an engineering company reported pronounced differences in burning characteristics on grates of various shipments of Pocahontas coal. Some of these coals gave trouble by swelling excessively and clogging the grate. Samples were obtained, and it was found that the troublesome coals gave radically higher free-swelling numbers than did the coals that performed satisfactorily. Also, it was found that the free-swelling index test gave better differentiation between coals than could be obtained from the coke buttons from the standard volatile-matter test or iron agglutination-value results. The results of the free-swelling test were confirmed by the Subcommittee on Plasticity and Swelling, Coal, a special group of the Subcommittee, under the chairmanship of R.A. Shuman, worked along with the test method. Estberg, Limacher, and Shuman of the Battelle Memorial Institute investigated the various factors affecting the test and found that the swelling index was a good indication of the suitability of coal for performance on residential-type stokers from the swelling characteristics of the coal. Data were presented that also showed that the index was helpful in the selection of coal for industrial underfeed stokers.

Feb 1, 1948

By G. S. Rice

The Experimental Mine of the United States Bureau of Mines is a unique coal mine that serves as a large-scale testing laboratory. It is used primarily for testing the explosibility of coal-dust and gases but is also the workshop for many other kinds of research work of which the chief object is to increase safety in mining. The mine is situated in Allegheny County, Pa., about 13 miles southwest of Pittsburgh among the high hills of the west bank of the Monongahela River, at the northeastern edge of the gas-coal district of the Pittsburgh coal bed which extends south through the Connellsville coking-coal district into West Virginia. The Pittsburgh bed, of the Upper Carboniferous age, is one of the most extensive continuous coal beds in the United States, if not in the world. Throughout large areas it shows remarkable uniformity of thickness, levelness, and character of coal, which is a coking coal of high-grade bituminous rank. Its thickness in the northern part is 5 to 5 ½ feet and in the central and southern part is 7 to 9 feet.

Jan 1, 1933

By William H. Lesser

A recent survey of pumping plants in the anthracite region of Pennsyl¬vania showed that more than 90 percent of the pumps in use are the horizontal centrifugal types (1).2/ This report on the design and operation of centrifugal pumps should be helpful to engineers of the region who must select pumps that are best suited to particular pumping conditions in anthracite mines. Before a centrifugal mine pumping plant is designed, the special features of the pumps that may be used should be considered, especially when low repair costs and continuous operation during flood periods are prerequisites, and when acid mine water is to be pumped. Two important advantages of a centrifugal pump are that the flow is continuous and that it can be throttled without developing excessive pressure or overloading its driving unit.

Jan 1, 1950

By R. E. Lindstrom, D. J. Bauer

Studies were conducted to assess the potential of naphthenic acid as a fractional extractant for rare- earth mixtures and yttrium in sulfate solution . Naphthenic acid was an effective extractant , and separation factors were favorable in the presence of aqueous phase chelating agents . Addition of EDTA to the naphthenic acid extraction system resulted in average separation factors of 2.2 between adjacent yttrium- group elements , whereas DTPA resulted in average separation factors of 3.5 between adjacent cerium- group elements . EDTA was of value in separating yttrium from the rare- earth elements . Thorium and uranium were preferentially extracted over the trivalent rare- earth elements by naphthenic acid .

Jan 1, 1964

By Donald F. Smith

This report describes the construction and calibration of two ice calorimeters and includes results of high-temperature heat-content measurements, made by the Federal Bureau of Mines, on rubidium fluoride, hafnium tetrafluoride, cesium chloride, and cesium iodide. The heats and entropies of fusion of rubidium fluoride, cesium chloride, and cesium iodide have been calculated at their respective melting points using equations derived from the experimental heat-content data. Hafnium tetrafluoride did not melt within the range of temperatures investigated. Heat and entropy of transition of cesium chloride from the alpha to the beta form were also determined. INTRODUCTION Free-energy data usually afford the cheapest and quickest means of determining the feasibility of experimentally untested reactions. For known reactions, free-energy data show the variation of the equilibrium constant with temperature and make it possible to calculate, without experiment, the maximum ratio of product to raw material for a given chemical process.

Jan 1, 1961

By G. H. Keith

A vanadium-base alloy consisting of the following elements in weight-percent--molybdenum, 20; titanium, 10; carbon, 0.1; silicon, 0.5; and yttrium, 0.5--had exceptionally high strength at temperatures up to 1,200° C. This alloy was capable of fabrication to sheet of ~ 1 mm thickness by a combination of hot swaging and hot and warm rolling. In the warm-rolled condition at ambient temperature, its ultimate tensile strength was 1,205 MN/m2. The strength at 1,200° C was 150 MN/m2. Within the temperature range of 25° to 1,200° C, the ductility of the alloy as measured by elongation increased from 4 to >90 percent. Strengthening was achieved by both solid-solution and dispersed-phase mechanisms. Alloys of 20 percent molybdenum and 10 percent titanium were stronger than the other molybdenum-titanium alloy compositions tested. Strength was increased 15 percent in the temperature range of 25° to 800° C, with no accompanying loss in ductility, by the addition of 0.5 percent silicon. Workability was improved by additions of 0.25 and 0.5 percent yttrium.

Jan 1, 1970

By T. E. Ackman

Scale inhibitors and slow-release polymers were tested by the Bureau of Mines at mine drainage treatment facilities. The scale inhibitors were investigated to determine their effectiveness in controlling gypsum (CaSO4) scale; the polymers were investigated to determine their effectiveness for increasing settling rates of suspended iron hydroxide. Two types of scale inhibitors were tested at a site having a severe CaSO4 scaling problem. Both proved to be effective in controlling scale formation; in addition, one caused the dissolution of CaSO4 deposits. Slow-release polymers were tested at three mine drainage treatment facilities. These gelatinous polymeric flocculants were found to be convenient and easy to use, but only effective when pH could be controlled.

Jan 1, 1984

By G. W. Jones

Among its investigations into the prevention of waste in production and use of oil and gas, the Bureau of dines has made considerable study of the efficient utilization of gasoline and by-product distillates in motors, this being done chiefly by measuring and analyzing the exhaust gases therefrom. A number of reports3 of a highly practical nature have been published and are available on this subject. The results of these tests have shown that the average motor vehicle wastes approximately 30 per cent of the heat value of the fuel used, as incomplete combustion products - carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane, These unnecessary large heat losses are mainly due to improper carburetor adjustment, and by proper¬ly adjusting the carburetors for maximum power and efficiency a large part of this heat loss can be eliminated. This in turn results in an increased mileage per gallon of fuel used.4

Jan 1, 1924

By Gary L. Hundley

The Bureau of Mines has devised a procedure to recover chromium chemicals from low-grade domestic chromites, which contain silicon and aluminum impurity levels that are too high to permit processing by present industrial processes. The Bureau procedure consists of reacting chromite with molten sodium hydroxide (NaOH) under oxidizing conditions to form sodium chromate (Na2Cr04). The reaction product is leached with methanol to remove the majority of the unreacted sodium hydroxide, then with water to remove the sodium chromate and the remainder of the sodium hydroxide. The sodium chromate product is recovered by evaporative crystallization from the aqueous solution. This report presents results of laboratory tests to determine the optimum fusion conditions and the chromium extractions obtained from several domestic chrotdte concentrates. These concentrates are from a variety of sources, including the Stillwater Complex in Montana, Kanuti River-Caribou Mountain, Red Bluff Bay, Kenai Peninsula, and Kodiak Island areas in Alaska, deposits in northern California, and a nickel-cobalt laterite from southern Oregon. All of these concentrates were successfully treated by the Bureau procedure. The best chromium extrac-tions obtained for each of these materials ranged from 69.5 to 98.9 pet.

Jan 1, 1985

By Stephen C. Tadolini

The anchorage capacity of four types of bolting systems was investigated in two mines with thick coal roofs. In conjunction with the in-mine tests, a simple axisymmetric finite element computer program was developed. Both the field and computer results indicated that thick coal roofs can be effectively supported entirely by the coal member.

Jan 1, 1986

By A. C. Richardson

During the past two and a half years the U. S. Bureau of Mines and the University of Alabama, with the cooperation of the different coal operators, have been making an extensive study of coal preparation in the State of Alabama. Considerable time has been devoted to the study of the washing characteristics of the Mary Lee bed and the various methods used in preparing from it a low-ash coal suitable for the manufacture of metallurgical coke. One of the phases of this problem is the utilization of middlings products from the washing plants. This paper gives the results of treating jig middlings on a coal-washing table at the Bureau of Mines laboratory at Tuscaloosa, Ala. The sample used was secured from the Sayreton washery Of the Republic Steel Corporation, Sayreton, Ala.

Jan 1, 1931

By Joe L. Castagno, Kenneth H. Johnston

Several hundred membrane - filter tests were made as part of a program to develop equipment and procedures to evaluate the quality of waters and to determine the quality of water suitable to efficiently flood oil sands of known permeability . Results indicated that neither the color of the water nor that of the precipitate on a membrane filter is a criterion for determining the quality of injection water . Reasons for poor water quality include poor operation of filtering systems , dirty filtering aggregates , excessive amounts of oil in injection water , commingling of incompatible waters , and excessive use of chemicals . A good water is required to efficiently flood sands of low permeability , but fair results may be obtained in flooding more permeable sands with poorer quality water .

Jan 1, 1964

By M. M. Fine

The flotation work on samples from nine fluorspar properties in Crittenden and Livingston Counties, Ky., reported herewith was part of a wartime project that resulted in increasing the supply of metallurgical-grade fluorspar. The samples were tailings, dumps, and waste rock that had been rejected in previous milling operations. All were treated successfully by flotation to yield metallurgical-grade concentrates with recoveries ranging from 77.5 to 98.3 percent of the fluorite. After the laboratory testing, the results of which were available to the owners and operators of the properties, many of the tailing ponds and rock dumps were milled. The real value of this report, therefore, is to show the operators of gravity concentration plants the possibilities of re-treating waste products by flotation either at some future time or currently with the gravity

Jan 1, 1948

Experience, it is said, is the best teacher. Some experiences, however, should be shared so that no one else will ever have to live through them again. The fire at the Sunshine Mine is one such experience. ?Hard-rock mines don?t burn.? The Sunshine Mine near Kellogg, ID, was the nation?s premier silver producer for many years. In 1972, the mine was nearly 6,000 feet deep, contained hundreds of miles of worked-out areas, and employed nearly 500 people. Because of its depth and the type of host rock for the silver (unburnable quartzite), the general thinking of the day was that fires in mines such as the Sunshine were impossible, because ?hard-rock mines don?t burn.? What wasn?t really considered was that timber supports, foam insulation, and mining equipment do burn and that the carbon monoxide gas produced by burning is far more deadly than fire itself. Thus, no one was prepared when, on May 2, 1972, a fire of un-known origin broke out below the 3100 level of the mine. Before long, 173 miners on the day shift were trapped by thick, black smoke. By the time the fire was out, 91 miners had died, and the Sunshine Mine Fire became known as one of the worst mine disasters of the 20th century. It became the catalyst for passage of the Metal/Nonmetal Health and Safety Act of 1977, which applied the same federal safety standards to hard-rock mines as those regulating coal. Mandated safety training, mine inspections, and equipment standards were brought into force.

Aug 1, 2002

By Earl L. Phillips

The Bureau of Mines conducted laboratory tests on samples of pozzolaniccement concrete to develop a low- strength backfill . Results show that support costs can be lowered by replacing a portion of the portland cement in mine backfill with pozzolan ( fly ash ) and lime . Unconfined compression tests on various ratios of fly ash to cement in 84 samples produced compressivestrength curves that can be used to estimate the best backfill mix for any mine .

Jan 1, 1964

By R. W. Smith

The Bureau of Mines has been engaged in a systematic evaluation of the thermodynamic properties of combustion gases. These studies were designed to provide basic thermodynamic information of high accuracy, facilitating the theoretical study of flame and combustion phenomena.4 This report is the fifth of a series5/ presenting results of the study for particular fuel-oxidant systems. These calculations have as their objective the constant pressure flame temperature of acetylene-air for a range of pressures.

Jan 1, 1954

By Martin J. Gavin

[The theory of fractional "eduction" of oil from oil shale has been used by several inventors as the basis for the design of retorts for the production of oil f roan the oil shales of the United States. The term fractional "eduction" gives expression to the rather common belief that when an oil shale is he-test et produces light, low-boiling oils at to temperatures, and increasingly heavier, higher-boiling oils as the temperature of retorting rites. The theory evidently had its is origin in the fact that crude petroleum may be fractionally distilled, yielding light oils at low distillation temperatures, and heavier oils as the distillation temperature increases. Thus, gasoline is produced from petroleum at relatively log: temperatures, kerosene at a higher temperature, and heavier products such as gas-oil and lubricating distillates at still higher temepratures, The writers have examined several oil-shale retorts designed to take advantage of the belief that crude, and en some cases refined, gasoline can be recovered from the shale at low temperatures; kerosene at higher temperatures, and so on. Such retorts are usually designed to operate continuously, and. have several vapor-pipes lending from them at differing intervals and passing to separate condensers. Designers of such retorts expect that the distillate from the low-temperature parts of the retort will be gasoline, and that as the shale basses to zones of increasingly higher temperatures, the vapor lines leading from these zones will remove increasingly heavier products such as kerosene, gas-oil, etc.]

Jan 1, 1924

By Larman J. Heath

Preliminary results of an explosive fracturing-solvent injection heavy oil recovery experiment conducted by the Bureau of Mines at a shallow oil reservoir near Bartlett, Kans., are given. Three wells 35 to 50 feet apart were drilled to a depth of 360 feet, and an open hole interval from 300 to 350 feet in the Bartlesville Sandstone Formation was explosively fractured with 3,000 pounds of pelletized TNT in each well. Laboratory tests were made on cores obtained from these wells to confirm the suitability of using an aromatic-type solvent. Injection of a 74-percent aromatic solvent was begun into one well and continued intermittently for approximately 2 months. Crude oil production amounted to 29.6 bbl, or 11.7 percent of the total oil con¬tained within the three-well interwell zone.

Jan 1, 1972

By A. C. Richardson

[During the past two and a half sears the U. S. Bureau of Mines and the University of Alabama, with the cooperation of the different coal operators, have been making an extensive studs of coal preparation in the State of Alabama. Considerable time has been devoted to the studs of the washing characteristics of the Mars Lee bed and the various methods used In preparing from it a low-ash coal suitable for the manufacture of metallurgical coke. One of the phases of this problem is the utilization of middlings products from the washing plants. This paper gives the results of treating jig middlings on a coal-washing table at the Bureau of Mines laboratory at Tuscaloosa, Ala. The sample used was secured from the Sayreton washery of the Republic Steel Corporation, Sayreton, Ala. WASHERY PRACTICE The Mary Lee bed is very bony, and operators find it difficult to produce from this bed a washed coal much under 10 per cent ash. Experience has shown that in the preparation of a coking coal from the Mary Lee bed it is best to use a process which permits the recovery of a middlings product. Middlings are desirable because separation according to specific gravity is never perfect, and a middlings product makes possible a low ash in the primary warned coal without excessive losses of combustible in the refuse. The general washery practice on the Mary Lee bed is to crush the run-of-mine coal through some maximum screen size and wash it upon some one type of jig without re-treatment of any of the products made. The maximum size treated varies from 3 inch to J inch. The middlings product from multiple-cell jigs is usually termed "boiler fuel" and when possible is utilized as such. At present the production of boiler fuel is often in excess of power requirements, and the surplus, due to its high ash content, becomes waste.]

Jan 1, 1931