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By Tingyao Liu, Lihui Han, Qing Liu, Bao Wang, Teng Yang, Yong Sheng

This paper mainly investigates the mass transfer phenomena of rare-earth concentrate from leaching process in Rushton stirred tank reactor with rotate speed of 100-600 rpm. In the research, a certain amount of sphere particles with 50-450 μm in diameter is treated as the mineral particles. Comparison of laboratory experiment data with numerical simulation is performed. The results show that the critical impeller speed for complete dispersion is 300 rpm. And the maximum value of turbulence kinetic energy appeared 15 mm away from paddle, where the mixing time is decreased 55% and 80%, respectively, when mineral particles are injected into stirred tank through one or four filling ports. Moreover, with mixing process going on, the numbers of particles near the paddle region accounts for as much as 58% of the total amount. Meanwhile, following the particle diameter increasing, the particle concentration of the upper part of stirred tank reactor is increased.

Jan 1, 2015

Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals and consequently this property is an attractive feature which makes it a leading candidate for use in electronic devices. The research conducted was focused primarily on the development of a process for obtaining a deposited silver-coating onto alumina, for applications related to electrical-conducting devices and, ancillarily, catalysts. Alumina balls and plane substrates were utilized for the investigation. The coating process employed an aqueous arnmoniacal silver-nitrate electrolytes with a formaldehyde solution as the reductant. Modifying additives - an activator which would be expected to promote good deposition-characteristics onto the (dielectric) substrate and an inhibitor which would obviate homogeneous reduction (precipitation) of silver was observed when the activator-containing silver-electrolyte reductant constituents were combined. However, the silver-electrolyte/reductant system with inhibitor could be employed (at 80°C) to achieve a viable (subject to future research optimization) coating on alumina. The influence of the processing temperature on the deposition process was delineated during the course of the research. The morphology of the deposited-silver on the alumina balls was assessed by SEM imaging. A tape-peel test was employed, with the plane substrates, to semi-quantitatively characterize the adhesion to the alumina.

Jan 1, 1998

By D. C. Foguel, J. L. R. Bravo

For several years, Caraiba Metais S.A. (CMSA) had to stock the arsenic sludge generated from the electrolyte purification process of its tankhouse. The amount stocked · reached approximately 3,500 tonnes, as the effects of its recycling during the smelting process and consequently in the sulfuric acid plant were unknown. Besides, it had as limiting factors the high content of arsenic in the copper concentrates supplied by foreign countries as well as the reduced capacity of the tankhouse's purification plant. The choice for selling the mentioned residue, which generally contains more than 50% of Cu, was attractive, but the environmental policies and regulations had not allowed this option. Other alternatives, such as the production of bicupric arsenic by means of a solvent extraction process or arsenic trioxide, were considered but the economic feasibility was not attractive due to the absence of a domestic market and a poor international market. After a study of the arsenic partition in the metallurgical process, it was verified that the residue could be recycled without causing any operational problems or damage to the environment. To make this possible, the capacity of the purification plant was increased and the way of removing the arsenic sludge from the cells was modified from manual to mechanical, therefore avoiding the direct contact of the workers with this poisonous substance. Moreover, procedures for recycling in the smelter were established and tolerance limits were set for both the smelter and the sulfuric acid plant. The main amount of arsenic to be recycled is released with the smelting furnace off-gas, which is washed during the purification stage of the sulfuric acid plant. The acid water, rich in arsenic, is then treated in the waste plant and the arsenic, in its stabilized condition, is confined in an appropriate area.

Jan 1, 2000

By Y. Fautrelle, F. Felten, O. Metais, Y. Du Terrail

"We deal with the prediction of electromagnetically-driven turbulent flows by means of a Large-Eddy- Simulation method (LES). The model is applied in the case of a liquid metal pool submitted to a polyphase linear electromagnetic stirrer. We investigate two cases: (i) the frequency of the magnetic field is equal to 50 Hz; in that case the effects of the pulsating part of the Lorentz forces may be neglected; (ii) the frequency of the magnetic field is low (f= 1 Hz), then the oscillating part of the electromagnetic forces is taken into account. The LES predictions agree well with the mean velocity measurements, as does the standard k-a model. However, as for the turbulent kinetic energy predictions, there is a large discrepancy between the two models. When the oscillating part of the Lorentz forces is taken into account, the computations show that the fluid flow is sensitive to the unsteady part of the forces. We find that the mean velocity is not affected by the fluctuating component of the force. As for the turbulence parameters, the presence of the pulsating part leads to a significant reduction of the turbulent kinetic energy, whilst the turbulence length scale decreases.IntroductionElectromagnetic stirring is commonly used in various metallurgical processes. In continuous casting for example, it may improve the structure of the solidified metal products. Fluid flows generated by electromagnetic stirrers have been extensively investigated (1 ). As for numerical predictions, many works have been published on the subject. In most of the previous works, onepoint closure models have been used. The most used model is the well-known k-i:: model. Those models yield fairly good results as for the mean velocity prediction. However, it has two main drawbacks:(i) the turbulence is not predicted accurately,(ii) it is not well fitted for unstationary flows as well as transitional turbulent motions, where theReynolds number is moderate."

Jan 1, 1999

By Donald O. Voit

A BASIC language program has been written that simulates the performance of an integrated solvent extraction circuit consisting of an extractor, a reflux fed scrubber, and a stripper. The program is designed to simulate the performance of a circuit having an aqueous feed containing each of the lanthanides as well as yttrium. The Kremser equation is used to determine the separation occuring in each section of the circuit. The required input variables are the feed composition, the separation factors, the light key extraction factors and extractor feed zone distribution coefficient, the number of stages, and the reflux ratios. The program calculates the composition of the streams at each node in the circuit, the total loading, and the remaining distribution coefficients. User interaction with the program is essential. The program has no capability to determine if the calculated values are consistent with various real restraints. Knowledge of the physical, chemical, and equilibrium behavior is essential to successfully utilize the program. The number of iterations required to achieve steady-state provides insight to the circuit response times. With suitable supervision the program can be used as a simulator for operator training.

Jan 1, 1989

By Thomas Brynjulfsen, Merete Tangstad, Eli Ringdalen

Manganese ore fines cannot be added to the submerged arc furnace directly as they will prevent even gas flow through the burden. Low gas permeability in the burden will lower the degree of pre-reduction of ore subsequently increase the carbon and energy consumption of the process. In order to utilize manganese ore fines in the furnace, they are typically agglomerated into sinter. In this work, the melting and reduction properties of Gabonese sinter and Gabonese ore have been investigated in pilot scale experiments. Two experiments were conducted, one with 100% sinter as manganese source and one with 50/50 sinter and ore. Lime was used to achieve a charge basicity of 0.72 in both experiments. The composition of slag samples from the excavation of the furnace was established using EPMA(WDS), and the composition of the tapped slag and metal was found using XRF. It was found that while the coke-bed size would determine the tapped slag composition, the melting behavior of the Mn source would determine the mixing with lime.

Jan 1, 2014

By Levent Özmen

Colemanite is a mineral containing varying amount of boron that is found in abundance in Turkey. It has a good possibility to be used as a flux in iron and steel industry. In this study a review of the use of colemanite, as a flux agent in steel production has been carried out and various related aspects such as its influence in metal-slag reactions, solubility of lime and magnesia in the slag are discussed along its performance in several points of views including its technical and environmental usage characteristics. Positive and negative factors of using this material as a flux are also underlined.

Jan 1, 2006

By Zviad Kovziridze

It is stated that the specific character of SPHTS specimens of TiCx consists in crystal lattice strength reflecting the condition of synthesis in ?burning wave?. The use of roentgenographic and other methods of analysis allow to estimate the effect of the conditions of synthesis causing the carbon sablattice defect on the grinding intensity of TiCx -phases. The study of the kinetics of vibratory grinding of TiCx -phases in ethanol and benzene medium allows to establish high grinding intensity of the phases close to stoichiometry and the possibility of producing high dispersion powders (Ssp 4.5-6 m2/g).

Jan 1, 2006

By T. Asahina, M. Nakamura, M. Mabuchi, I. Shigematsu, M. Nakanishi, G. Yamauchi

"Commercial stainless steels (SUS304L and SUS430) were subjected to equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) at room temperature to a total strain of 2.3 to 9.2. For each type of stainless steel, it was shown that the sample processed by ECAE showed higher room temperature strength than the as-quenched sample. This is probably due to the heavily worked structure. On the other hand, both strength and elongation of the ECAE processed SUS430 were increased by annealing at 773K. It is likely that higher strength is attributed to both the heavily worked structure and fine substructures. It is also likely that higher elongation is attributed to the fine substructures. It is concluded that ECAE is available for improving the room temperature strength of commercial stainless steels.INTRODUCTIONEqual channel angular extrusion ( ECAE ) is a technique that provides the repetitive deformation and allows to high intensity of deformation. With this procedure, a sample is pressed through a channel that has an equal cross section but bent at an angle of ?> [1-2]. Shear strain is introduced when a sample passes through the bending point of the channel. Repetitive processing is feasible because the cross-sectional dimension of a sample has no change during processing. To date, many reports have described that ECAE is available for the fabrication of fine-grained materials [3-14]. On the other hand, an ECAE processed sample can achieve high intensity of deformation through repetitive deformation. According to the equation given by Segal [ 2 ], a strain of about 1 is introduced in each pass through die if the angle ? is 90 deg.It is well known that high tensile strength can be achieved in metallic materials through work hardening [15]. It is also known that metallic materials with fine grain size show high strength [16]. Hence, it is expected that ECAE is available for strengthening method in metallic materials. In the present paper, we will report the mechanical properties of stainless steels processed by ECAE. As samples, SUS304L austenite stainless steel and SUS430 ferritic stainless steel were chosen. Each alloy has a single-phase structure (fee or bee) and shows no phase transformation, so that transformation strengthening cannot be applied. Hence, a heavy cold work such as ECAE may be effective for strengthening of this stainless steel. Annealing was conducted for the ECAE processed SUS430 to vary its microstructure. Then, the effect of annealing on the strength of the ECAE processed SUS430 was also investigated."

Jan 1, 2000

By Chia-Fu Chang

We revise the applicability of the theory of self-organized criticality (SOC) to the process of magnetic relaxation in type-II superconductors. It is demonstrated that the driving parameter of self-organization of vortices is the energy barrier for flux creep and not the current density. Power spectrum of the magnetic noise due to vortex avalanches is calculated and is predicted to vary with time during relaxation.

Jan 1, 2006

By Kazuyuki Kakegawa

"Sintered body of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) was prepared through the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. When the mixture of raw materials was calcined at 800°C and sintered at 900°C for 10 min. with SPS technique, the sintered body had almost theoretical density but was a mixture of lead titanate (PT) and PZT. When a calcining temperature of 1100°C was employed, sintered body had a single PZT phase but a lower density. High dielectric constant was obtained for a sample calcined at 800°C, sintered with SPS tecbriique and fired again in the air at 1100°C.IntroductionSpark plasma sintering (SPS) is a recently developed technique for sintering metals and ceramics1. The scheme of SPS is shown in Fig. 1. Sample is put in a graphite die in a vacuum chamber. It is pressed and pulse voltage is applied. The electric current heats the die. It is said that the pulse causes a spark-plasma between particles in the sample. Because of the spark- plasma, sample can be sintered at temperatures lower than that in the ordinary sintering by several hundred degrees of Celsius. The sintering period is also very short2Low sintering temperature and short sintering period in SPS technique cause low reaction rate. It is both disadvantage and advantage. In some cases, the reaction cannot be completed under the SPS conditions. If a mixture of several compositions having different properties can be sintered without a compositional change by the diffusion during the sintering, combination of properties, and therefore a design of property will be possible3. The low reaction rate of SPS may enable such combination."

Jan 1, 2000

By Pinakin Chaubal

An analysis of the blast furnace and the low-pressure shaft DR furnace is carried out by redefining the reaction zones. The concept of a characteristic reaction gas temperature (CRGT) is introduced and the two reactors are compared and contrasted using some recent process developments with an aim to develop a platform for further synergistic innovations.

Jan 1, 2006

By G. Ríos

Atlantic Copper Metallurgical Complex in Huelva (Spain) was commissioned in 1970 with a capacity of 40,000 tpy of copper from concentrate. In 1975 the old blast furnaces were replaced by the Outokumpu FSF technology. During the last 30 years, through several expansions and technical modifications, the production has increased up to 300,000 tpy of new copper. This paper describes the developments on the control of impurities that have been made to fit new situations, such as a new artificial gypsum plant, a new electrolyte treatment plant or different secondary materials handling management.

Jan 1, 2006

By George Grandy

Kvaerner experience is being used to develop software to design or simulate crushing and screening plants. The model techniques discussed are presently being used for open-circuit plants and are being extended to closed circuit plants. The program contains a library of routines, each representing a piece of equipment or unit operation, which are assembled into one of several open-circuit plant configurations. Routines include gyratory primary crushers; standard secondary and shorthead tertiary cone crushers; single, double or triple deck screens; and stockpiles, feed bins and belt conveyors. The program uses steady-state models to simulate the performance of crushers and screens that have small residence times and quickly reach equilibrium when operating conditions and/or parameters are changed. The dynamic aspect of the total circuit model concerns the storage units within the circuit, i.e. stockpiles and bins, and, in the closed circuit configuration, circulating loads and size distributions. In many cases, just vendor's catalog data are necessary for a pre-feasibility simulation; in other cases, actual plant test data are required to obtain more accurate simulations. The entire plant is shown in a single graphic screen so the user can see all the relevant information he might want, and soft-keys are provided for the user to make on- line parameter changes and observe the effects on storage elements, equipment feed rates and the final product size distributions. The model also reports equipment utilization in percentage, power consumption, and other related operating information, and soon, will be able to report estimated capital and operating costs.

Jan 1, 1999

By Michael J. Virnig

The formation of crud is a normal part of operating a solvent extraction circuit for the recovery of copper. It periodically must be removed from the circuit. This results in significant costs in terms of manpower, downtime, and loss of circuit organic. Field studies have been carried out that show that the presence of a thermodynamic modifier in the organic phase contributes to crud formation. In an effort to better understand what factors contribute to crud formation, laboratory studies involving competitive adsorption studies with model solids have been carried out. The results of these laboratory studies will be integrated with the results of the field studies to present a better understanding of crud formation.

Jan 1, 1999

By F. A. Fasoyinu

The mechanical properties of yellow brass (C85800), high strength yellow brass (C86300), and high manganese brasses (C99700 and C99750) cast in permanent molds have been studied. The tensile properties as well as fracture and impact toughness of these alloys are strongly dependent on the chemical composition. Alloys and/or compositions exhibiting relatively high zinc equivalent often exhibited high ultimate tensile strength and yield strength with significant reduction in ductility (% elongation). In order to achieve optimum properties with a good balance between strength and ductility, a calculation of the zinc equivalent before alloy preparation can be useful.

Jan 1, 1999

By Jimsher Aneli

The investigation of some peculiarities of conductivity dependence on filler type and amount in the polymer composites has been conducted. It is established, that conductivity of composites based on phenolformaldehide resin essentially depends on proportion of double fillers: graphite + carbon black, graphite+ andesite, contained in composites. It was shown, that these composites characterized by synergetic effect ? non additive influence of fillers concentration on the conductivity of composites. Some other properties of composites contained binary fillers (effect of temperature and pressure on the conductivity) have been investigated.

Jan 1, 2006

By Michael S. Moats, Daniel Kim, Shijie Wang

"The behavior and deportment of lead, arsenic, antimony and bismuth are critical in producing high quality cathode by copper electrorefining. A critical review of research related to these elements is presented along with a comparison to industrial data, where appropriate. These elements exist predominantly in the anode as complex oxides along die grain boundaries. Upon dissolution, Group 15 elements report both to the electrolyte and slimes while lead essentially enters the slimes. The deportment of the Group 15 elements appears to be influenced by several chemical interactions which are discussed. The effect of these elements on floating slimes and anode passivation is reviewed. Under normal electrorefining conditions, lead, antimony and bismuth are thought to enter the cathode through the encapsulation of slime particles. The literature indicates that arsenic enters the cathode predominately by electrolyte entrainment. Finally, areas for future research regarding these elements are presented.IntroductionControlling lead, arsenic, antimony and bismuth is critically important for the production of high quality cathode in copper electrorefining. The reasons for this are twofold. First, ASTM Grade 1 Cathode specifications [1] for these elements are low, as listed in Table 1. Second, they can affect the efficiency of the electrorefining process (e.g., through passivation, current efficiency, slime processing)."

Jan 1, 2012

By Mao Chen, Tim Evans, Zhixing Zhao, Weidong Zhang, Baojun Zhao, Dongqing Wang

High temperature softening behaviours of iron blast furnace feeds (sinter, lump and pellet) have been determined under conditions simulated to the blast furnace. The industrial samples were packed with sandwich structure (coke / ore / coke) in graphite crucibles and 30 CO / 70 Ar gas mixture was blowing directly through the bottom of the crucibles. The displacement and temperature were continuously recorded simultaneously to construct the softening curves. Separated quenching experiments were also carried out at selected temperatures under the same gas atmosphere. The temperatures were selected corresponding to the turning points of the softening curves. The phase assemblages and composition of each phase in quenched samples were analysed by Electron Probe X-ray Microanalysis (EPMA). The proportion of the liquid formed at temperature was obtained from the backscattered electron images. The deformation characteristics of these complex multi-phase materials are shown to be related directly to the phase assemblages of the samples and the microstructures. FactSage was also used to assist the predictions of liquid / solid fractions and their compositions.

Jan 1, 2015

By A. Rohkohl, R. Piillenberg

The QSL plant at "BERZELIUS" Stolberg GmbH in Stolberg, Germany was commissioned in 1990, introducing a new era of lead smelting in the more than 150-year-old history of the lead smelter. The lead smelter in Stolberg has changed its appearance several times during its existence. Therefore, at many locations on the site, old and obsolete buildings and equipment parts can still be seen. They are often located side by side with new modern constructions like the QSL-plant and the mercury removal plant, and reflect the specific contrast between tradition and modern technology. After a brief description of the development of the smelter and its decision to implement the current novel plant, the most recent operating results are reported. Following some modifications to the process and equipment, which had become necessary along with the implementation of the new technology, the plant is in operation today at approximately 30% above its design capacity. These achieved production levels are not restricted by the QSL-reactor but by precedent and subsequent available equipment. The QSL-plant entirely complies with the demands of modern, energy-saving, ecologically compatible lead production technology. Stringent environmental standards are maintained on a continuing basis. The demonstrated viability and flexibility of the overall process permits the operation to adapt quickly to the prevailing economical situation worldwide.

Jan 1, 2000