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By P. A. Rusin

Many manganiferous silver deposits remain undeveloped because standard chemical extraction methods yield poor recoveries or are ' environmentally unacceptable. Biotreatment of such ore deposits in our laboratory resulted in manganese and silver recoveries of greater than 90%. Ore and sediment samples were collected from mining sites in Colorado and Arizona. Portions of samples were incubated in a semi-solid mineral salts medium amended with 20 mM glucose mid manganese dioxide (Mn medium). The cultures were incubated at 3(fC until manganese reduction was detected by a .color change fr:om .black to clear. Bacteria from these cultures were purified on Tryptic Soy Agar and individual isolates were retested for Mn reduction by an agar overlay method. Bacteria were identified according to Bergefs Manual ?of Systematic . Bacteriology. Most of the Mn-reducing bacteria are Bacillus species. Bacterial manganese reduction kinetic experiments were performed in 52 ml mineral salts broth supplemented with manganiferous silver ore instead of manganese dioiide. These cultures were incubated with agitation for 16 d. Aliquots were removed periodically and analyzed for solubilized manganese by atoniic absorption (AA). Cyanide (1,0 M) Vias added to the remaining ore-medium mixture for a 24 h bottle roll. The supernatant was analyzed for soluble silver by AA. Similar experiments were conducted on a larger scale using 15% pulp density. After bfotreatment of the ore, standard bottle rolls were performed. The pregnant solutions and the residues were analyzed for manganese and silver?using AA or fire assay as appropriate. In sterile. controls-which received no biotreatment, manganese and silver recoveries were 0.3% and 10% respectively; During biotreatment, total manganese solubilizatiori was as high as 99.8%. The reduced manganese could . be stripped from ?the growth medium using hydrometallurgical techniques. Silver recovery vaned from 70% to 92.5%. Microbial treatment of refractory mangairlferous ores can result in high recoveries of manganese and silver. Retention time varies depending upon the relative concentrations of manganese, silver, and other metals in the ore with only two days required in some cases, The biotreatment of ore is environmentally' acceptable while the use. of chemicals such as sulfur dioxide is less so.

Jan 1, 1991

By Fernando Aracati Botelho, Jose Antonio Silva Souza, Luis Alves Venancio, Emanuel Negrão Macedo

"1 AbstractThe production of alumina from bauxite using the Bayer process generates 0.7 to 2.0 ton of the residue known as red mud and about 800 kg of CO2 per ton of alumina. The direct use of exhaust gases to react and neutralize the bauxite residue may allow a double gain: open a wide range of new applications for bauxite residue reducing its reactivity and sequester from 3 8 to 107 kg of CO2 per ton of alumina. This paper shows a pilot scale reaction of a suspension of bauxite residue-water with flue gas produced from direct burning oil, similar to the exhaust gases of a refinery. Two different types of reactors are used, a spray tower and a packed column. The inlet and exhaust gases are analyzed using electrochemical cells and non-dispersive infrared sensors. The pH of the suspension is monitored during the reaction and after to evaluate the buffer effect. 2 IntroductionThe production of millions of tons per year of alumina around the world generates from 0. 7 to 2.0 ton of the residue known as red mud (RM) per ton of alumina. The vast majority of the red mud is stored in large sealed lakes. Due to the high reactivity this material is considered dangerous and currently there is no operating process capable of reusing all the material produced at any refinery. These lakes after filled of solid material eventually have the surface revegetated [4]. In any case they will remain as an environmental passive and needs monitoring for decades. The search of a industrial process that combines the reduction of the CO2 emission and the reduction the pH of the red mud opening the possibility of large scale and economically viable ways is the main objective of this work.The use of the exhaust gases of the refmeries to neutralize the bauxite residue may allow a double gain: Open a large array of new applications for the residue with the reduction of its reactivity and sequester millions of tones ofCO2 plus other gases like SO2 [7] and NOx. This project studies the reaction of the exhaust gases from a boiler burning diesel with RM in different reactor types and conditions in order to obtain parameters to design equipment capable of process this reaction on a larger scale. With these objective compositions of red mud were processed with flue gas at concentration similar to the exhaust gases of the calcination process and boilers of the refmeries."

Jan 1, 2012

By Hang Goo Kim

A computer simulation has been carried out to predict the distribution behavior of minor elements such as Pb. Zn, Bi, Sb and As in recently proposed copper smelting and converting processes with submerged oxygen injection in which tonnage oxygen is used with a shielding gas. In this study the technique of stepwise equilibrium modeling was employed and some of the thermodynamic data were updated or reassessed. The volatilization and slagging of undesirable elements were investigated in copper smelting (steady-state) system, copper matte converting (batch) system, and the combined (smelting + converting) system at extremly high oxygen-enrichment levels. The predicted minor-element behavior under high oxygen- enrichment was compared with that in the Noranda process (normally 42% oxygen-enrichment in smelting and 24% in converting) and the reverberatory process using air. The effects of various operating parameters such as temperature, the final matte grade in smelting, the initial matte grade in converting and the O/Fe ratio in slag on the behavior of minor elements are discussed.

Jan 1, 1991

By Zhihe Dou, Yu Fang, Zimu Zhang, Yan Liu, Xiaoli Jiang Dianhua Zhang, Guanting Liu

"With the idea of “waste control by waste itself”, we come up with the crafts of using waste calcium carbide to mineralize CO2 in electrolytic aluminum waste gas, design and make out “Venturi gas-liquid-solid three stage reactor”, do experiments under the system of CO2-Ca(OH)2, investigate the influence on gas absorption by pH meter; investigate the influence on diameter distribution , rise velocity of bubble and local gas hold-up by dual conductivity probes; investigated the absorption of CO2 in every stage reactor under different initial proportion of CO2 by intelligent gas measurement system. The results showed that the reactor can fully absorb the CO2 in waste gas, and it has largely shorten the time of absorption and improve the CO2 utilization compared with the single stage reactor.The residual proportion of CO2 in the gas is below 0.08% through the absorption of three stage reactor,which show that absorption is extremely improved.IntroductionCarbide slag is a kind of polluting hydrolysis reaction byproducts in producing carbide in wet reactor, and it is mainly comprised by Ca(OH)2, It's estimated that there are about million tons carbide slag are piled up per year. Carbide slag is a kind of industrial wastes that hard to deal with ,which are treated by land filled in the past. It would not only occupy a lot of land, but also lead to secondary pollution [1].CO2 is the main greenhouse gas by now. In 2010, global CO2 emission has reached 33.5 billion tons, while China has now become the world's second largest emitter of CO2, emissions accounting for about one-seventh of the world [2].As the experts estimates, the greenhouse gas emission of whole nonferrous metal industry may over 0.6 billion tons per year, while CO2 emission of electrolytic aluminum is 0.334 billion tons per year [3]. So it is necessary and pressing to discover the reusing CO2 of electrolytic aluminum. With the idea of “waste control by waste itself”, we came up with the crafts of using carbide slag to mineralize the CO2 in electrolytic aluminum waste gas, which was experimented on the counterflow-three stage-venturi reactor,and studied the local gas holdup, residual concentration of CO2 and the volumetric transfer coefficient in the reactor."

Jan 1, 2014

By N. J. Themelis

The basic chemical, thermal and transport principles that underlie sulfide smelting of. copper, nickel and lead are reviewed. Two basic types of modern smelting processes are distinguished?: flash-smelting, where the predominant reactions occur between oxygen-bearing gas and concentrate particles dispersed therein; and bath-smelting where the concentrate is enveloped and reacted in a turbulent bath of matte, slag and gas. The controlling heat and mass transfer phenomena are discussed, and appropriate correlations are proposed.

Jan 1, 1983

By F. Kongoli

Viscosity is an important parameter of copper smelting and converting processes. It affects the settling of matte or metal droplets in the slag, distribution of elements etc. Despite this importance, confusion exists on the viscosity of copper smelting slags as a result of disagreements found among the measured viscosity data of several authors especially in the slags of high ferric iron content and close to magnetite precipitation. In this work a critical review of the existing data on the viscosity of copper smelting slags has been first carried out and the effect of oxygen potential on the viscosity of copper smelting slags has been clarified through a coupled quantification of viscosity and liquidus temperature. The confusion in the literature has been clarified and the importance of the relation between the viscosity and the liquidus temperature is discussed.

Jan 1, 2003

By G. Mawire

The extraction of scandium from its oxide with a task specific ionic liquid [Hbet][Tf2N] offers potential advantages of lower energy consumption, recycling of the extractant and reduced environmental impact compared to conventional methods. In this paper, the influence of reaction temperature, solid to liquid ratio and water to the ionic liquid ratio on the extraction of scandium from a synthetic scandium oxide (Sc2O3) system was studied. The influence of investigated parameters on leaching was very significant as approximately 98% scandium was extracted from its oxide after 72 h. Furthermore, the ionic liquid also selectively extracted 47% scandium after 48 h from a mixture of pure metal oxides containing oxides of tantalum, niobium, and scandium. The research demonstrated the potential of [Hbet][Tf2N] to selectively extract scandium from columbite processing tailings and other scandium bearing ores like Ixiolite, Heftetjernite and Tantalite which predominately contain tantalum and niobium.

By Kenneth McGowan

"The aluminum industry is the 5th largest consumer of energy and the largest consumer of energy on a per-weight basis. Process heating accounts for 25% of the energy consumed to manufacture aluminum. Consequently, the generation of this energy results in the production of a significant amount of CO2 (over 3.75 million metric tons in 2003)1. As a result, the Aluminum Industry Technology Roadmap of 2003 listed the development of improved refractory materials as a goal to reduce energy use and decrease greenhouse gas creation. The result of a R&D effort addressing this desire is the development of patented microporous refractory materials for metal contact applications in all furnace areas including the belly band. It has been demonstrated that this material can reduce energy consumption up to 38% in furnaces and significantly reduce heat loss in launder and trough systems. Furthermore the material developed is non-wetting and remains un-penetrated by metal throughout its lifetime. The material does not contribute to the formation of corundum. As a result, the energy efficiency of an older lining remains intact compared to standard refractory materials which may have an initial high insulating value (such as lightweights and board) or standard dense refractory (even with penetration inhibitors) both of which show a rapid increase in thermal conductivity as the refractory is penetrated with aluminum and formed corundumIntroductionThe aluminum industry is the second largest producer of metal in the United States, behind the iron and steel industry. It is the 5th largest consumer of energy and the largest consumer of energy on a per-weight basis. Process heating is required to melt, hold, purify, alloy, and heat treat the metal and accounts for 25% of the energy consumed to manufacture aluminum. As such, process heating is the second largest energy consuming operation. Smelting, which utilizes an electrolytic reduction process is the largest energy consuming operation1.Most process heating is accomplished through the use of fossil fuels, either directly or indirectly. The choice of fuel is dependent on a plant’s location and fossil fuel availability. Table I shows the processes impacted by refractories and the calculated BTU’s generated by usage of the respective fuels as well as the Metric Tons (MT) of metal passed through each process in 20001."

Jan 1, 2009

By Ross W. Smith

Microorganisms are increasingly finding use in mineral processing and hydrometallurgy both for the enhancement of mineral engineering operations and for the remediation of mineral industry wastes. Some of the applications, such as biologically assisted leaching of sulfide ores and biooxidation of refractory sulfide gold ores, are established commercial processes. Others, such as the use of organisms for the removal of heavy metal ions from dilute aqueous streams, are nearing commercial application. Other uses of microorganisms are potentially possible. These include use of microorganisms in leaching non-sulfide ores, the flocculation or flotation of minerals and remediation of toxic chemicals discharged from mineral engineering operations.

Jan 1, 1993

By I. C. Howard, E. J. Palmiere

"Heat transfer and friction in hot flat rolling have traditionally been characterised by an average heat transfer coefficient (h) and an average friction coefficient (p.). However, the presence of oxide scales and asperities at the interface question the use of such averages. The apparent irregularity and lack of pattern of interactions at the interface has prompted this present investigation to move away from averaged h and 11 values, and to study their local evolution based on probabilistic rules. The approach is based on the probability of finding the workpiece surface in a specific configuration at a particular instance of time in the roll gap. These rules are based on observations of surface phenomena such as scale behaviour during hot rolling. The model is implemented using user-subroutines integrated with the commercially available finite element program ABAQUS™. The results show the strong dependence of h and u on the local scale interactions. In particular, the effect of scale thickness, material behaviour and processing conditions on the evolution of hand 11 are discussed. Finally, the development of a Cellular Automata based Finite Element (CAFE) model is proposed to model the combined interfacial phenomenon of friction and heat transfer at the tool-work piece interface.IntroductionIntricate interactions between process variables in hot rolling of steels make it a challenge to the modelling community. For a given material and geometry combination, reducing interfacial power losses can increase the efficiency of the rolling process. The roll-strip interface, therefore, forms the critical zone and is currently the domain of intense investigation, especially to characterize interfacial frictionl • 2 and heat transfer3 • 4 . These interfacial phenomena are inter-related and cannot be studied in isolation. However, very few mathematical models4 • 5 combine an analysis of friction and heat transfer and deformation of the strip-roll interface taking into account the role of asperities and oxide scales."

Jan 1, 2001

By Masaru Imaizumi, Hiroyuki Nomura, Mitsuharu Takita

"Cast iron possesses many superior characteristics caused from precipitated graphite structure, for example, castability, wear resistance, solid lubrication, damping capacity. But the more graphite hyper-eutectic cast iron contains, the lower its mechanical strength becomes, because graphite gives a negative effect to strength of cast iron. In addition, primary graphite tends to segregate during solidification, so uniform materials are difficult to be produced.In this study, authors introduced semi-solid processing in developing new and high quality cast iron. A series of semi-solid processing experiments were carried out to clarify the effect of stirring condition; solidification temperature and etc. on microstructures and characteristics of cast iron. In particular much attention is paid to the appearance of ternary eutectic zone at the final stage of solidification. As the results advanced hyper-eutectic cast iron was obtained with high quality of both the mechanical strength and wear resistance. As for the mechanical strength, 300MPa and 0.60% are obtained as the tensile strength and the elongation values, respectively, under the controlled stirring condition. This indicates that semi-solid processed hyper-eutectic cast iron is used prospectively without spheroidization.IntroductionCast iron has various good properties such as wear resistance, solid lubrication, damping capacity and machinability. The characteristics of cast iron are mainly decided by graphite structure, namely graphite shape and its distribution in the matrix. Mechanical strength of cast iron is large in the case of small quantity of graphite particles which are precipitated uniformly, however, it becomes small in the case of large quantity of graphite precipitated flakily."

Jan 1, 2000

By Zhang Hanbo, Niu Liping, Zhang Zhiqi, He Jicheng, Dou Zhihe

"Rutile, ilmenite and Al-Ca complex reducer were used to prepare high titanium ferrous alloy by enhanced reduction-SHS method. The effects of the complex reducer compositions and slag types on the enhanced reduction-SHS process were investigated. The high titanium ferrous alloys were characterized by XRD and SEM. The results indicate that the high titanium ferrous alloys consist mainly of TiFe2, AlTi3 and Al2O3. The oxide inclusions exist resulting in directly the high oxygen content and micro-structural defects in the alloys. The titanium and oxygen contents decrease, but the aluminum content in the alloy increases while the mass ratio of calcium in the Al-Ca complex reducers increases. When the mass ratio of Al/Ca in the Al-Ca complex reducer is 6:1, titanium, oxygen and aluminum contents are 63.75%, 3.01% and 10.72% respectively. When the mass ratio of Al/Ca is 5:1 titanium content is 55.00% nearly and aluminum content is higher than 14.00%, but oxygen content is lower than 2.0%.1. IntroductionThe high titanium ferroalloys with 65%~75% titanium have the advantages of low melting point and high titanium content. They are widely used in special steel refining, while they are also a kind of very important quality orientation alloys in the rage of aviation and aerospace. At present, the methods of preparing high titanium ferroalloy include vacuum remelting and thermit reduction. The alloys prepared by the vacuum remelting method have good qualities and low oxygen content, so it is widely used in Russia, Western Europe and other developed countries. In China, there are abundant rutile resources, but waste titanium is lack, therefore, the preparation method is the thermit reduction. But there are many quality defects in the high ferrotitanium alloy, including high oxygen content, unstable quality and so on. In order to improve the qualities of the high titanium ferroalloy, especially to reduce oxygen content, the domestic and overseas have done a lot of further researches. For example, Sichuan E-mei ferroalloy plant and Beijing Nonferrous Metal Research Institute have prepared high titanium ferrous with 73.77% titanium with natural rutile, but the oxygen content is high. Through controlling the quality of raw material, they obtained the better qualities, but the oxygen content is still very high. South Africa Mintek company have prepared high titanium ferrous alloy with low nitrate by plasma heating under the isolation air conditions, but they couldn’t also remove effectively oxygen in the alloy. The oxygen exists in the form of Al2O3 and titanium protoxide. So it can be speculated that except TiO2 not being fully reduced, the no-sufficient alloy-slag separation is the direct reason resulting in high oxygen and poor microstructure. In view of present technical difficulties during preparing high titanium ferroalloy by thermit reduction, this paper proposed a new method of preparing high titanium ferrous with low oxygen by enhanced reduction-SHS with Al-Ca complex reducer. Ca in Al-Ca complex reducer has stronger reductive ability, it can effectively strengthen the reductive degree of TiO2. The slagging agent CaO CaF2 and MgO can effectively reduce the viscosity of Al2O3 slag to improve its liquidities to strengthen alloy-slag separation effects so that to remove inclusions and oxygen. In this paper, effects of slagging agent type on the reduction and the qualities of high-titanium ferroalloy were studied."

Jan 1, 2012

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 Jr. Langhans, J. S. McPartland

"The presence of zinc in cyanide solutions is generally thought to not have an adverse effect on precious metal recovery or recovery rate by heap leach processing. However, analytical interferences of zinc in solution can cause problems in accurately determining and controlling cyanide concentration in the leach solution, leading to increased cyanide consumption. Analytical methods and the chemistry of cyanide in the presence of zinc are reviewed. The effects of solution pH and zinc concentration on the free cyanide determination were evaluated in detail. Use of the standard silver nitrate titration and a modified titration method for controlling cyanide concentration during heap leaching were investigated experimentally. The practical implications of cyanide heap leaching in the presence of cyanide soluble zinc minerals are discussed.IntroductionThe presence of zinc in precious metal cyanidation circuits is not uncommon. Zinc can be introduced into cyanide leach solutions through dissolution of various zinc minerals1>, or through the use of a Merrill Crowe (zinc precipitation) circuit. Zinc minerals typically occur infrequently and in low concentration in gold ores, but are more abundant in silver ores. Merrill Crowe systems are most commonly employed for recovery of precious metals from solution for relatively high silver ores. It is desirable to control the amount of dissolved zinc in a cyanidation circuit for several reasons. Excessive zinc build-up in cyanide leach solution can, under certain circumstances, inhibit precious metal dissolution and adversely affect solution recovery systems. Additionally, high zinc concentrations can lead to excessive in-process cyanide inventories and potentially, to higher cyanide consumption"

Jan 1, 1999

By T. Nagano

Mitsubishi Metal Corporation started the development work of a new process for continuous production of copper in 1961. After a series of experimental and semi-commercial operations, the first commercial plant of the Mitsubishi Continuous Copper Smelting and Converting Process was put into operation in March, 1974. The new plant, which has a design capacity of 4,000 metric ton copper per month, was built within the premises of Naoshima Smelter, replacing the old No.1 reverberatory smelter there. The SO2-rich exhaust gas from this new plant is blended with the off-gas of the No.2 reverberatory furnace for production of sulfuric acid and the overall emission of sulfur at Naoshima has been greatly reduced. The operation of the continuous plant has been satisfactory and several advantageous features of the Mitsubishi Process have been proven on a commercial scale. This paper first gives a brief description of the history of the development work and the characteristic features of the process. The paper then describes the new commercial plant and operating data obtained so far.

Jan 1, 1976

By Arthur E. Morris

Fifty years ago when Professor Yazawa began his career, the field of process simulation and modeling was in its infancy. Since then, tremendous progress has been made in our ability to model metal production flowsheets from mine to refined metal. This progress has come about by parallel developments in basic understanding of process chemistry and in computational techniques. This paper will review the progress made in process understanding and modeling in lead, zinc, and copper metallurgy from its inception to the present, and the role of Professor Yazawa's work in furthering this progress. Specific examples wi1\ be given for the sintering of lead concentrates, slag fuming, zinc concentrate roasting, flash smelting of copper, and pyro-extraction of zinc. Factors limiting further progress will be described.

Jan 1, 2003

By G. Barbery

The models for particle composition prediction that have been put forward are limited to simple textures and lead to an independance of grade with respect to particle size in broken ore. A presentation is made of a modification in texture description; binary textures, in which each subeonstituent has its own breakage characteristics are introduced. The calibration of the textural model can be made using heavy liquid separation results. The application to the case of coal is presented. Coal washability data present spe¬cial difficulty due to the distribution in the specific gravity of coal, which must be taken into account. Coal s.g. distribution is taken as a generalized exponential distribution. Model calibration is then possible and is shown to be in good agreement with experimental data.

Jan 1, 1987

By Arthur E. Morris

Fifty years ago when Professor Yazawa began his career, the field of process simulation and modeling was in its infancy. Since then, tremendous progress has been made in our ability to model metal production flowsheets from mine to refined metal. This progress has come about by parallel developments in basic understanding of process chemistry and in computational techniques, This paper will review the progress made in process understanding and modeling in lead, zinc, and copper metallurgy from its inception to the present, and the role of Professor Yazawa's work in furthering this progress. Specific examples will be given for the sintering of lead concentrates, slag fuming, zinc concentrate roasting, flash smelting of copper, and pyro-extraction of zinc. Factors limiting further progress will be described.

Jan 1, 2003

By R. D. Brittain

In order to analyze and control the transport of harmful trace-element impurities in various smelting processes, it is necessary to have fundamental information about the chemical thermodynamic properties of the pertinent condensed and vapor phases. This paper describes recent thermodynamic studies of the gaseous arsenic sulfides and of the activity of arsenic in a copper-iron sulfide matte phase. These studies were carried out by high temperature mass spectrometry and by effusion vaporization techniques, which permitted clear identification of the molecular species involved, a decided advantage in such complex systems. The nature of the results obtained and comparisons with previous interpretations will be described.

Jan 1, 1983

By C. Ek

In bismuth metallurgy, low-copper high-sodium mattes are by-produced. Different charges containing mixtures- of crude mattes, oxidized matte, and/or copper sulfide concentrate and/or copper silicate ore have been smelted to give a rich matte and a disposable slag, then converted to obtain blister copper with high recovery and a rich slag to be recycled.

Jan 1, 1983