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By Paula Ana Paiva

The high economic value and unique technological properties of the platinum-group metals (PGMs), plus their growing scarcity in the Earth’s crust, justify the crucial importance of developing recycling practices for PGMs end-of-life materials. Examples of top devices relying on the use of PGMs are automotive and industrial catalysts, and electrical and electronics equipment. This article critically describes the most recent research on the use of solvent extraction to recover one PGM, palladium, from spent catalysts. Some groups focus on the development of schemes involving commercial extractants, while others prefer to design specific molecules to efficiently and selectively recover palladium from these particular complex leaching solutions. Examples of commercial extractants proposed for the former schemes are Alamine® 308, TBP and LIX® 84I; while on the other hand, sulfur-containing diamides, thioamides, thiocarbamates, and dithioethers have recently been developed. Ionic liquids have to be mentioned too.

By R. F. Hammen

Heavy metal contamination of water is a problem of immense national and international proportions. However, effective cleanup is complicated both by the toxicity and the low concentrations of metals in wastewater streams. Using high performance chelation chromatography, the solid phase extraction and purification of extremely dilute metals from water was highly effective. The process is based on selective displacement of metals from a chromatographic column containing a chelating resin. The resin is characterized by extremely efficient adsorption kinetics which allow rapid and complete removal of the metals.

Jan 1, 1993

By Mitsutaka Hino

The contents of gangue minerals, such as A1203, P205, crystalline water and so forth in the iron ore imported to Japan tend to increase year by year, Though the increments of such gangue contents are approximately 0.1-0.2 mass%, some problems for the blast furnace operation in ironmaking process have already been reported, In order to clarify the mechanism of harmful effect caused by the small increment of gangue minerals, mainly A1203, on the blast furnace operation, the dripping behavior of FetO-CaO-SiO2-AI2O3-MgO slag from the iron funnel, which simulated the micro-porosity in sinter ore, has been observed with the wide range of basicity, Al2O3, FetO and Mgo contents. The effect of MgO on the dripping behavior of slag has been summarized in this paper, It was found that the addition of 2mass% MgO resulted in large increase of hold-up on the most of the conditions. When FetO content was less than 20mass% and the basicity was lower than 0.8, MgO lowered the hold-up even if the slag contained 10mass% Al2O3. Every slag hold-up showed the minimum at the basicity of less than unity on the conditions of constant FetO and A1203 contents. This trend became remarkable when the slag contained 2 mass% MgO.

Jan 1, 2003

By A. H. Castillejos E., F. A. Acosta G.

Filtration is widely used as a terminal refining step for metals, particularly for the casting of aluminum alloys, but still more knowledge is required to understand how several factors affect the efficiency of removal of inclusions. In this study, both, initial and long term filtration efficiencies of a ceramic foam filter have been obtained from the computed trajectories of solid particles suspended in molten aluminum. The complex structure of the foam filters is represented by a unit cell which is formed by a pair of pores with average dimensions. The fluid flow field was determined from the numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equation, and periodic fully developed flow was assumed at the inlet of the calculation domain, as a boundary condition. This flow field corresponds to laminar flow as that found in ceramic filters operating under normal conditions. Computed initial filtration efficiencies showed that filtration efficiency decreases sharply with fluid velocity for particles larger than 30 µm, but smaller particles are better trapped at higher fluid velocities. Finally, it was found that long term filtration efficiency for particles of 8 µm decreased with time, in spite that perfect particle-wall attachment was assumed. Filter aging was considered in this study, and it was found that the distorted flow field, around the already trapped small inclusions prevented further collection.

Jan 1, 1999

By Taufiq Hidayat

Accurate description of complex phase equilibria provide the foundations for the improvement of non-ferrous pyrometallurgical smelting and recycling processes. Recent advances in microanalysis and experimental techniques enable accurate phase equilibria characterisation. Quantitative microanalytical techniques including Electron Probe X-ray Microanalysis and Laser Ablation ICP-MS enable the concentrations of major and minor elements present in different phases in samples to be accurately measured providing data that cannot be obtained using bulk chemical analysis techniques. High-temperature equilibration experiments coupled with the subsequent analysis of elementary reactions at micro- and macro-scales ensure the attainment of equilibrium conditions, and therefore, ensure true phase equilibria information is obtained. Examples of the application of the improved methodology on the investigation of phase equilibria of low-order and complex, multi-component gas/slag/matte/metal/solids Cu2O–PbO–ZnO–Al2O3–CaO–MgO– FeO–Fe2O3–SiO2–S systems and the distribution of minor element are provided. The experimental study is closely integrated with thermodynamic database development for the above system. Example of implementation of the research outcomes into industrial operations is demonstrated.

By Luis W. Pommier

Large quantities of sea sludge containing halogenated organic compounds, such as PCB, oils and metals like arsenic and lead have accumulated throughout the years at the bottom of sea channels and harbors and are obstructing navigation and creating environmental problems which need to be resolved. A sludge from a California port would be dredged by suction pumps, it would be processed in a plant which would be built either on firm soil or on floating platforms. The sludge shows contents of up to 1 ppm of PCB, 15 % oil and 10 ppm of arsenic, which generates a very fetid odor. Bench scale work indicates that most of the contamination concentrates on the solid phase, in fact, only minor amounts of oil report to the sea water and can be readily removed by physical means. After separation of the sea water from the solids of the sludge by decantation, it is possible to solubilize the PCB, the oil and the metals into an organic solvent leaving a non-hazardous soil for disposal near the harbor. The PCB is dehalogenated during the solubilization process leaving a liquor solution containing the oil and metals. The oil is extracted leaving an aqueous solution containing the arsenic. Further process extracts the arsenic from this solution rendering the liquid non-hazardous. Transportation and disposal of the sludge is impractical. There are hundreds of thousands of tons of hazardous soils accumulated in each harbor, which would fill the hazardous waste disposal sites available and it would be, prohibitively expensive to do so. It is not possible to compare the costs of decontamination with a competitive method. If it were, the proposed process would be less expensive than transportation and disposal and it has the advantage of removing the liabilities from the Responsible party. After a full scale continuous pilot project is run to decontaminate a small, 500 cubic yards accumulation of this type of sludge in a California harbor, a full scale environmental project would be initiated. The decontamination of one million tons of sludge would be completed in five years.

Jan 1, 1995

By E. James Quinn

Solvent extraction technology using EHEHPA (2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid, 2-ethyhexyl mono ester) is the norm for industrial separations of rare earth elements. This process has some shortcomings, including a large number of stages compared to most SX processes and high acid requirement for stripping of the heavy rare earths. In this work, we examine a number of alternative mixed solvent extraction systems: (i) Mixtures of organophosphonic and phosphinic acids such as EHEHPA/Cyanex 272 or Cyanex 572; (ii) Ionic liquid mixtures of EHEHPA with quaternary ammonium chloride (Aliquat 336); and (iii) Mixtures of carboxylic acids for yttrium/lanthanide separations. We discuss and compare the efficacy of these systems with reference to the Nd/Sm separation, which is of industrial significance. Based on the extraction chemistry and the use of modelling tools to define the counter-current solvent extraction circuit, we present a techno-economic analysis of a separation plant and discuss the impact of various solvent systems on the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating costs (OPEX).

By Bora Derin

The partial pressure ratios of sulfur and oxygen for several copper flash smelting plants were derived using the Reddy-Blander (RB) model and predicted dissolved sulfur contents available in the literature. The sulfide capacities (Cs) of six different flash smelting plants (FeO-CuOo.5- CaO-MgO-FeOu-AlO15-SiO2) slags were calculated. The log (PO2/PS2) versus matte grades of various industrial processes was determined. The PO2/PS2 ratio increased with an increase of copper grade. The calculated partial pressure ratios for the copper flash smelting are in good agreement with those of the experimental data.

Jan 1, 2003

By Corby G. Anderson

In nature, mercury is quite commonly found in association with antimony ores. This can be as a separate mineral such as cinnabar or in direct association with the antimony ore. The most common antimony-mercury mineral is livingstonite that occurs in places such as Algeria, Mexico, USSR and China. In the Roznava deposit in eastern Slovakia, tetrahedrite ore containing mercury ore has historically been processed pyrometallurgically for its silver and copper values. As well, in Tajikistan, major antimony deposits there contain significant mercury ore concentrations within the stibnite ore body. The mercury contained in these materials poses both a processing and environmental challenge. This paper will outline the processing of these types materials by industrial alkaline sulfide hydrometallurgical methods. The economics relevant to this potential application at Roznava in Slovakia will be outlined.

Jan 1, 2003

By Huimin Lu, Min Li, Jinghua Zou

"Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are new type of porous materials, form inerratic polyhedral in three-dimensional with large cages and small apertures, and appear structural diversity. Their hole size can be adjusted. These materials have high selective adsorption capacity to carbon dioxide. In this paper, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks were synthesized by solvothermal synthesis method with dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent and structuredirecting agent, divalent metallic ions as cation, and imidazole as ligand. The crystals were characterized with XRD, SEM for their crystal structures and physical properties, the adsorption of the crystals for carbon dioxide was also tested, and the result suggests that these porous materials have a capacity of 1.35ml/g for storing carbon dioxide at 273 Kelvin under ambient pressure.IntroductionGlobal warming caused by the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has become one of the main environment problems, contemporary research has focused on ways to slow or stop this trend. CO2 capture has attracted attention due to the potential to trap and sequester large amounts of CO2 from concentrated sources such as power plants [1]. Traditional technologies in capturing CO2 include absorption by aqueous amines [2]. However, utilization of this process is energy intensive and expensive. Carbon dioxide storage materials investigated so far can be divided into two categories: chemical storage adsorbents and physical storage media [3]. The first kind of materials can chemically adsorb carbon dioxide within their structures and need thermal energy to release the adsorbed carbon dioxide. The examples of the chemical adsorbents include aqueous amines, gas-hyperbranched aminosilicas [4]. The physical adsorbents store carbon dioxide by physical adsorption of carbon dioxide at elevated pressure and release the adsorbed carbon dioxide at low pressure. The physical adsorbents that have been investigated for carbon dioxide storage include zeolites, carbonaceous materials and other porous materials. Until recently, a new type of microporous material, known as zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), has been reported as promising adsorbents for carbon dioxide storage [5 ~ 10]."

Jan 1, 2010

By I. A. H. Schneiderl

Eichhornia crassipes approaches being a scourge in many parts of the world, .choking waterways and hindering transport upon them. At the same time it is known to readily abstract heavy metal ions from water and, thus, aids in the removal of heavy metals found in such waters. This paper considers the possibility of using specific parts of the plant as an inexpensive adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from contaminated chemical and mining industry waste waters. In particular the root of the plant was found to be an excellent accumulator of 'heavy metal ions including uranium from solution. It is. also suggested that dried roots of the plant ?might be placed in simple bags and used in a very low cost metal ion removal system.

Jan 1, 1995

By Buket Tunçer, Mehmet Buğdaycı, Onuralp Yücel

ZrB2 and TiB2 are one of the most significant metal borides. They are being used in various industrial areas from space technology to nuclear industry owing to their physical properties such as high melting point, high thermal/electrical conductivity and low density. Present study was conducted in two main stages: Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) reactions and leaching. ZrO2, TiO2, B2O3 were used as starting material and Mg used as a reductant to produce ZrB2-TiB2 powders via SHS. Therefore, it was aimed to determine production parameters, leaching conditions and comprehensive examination of final product features. The samples were characterized by using chemical analysis (AAS), XRD, XRF and SEM/EDS techniques

Jan 1, 2015

By Jianguo Yin, Wenqiang Yang, Xiaoli Yuan, Juan An, Wentang Xia

Low grade iron ore with phosphorus (LGIOWP), a raw and wasted industrial solid material was used as an adsorbent to remove Pb(II) from wastewater. The effects of initial pH value, adsorptive time, initial Pb(II) concentration, adsorptive temperature and LGIOWP dosage on the Pb(II) removal efficiency were studied. The results show that the Pb(II) removal efficiencies exceed 99.4% and Pb(II) concentrations are less than 0.30 mg/L under the conditions of pH value 7.0, adsorptive temperature 50 oC, adsorptive time 30 min, initial Pb(II) concentration 100 mg/L, particle size <0.25 mm, adsorbent dosage 5 g/L and stirring speed 260 r/min. After Pb(II) removal reaction, the Pb(II) concentrations of wastewater completely accord with the requirement of national discharge standards of pollutants from lead and zinc industries (GB 25466-2010) (TPb= 0.5 mg/L) in China. Therefore, it can be concluded that LGIOWP is a new low-cost adsorbent which is suitable for the adsorption of Pb(II) from wastewater.

Jan 1, 2015

By Anjan Kumari, B. K. Soni, Manis Kumar Jha, A. Vidyadhar, Vinod Kumar

"In the present paper, recovery of valuable metals from the poly-cracked ash obtained by pyrolysis of discarded PCBs has been studied following physical beneficiation and a hydrometallurgical process alternate to smelting. The ash is subjected to comminution for the separation of metallic components from non-metallic fractions by scrubbing, tabling and froth flotation which enriched the metal in the concentrate -97% which was further screened to separate high and low metal concentrate. The finer fraction containing -12% metallic value was leached in acidic solution. Almost all (Cu, Pb, Fe, etc) were leached in 4M HN03 at 90°C in 75 min at a pulp density 100 g/L. The characterization of both ash and residues were made by XRD, EPMA, EDS, etc. to validate the experimental results. The metals from the leach liquor could be recovered/separated using solvent extraction techniques which can further be processed to get pure metal salts/ sheets.IntroductionPrinted circuit boards (PCBs) are an essential component of electrical and electronic equipments (EEEs) as it plays an important role during operation of these devices. The world market of PCBs has reached nearly $60 billion in 2012, with 1.7 percent real growth over 2011 [1]. The diverse technology-driven global market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 5% by 2014 [2]. The waste EEEs are generated due to replacement of obsolete equipments with modem ones and thus their demand is also increasing rapidly [3]. The discarded e-wastes are being piled up as landfills which affect the environment and cause health threats to living organisms, if not disposed of properly. These e-wastes contain metals some of which are precious, few are hazardous and others as valuable."

Jan 1, 2014

By J. D. Miller

Gold adsorption from cyanide solutions by activated carbon has been studied at great length during the past decade. Findings from past research are reviewed and discussed with respect to structural features of various carbons, including carbon black, activated carbon, graphite and diamond.

Jan 1, 1991

By Dinesh Goyal

Industrial fly ash from (electro static precipitator) was mixed with soil at different levels on v/v basis for raising of pulpwood tree species. In field trials conducted on degraded soils increase in the plant growth of Eucalyptus tereticornis, Acacia auriculiformis and Casuarina equisetifolia by 10 %, was observed during the initial six months after plantation at 18-24% (v/v) fly ash concentration which was at par with chemical fertilizer treatment. Level of As, Se and Mo in flyash was 6.2, 3.6 and 4.0 ppm respectively. The radioactivity analyses 40K, soil and 28 fly ash showed that the activity levels of gamma emitting radionuclides K, Ra, Ac were within the permissible limits and mixing of fly ash with soil at tested concentration would have no deleterious effects. Available Co, Cr, Ni and Cd in rhizospheric soils were below detection limit. Fly ash at 10-20 % level (v/v) was also found to be a good potting mix material in forestry nurseries in terms of improving biomass production by 20 %, when tested in nursery seedlings of Eucalyptus tereticornis. Nursery addition of fly ash in soil decreased soil dehydrogenase activity and the soil bacterial population was negatively affected. These results indicate that use of fly ash in forestry sector involving nursery and plantations as a soil amendment agent upto 10-20 % v/v is a gainful utilisation of fly ash.

Jan 1, 2002

By Nural Kuyucak

Acid mine drainage (AMD) occurs at operating and abandoned mine sites as a result of oxidation of sulphide minerals, and is characterized by low pH and heavy metal contamination (e.g. Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Al, Mn). It usually requires treatment before release in order to meet regulatory requirements. Chemical methods, such as lime neutralization and sulphide precipitation, are commonly used to treat AMD. However, the conventional processes require high capital and operating costs, and constant attention for many years into the future. In addition, the amount of sludge produced by conventional lime treatment processes poses an increasingly significant disposal problems at decommissioned mining operations. There is, therefore, an urgent need to develop passive, cost-effective processes for mitigating AMD and seepages originating from tailings and waste rock areas. Noranda Technology Centre (NTC) has been evaluating various methods being developed by other institutions, and exploring new ideas, to achieve passive in situ processes for treating AMD. These methods include anoxic limestone (ALS), lime-organic mixture (LOM), biosorbents (BIOS) and biotrench (BT). Current investigations at NTC involve preliminary bench-scale testing. Based on the outcome of the bench tests, a field test will be performed at a selected site. Details of the bench tests are discussed in the paper. Key Words: Acid mine drainage, treatment, metals removal, passive treatment, anoxic lime, limestone, biological treatment, sulphate reducing bacteria, biosorption, biosorbent

Jan 1, 1993

By Y. A. Chang, J. Woodford, C. R. Kao

Reactive diffusion studies between NbC and Si were carried out at 1300 °C under a vacuum of 10-5 torr and a uniaxial pressure of 1 MPa. The annealing time ranged from 8 to 100 hours. The Si used was single crystal silicon; the NbC was hot-pressed powder compact. A NbSi2+SiC two-phase reaction layer formed with NbSi2 as the matrix and SiC as discontinuous particles. The microstructure of the reaction product is homogeneous, dense, and fine. The NbSi2 grain size and SiC particle size are in the micron range. The growth of the reaction products follows parabolic kinetics. Extrapolation of the data to zero thickness suggests an apparent incubation time of 3.5 hours. However, for short annealing time «60 hours), the thickness data can be approximated by linear kinetics with an initial growth rate of about 2 11m/hr. Based on these experimental observations, a growth mechanism for the reactive diffusion between Si single crystal and NbC powder compact is proposed. We propose that the nucleation sites for the SiC particles are at the voids of the NbC powder compact. This proposed nucleation mechanism offers a potential way of controlling the SiC particle size by changing the void size and void density of the NbC powder compact. This hypothesis, if proven to be true, will allow us to control mechanical properties of the composites by tailoring the SiC particles formed. It is also pointed out that the microstructure requires Si to be the dominant diffusing species and to diffuse through the reaction layer, while Nb and Conly have to undergo local rearrangement.

Jan 1, 1996

By D. Neuschiltz, M. Witthaut, R. Cremer

"Metastable (Ti,Al)N coatings with fee structure have been shown to exhibit superior performance as compared to TiN under conditions of wear at elevated temperatures due to their better oxidation resistance and hardness. The oxidation resistance of these coatings increases significantly with increasing Al-content. However, the deposition of (Ti,Al)N films with Ti/ Al ratios below about 30/70 leads to a hexagonal structure which is not suitable for tribological coatings. Only little is known about the location of the cubic to hexagonal phase transition and hence about the optimum composition of (Ti,Al)N hard coatings.To determine the position of this transition, Tii-xAlxN films with different Ti/Al ratios were deposited on high speed steel at substrate temperatures between 100 and 700 °C by means of reactive MSIP. The composition of the films was determined by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the crystallographic structure by thin film X-ray diffraction (XRD).It could be shown that in case of deposition temperatures of 300-700 °C a two-phase region exists in the metastable TiN-AlN phase diagram, which expands with increasing temperature, wheras at 100 °C substrate temperature no two-phase region was observed. But in opposition to the phase diagram known from literature, which is based on thermodynamic estimations, the detected two-phase region is narrow for typical PVD temperatures, thus allowing the deposition of cubic single-phase Al-rich (Ti,Al)N hardcoatings for tribological applications. Based on these results, a new Ti1-xAlxN film with x = 0.62 has been developed, which showed an increase of oxidation resistance by a factor of 4."

Jan 1, 1998

By Katsutoshi Inoue

Pectic acid gel crosslinked with epichlorohydrin was found to have very high selectivity to lead(II) and iron(III) ions over zinc(II) ion compared with commercial weakly cation exchange resins containing the same carboxylic functional groups, suitable for removing small amount of impurity metal ions from waste zinc plating solutions. In order to lower the cost, new adsorption gel was prepared from orange juice residue containing pectic acid by crosslinking with epichlorohydrin, which was also found to be suitable for removing these impurities. Further, very cheap adsorption gels was prepared not only from orange but also from apple juice residues by a simple method through just saponificating pectin substances contained in these residues into pectic acid by calcium hydroxide followed by water washing and drying. These adsorption gels exhibited excellent adsorption behaviors for removing the impurity metal ions away from zinc.

Jan 1, 2003