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By Mineo Hayashi

Gresik plant, PT Smelting, is the first and the only copper smelter and refinery in Indonesia. It had the original design capacity of 200,000 tpy of LME grade A cathode production and treats copper concentrates mainly coming from Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia. The smelter that employs the Mitsubishi process was put into operation at the end of 1998. In April 2004 the refining capacity was expanded up to 259,000 tpy in order to meet with soaring demand of copper cathode in South East Asian market. In addition, the construction work for the second refinery expansion project has started and it is scheduled to be completed in July 2006. At the completion of the project an additional 12,000 tpy capacity will be assured and in total it will make 271,000 tpy,. This paper describes the chronology of the expansion and future operational strategy of Gresik plant.

Jan 1, 2006

By Jun-ichiro Yagi

A mathematical model has been developed for simulating the blast furnace operation with carbon composite agglomerates charging based on multi-fluid theory and reaction kinetics. In this model, the behaviours of carbon composite agglomerates are considered on the basis of previously reported conservation equations and experimental research on the reduction rate of carbon composite agglomerates. A series of calculations are performed to examine the effect of charging carbon composite agglomerates. The model calculation gives two-dimensional distributions of process variables and information on the overall operational parameters. It reveals that in-furnace temperature levels significantly decrease and the reduction of carbon composite agglomerates is retarded with carbon composite agglomerates charging ratio. The furnace performance is remarkably improved with the increase in carbon composite agglomerates rate. The productivity tends to increase while coke rate and total reducing agent rate show decreases at the different degree.

Jan 1, 2006

By W. John Rankin

Professionals, technical and non-technical, working in the mineral and metal commodity industries need to understand the concept of sustainability and its implications for the industry. Undergraduate courses have not done this well in the past. Much has been written in this field, and there have been great advances in understanding. However, much of what has been published is superficial and sometimes misleading, and there is as yet no coherent, single account that can serve as an introduction or overview for mineral industry graduates. This paper presents an outline which can guide readers in developing an understanding of the topic and its relevance to their work. Key references are provided, particularly those accessible on the internet, which will serve to introduce the reader to the important principles and understandings. The guide should also be useful to academics preparing students to work in the minerals and metal production sectors.

Jan 1, 2010

By T. Tamagawa

Vaporization of zinc and mixing of zinc vapor with CO-CO2 mixtures were studied experimentally to prepare Zn(g)-CO-CO2-Ar mixtures with desired composition for investigating the condensation behavior and efficiency of zinc vapor. The vaporization rate of zinc was generally constant under given conditions, and could be increased by raising the flow rate of the carrier gas, temperature and vaporization area. The Zn(g)-CO-CO,,-Ar mixtures were quenched by a water-cooling sampling tube for measuring the actual composition of the mixtures in the reactor. The oxidation extent of the zinc vapor in the CO-CO2 mixtures had relation to the CO2/CO ratios and the temperatures. Under current conditions, it was necessary to employ the CO2/CO ratio below 0.125 for mixing the zinc vapor with CO-CO2 mixtures without oxidation. In addition, the appearances and zinc contents of the condensed zinc on the sampling tube were also examined.

Jan 1, 2001

By Carole Read

Hydrogen is under consideration by several countries for its potential as an energy carrier for transportation applications. In order to compete with vehicles in use today, hydrogen-powered vehicles will require a driving range of greater than 300-miles in order to meet customer needs and expectations. For the overall vehicular light-duty fleet, this dictates that a range of 5 to 13 kg of hydrogen be stored on-board (assuming a fuel cell power plant) within stringent system weight, volume, and cost constraints. Vehicular hydrogen storage thus constitutes a major scientific and technological challenge. To meet this challenge, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a ?National Hydrogen Storage Project? with roughly 40 universities, 15 companies and 10 federal laboratories, actively engaged in hydrogen storage research. Centers of Excellence in metal hydrides, chemical hydrides, and carbon-based materials have been established, as well as independent university and industry projects in the areas of new concepts/materials, hydrogen storage testing, and storage system analysis. Recent technical progress in each of these areas is discussed, as well as collaborative hydrogen storage activities under the recently established International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE).

Jan 1, 2006

By Jean-Louis Dirion, Guy Depelsenaire, Patrick Sharrock, Souhila Kribi, Ange Nzihou, Jocelyn Ramaroson

"This study assesses the Novosol® process, an emerging technology developed by Solvay to treat heavy metals from dredged sediments using phosphoric acid. The main goal is to convert toxic metal ions, such as Pb2+, Cd2+, Zn2+ and Cu2+ to insoluble metallic phosphates. The effectiveness of the treatment was evaluated by performing the chemical reaction in a tubular reactor, followed by convective drying and maturation of the treated sediment at ambient temperature and finally thermal destruction of the organic matter by calcinations (500°C-700°C). Selected variables (acid concentration, volume fraction of solids, flow rate, drying and calcination temperature and time) were investigated. Laboratory scale experiments were carried out with various combinations of these parameters. The influence of the quantity of acid and the temperature of calcinations on physical properties of the sediment and stabilization of the heavy metals are discussed. Introduction The French territory counts 525 000 km of rivers which transport each year on average 6 million m3 of sediments. Their deposit causes the silting of channels, rivers and lakes. This completely natural phenomenon is exacerbated by the introduction of industrial and urban wastes into the erosion and sedimentation process. This silting leads to clogging of rivers, with a reduction in their flow rates. Consecutively, other problems appear, such as flooding risks, decrease of biological purification capacity and associated loss of the biodiversity. The presence of toxic compounds (from industrial, household or agricultural origins) in the sediments worsens the situation, and requires curing to restore the natural environment and its function. The dredged sediments are either spread on agricultural land, land tipped, confined or sent for chemical or physical treatment [12]. The first research programmes on toxic sediments appeared at the end of the Eighties in the United States, in Canada, in the Netherlands and in Germany. Several techniques of treatment were developed for the sediments; these techniques can be used alone or in combination. These techniques include extraction and concentration of the pollutants: the pollutants are isolated from the sedimentary matrix and the sediment is decontaminated. In some cases of organic contaminations, the pollutants are destroyed by chemical oxidation or biodegradation and in other cases, the contaminated material is either stabilized (mixed with hydraulic binders), or destroyed (incineration) [14,15]. Phytoremediation by afforestation has also been reported [19]."

Jan 1, 2008

By Peter A. Spencer

The metallurgical parameters necessary for the design of a carmercial scale bio-oxidation plant have been determined for the treatment of a refractory arsenopyrite concentrate using a moderately thermophilic bacterial culture. The parameters considered were bio-oxidation rate, culture growth rate, nutrients, solids density, level of bio-oxidation, particle size distribution and oxygen uptake rate. The approach for obtaining the optimum values for these parameters is discussed and values based on results fran batch and continuous testing are given. Estimates of the capital and operating costs for a plant treating the carmercial arsenopyrite concentrate have been calculated fran the test data.

Jan 1, 1990

By Yong .. Jun Wu

Laminated ceramics have received widely scientific and commercial attention because their properties, such as mechanical properties and electrical properties, can be tailored by adjusting the structure, thickness and composition of the different layers. For example, ferroelectric Bi4Ti3O12 (BIT) which has a positive temperature coefficient of dielectric constant (,E) can be used to modify the negative tE of typical microwave dielectric ceramic BaNd2Ti4O12(BNT), However, BaNd2Ti4O12/Bi4TiO12/Bi4Ti3O12/BaNd2Ti4O12 (BNT/BIT/BNT) laminated ceramics could not be prepared by the general method because the optimal sintering temperature of BaNd2Ti4O12 ceramic (around 1350°C) was much higher than that of Bi4Ti3O12 ceramic (around 1100°C). In this research, a new method of spark plasma sintering (SPS) combined with post-sintering was successfully proposed to prepare BNT/BIT/BNT laminated ceramics. It was divided into three steps. In first step, the BaNd2Ti4O12 ceramics were prepared by conventional sintering method. In second step, the calcined and pre-pressed Bi4Ti3O12 powders were sandwiched between BaNd2Ti4O12 ceramic pellets and spark plasma sintered at 900°C for 10min to synthesize BNT/BIT/BNT composite ceramics. In the last step, a post-sintering was employed to reoxidize the partially reduced BNT/BIT/BNT composite ceramics. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) showed that BNT layer and BIT layer were well bonded and no significant interfacial infiltration between them was observed. The sandwiched BNT/BIT/BNT ceramic with 10.7% BIT in volume has a dielectric constant of 92.85, a low dielectric loss of 01068 and a small temperature coefficient of dielectric constant of 35 ppm/°C at MHz.

Jan 1, 2003

By David K. Melgaard

Electroslag Remelting (ESR) is a complex process used to produce high quality specialty alloy materials. The quality can be directly correlated to variances in melt rate and immersion depth. Conventional ESR furnaces control these quantities using two independent control loops using proportional changes in current for melt rate and driving the electrode up and down to match a voltage set point for immersion depth. However it is well known that the control loops are highly coupled, i.e. changing the current to account for melt rate deviations changes the voltage depth relationship and vice verse. In addition the noise in measurements of the ESR process can be considerable, forcing conventional controllers to use highly damped responses. A new model-based controller has been developed to embody the coupling and improve responsiveness by using estimates from a reduced-order linear ESR model and the typical process measurements to control melt rate and immersion depth simultaneously. Kalman filtering is used to optimally combine the model estimates of eight process states and the measurements of voltage, current, position and mass to estimate the instantaneous melt rate and immersion depth. Several ESR melts under steady state and transient conditions were conducted to evaluate the performance of the new controller. This paper will discuss the design of the new ESR model and controller and will present experimental results demonstrating its much improved control and responsiveness. While this controller was developed for the ESR process, the effectiveness of model-based control in managing such a complex process with relatively simple equations suggests the approach could be employed for many other processes as well.

Jan 1, 2006

By Florian Kongoli

The optimal operation of the blast furnace depends considerably on the properties of the sinter fed into the furnace. As a result, the optimization of the sintering processes has a direct effect on the overall effectiveness of the iron making processes. In order to produce a good sinter special care needs to be taken in order to assure it has a good permeability and reducibility and it is able to retain these properties for a certain time. If the sinter starts to melt down early in the upper part of the blast furnace, where its solid state reduction is essential, permeability decreases, the gas channels get blocked, reductibility diminishes and serious problems may also follow. Among the factors that influences the above mentioned sinter properties are the oxygen potential and fluxing components. Nevertheless, their effect on the phase relations during sintering and sinter reduction conditions has not yet entirely clarified and confusion exists in literature. This quantification becomes even more important today where many new minor components such as Al2O3 and MgO enter the sinter through raw materials. This work quantifies the effect of oxygen potential and fluxing components such as alumina and magnesia on the liquidus and phase relations of the sinter primary melts in the iron rich portion of CaO-FeO-Fe2O3-SiO2 system at sintering conditions. This is carried out by the means of new type of industrial diagrams in the form of Fe/CaO vs. SiO2 that can directly help the optimization of the sintering processes.

Jan 1, 2006

By Zbigniew Smieszek, Ryszard Chamer, Ryszard Prajsnar, Zygmunt Kurek

"Lead-containing wastes processed at the IMN’s Division in Legnica originate mainly from dry and wet dedusting installations of the technological lines for copper production. These are lead dusts and lead-zinc dusts characterised by the specific properties resulting from the chemical composition of the Polish copper concentrates. Besides lead, they contain many accompanying metals and impurities such as zinc, copper, sulfur, chlorine, potassium, sodium, and also bituminous substances. Processing of lead-containing dusts is conducted in the installations of rotary-rocking furnaces heated with gas-oxygen burners fitted with auxiliary systems for cleaning process gases and refining re-circulating dusts. The processing technology utilizes innovative process and technical solutions enabling disposal of lead-containing wastes from copper metallurgy and from non-ferrous metals industry according to the BAT recommendations and to the guidelines specified in integrated permission. In this paper, the main technological aspects of processing lead-containing dusts at the IMN’s Division in Legnica have been presented.IntroductionCrude lead is obtained in Polish lead metallurgy from various primary and secondary materials, such as Zn-Pb concentrates, lead-bearing dusts of copper metallurgy and battery scrap. In zinc smelter Miasteczko Slaskie S.A. crude lead is produced from sulfide and oxide Pb-Zn concentrates in ISP process. Orzel Bialy S.A. and Baterpol Ltd. produce crude lead in short rotary furnaces in the process of smelting products of mechanical battery scrap separation– desulfurised or not desulfurised paste and metallic fraction. KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. and IMN Divison in Legnica produce crude lead in rotary furnaces in the process of smelting of polymetallic dusts and slimes from copper production processes."

Jan 1, 2008

By Claire A. Chanenchuk

Catalytic Extraction Processing (CEP), a technology commercialized by Molten Metal Technology, Inc., a US.-based company, can convert industrial, household, and government wastes into commercial resources. CEP is an innovative elemental recycling technology that uses a molten metal bath to completely dissociate hazardous or toxic components of a feed and convert them to valuable products. The catalytic action of the molten metal bath converts the feed to its elemental constituents and the reducing atmosphere prevents the formation of any dangerous byproducts (NOx, SOx, dioxins, furans, etc.). Selective reactant addition allows engineering of valuable products from otherwise unexploited resources. Synthesis gas is generated from hydrocarbon feeds, ferro-alloys from metallic wastes, and ceramics from select inorganic species. Commercial-scale processing of multiple wastes and waste surrogates has been carried out at a destruction and removal efficiency exceeding 99.9999 wt.%, validating theoretical predictions. Unlike conventional hazardous waste treatment technologies, CEP offers resource recovery, minimal byproduct generation, and the potential for closed-loop recycling.

Jan 1, 1994

By Clodualdo C. Conde

In order for Philippines Associated Smelting and Refining Corporation (PASAR) Corporation to remain a leader in the copper smelting and refining industry, continuous improvements in plant technology are required. Reliable performance of plant equipment is essential for a competitive smelting operation. PASAR is constantly searching for the best equipment and technology to allow us to manufacture products more efficiently. When the Smelter was commissioned in 1993, the Flash Furnace off-gas treatment system was a constant source of problems. There were frequent shut-downs of the electrostatic precipitator due to material buildups on the discharge electrodes and collecting plates. In 1998, the precipitator was successfully upgraded to eliminate the buildup problems and to increase the collection efficiency. The upgrade greatly reduced down time and maintenance, and the enhanced collection efficiency also eliminated pluggage problems and material losses in the Acid Plant. This extensive precipitator upgrade was accomplished during a 30-day Smelter turnaround.

Jan 1, 1999

By W. Gong

Their outstanding thermal stability and high energy product make Sm(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr),-type alloys attractive for advanced applications. The near net-shape production of Sm(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr), bonded magnets make them potentially superior to any magnets made by sintering. Although pioneering work done by Shimoda et al. and other investigators provide insights on the proper compositions and process control of this alloy system, additional work is still necessary to improve our understanding of alloy behavior at various processing stages and to increase the production yield during powder processing. In this paper we report on the development of anisotropic Sm(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr), alloy powders for the bonded magnet application. Our focus is on the development of a moderate coercivity powder requiring a relatively low magnetizing field to charge the magnets to their optimum Br, Hci and BHmax. The magnetic properties are related to the evolution of the microstructure at various processing stages and the average particle size and size distribution of powders.

Jan 1, 1997

By R. Chiarizia

Third phase formation, i.e., the splitting of the organic phase in two layers, is a common feature observed, under conditions of high loading, for many solvent extraction systems of both analytical and industrial interest. Although this phenomenon has been investigated in a large number of works, a structural and physico-chemical description is still lacking. In this work, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data for the tri-n-butylphosphate (TBP)-n-octane,Th(NO3)4-HNO3 solvent extraction system have been interpreted using the Baxter model for hard-spheres with surface adhesion. The increase in scattering intensity in the low Q range, observed when increasing amounts of HNO3 and/or Th(NO3)4 are introduced into the organic phase, has been interpreted as arising from interactions between small reverse micelles containing three TBP molecules plus solutes in their polar core. This intermicellar attraction, under appropriate conditions, leads to third phase formation.

Jan 1, 2003

By F. Field, R. Kirchain, J. Gregory

Utilizing alternative materials is an important tactic to improve the environmental performanceof products. Currently a growing array of materials candidates confronts today’s product designer. While life-cycle assessment (LCA) methods provide quantitative input into this selection decision, their implementations are evolving and disparate. The goal of this paper is to explore several major analytical variations of LCA implementations and the implications of these variants across a range of application contexts. Specifically, this paper examines analytical variations in valuation method and treatment of recycling by exploring allocation methods that affect product end-of-life. Case studies across a range of materials are presented, including materials that exhibit a spectrum in variation of environmental performance and material degradation between primary and secondary applications. Preliminary results indicate that the choice of analytical method can have real impacts on individual metrics and there are sets of analytical variation over which strategic results are strongly affected.

Jan 1, 2008

By H. Virtanen

Outokumpu copper refining operations have a long history of expansions and application of new technologies. Outokumpu is a name known around the world for technological excellence in the field of base metals, and part of the policy of operations is continuous investment and investigation in new technologies. The results of this hard work sometimes are immediate and sometimes take years. The work done during the last years at the Outokumpu Harjavalta Metals copper refinery, together with a sister technology group Outokumpu Wenmec, has started to bear fruit in terms of the following radical developments and advances that are and will be applied to assure Outokumpu's position as the technology leader and a low cost and safe producer. Some of the developments discussed include the new anode and cathode design, mechanised electrode handling, cell design incorporating features facilitating full automation, automated short circuit detection and removal, automated on line anode slime removal, and high efficiency and intensity refining.

Jan 1, 1999

By Uday Pal

In direct reduction processes for iron and steel making, significant amounts of Fe-C alloy droplets are generated and these remain suspended in relatively low FeO (around 5%) containing slags. Earlier workers have found that when the FeO content in the slag is <5%, the decarburization reaction becomes extremely slow (virtually ceases to occur) even though the alloy droplet contains a significant amount of carbons (2-3%). Understanding this rate controlling kinetic phenomena is crucial to designing an&apos; optimum direct steel making process. We studied decarburization of Fe-C particles by low FeO (<5%) containing CaO-SiO2A12O3 slags and found that by putting both the droplet and the slag in direct contact with an inert electronically conductive member that extends deep inside the slag bulk were able to quickly and completely decarburize the droplets. A detailed description and an explanation of the process will be presented.

Jan 1, 1995

By J. Riccardi

Copper refineries use massive copper castings as moulds into which impure molten copper from the reverberatory furnace is poured to form anodes for further electrolytic refining. To facilitate removal of the copper anodes from the mould and to prolong the life of the mould itself, it is traditional to spray the mould surface prior to each use with a slurry of baryte in water. This slurry application leads to poor housekeeping, operating costs are escalated by the cost of the slurry, and additional problems in the subsequent refining process are experienced due to carry-over of excess undesirable baryte powder. A one-time application of a diffused layer of aluminum to the surface of the copper mould prior to putting the mould into service has been found to provide extended mould life and facilitate anode removal, as well as reducing baryte consumption; thereby reducing operating costs at both the anode manufacturing and refining stages.

Jan 1, 1999

By J. A. Voigt

In an effort to determine the optimum conditions for preparing high purity, fine particle size high temperature superconducting oxide powder, we have investigated how calcination conditions influence the conversion of a chemically prepared hydroxycarbonate precursor powder to YBa2Cu307. We find that the precursor can be converted to phase pure YBa2Cu307 in either oxygen or synthetic air (20% 02. 80% N2) at 850°C. This temperature is substantially lower than the temperature (>900°C) normally used for the calcination of mixed-oxide powders. The lower calcination temperature prevents particle sintering and maintains the desired fine particle size. Powder processed in synthetic air shows a low degree of crystallinity indicating it may be more sinterable than the highly crystalline powders produced when an oxygen atmosphere is used. Intimate contact between powder particle surfaces and a flowing gas atmosphere promotes the reaction between the BaCO3 component of the precursor powder and the Y and Cu constituents.

Jan 1, 1989