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By Ernest D. Mast

Noranda's Altonorte custom smelter, located in the 2nd region of Chile, 20 kilometres southeast of the city of Antofagasta, started operations in 1993. Presently, 1150 tonnes per day of new feed are smelted with an 85% sulphur capture. An oxy-fuel reverberatory furnace produces a 48%-55% copper matte that is treated in 13 ft. x 36 ft. (3..96m x 10.97m) Peirce-Smith converters (two hot and one blowing). Up to thirty percent of the new concentrate is smelted via dry concentrate injection into the converters. This paper reviews the development of the concentrate drying and injection system, and oxygen enrichment at Altonorte from start-up in 1995 to the present time. The relationship between oxygen enrichment and concentrate injection is reviewed from a theoretical and practical standpoint. Concentrate injection has improved the smelter's productivity and added flexibility to the operations. Due to the relatively high matte grades and the subsequent short converting times, maintaining consistent operations was difficult at times and the smelter has gone through a learning curve. Plant operating results and experiences are presented on the impact of concentrate injection in relation to: feed treatment, blowing times, revert generation, slag quality and refractory wear.

Jan 1, 1999

By Guillermo Rios, Arbizum Cristina, Joa Viflals, Alba Sunyer

"Atlantic Copper is one of the largest copper producers in Europe. Its production facilities are located in Huelva (Spain) and account for the smelting of over one million tpy of concentrates to produce up to 260 ktpy cathodes and 900 ktpy of sulphuric acid. During copper concentrate smelting, the slag coming from the flash furnace and PS converters are treated in an electrical slag cleaning furnace. As a result of the treatment of the off gases from this furnace, approximately 2,000 tpy of a Zn-rich filter cake are produced and are sent to authorized waste managers. This paper describes the characterization of this material and the preliminary results of a new process to recover zinc as a pure zinc hydroxycarbonate while lead is collected as an indium-rich anglesite product. The behavior of impurities (Cd, As, Tl, Sn, Sb, Bi, Cu, Se, Te) in the leaching, solution purification and precipitation steps is also reported.IntroductionThe 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 Outokumpu flash smelting furnace (FSF) technology, and the copper refinery capacity was increased to 108,000 tpy. Between 1994 and 1996, an expansion project was carried out to increase the copper from concentrate and cathodes to 250,000 tpy and 215,000 tpy, respectively. This expansion basically consisted of a new sulphuric acid plant, replacement of the anode furnaces by two 400 t units, redesign of the slag cleaning furnace (SCF), an increase in the electrolytic cells to 1,120 and implementation of ISA permanent cathode technology. Furthermore, a debottlenecking project has led to a capacity of 1,000,000 tpy of fresh concentrate since 1997. Meanwhile between 1995 and 1998, a cathode production rate of 260,000 tpy was reached as a result of a progressive increase in the current density in the refinery."

Jan 1, 2012

By R. M. Lamya

A considerable part of gold encapsulated in some refractory sulphides can be dissolved during sulphide matrix decomposition in non-complexing aqueous media. This has been concluded from laboratory results of gold extraction from pyritic and arsenopyritic concentrate containing 172.8ppm Au, into 10% hydrochloric, sulphuric and nitric acids. The degree of sulphides decomposition in the non-oxidative acids limits the gold extraction from this specific concentrate to about 10%. In the case of nitric acid, the gold dissolution follows the rapid decomposition of sulphides, reaching 32 to 42% of extraction at almost total decomposition of the sulphidic minerals. Accumulation of gold in this acidic and non-complexing solution to several ppm was not affected by the soluble products of the sulphides decomposition. An attempt to explain this gold behaviour is undertaken and some practical implications are discussed. In the investigated concentrate the "soluble gold" is mostly associated with arsenopyrite. This is consistent with the latest findings of other authors that gold disseminated in arsenopyrite can occur as cation Au3+. In a comparative test the gold extraction into highly concentrated chloride solution, in the same oxidative conditions, amounted to 92.34%.

Jan 1, 1995

By Balladares V. Eduardo

Most of the arsenic contained in copper concentrates is removed in the gas phase during the smelting and converting processes and, according to recent environmental regulations, it is required to fix it in a solid stable form. In this regards, ferric arsenate has been reported as thermal and aqueous stable compound. Therefore, various alternatives for treating gas containing arsenic were considered in this work. From data obtained at laboratory scale on fixation of arsenic using iron oxide, a new process to treat copper concentrates containing arsenic was evaluated. The effect of temperature, oxygen potential and the sample porosity on the fixation of arsenic contained in a gaseous stream was studied, and the iron oxide converted into ferric arsenate was up to 10%. The obtained results suggest a new alternative for gas treatment with an interesting and attractive technical development. The arsenic was retained as ferric arsenate with thermal and aqueous stability, and it allows a safe disposal keeping the environmental restrictions. The kinetics parameters are used to scale up laboratory results to higher processing rates.

Jan 1, 2005

By Wayne Bell, Xiaodi Huang, Matthew Andriese, Jiann-Yang Hwang, Zhiwei Peng

"The equations for determining microwave field attenuation length and half-power depth in magnetic materials were derived from Maxwell’s equations. The microwave field attenuation length and the half-power depth for a magnetite concentrate were calculated and the temperature dependence of them was determined. It is demonstrated the microwave field attenuation length and the half-power depth highly depend on temperature and decrease with increasing temperature up to 900 °C. The variations of field attenuation length and the half-power depth with temperature indicate the microwave power attenuates much faster than the field strength in materials. The evaluations of field attenuation length and microwave half-power depth can be used to characterize the microwave dissipation behaviors in the sample and optimize the dimensions of the material in microwave heating.IntroductionMicrowave has been applied in materials processing for its distinguished advantages including rapid heat transfer, volumetric and selective heating [1,2]. However, most research work involving microwave heating are confined to non-magnetic materials (e.g. ceramics), with limited attention paid to the heating of mixed property materials (e.g. magnetite and other ferrites) under microwave irradiation [3-5]. Since many magnetic materials exhibit good and even better microwave absorption capability than non-magnetic counterparts, it is quite necessary and deserved to take advantage of this property and then improve the heating efficiency. To achieve this aim, further understanding on the microwave heating mechanism, especially the microwave propagation/dissipation behaviors in magnetic materials is required.The dissipation behavior of microwave in materials has been identified as one of the key factors that affect the efficiency of heating under microwave irradiation and this behavior can be characterized by several parameters. Apart from traditional penetration depth (TEM power penetration depth, Dp = 1/(2*a), where a is the TEM field attenuation factor), two other parameters, field attenuation length (Df) and half-power depth (Dh), are also applied to indicate the microwave dissipation in materials [6].The accurate determination of such parameters can help in optimizing the dimensions of the load in a microwave furnace, producing more uniform heating under microwave irradiation and avoiding thermal runaway."

Jan 1, 2011

By Batric Pesic

Reactions of metallic iron were studied in several different aqueous solution systems: water, medium salt solution used for the growth of T ferrooxidans, ferric iron solution and solution containing T ferrooxidans. Each system was studied under abiotic and biotic conditions in the presence of T ferrooxidans and as a function of pH, particle size of iron powder, temperature, ferrous and ferric iron concentrations. It was found that metallic iron reacts with water differently than does with ferric iron in water. Surprisingly, T ferrooxidans were non-functional in the dissolution of metallic iron. Also, the reactions of metallic iron with pure water were indistinguishable from the reactions with water containing medium salts for bacterial growth. The reactions with ferric iron were also independent of medium culture compounds. The mechanisms of metallic iron reactions with ferric ions are different from the mechanisms of metallic iron reactions with water.

Jan 1, 2001

By Evan O. Jones

Processes involving distillation under reduced pressure were developed at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory several years ago to recover spent acid solutions generated during the manufacture of nuclear fuel for the N-Reactor at the Hanford site. Following construction and testing of a pilot-plant, the technology was licensed to Viatec Recovery Systems, Inc. for commercialization. The technology developed included specialized distillation and rectification of volatile acids, removal of water and/or volatile acid from sulfuric acid, and precipitation of salts. A key feature of the Waste Acid Detoxification and Reclamation (WADR) technology is the development and use of advanced thermoplastic and fluoropolymer materials of construction in all critical process equipment. The technology was then expanded to include crystallization to recover metal salts for possible reuse. Economic and environmental advantages of the procedures include recovery of acids for reuse, simplification or elimination of the disposal of waste solutions, and possible recovery of metals. Industries expected to benefit from such applications include galvanizing, electroplating, sand leaching and any where metals are cleaned in acid solutions. Currently a modular system has been assembled for recovery of several different spent acid solutions.

Jan 1, 1995

By Bin Xu, Qian Li, Yong-bin Yang, Xiao-liang Liu, Tao Jiang, Yan Zhang

Some high sulfur and arsenic-bearing gold concentrate has a gold leaching rate less than 80% by oxidation roasting-pickling-cyanidation process. The characteristics and intensification of gold leaching were studied systemically. By combining chemical composition and phase analysis, the low gold leaching rate was found to lie in the capsulation of gold by iron-containing phases including iron oxides, arsenopyrite and pyrite. 96.66% of gold in the industrial leaching residue was capsulated and 95.88% of the capsulated turned out to be in the iron-containing phases. The results of laboratory pickling-cyanidation experiments on the calcine and industrial leaching residue presented further demonstration for the fact that gold capsulated in the iron-containing phases was hard to be leached. However, the gold cyanide leaching rate of calcine could be raised over 95% by a reduction roasting-pickling pretreatment which played such a significant role in exposing the capsulated gold that gold leaching was intensified remarkably.

Jan 1, 2015

By A. E. Isaacson

Bureau of Mines researchers developed and tested equipment to measure corrosion rates on a commercial-scale mill as an aid in predicting the effect of corrosion on minerals and how this effect relates to downstream processing. Bench-scale experiments were designed for duplicating ore grinding conditions closely enough that realistic rate determinations can be made in laboratory tests. Rates measured in a laboratory system compared favorably with those measured in the field. Cast steel was found to have corrosion rates in a copper mill and laboratory test cell of 22 and 21 mpy, respectively. Corrosion was found to account for less than 5% of the total grinding media wear in the operations studied.

Jan 1, 1987

By Achilles J. B. Dutra, Carlos M. Juarez

"The use of thiourea as a gold leaching reagent has been extensively studied by many researchers, and it has proved to be promising for some cases as refractory ores. Otherwise, the recovery of gold from these solutions did not receive so much attention. In this paper the electrowinning of gold in acidic thiourea solutions was studied by voltarnmetry and chronopotentiometry. An adsorption step was detected prior to Au(I) reduction and the diffusion coefficients at 25°C for Au-TU complex and FD were found to be 1.00 x 10.5 cm2 S-I and 1.98 x 10-5 cm2 S-I respectively. At -0.350 V (SCE) a passivation probably due to TU adsorption was observed. For higher overpotentials hydrogen evolution was the main reaction.IntroductionThe use of acidic thiourea solutions for the extraction of gold and silver has shown to be a promising alternative to the traditional process of cyanidation, specially for certain refractory ores (1-3) and electronic scrap (4). In some cases, the industrial scale was reached (1,5). The thiourea leaching of precious metals presents advantages over cyanidation, as faster kinetics, lower toxicity and lower sensibility to base metals; however the costs due to high thiourea consumption impairs its use.The majority of the publications on thiourea processing of gold is on leaching. Many are review papers (5-7). Recently, the adsorption and desorption of the gold-thiourea complex on activated carbon and ion exchange resins have been studied (8-11).Little research has been done on the electrowinning of gold from acidic thiourea solutions, most of it has been carried on the seventies and beginning of the eighties in the former USSR (12-17) and concerned the eletrolytic extraction of gold in tridimensional cathode cells.The present paper concerns the cathodic behavior of the gold-thiourea complex in the presence of formamidine disulfide in order to provide information on the electrowinning of gold from solutions obtained directly from leaching or from an elution process."

Jan 1, 1997

By James A. Voigt

The efficient separation of metal species from aqueous streams by precipitation techniques requires 'a fundamental understanding of the various processes that occur during precipitation. These processes include particle nucleation, particle growth by solute deposition, agglomerate formation, and agglomerate break-up. The application of the population balance approach has been used to develop a kinetic model that accounts for these competing kinetic processes. The usefulness of the model is illustrated through its application to the precipitation of yttrium hydroxynitrate, YHN. The kinetic parameters calculated from the model equations and system-specific solution chemistry are used to describe several aspects of the effect of pH on the precipitation of the YHN. Implications with respect to the simultaneous precipitation of more than one cation type are also discussed through use of example systems: The effects of solution chemistry, precipitator design, and solvent choice are considered.

Jan 1, 1996

By S. Shrivastava

A structure based model has been developed for the prediction of viscosities of K20-B20, melts. These melts exhibit an anomalous behavior of viscosity with continuous variation in B203 content. A maximum and a minimum are observed at low temperatures, which disappear on raising the temperature above the softening range. The addition of K20 to the borate melts causes two opposing phenomena: (1) depolymerization effects and the related breakdown of network structure resulting in the formation of singly bonded oxygens, which weakens the structure and hence causes a decreases in viscosity, and (2) the formation of four coordinated borons (BO4 tetrahedra) which strengthen the structure leading to an increase in the viscosity. The structural changes taking place in these melts on varying the temperature and the alkali content have been reviewed and are incorporated in developing this model. The predicted values are in excellent agreement with the experimental values over the whole temperature and composition range.

Jan 1, 1992

By J. T. I. Poijärvi

The smelter off-gas cleaning and the weak acid treatment at Outokumpu Harjavalta Metals Oy are presented and described in this paper. The smelter consists of the copper and nickel smelters and the acid plant of three separate acid plants two of which are double contact and one single plant and of one liquid sulphur dioxide plant. The preliminary cooling and flue dust separation of the smelter off-gases from the copper and nickel flash smelting furnaces and converters in the waste heat boilers and in the hot electrostatic precipitators are described. The final cooling and cleaning of the gases in the scrubbers at the sulphuric acid plant and the treatment of the weak acid in the vacuum and in the submerged combustion evaporators for the removal of impurities are pre¬sented as well as the treatment of the condensates from the evaporators. The attention is paid to the generation of sulphur trioxide in the smelter off-gas and to the treatment of that in the weak acid bleed-off and to the utilization of the treated acid.

Jan 1, 1992

By Juan Hernández Ávila

This work studies the Molybdenum effect on the microestructure, mechanical properties of an as-cast ductile iron. For this study five ductile irons with different amounts of Molybdenum each were made in an induction furnace. In this material nodule count and nodularity is affected by the Molybdenum additions; The iron´s matrix, nodules and the phase were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy detecting Molybdenum only in the matrix. Mechanical properties such as hardness, microhardness, tensile strength and yield strength show increments as the Molybdenum amount is increased. In the same way, ferrite and pearlite phases display a variation in their percentage as the contents of the alloy element increase. This element has a marked influence on the pearlite interlaminar spacing. From the obtained results we conclude that Molybdenum in these quantities dissolves in solid ferrite solution during the solidification process, improving the material´s mechanical properties.

Jan 1, 2009

By Zhigeng Xu

Pressure leach of a Yunnan marmatite concentrates with adding coal as the elemental sulfur disperser was investigated. The experimental results show that the coal with carbon content higher than 70% is incapable of dispersing elemental sulfur from minerals and cannot improve the leaching of zinc. The coal with low carbon content (lignite coal) can act as excellent sulfur-disperser in the pressure leaching at 423K. The mechanism of lignite coal as sulfur disperser was further discussed by ultraviolet, infra-red spectrum and mass spectrum.

Jan 1, 2008

By Zhou Jun

Water-quenched samples were taken from a commercial flash furnace at three levels along its reaction shaft during operation at high feed rate. The samples were subjected to a series of analysis and observation. Such processes of the feed in reaction shaft as oxidation, desulfurization, melting, slag and matte formation and etc., variations of particle size along axial and radical direction of the shaft are investigated. The following smelting mechanism in reaction shaft named as “Multi-particle and multi-phase fusion model” is proposed: (1) Fragmentation and collision of concentrate particles take place simultaneously in reaction shaft with particle size growing up. Collision produces large-size “unit melt” which falls into the reaction layer in the settler bath. (2) In the settler reaction layer below the shaft, weak bath smelting reactions take place among the shaft products, producing final matte and slag which separate into two layers. (3) The processes in the shaft are all progressive along the whole height of the shaft. The predominant reaction in the shaft is oxidation, not reduction.

By Neal Schwartz, Robert De Saro, Richard Rosenthal, Ed Kear

"A Stack Melter has been installed and is currently operating at Lexington Die Casting. The Stack Melter consists of a 1 meter (3 foot) diameter refractory tube, 2 meters (7 feet) high. Specification ingots are continuously fed to the top of the melter and piled to nearly the top. A burner fires through the scrap which melts the lower portion and preheats the upper portion. As the lower portion is melted, it is drawn out and the upper preheated scrap falls to a lower level where it in tum melts. The molten metal is fed to one of two holding furnaces for eventual delivery to a casting machine.The Stack Melter's energy use is approximately 2900 joules/g (1,250 Btu/lbm), resulting in an overall energy savings of about 58%. This energy savings is brought about primarily because the flue gases preheat the scrap and the flue gas temperature is dropped to well under 528°C (1000°F)."

Jan 1, 2000

By I. M. Richardson, M. Janssen, I. J. Bennett, V. A. Popovich

The most critical processing step during the manufacture of screen-printed crystalline solar cells is firing aluminium and silver contacts, which generates residual stresses and solar cell bowing. In this paper, an alternative Ag contact formation mechanism is proposed and aspects related to electrical contact properties, residual stresses and layer delamination are investigated. It is found that there are two main processing parameters affecting the uniformity and delamination of the Ag/Si interface, namely the peak firing temperature and the silicon surface roughness. Silicon surface polishing gives a better wetting of the silicon surface by the glass layer, resulting in a good contact and lower incidence of large voids, compared to the case of highly textured surfaces. The non-uniformity in the glass layer and large voids at the Ag/Si interface (in the case of a textured surface) are expected to have a negative effect on the mechanical strength of the solar cell.

Jan 1, 2015

By Peter V. Barr

Despite the advent of modem firing control systems reheating furnace operations frequently allow significant thermal excursions in the discharged slabs or billets after furnace delays. Although HSM furnaces are not immune to this and other related problems, mini-mill operations are most vulnerable due to their more frequent delays and (often) less sophisticated control systems. In order to reduce these problems control systems will commonly include a thermal model, operating either on-line (interacting directly with the controller logic) or in an advisory, off-line mode. Using a new 'fast' thermal model, the paper examines the thermal response of a typical mini-mill furnace during both delays and the subsequent recovery period. A variety of firing strategies are explored and compared on the basis of maintaining thermal excursions within allowable limits for rolling. Other factors, such as the potential for overheating of billets within the furnace during delays and the overall thermal state of the furnace, are also considered in some detail. Although common practice, the use of conventional thermocouple zone temperatures for furnace control during and after delays is shown to be a dubious proposition. Keywords: Reheat Furnace, Modeling, Process Control

Jan 1, 2003

By Peter Stiaszny, Andrej Samoilov, Yuri Titovets, Gottfried Hribernig, Nikolai Zolotorevskii

"The model has been developed to simultaneously predict both transformation product portions and mean ferrite grain size from the same common · principles as a result of the austenite decomposition during any cooling path of dual phase steels. The transformation products considered are polygonal ferrite, pearlite, bainite and martensite. The model is based on the classical equations of nucleation-growth theory and also contains some empirical parameters. The chemical driving forces for nucleation and composition of elements at the phase interfaces are derived by computation thermodynamics. The empirical parameters related to the model were determined on the basis of a series of austenite transformation dilatometric curves and grain size measurements for continuous and interrupted cooling of several steel types. The model is aimed to predict phase transformation in the complex cooling conditions of the run-out table of the hot strip mill at YOEST-ALPINE STAHL LINZ GmbH as a part of the computer aided system for prediction and on-line controlling of the mechanical properties of hot-rolled strip.IntroductionThe term ""dual phase steels"" is used to refer to a steel consisting essentially of a dispersion of martensite in a fine-grained ferrite matrix. These steels are of increasing technological interest since they provide a better combination of strength and ductility than any other conventional steel sheet material. The strength is important because it offers an opportunity to produce lighter components, while good ductility is needed to permit easy forming of components. It is generally recognized that martensite plays an important role in determining the strength level of dual phase steels. A full understanding of the role played by the phases in determining such characteristics requires investigating in more detail how to optimize the martensite level of such steels, while maintaining good ductility remains the subject of continued research in the industry."

Jan 1, 2000