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By Carlos Antonio da Silva

Steel refining reactors based on chemical heating are being used as an alternative to ladle furnaces, They show a high degree of flexibility in respect to heating rate in addition to carrying out refining reactions such as de-S, inclusion removal, alloying etc. IR-UT and CAS-OB are examples of such reactors. Their performance is dependent upon geometrical characteristics as well as operational conditions which determine the flow field inside the vessel. A physical model of the IR-UT process of the Companhia Siderúrgica de Tubarão, steel plant located in Serra, Espirito Santo, Brazil, was developed to assess the features of the flow field and its influence on the metallurgical behavior. Results of the physical model were used to optimize the process parameters in the industrial unit.

Jan 1, 2003

By Carlos Antonio da Silva

Steel refining reactors based on chemical heating are being used as an alternative to ladle furnaces. They show a high degree of flexibility in respect to heating rate in addition to carrying out refining reactions such as de-S, inclusion removal, alloying etc. IR-UT and CAS-DB are examples of such reactors. Their performance is dependent upon geometrical characteristics as well as operational conditions which determine the flow field inside the vessel. A physical model of the IR-UT process of the Companhia Siderurgica de Tubarao, steel plant located in Serra, Espirito Santo, Brazil, was developed to assess the features of the flow field and its influence on the metallurgical behavior. Results of the physical model were used to optimize the process parameters in the industrial unit.

Jan 1, 2003

By G. Hanko, A. Lebleu, M. Sibony, J. Lecadet

The New Jersey distillation process is today the most important pyrometallurgical method for the production of zinc of very high purity. The flexibility of the pyrometallurgical zinc production process, especially its ability for recycling, makes it competitive, although it is energy intensive. A deeper knowledge of the New Jersey process is necessary to further increase its technical performance by ensuring its global safety. A project, integrated in the European research program EUREKA, has been started in order to define the process chemistry of distillation. Experimental measurements have been carried out with a column at the laboratory scale, and the results, linked with industrial measurements, support the development of a model based on material and thermal balances. The first conclusions indicate that the key parameters for process optimization are the column geometry and the distribution of the thermal losses.

Jan 1, 2000

By Varadajan Seshadri

Keywords: torpedo car, kinetics, physical modeling A 1:6 torpedo car physical model was built to assess the optimum refining conditions for pig iron desulfurization in the torpedo car considering the industrial parameters used in the steel plant CSBM (Companhia Siderurgica Belgo-Mineira, João Monlevade, MG, Brazil). The refining practice in this plant is through injection of a CaO-CaF2-Mg powder in the pig iron melt. Similarity between the model and prototype were established through Froude and turbulent Reynolds criteria. Mixing times were evaluated by pulse tracer addition and the kinetics of metal/slag interactions were assessed from experiments investigating iodine transfer from kerosene to water. The influence of parameters such as level of metal, gas flow rate, lance penetration, lance orientation were also evaluated.

Jan 1, 2005

By Hongbo Zhu, Jinhui Peng, Linqing Dai

"To optimize the process variables for making direct reduced iron (DRI) by microwave heating, the reduction temperature, reduction time and the ratio of coal to material were studied with the central composite design (CCD) and their interactions on the Metallization rate were also investigated. The predictive polynomial quadratic equations model was analyzed by ANOVA. Optimal conditions of making DRI can be concluded as follows: 28 min at 1139?, the ratio of coal to material is 20.95%. Under these conditions, the metallization rate is up to 97.06%.1. IntroductionThere are some technical problems in making direct reduced iron (DRI) or sponge iron using iron ore concentrates containing coal and lime. In reduction of the iron ore concentrates containing coal with microwave heating, the strength of pellets needn’t to be considered. It reduces the costs and improve quality of materials, but also eliminates the need for pellet preparation process, simplifying the process and achieving a cleaner production.Microwave energy is a clean energy, and has characteristic of selective heating. The speed of heating is also fast. It researched by Chen Jin that when the mole mass of C: O is 0.627 and the microwave power is 15KW, it only spends 15min from 15? to 1021.6? with 1 kg iron ore containing coal with microwave heating [1]. There are many factors affecting metallization rate. In order to find a suitable condition for reduction process, it is necessary to design a series of suitable experiments.Response surface methodology (RSM) is one of the relevant multivariate techniques which can deal with multivariant experimental design strategy, statistical modeling and process optimization [2–5]. It is used to examine the relationship between one or more response variables and a set of quantitative experimental variables or factors. This method is often employed after the identification of the vital controllable factors to find the factor settings that optimize the response. Designs of this type are usually chosen when a curvature in the response surface is suspected. The process optimization of the microwave reduced iron ore was seldom reported in literature. Hence the present work intends to assess the effects of variables such as reduction time, reduction temperature and the ratio of coal to identify the optimum conditions using a central composite design (CCD). The characteristic of product was assessed using scanning electron microscope (SEM)."

Jan 1, 2011

By Natasa Mitevska

In order to ensure the minimal copper concentration in the reverb furnace slag, the graphical optimization method is used and the optimal slag composition of the reverberatory furnaces No.1 and No.2 in the RTB BOR, Copper Smelter and Refinery (Serbia) is obtained: (Si02) .. 38.0%; (FeO) .. 40.0%; (Fe3O4) = 5.0%; (CaO) = 5.0%; (Al2O3) .. 6.0%. Keywords: Optimization, Reverb Furnace Slag, Graphical Method

Jan 1, 2003

By G. G. Richards

The zinc slag fuming process is used to recover zinc from molten iron-calcium silicate slags by treatment with pulverized coal and air. The rate of zinc fuming is controlled by the complex interaction of several kinetic factors including the rate of entrainment of coal in the slag, the extent of the coal-slag reaction and the rate of ferrous oxide oxidation to ferric oxide. This paper briefly outlines the mechanism of fuming and, on this basis, optimization of process parameters is discussed. Modelling analysis and recent industrial trials at Cominco show that coal entrainment in the slag, bath temperature, and bath depth are critical variables affecting process rate and efficiency. The first step in process optimization is to assess coal bypass of the bath. In general, changes which promote operation at a higher temperature, greater coal entrainment in the slag and extended residence time of the coal in the bath increase fuming performance. Coal entrainment is controlled by injection conditions whereas bath temperature is a function of coal combustion and ferrous oxide oxidation. Residence time of the coal is largely a function of bath depth. The implication of model predictions for continuous fuming is shown.

Jan 1, 1994

By Jiang Feng, Zhang Libo, Peng Jinhui, Guo Zhanyong, Ju Shaohua, Lei Ting

The clean utilization of the residue containing chloride, CuCl residue, produced from zinc hydrometallurgy is very important for the recycle of valuable metals. And drying is the main process in recycling. In this study, response surface methodology was used to optimize operating conditions of the drying of CuCl residue in a convection oven and desirability function used as the methodology for the optimization. Optimization factors were air temperature (80–100°C), material thickness (10–25mm) and process time (80–120min) while investigated responses was final moisture content. The optimum conditions were found to be the temperature of 95.48°C with the material thickness of 13.47mm for the process time of 89.48 min. Under optimum conditions, the predicted moisture content of CuCl residue was 4.11% while the experimental date was 4.13%. The experimental value after process optimization was found to agree satisfactory with the predicted value. After drying, XRD was used to analyze the main phases of CuCl residue. The CuCl residue is made up of CuCl,Cu2O, ZnS and other compounds.

Jan 1, 2015

By Wan Entong, Xie Junlin, Jiann YangHwang, Yang Chengwei, Chen Junfu, Zhang Jianjun, Cao Tongyou, He Feng, Peng Zhugang, Fang De

During the solidification process of peritectic steel (PS), the peritectic reaction often causes volume contraction which associated with surface longitudinal cracks, and using mould flux with low heat flux density help for alleviating surface longitudinal cracks. New peritectic steel mold flux with Co2O3 doping reduced the heat flux density, and the optimal content was found to be 2.0 wt %. Furthermore, basicity and Na2O addition were designed, and the minimum heat flux density required basicity of 1.4 and 10.0 wt %. Na2O content. As a result, the optimal peritectic composition was CaO(35.67wt% ), SiO2(25.48 wt %)，Al2O3(3.7 wt %)， MgO(2.53 wt %)，Na2O(10 wt %)，CaF2(14 wt %)，Co2O3(2 wt %).

Jan 1, 2015

By Xia Hong-ying, Peng Jin-hui, Zheng Zhao-qiang, Zhang Li-bo

"Preparation of activated carbon from the walnut shell by microwave assisted steam activation was studied. Influences of the three parameters, activation temperature, activation duration and steam flow rate on the adsorption capacity and yield of walnut shell activated carbon(WSAC) were investigated,optimization process was obtained by the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The optimum preparation conditions were as follows: activation temperature of 980°C, activation duration of 41 min and steam flow rate of 1.66 ml/min. The optimum conditions resulted in an activation carbon with an iodine number of 1025 mg/g and a yield of 52.17%, while the BET surface area, total pore volume and average pore diameter of WSAC were 1328m2/g, 0.72ml/g and 2.2nm respectively. The study supported the potentiality of comprehensive utilization ofWalnut shell and the benefits of the microwave heating.IntroductionActivated carbons are one of the most important adsorbent materials in modern society because of its abundantly developed pore structure, strong adsorption ability, high surface area and thermo stability. They have extensive application in many industries fields which include gas purification [1], catalyst supports [2] and other pollutants [3]. However, in recent years, the industrial production of activated carbon is facing the problem of raw material scarcity and high cost, which limit to be widely used. Therefore, the selection of an appropriate precursor plays an important role and it has become hot sport to seek cheap raw material to lower preparation cost. As a kind of reproducible resource, the waste from agriculture and forestry is a high-grade raw material for preparing activated carbon due to is high carbon content, such as palm shell [4], rice hull [5], and coconut shell [6]. At present Walnut shell is widely accepted to be a renewable source of biomass. According to statistics, there is more than 1000,000 tonnes of walnut shells are produced in China annually [7]. As a good precursor for activated carbon production, Walnut shell is a major agricultural waste, to make better use of the cheap and abundant agricultural waste, it is proposed for activated carbon production."

Jan 1, 2014

By Bradford C. Wesstrom, Omar Araujo

"Impurities from an electrolytic refinery are typically extracted from the electrolyte utilizing conventional electrowinning cells. These cells are arranged in series with cascading solution flow and are commonly referred to as liberator cells. The Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold El Paso Refinery has optimized the removal of arsenic in cascading liberator cells by utilizing two separate feed solutions. The primary feed solution is recycled liberator electrolyte and the secondary feed solution is ""neat"" tank house electrolyte. The secondary feed solution is added based on the voltage response across the individual cells utilizing independent variable frequency drive (VFD) pumps. When the voltage across a cell changes, a signal is sent to the VFD pump to maintain a cell voltage of 1.98 volts. By maintaining this voltage the copper content in each cell exits at 2-4 grams per liter. This safely optimizes the arsenic removal as copper arsenides on the liberator cathodes.IntroductionDuring the electrolytic refining of copper, impurities from the copper anode report both to the bottom of the electrolytic refining cell as slimes and to the electrolyte. The impurities which enter the electrolyte are arsenic, antimony, bismuth and nickel. The impurities that report to the electrolyte during the electrolysis process gradually increase. As these impurities increase, they are incorporated into the refined copper cathode. There are many processes that have been used to remove these impurities from refinery electrolytes. Some of them are listed as follows: solvent extraction, ion exchange, hydrogen sulfide reduction, bioreactor, adsorption onto a low - solubility metal-oxide hydrate, adsorption onto activated carbon and EMEW cells. The conventional process used by the copper refining industry for controlling the level of impurities in electrolyte involves multistage electrolytic cascading liberator cells. In these cascading liberator cells copper, arsenic, antimony and bismuth are removed as various mixed deposits from the electrolyte. Removal of these impurities is achieved through an increase in voltage resulting from the depletion of copper in the electrolyte through electrowinning. With this higher voltage, the Group Vb elements, arsenic, antimony and bismuth are deposited on the copper cathode and report as slimes to the bottom of the cells. Nickel is removed in a subsequent process."

Jan 1, 2012

By John Hollow

The Fort Knox Mine is an open-pit operation, located in Alaska, which started commercial production in March 1997. A conventional Mill processes 38,000 tpd of a low grade (1.0 g/t Au) free milling gold ore with a low sulphide component (below 1%). Gold production (11% from gravity and 89% from cyanidation) exceeds 400,000 ounces per year. Short retention time (20h), low temperature (7oC) and low grade make high leaching kinetics critical for the performance of the process. In April 2001, the treatment of True North ore, which represented 14.4% of the mill throughput and contained more sulphide in the form of pyrite, arsenopyrite and stibnite, resulted in a substantial drop in the average gold extraction from 87% to 72.6%. Laboratory investigations indicated that the addition of lead nitrate increased gold extraction to 91.7%. Further investigations were initiated to determine the leaching parameters and the nature of the problem. Subsequently, a lead nitrate addition scheme was implemented at the Fort Knox Mill that resulted in 2002 gold production being in excess of 31,000 ounces higher than that estimated for the non-lead nitrate reagent scheme. This paper presents the results of laboratory investigations and modifications in plant operating practices.

Jan 1, 2003

By Ronald Klepper

In hydrometallurgy, pure gases like oxygen and hydrogen are used for oxidation and reduction. The gases are expensive and therefore should be used efficiently. Non reacted gas can be recycled into the liquid. Historically vortex gassing has been used; Le. a mixing impeller close to the liquid surface entrains gas from the headspace into the liquid through a gas vortex. Novel and more efficient methods are surface gassing with up pumping impellers and self- inducing gassing impellers. These alternative impeller systems are well established and common in the chemical industry, but have not been used until recently in hydrometallurgy. Gassing impellers act as internal compressors and increase the interfacial surface for a much higher mass transfer compared to alternate methods mentioned. In the paper results from lab and pilot tests and data from operated plants will be presented. The reactions with gases normally take place under moderate to high pressure, therefore a safe enclosure with mechanical seals and the safety "philosophy" is important. Experienced life and replacement cycles will be reported.

Jan 1, 2000

By Wen-long Zhan, Chun-en Zhu, Xiao-dong Du, Yong Zhao, Keng Wu

In view of the traditional evaluation index of sintering basic character- istics ignoring process information, several high temperature characteristic num- bers, which contain process information, were used to evaluate the sintering basic characteristics more comprehensively in this paper. The evaluation model of iron ore properties was established based on the high temperature characteristic numbers with employing fuzzy mathematics. Then, with the constraint of sinter properties and the raw materials, the ore blending model was built, whose target was to obtain the lowest cost and the best sinter properties. A multi-objective fuzzy linear pro- gramming was used to solve the model in order to get the best ore matching schemes. The ore blending model was then applied to the practical production, which was proved to be dependable.

Mar 1, 2018

By Federico Chavez

The process for recovering lead from battery residues used in several Mexican Plants include lead blast furnace and rotary furnaces. The formers are basically fed with recycled batteries together with the necessary additives to produce metallic lead. One of the by-products generated in the blast furnace is a dust mainly formed by lead sulfide. The rotary furnace is used to recover lead .from lead batteries, dross from the refining-alloying process and the leady fines produced in the blast furnace. This paper describes thennodynamic analysis made to the rotary furnace process to understand the effect that each component of the system has upon the lead recovery. In order to enhance the process, the influence of iron chips composition and excess coke on slag viscosity is discussed. A computer optimization program . has been developed to design the furnace charge based on material and energy balances, .together with the thennodynamic equilibrium calculation.

Jan 1, 1995

By Bien Ferrer

In most smelting operations, there is a strong incentive to improve safety, reduce downtime and extend the campaigns of furnaces and related equipment. An asset management strategy that is based on information, rather than simple throughput metrics and intuition, can be developed to improve uptime and unlock value currently unrealized at existing smelters. Advances in digital technology, including data analysis, modelling and monitoring for hot pyro-metallurgical vessels, make it possible to assess the current condition of an asset, as well as to make more informed projections about its future condition, using on-line and historical data. This would allow practices around asset management to be more proactive and less reactive, with the end-result of optimized uptime. ‘Digital Asset Management’ describes a concept in which digital technology is used to support an asset management strategy and accelerate decision-making by providing information on what, why and how an asset should be designed, operated or maintained. With the overall goals of effective resource utilization, optimized operations, capital efficiency and social acceptance, Smelter 4.0 is a program of holistic improvement and is underpinned by the effective use of data to drive decisions. This paper focuses on Asset Reliability, which is one of the improvement pillars of Smelter 4.0, and introduces a methodology that is aimed at closing the gap between recorded data and evidence-based decision-making through Digital Asset Management.

By Luis Velazquez, Andrea Zavala, Nora Munguia

"This paper is aimed at describing the evolutive strategy in which the University of Sonora is following for optimizing the organic and inorganic material life cycle in the products used on campus. The institutional strategy has be oriented towards new patterns of behaviors in order to integrate the principles of sustainability as a guideline for preventing, eliminating, and/or reducing the negative environmental and occupational impacts generated when performing university substantive functions of teaching, research, and outreaching and partnership as well as its management operation tasks.IntroductionThe University of Sonora is the largest and most important university among several other universities in both the city and the state. It is a public university with a 29,792 students in three campuses in the state. The main campus of the University of Sonora is located in the capital city of Hermosillo, which has a population of more than 609,829, in the state of Sonora in the northwestern region of Mexico [1].Despite the fact that in the University of Sonora there were, in the eighties, some projects dealing with environmental issues, there was not until 1992 that the sustainability efforts were really initiated. It happened when the Sustainable Development Group was created in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering as a response to the need for adapting the industrial engineering curricula to the challenge of sustainable development [2]. In order to promote sustainability, it has been necessary to cope and break with several university paradigms. For this reason, the strategy for becoming a sustainable university has continuously evolved throughout the years from a simple structure composed by individual and isolated projects to a systematic and integrative Sustainability Management System. Thanks to this evolution, the University of Sonora has won a respectable reputation in the greater community and it is seen in the region as an icon of sustainability promoter. In this sense, the substantives functions of education, research, and outreach and partnership, which are considered supportive and integrative, have also evolved to play a key role for the success of sustainability initiatives.The institution has followed four avenues for becoming a sustainable university; education, research, outreaching and partnership and greening the campus [3]."

Jan 1, 2008

By Wei Luo, Yuanbo Zhang, Zhixiong You, Zijian Su, Guanghui Li, Tao Jiang

"In this study, the appropriate sintering process parameters for low-grade ferromanganese ores were investigated. The results showed that, under the condition of natural basicity (R=0.03), the optimal parameters were obtained as follows: moisture of mixture 9 .1 %, coke powder 9 .9% and sintering negative pressure 7 KPa. And the corresponding yield, ISO tumbling index and utilization coefficient reached at 80.18%, 61.27% and 1.515t·m-2·h-1, respectively. Under the optimal parameters, the emission of harmful gases, such as S02 and NOx, were reduced evidently with 30% of coke powder replaced by biomass charcoal. Moreover, it was found that the basicity had obvious effects on the quality of the sinters when it changed between 0.03 and 2.4. The ISO tumbling index gradually decreased from 61.27% to 55.47% with the basicity increasing from 0.03 to 1.2, then, it began to increase after the basicity further increased to 2.4.IntroductionManganese is mainly consumed by steel and battery industries, particularly in the steel plants and ferroalloy units. The consumption of metal manganese in the ferroalloy industry accounts for 85%-90% of the total Mn [1-2]. Therefore, ensuring sufficient manganese alloys is essential to meet the rapid development of steel industry. Recently, rich-manganese slag containing high grade Mn (>40%), low Fe (1%) and P (<0.03%) is considered as superior raw materials for manganese alloys. While the sinters made from manganese ores are major raw materials for producing rich-manganese slag with the increasing exhaustion of natural rich manganese lump ores [3-5]."

Jan 1, 2013

By Shun Myung Shin, Kang Jeong, Kyoungkeun Yoo, Jin Koo, Dong Hyo Yang, Soo Sohn

"The optimum discharging condition to dismantle the batteries without explosion was investigated to recycle the lithium primary batteries, which could be exploded by heating too much or crushing. The 3 waste lithium primary battery cells were discharged with 500 cm3 of 0.5 kmol·m-3 sulfuric acid. Fe concentration and pH increased rapidly after 3 days at 35? and after 1 day at 50?. Chromium concentration increased by 4 days at 35? and 2 day at 50?and then decreased, and nickel concentration was very low. Because Li concentration increased gradually, Li became dissolved after the dissolution of cover material. When the discharged batteries were shredded, the batteries discharged at 50°C were not exploded and those discharged during 3 days at 35°C were exploded. This result shows that the waste batteries could be stabilized within 1 day at 50°C and 4 days at 35°C. Introduction Lithium has some advantages for battery e.g. it is the lightest metals and also has the highest electrochemical potential at 3.04V[1]. For over thirty years lithium primary batteries became famous for their performance in various applications such as IT, medical, and military[2,3]. They gained a reputation for their long shelf life, constant voltage, wide operating temperature range, and low self-discharge characteristics[3-5]. World primary lithium battery market was expected to grow from $820.6 million in 2003 to $1,1355.3 million in 2010 (http://www.frost.com, Frost & Sullivan)[2-4]. The lithium primary batteries have very various sizes and components. Lithium batteries are made with lithium metal as anode active material and non-aqueous solvent as electrolyte. As cathode active material, various kinds of materials were used such as manganese dioxide (nominal voltage, 3.5V), thionyl chloride (3.6V), and carbon monofluoride (3.0V). In Korea, 50 % of the spent lithium primary batteries must be recycled because spent lithium primary batteries have been listed in EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) of the enforcement degree of the act on the promotion of saving and recycling of resources. However, the batteries have been landfilled since there is no economic method to recycle the batteries in Korea[2,3]. When the batteries were heated too much, charged, pierced, over discharged, or short-circuited, the batteries explode because lithium reacts violently with water or air and because contents such as lithium, electrolyte, and sulfur become flammable by high temperature[4]. Therefore, it is so difficult to recycle safely the spent lithium primary batteries."

Jan 1, 2008

By Saad Elias Kaskah

"The Box-Behnken Design (BBD) is used to model the sacrificial Cathodic Protection System (SCPS) to find the factors effectiveness behaviour. For protection potential assessment the BBD receives (resistivity of environment, sacrificial anode alloy, distance between anode and cathode and surface area for the structure to be protected) as input and gives the protection potential as output. By applying BBD with their analysis tools we get many results. The important results which are the factors individual effectiveness on the sacrificial cathodic protection (SCP) process are the resistivity which has the greatest effect on the potential protection (rank=l) followed by sacrificial anode alloy type (rank=2), surface area for structure protected required (rank=3) and distance between anode and cathode (rank=4). The interaction of sacrificial anode alloy and cathode area {X2X4 ) has significant effect on CP process with the limits which are used in this work while the other factors interaction (X1X2, X1X3, X1X4,X2X3, X3X4 ) has insignificant effect on the limits which used in this work.IntroductionFor carbon steel in seawater the normal corrosion potential E '°""_is in the range -550 to -600 mV vs. Ag/AgCI [1]. The most effective method to overcome the corrosion is cathodic protection {CP) which represents a control method in the steel wall corrosion. Cathodic protection has been used in several areas including marine and underground structures, storage tanks, and pipelines [2]. Sacrificial anodes system generates protective current which depends upon the inherent potential difference between the anodes and the structure to be protected. If the structure is made of iron or steel, any metal that is more active in the electromotive force series can theoretically be used as anode material [3]. There are many factors influencing on cathodic protection like resistivity (NaCl content), chemical composition of sacrificial anode alloy, distance between anode and cathode, surface area of cathode, temperature, humidity, velocity of solution, dust, impurities, bacteria and etc .. The present work studied four factors: NaCl content, resistivity), chemical composition of sacrificial anode alloy, distance between anode and cathode, surface area of cathode) with different three levels of values for each one. Then this work will find the optimum value from the factors levels that tacked to investigated there influencing on sacrificial cathodic protection system."

Jan 1, 2013