Search Documents

By Henry A. Stiff, Lawrence E. Davis

A graphic method was developed which can be used to predict the tendency of oil field waters to precipitate calcium Sulfate under a variety of conditions. Application of this method is made to the prediction of sulfate scale formation in heater treaters. boilers. oil wells. cooling systems and water injection wells. INTRODUCTION A solution may be said to be in equilibrium with respect to a given salt when the concentration of that silt in equal to its solubility. If for any reason the concentration of the salt is increased or its solubility decreased. the equilibrium is upset and precipitation of the salt takes place. Thus, if the concentration of a salt in a particular solution is known and its solubility can be calculated for a given set of conditions, the tendency of this salt to form a precipitate under these conditions can be predicted. Based on these principles a method has been developed for determining the tendency of oil field waters to form calcium Sulfate precipitates under various conditions. THE SOLUBILITY DIAGRAM Calcium sulfate precipitation most frequently occurs when two waters are mixed: one containing calcium ions. and the other sulfate ions. As one of these waters is added to the other a point may be reached where the concentration of calcium Sulfate is greater than its solubility. thus causing the formation of a precipitate. The solubility diagram is a graphic device for determining the location of such points, thereby making possible a prediction of the tendency of such a system to deposit sulfate scale. A similar diagram can be used to solve many other problems involving the precipitation of calcium sulfate. Fig. 1 shows a solubility diagram representing the mixing of two waters. Water "A" contains a high concentration of odium, magnesium, and sulfate ions together with a small amount of calcium. Water "B" contains a high concentration of calcium ions together with sodium, magnesium and a small amount of sulfate ions. The percentage mixture of these waters is plotted along the abscissa of a system of rectangular coordi-

Jan 1, 1952

By Edward H. Robie

SEPTEMBER usually being a fine month for motoring, we set out with our better half at the end of August in our Studebaker for points West. A combined business trip and vacation. The first night found us 392 miles away, at the Statler Hotel in Buffalo, and the next morning we revisited Niagara Falls for the first time in some forty years. The cataracts were as impressive as ever and certainly worth a day of any vacationist's time, instead of the half hour we could spare before going on to Chicago. The Centennial of Engineering, the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the ASCE, no doubt attracted the greatest gathering of engineers in history but still the attendance was disappointing to most of the forty or fifty societies that participated. Perhaps the time-the two weeks following Labor Day-was unfavorable. Few could afford to spend ten days away from home and business at that time of the year. Fall meetings of the AIME normally attract far more than the 300 that registered in Chicago. The technical program, however, was excellent, especially that arranged by the Minerals Beneficiation and Industrial Minerals Divs. The mineral industry papers of a more general nature that were presented as a part of the Centennial program on Monday and Tuesday of the following week were of high quality and offered by top names but had a meager audience. Undoubtedly the celebration brought engineers and engineering to the attention of millions of people. The pageant at the Museum of Science and Industry proved continuously interesting, showing the progress of engineering following the first use of fire. The show continued for many weeks. A special stamp was issued by the Government, which engineers might well use on their Christmas cards or other mail this year. After six days in Chicago we set out north, first visiting Fairbanks Morse in Beloit and Allis-Chalmers in Milwaukee. Will Mitchell's Basic Industries Research Laboratory is doing interesting work and being installed in more comfortable quarters. The next day at Ishpeming, C. W. Allen arranged for luncheon with a local group of AIME members and we then looked over the new surface plant of the Mather B mine, a model of modern functional design. Then on to a small dinner meeting at Calumet following cocktails at Endicott Lovell's attractive summer home on the lake at Point Mills. The new Memorial Union Bldg. at Houghton, where we were domiciled for the night through the courtesy of Roy Drier, is a beautiful modern addition to the college, a model of its kind.

Jan 1, 1952

Map

Jan 1, 1952

[ ] Utilizing tendencies for low grade ores in the Sudbury District of Ontario to cave after higher grade ore has been mined, International Nickel Co., of Canada, Ltd., is recovering millions of tons of nickel-copper ore once regarded as submarginal. Inco is working lower grade ore than ever mined before from its underground operations because of the caving method and metallurgical practices. In the caving method, blocks containing as much as 1.5 million tons of ore are undercut. As ore from the undercut block is withdrawn, the block to be mined breaks away and starts to disintegrate as it moves downward. Inco is also using the blasthole method, using explosives to break slices of harder, tougher ore from solid material. Inco has built a new concentrator at one of its most recent shafts for handling the increased tonnages of low grade ore. The concentrator presently has a 10,000-ton per day capacity, and is scheduled to be increased to 12,000 tons. Hoisting from the mine is by push-button control and the ore is milled on the spot. A 7 ½ -mile pipeline carries bulk concentrate to reduction plants at Copper Cliff. Giant crushers, weighing 165 tons each, have been installed underground. Twenty-ton electric locomotives haul ore to the crushers. The expansion program is expected to lift total annual production of nickel in the free world to 375 million pounds annually, an increase of 150 million pounds. Inco is presently mining more than 1 million tons of ore per month from combined surface and underground operations.

Jan 1, 1952

MINNEAPOLIS-HONEYWELL Regulator Co., and Trans-Weigh Co., have come up with a conveyor belt that thinks. The belt weighs material and then figures out the tons-per-hour that it carries. And you can't fool it by adding or subtracting material along the way. It makes allowances for any additional material as well as for any loss. The belt rides along a set of rollers. The force exerted on the rollers is transferred to a gage. The weight of the belt is subtracted electrically. Final measurements are fed into an electronic recorder which indicates the flow at the moment and the total amount which has been carried by the belt.

Jan 1, 1952

Jan 1, 1952

Two Canadian mining companies, Noranda Mines, Ltd., and Wright-Hargreaves Mines, Ltd., have agreed to buy $500,000 worth of shares each in Anglo-American Exploration Ltd., controllers of thousands of acres of possible oil-rich land in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Samuel Clarence Nickle, Sr., reported as possible president of the newly formed exploration company, said that $20 million in assets have been accumulated by the firm, mainly in the Williston basin in parts of the Dakotas and Montana, aid extending into Southern Manitoba and most of Saskatchewan. The M. A. Hanna Co. reported a record profit for the seventh consecutive year with total 1951 profit reaching $14,081. The company handled a record 16.8 million tons of iron ore in 1951, compared with 14.9 million tons in 1950. The company is also preparing to open four iron ore mines in the Lake Superior district which are expected to produce more than 5 million tons annually by 1954. The company built two new iron ore concentrating plants at Mesabi range mines in 1951,a with a third plant going into, operations soon.

Jan 1, 1952

By R. G. Weavind, R. S. Young, I. Wolf

ONE of the most important fields of investigation at the Diamond Research Laboratory in Johannesburg is concerned with improvements in metallurgical practices for the diamond mining companies, with particular reference to increased recoveries of the smaller industrial stones. Considerable work has been done on the possible application of flotation processes to the diamond industry. From the viewpoint of recovery processes, diamonds in their natural state may be grouped into two classes, the water-repellent diamonds, which adhere to a grease surface, and the water-avid diamonds, which, because of their wettability, will not adhere to a grease surface and must be recovered by means other than the grease tables used for water-repellent diamonds. Experiments in the flotation of small diamonds from both kimberlite and alluvial deposits indicate the following conclusions: Water-repellent diamonds: Satisfactory flotation of —16 mesh diamonds, which are naturally water-repellent, may be accomplished using either Aero-float 25 together with cresylic acid, or Du Pont B23 as frother together with kerosine as auxiliary oily conditioner or froth stiffener. The quantities of reagents required are of the order of 0.15 lb per ton Aerofloat and 0.18 lb per ton cresylic acid. The use of acid circuits is detrimental, and for best results a pH between 7 and 9 should be maintained. R. G. WEAVIND and I. WOLF are with the Diamond Research Laboratory, Johannesburg, South Africa, and R. S. YOUNG, Member AIME, is Director of Research, Diamond Research Laboratory. TN 76B. Manuscript, March 23, 1951. A flotation period of 5 to 10 min is necessary to insure that all floatable diamonds are removed. Diamonds larger than 16 mesh cannot be recovered satisfactorily by flotation. Xanthates do not act as collectors for diamonds, and this is probably associated with their inability to impart a water-repellent surface to this mineral. Water-repellent diamonds smaller than 28 mesh can be floated quite well by the addition of a frother alone, such as pine oil or Du Pont B23. Water-avid diamonds: Partial flotation of the smaller sizes of wettable diamonds can be achieved by preconditioning with fatty acid soaps, cationic amines, and similar reagents, which will impart a water-repellent film to diamonds. Washing to remove excess reagent, followed by flotation, will result in a fair recovery, but the latter is much lower than for water-repellent diamonds. Crushed boart: Recovery of crushed boart from the waste products of industrial uses is best accomplished by first conditioning the diamonds present in the mixture with fatty acids, cationic amines, etc., removing the conditioning agent by washing, and floating in a cell of the pneumatic type. Flotation reagents found to be most suitable are Du Pont B23, and Aerofloat 25 together with cresylic acid. The optimum quantities are 1.2 g Du Pont B23, and 0.55 g Aerofloat plus 1.4 g cresylic acid, per liter of pulp in the cell. A solids-to-water ratio of 1 to 4 is found to be the most suitable, and alkaline circuits are necessary for best results. Diamonds larger than 28 mesh are not recovered satisfactorily by this procedure, but for finer sizes flotation offers an excellent procedure for the reclamation of this strategic industrial material.

Jan 1, 1952

Established as a Division December 15, 1948 Evan Just, Chairman Richard J Lund, Past Chairman Granville S. Borden, Vice-Chairman J K Richardson, Vice-Chairman S H Williston, Vice-Chairman Allan Matthews, Secretary-Treasurer National Security Resources Board 17th and Pennsylvania Ave, N W Washington 25, D C

Jan 1, 1952

By W. A. Backofen

THE texture of cold-drawn copper wire has been described most often as a composite of [Ill] and [loo] directions aligned parallel to the wire axis.' Hibbard2 suggested that sufficient reduction will result in a single [111] texture and reported that after a reduction in area of 96.4 pct, such a texture was nearly obtained. Other work3-4 has shown that recrystallization within the temperature range of 300" to 1000°C does not alter the texture established by cold-drawing. In general, however, the texture of cold-drawn end annealed copper wire is not as well defined as the deformation texture. In the work reported here it was found that the double-fiber, deformation texture persists even after a reduction in area of 97.3 pct, and after recrystallization the texture is practically all [l00]. The wire used in this work was prepared in the following way. A 3/4-in. diam length of annealed OFHC copper was cold-drawn to a diameter of 1/8 in., a reduction in area of 97.3 pct. Each step in the drawing operation brought about a reduction in area that varied from 6 to 10 pct. Short lengths of this wire were etched in a 50-pct solution of nitric acid to a diameter of approximately 0.01 in. The texture of the cold-drawn specimens was determined with the conventional X-ray transmission diffraction technique using filtered copper radiation. The X-ray beam was directed perpendicularly to the wire axis and the diffraction rings were recorded on a flat film. Fig. la is typical of the photo-grams obtained and reveals that the cold-drawing schedule described above introduces a distinct, double-fiber texture with both [Ill] and [l00] directions aligned parallel to the wire axis. Supplementary measurements with a Geiger-Mueller counter of the intensity of reflection from (111) planes showed that the [111] component was much more predominant than the [l00]. Additional specimens of the drawn and etched wire were annealed in a salt bath at temperatures from 300" to 450°C. The texture of the recrystal-lized wire was studied with the same technique applied to the cold-drawn wire. Fig. lb is an X-ray photogram of a specimen annealed for 1 ½ at 300°C and is typical of those obtained from re-crystallized specimens. The photogram shows that recrystallization of this material is accompanied by the almost complete elimination of the [111] component of the deformation texture. A pronounced strengthening of the [100] component was evident from intensity measurements with a Geiger-Mueller counter. In summary, the deformation texture of cold-drawn OFHC copper wire, after a reduction in area of 97.3 pct, may still be described as a composite of [Ill] and [loo] directions aligned parallel to the wire axis. Recrystallization of such wire at temperatures from 300" to 450°C introduces a texture which consists almost entirely of a [loo] alignment. Acknowledgment Sidney Rolle of the Scomet Engineering Co. generously supplied the OFHC copper used in this work. References 'C. S. Barrett: Structure of Metals. p. 382 (1943) New York. McGraw-Hill Book Co. 2 W. R. Hibbard, Jr.: Trans. AIME (1949) -185, p. 598; Journal of Metals (Sept. 1949) TN 19E. 3 P. 422 of ref. 1. 'E. Schmid and G. Wasserman: Ztsch. Physik (1926) 40, p. 451.

Jan 1, 1952

By J. Chipman, N. J. Grant, R. Rocca

D. E. Babcock (Republic Steel Corp., Youngstown, Ohio)—With reference to eqs 7 and 8, at what temperature do they apply John Chipman (authors' reply)—That was 1600°C. Dr. Babcock—You have l x 10-4 as the component for the lime and 1 or 4x10-. Now, is it by dividing one into the other you get the 400? That is assuming equivalent activity on the part of oxygen, sulphur, and magnesia. Dr. Chipman—Yes, they are calculated for 1600. Now, the first one for CaO was calculated before we had a glimpse of Dr. Rosenqvist's paper." If you take his calculation you get 14,000 cal which is very good agreement, but our calculation would be superseded by Dr. Rosenqvist's new data. Dr. Babcock—The state you assume those to be in is the liquid state, as near as you can measure? Dr. Chipman—Naturally it is based on the solid CaS, but if you add the effect of fusion on both sides it just about balances out, so the ratio would be about the same. B. M. Larsen (U. S. Steel Co., Kearny, N. J.)—If we knew the activity of sulphur in the slag instead of merely the percentage, we might be able to find some conflicting factors that balance one another out, and find that the FeO or oxygen pressure effect is really present over the whole range. Dr. Chipman—I am fairly sure we would. The activity of sulphur in the slag and the activity of CaO in the slag, if we just knew those quantities, would enable us to save a lot of this computation and assumption and all the approximations we are doing now. Mr. Larsen—Two other points perhaps should be included: 1—an independent effect of manganese in helping the desulphurization; and 2—the number of mols of constituents or number of mols of ions or whatever there is in the slag could vary with these compositions in such a way that you get dilution effects. Dr. Chipman—You can figure all that in if you want to and it might improve the degree of approximation a little bit. Maybe enough to justify the labor of calculation, inaybe not, but we did not do it. L. S. Darken (U. S. Steel Co., Kearny, N. J.)—The authors have tackled a very complicated problem in trying to tie together in one picture the desulphurizing problem over the wide range of basicity and oxidation level from that of the open hearth to that of the blast furnace. At the present state of our knowledge of slags such an ambitious undertaking necessarily involves the adoption of numerous hypotheses. Their formulation (eq 11) for the higher FeO range

Jan 1, 1952

By John E. Latz

QUICKSAND far below the surface, stopped two attempts by the Potash Co. of America to sink a third shaft to a potash bed that lies 1000 ft below the southern New Mexico desert. Virtually all methods of grouting were employed in the two failures without any indication of consolidation of the flowing sand. Sinking the South Shaft at the Carlsbad potash mine seemed an almost insurmountable task, until freezing was employed as a final resort. This process that proved to be the answer may be defined as "the sinking of a shaft by freezing, consists of the formation, in the water-bearing strata, of a large block of frozen ground in which it is possible to sink a shaft without danger of an influx of water, providing the ice-wall between the water outside and the shaft itself is strong enough to resist the hydrostatic pressure." Freezing Method Used Extensively in Europe Successful frozen ground shaft sinking projects had been completed in Europe, and Russel G. Haworth, resident manager of the Potash Co. of America, went abroad in search of the know-how needed for the New Mexico undertaking. The freezing process, with a history of two failures at the time, was first successfully employed by Poetsch in 1885 at the Houssu Collieries near Haine St. Pierre, Belgium. Poetsch contracted to sink the remaining 64 ft of an uncompleted shaft through water laden strata from a depth of 190 ft to a depth of 254 ft. This work was in progress until 1887. The freezing and sinking consumed more than two years. As a result of early failures, the process was not favorably received until soon after the turn of the century. The accurate prediction of success in a given application was made possible by the concerted effort and study of a group of European engineers. Means of accurate deviation measurement and control were devised, the nature and properties of frozen water laden soil (the ice wall) were investigated, a thorough and rational basis of refrigeration load calculation developed, and concurrently the efficiency and dependability of refrigeration machinery was greatly advanced. Numerous shafts in Germany, Belgium, France, and England today testify to the reliability and economical surety of the freezing method. Applied to the South Shaft, which is circular in cross-section and 15-ft diam, the freezing method consisted of drilling holes 350-ft deep, through the water bearing strata into impervious ground-the freeze hole pattern being concentric with the shaft and 31-ft diam. The holes were cased with pipe closed on the bottom end. Smaller tubes were placed inside these casings and connected to a header supplying chilled brine from a refrigeration plant. The brine descended in the tubing to the bottom of the hole and ascended through the annular space between the two pipes to the top of the casing; flowed into the return header and back to the refrigeration plant. Under these conditions, each of the freeze hole casings became surrounded by a cylinder of ice

Jan 1, 1952

By A. K. Schellinger, R. D. Lalkaka

IF the ball mill is considered only from an energy standpoint, it can be thought of as a converter of kinetic energy into heat energy and surface energy. The law of the conservation of energy must apply to the ball mill as it does to any machine or process in nature. The heat energy output of the ball mill is apparent to any casual observer of the operating mill since the outflow pulp will be appreciably warmer than the inflow water and rock. The rock in the ball mill is crushed by shearing of its ionic bonding caused by some impact-induced stresses beyond the elastic limit. As the bonds holding the mineral crystal lattices together are ruptured, new surface area is created on each unit of which a definite number of unsaturated bonds exist. Such unsaturated energy of bonding may be termed the "surface energy," and is a potential energy figure. This created energy was withdrawn from the ball mill system and represents an absorption, or disappearance of heat. To reduce the size of the rock, surface area must be created and with it the at- tendant characteristic surface energies of the minerals concerned. Thus the creation of surface energy, from an energy viewpoint, is the creation of useful work by the ball mill. Because of the controversial nature of the energy efficiency figures for modern operating ball mills, it seemed worthwhile to approximate the ordinary magnitude of such efficiencies from the above viewpoint. This was done by an energy balance of the three aforementioned forms of energy, kinetic, heat, and surface energy, for two 9Y2x10-ft grate-type ball mills grinding cement raw materials. Kinetic energy input to the balls was approximated as closely as possible while the heat energy output was measured by means of a thermometer and water and rock flow rates. The assumption was made

Jan 1, 1952

By Sandford S. Cole, John S. Breitenstein

The recovery of over 80 pct of the vanadium values in titaniferous magnetite from Maclntyre Development,Tahawus, N. Y., was accomplished by an oxidizing roast with Na2O3-NaCI addition. Process description is given for leaching of roasted ore and precipitation of V2O5 and Cr2O8 from leach liquor. THE exploration and development of the Mac-Intyre orebody at Tahawus, N. Y., by the National Lead Co. provided a source of vanadium. Analyses of various composite sections of the drill cores of the MacIntyre orebody were made to establish whether or not the vanadium was constant throughout. Ten drill cores were sampled as 50 ft sections, crushed, and a portion magnetically concentrated. The head and concentrate were analyzed for total iron and vanadium. The results on the concentrates indicated that the vanadium is associated with the magnetite and maintains a close ratio to the iron content. The nominal ratio of 1:25:140 of V: TiO2:Fe was found to exist in the concentrates. Typical value for the vanadium in the magnetite both from laboratory concentration and mill production is 0.4 pct. The recovery of vanadium from the magnetite was investigated in 1942 to 1943. The research program encompassed both laboratory and pilot-plant work on sufficient scale to provide adequate data to establish the feasibility of a full scale plant. The recovery of vanadium from various ores has been reported in the literature and has been the subject of many patents. The literature dealing with recovery from titaniferous ore by roasting is quite limited. Roasting with alkaline sodium chloride, sodium chloride or alkaline earth chlorides, and sodium acid sulphate have been claimed in various processes as effective means.1-8 The reduction of the ore, followed by acid leaching, was another method proposed.'-' "he use of various pyrometallurgical processes for recovery of vanadium in the metal or in the slag has also been extensively investigated, but the results had little application to the problem."-" The separation of vanadium values from subsequent leach liquors and vanadium-bearing solution has been the subject of a considerable number of papers and patents. The most practical is by hydrolysis at a pH of 2 to 3 by acidifying a slightly alkaline solution. Data on solubility of V²O5 and V2O4 in water and in dilute sulphuric acid indicated a solubility of 10 g per liter in water.'" Laboratory Results Magnetite Analysis: Adequate stock of magnetite was provided so that the laboratory and pilot-plant operation was on ore representative of the mill production. The ore was analyzed chemically and examined by petrographic methods to ascertain whether the vanadium was present in combined state or as an interstitial component between grain boundaries. No evidence was obtained which would indicate that the vanadium was in a free state as coulsonite.15 The analysis of the ore was as follows: Fe²O³, 47.4 pct; FeO, 29.1; TiO,, 10.1; V, 0.40; and Cr, 0.2. The screen analysis of the ore on the as-received basis was: -20 +30 mesh, 28.8 pct; —30 +40, 18.9; -40 +50, 9.7; -50 +60, 15.1; -60 4-100, 5.9; -100 + 200, 11.2; -200 +325, 3.7; and -325, 7.2. Roasting Conditions: The prior practice indicated that a chloridizing roast with or without an alkaline salt had been effective on other titaniferous magnetites. On this basis roasts with additions of sodium chloride, sodium carbonate and mixtures thereof were investigated varying the roasting temperature between 800" and 1100°C. Since the ore had shown no segregation or concentration of vanadium, the influence of particle size on the freeing of vanadium by the reagents during roasting was determined. The initial work was on silica trays in an electric resistance furnace with occasional rabbling of the charge. Subsequently, the roasting was carried out in a small Herreshoff furnace to establish the influence of products of combustion on the recovery of the vanadium. The laboratory tests showed that this ore required an alkaline chloridizing roast, in conjunction with a reduction in particle size to less than 200 mesh. When roasted in air at 900 °C with 5 pct NaCl and 10 pct Na2CO³, over 80 pct recovery of the vanadium was attained as a water-soluble salt. The presence of alkaline earth elements gave detrimental effects and care had to be exercised to avoid any contamination of the ore or roast product by such materials. The solubilization of vanadium under the various conditions is given in a series of curves in Figs. 1 to

Jan 1, 1952

By H. S. Cannon, F. N. Rhines

IT. H. Hausner( Sylvunia Electric Products Inc., Bay-side, N. Y.)—The results reported by the authors are interesting because they contribute some information on the principles of sintering and also because of a certain practical value for the manufacture of powder . metallurgical parts in production. Pressed powder compacts are frequently sintered in a boat in several layers so that the lower layers are actually sintered under the weight of the upper layers and, therefore, are frequently deformed. The authors gave information on this deformation process by determining the effect of the load on the density. The experimental setup of the authors, however, has a disadvantage—that the sintering occurred in a cylindrical container so that the deformation was stopped in the direction of the diameter. The authors should have rather called this a study of hot-pressing than of sintering. I want to call the attention of the authors and others interested in sintering under load to the experimental work described by Dawihl and Rix.' These authors sintered cylindrical compacts under a lengthwise ten-sional load of 0 to 25 g and found that the shrinkage in length and diameter changes considerably with the load, but that the volume shrinkage is affected very little by the load. H. S. Cannon (authors' reply)—We wish to thank Dr. Hausner for calling attention to the experimental work of Dawihl and Rix. The fact that they found volume shrinkage little affected by varying tensional loads during sintering seems to support the contention that the forces due to loading are equivalent to and additive to the forces which cause densification. This contention is the basis of our comparison of sintering and creep.

Jan 1, 1952

By John C. Calhoun, Alfred Chatenever

An exploratory study wap made to examine the possibilities of a visual approach in investigations into microscopic mechanisms of fluid behavior in porous media. Appropriate apparatus and techniques were developed so that microscopic phenomena could be recorded on color movie film as well as be observed visually. The observation flow cells in which tlie fluid behavior studies were made were essentially single-layered matrices of spheres between plates. sometimes all-glass, sometimes all-Lucite and sometimes a combination of the two. The fluids were limited to water and a filtered crude oil. Two flow regimes were observed during the flow of the immiscible liquids: channel flow and slug flow. In the former, transport was effected through stable networks of interconnecting channels; and in the latter, part of the movement took place in the form of slugs. Under certain conditions, flood-front patterns were found to be different depending upon which liquids were the displacing and displaced phases and not depending upon whether the matrix was water-wet glass or oil-wet Lucite. Residual formations of oil and water were observed and are described. Some of the ramifications and significance of the ohservetl phenomena are discussed. INTRODUCTION In recent years considerations of microscopic mechanisms of fluid flow in porous media have taken on greater significance. Much needs to be learned before the fundamentals of petroleum technology are completely established. For example, many unanswered questions exist in connection with relative permeability, displacement phenomena, residua! fluid formations. flow structure, etc.; and further analytical mathematical formulations are seriously indicated. It is hoped that systematic investigations into the microscopic mechanisms connected with the behavior of fluids in porous media will shed some light on some of the problems extant. Until recently microscopic mechanisms have been considered almost exclusively as speculative hypotheses. Within the past few years, however, the problem has been submitted to a limited number of experimental investigations. Nuss and Whiting' made some studies on the pore-space geometry of sandstones and limestones by impregnating cores with an inert plastic and leaching the solid matrices to leave behind plastic models of the pore spaces. SchaeferZ traced pore spaces microscopically through lengths of limestone cores by cutting away thin sections from the exposed faces normal to the line of view. In 1949 two projects were organized in which dynamic flow phenomena were examined microscopically to uncover microscopic mechanisms. One was set up at the Pennsylvania State College where Lowmanb bserved heterogeneous fluid flow phenomena in capillaries. The second was the American Petroleum Institute Research Project 47B at the University of Oklahoma where microscopic studies of dynamic fluid phenomena in synthetic porous matrices have been made by visual observation and cinephotomicrography.' It is with the latter that this paper is concerned. treating the techniques involved and the observations made. TECHNIQUES Observation Flow Cells The observation flow cells formed a focal point in the techniques employed. Essentially, these were matrices composed of a single layer of spheres sandwiched between two flat plates. This design was arrived at after a series of pre-

Jan 1, 1952

By Sven Fornander

L. F. Reinartz (Armco Steel Corp., Middletown, Ohio) —I would like to know, in the practical application of the Kalling process, what kind of a lining was used, how thick was the lining, and how much metal was treated at one time? S. Fornander (author's reply)—The rotary furnace is lined with a course of fireclay bricks 6 in. thick. This course is backed by 5 in. of insulation. The furnace has a capacity of about 15 tons. Mr. Reinartz—How was the ladle preheated? Mr. Fornander—As pointed out in the paper, the furnace was heated by a gas flame in the beginning of the experiments. During these first tests, however, the desulphurization was inconsistent. We think that this was due to the fact that iron droplets sticking to the furnace walls were oxidized by the gas flame. Now, the furnace is operated without preheating of any kind, and the results are much better. T. L. Joseph (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.)—I might add one comment. This furnace was heated with a flame and for a time they had a little difficulty due to some residual metal in the rotating drum that would oxidize in between treatments and they found therefore, that it was very essential to drain the drum completely of metal so that they would not build up any ferrous oxide between treatments and they eliminated some of their erratic heats by maintaining those more reducing conditions. It was interesting to watch this operation. As soon as the drum started to rotate there was considerable flame, at least, at the time I saw it, that came out around the flanges, indicating there was quite a little pressure on the inside of the drum. W. 0. Philbrook (Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh)—Is the reaction slag in the Kalling process liquid or solid, and how is it separated from the metal? Mr. Fornander—In the process there is no slag in the usual sense of the word. The lime powder does not melt during the treatment. After the treatment the lime is still in the form of a fine powder. It is separated from the metal by means of a piece of wood of suitable size placed within the furnace before it is emptied. D. C. Hilty (Union Carbide & Carbon Research Laboratories, Niagara Falls, N. Y.)—Dr. Chipman has given us some of his ideas in connection with a specific effect of silicon and silica on sulphur elimination and how silicon might interfere with desulphuriz- ing in the blast furnace. I wonder if he would like to elaborate on the possibility of a similar effect of silicon in the Kalling process? J. Chipman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.)—Silicon does not interfere with the Kalling process. Anything that has strong reducing action is good for desulphurization. In these tests where the temperature was low compared to blast furnace temperatures, the silicon that is in the metal is a better reducing agent than the carbon. At high temperatures, carbon is the better. It is not the silicon in the metal that interferes with desulphurization, it is the silica in the slag. Mr. Joseph—I might add that the metal that was tapped from the drum after desulphurization was really at quite a low temperature. It was not measured, but I think it was well under 1300 °C, probably 1200" or a little above that. That was one of the difficulties, and I think there is no question about the fact that the Kalling process—in that it affects desulphurization between powdered lime, solid and liquid iron— is a reaction definitely between the solid lime and the liquid iron. E. Spire (Canadian Liquid Air, Montreal, Canada) — This Kalling process seems very interesting to us and after all it is only a mixing action that is taking place between the iron and the slag. We have attempted to do the same thing in another way. We have placed at the bottom of the ladle a porous plug through which we injected an inert gas. It can be nitrogen or argon. This plug is placed at the bottom of the conventional ladle and gas injected through the plug. That has appeared in our patent. To define this new type of treatment, I use the word gasometallurgy. I do not know if you like it, but it is a way of defining methods of treating metal using gases. What we do is exactly what is done in the exchange process in another way. We have a porous plug at the bottom with a high lime slag on top of the metal. Using this method, we have very good agitation of metal and slag, and with a small flow of gas, we can achieve a very strong agitation. For instance, in the 500 lb ladle, we use only 5 liters of gas a minute. We have an agitation compared to very rapidly boiling water in a pail. Moreover, the agitation can be controlled to create any amount of mixing desired. In a few minutes, with this method, the sulphur dropped from 0.58 to 0.11. These results have been improved since, and we have obtained results like 0.08

Jan 1, 1952

By Frederick C. Pearson, Albert Brown, Emil R. Ermert

EARLY in 1946 the Shen-Penn Production Co., a subsidiary of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Co., was organized to operate the Shenandoah Stripping, one of the largest open-pit anthracite mines in the world. This mine is located in the Western Middle Field near Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pa., and involves the removal of approximately 60,400,000 cu yd of overburden to permit the recovery of 9,200,000 gross tons of rough cleaned coal from an area 8000 ft long and 2700 ft wide, with a maximum depth of 400 ft. Operations began in August 1946, and within the next few years 31,811,000 cu yd of overburden and 2,994,000 gross tons of rough cleaned coal had been removed. During the early days of open-pit mining operations, steam was the primary motive power. However, as the size of the equipment increased, so did the problems of fuel, water, labor, and maintenance. Because of its efficiency and convenience, electric power rapidly replaced steam. Later the modern diesel engine was developed, and today practically all stripping equipment is either electric, diesel-electric, or diesel-powered. In locations where electric power is not readily available or where operations are scattered over a large area, diesel power is favored. At Shenandoah operations are highly concentrated in a relatively small area, and this fact, coupled with the availability of ample electric energy, indicated the selection of electric-powered equipment. Since this was a new company, it was necessary to purchase every item, from the smallest tools to stripping shovels. Although the organization period was hampered by the postwar scarcity of materials, an excellent opportunity was afforded to set up a thoroughly modern plant. This paper will describe the power facilities, with particular emphasis on the more unusual features. The substation is a major item in a power distribution system, and a simple arrangement utilizing high quality equipment is an excellent investment. With this in mind, a 3000-kva unit type substation was selected and installed. This unit is made up of three sections, which are assembled simply by bolting together the various sections and connecting the power leads, see Fig. 1. The transformer proper, rated at 3000 kva, is oil-filled and nitrogen-sealed, having a 66,000-v Delta primary and 4160-v Wye secondary with a grounded neutral and 46-ohm ground resistor. The function of this resistor will be described later. Electrical energy is purchased from a public utility and is delivered to the main substation at 66,000 v over one or the other of two incoming lines. These lines terminate on a high voltage switching section on which high voltage fuses and Thyrite lightning arresters are installed. The outgoing feeder switching unit is made up of the following: 1-An auxiliary compartment consisting of potential and current transformers with necessary terminal blocks for connecting to power company metering equipment. 2-Another auxiliary compartment containing a control transformer, battery, and battery charger for the furnishing of power for tripping and reclosing of power circuit breakers. The assemblies in these auxiliary compartments are mounted on carriages that can be rolled in and out with ease. Potential transformers are readily accessible for inspection and fuse replacement. When withdrawn from the operating position they are completely de-energized and grounded. 3-Two feeder breaker compartments, each with a 1200-amp, 5000-v, solenoid-operated magneblast air circuit breaker, voltmeter, ammeter, overcurrent relays, and a ground relay. These power circuit breakers can be quickly and safely withdrawn or repaired. A built-in isolating mechanism is used for lowering the breaker to a transfer truck for repair or inspection or as a means of disconnecting the breaker from the source of power as an added precaution when working on power lines. Thus inspec-

Jan 1, 1952

Secondary blast holes are now being pierced in quartzite and sandstone quarries, using multiple hand-operated Jet-Piercing units supplied with oxygen, fuel and water from a compact mobile carrier. A unit of this type, operating in a Canadian quarry, enabled four Jet-Piercing blowpipes to pierce blast holes for two hours without shutdown. The piercing blowpipes used were developed by Linde Air Products Co., a division of Union Carbide and Carbon Corp. The mobile supply carrier was constructed by the quarry from specifications supplied by Linde and modified by the quarry operators for their particular use. Employment of the new self-contained unit, which allows up to four operators to pierce approximately 450 ft of blast hole without shutdown, accelerates rock removal operations. Normally, only two blowpipes are in operation at one time. Large boulders or ledges, which sometimes remain after primary blasting to hamper loading operations, can, in the case of certain hard rock, be prepared for reduction more rapidly with these new units than by any other means. A special feature of the new manual Jet-Piercing unit is the mobile gas and fluid supply carrier. It consists of a standard truck chassis fitted out with four banks of large standard-capacity oxygen cylinders, a steel-holding tank for fuel oil, and a gasoline-driven air compressor and tank for pressurizing the fuel oil tank. Cooling water for the blowpipes is supplied to the unit from a hose extension to the quarry supply line. Feeder lines from the oxygen cylinder manifolds and the oil and water tanks terminate in four sets of take-off stations on the control panel at the rear of the truck. As many as four hand Jet-Piercing blowpipes can be connected to the take-off panel by high-pressure rubber hoses. The hand Jet-Piercing blowpipe used with the mobile supply carrier is a highly portable device which can be manipulated comfortably by one operator. The blowpipe can pierce blast holes at rates up to 60 ft per hour, depending on the properties of the rock. Blast holes can be pierced at any angle from the vertical to the horizontal, making it necessary for the operator to drill from the top of the boulder. Hole diameter is held to approximately that which allows the use of a standard 11/8-in. diameter dynamite. The manual Jet-Piercing blowpipe has these important design features: a burner from which the combustion gases emerge at supersonic speeds (in excess of 6000 ft per sec); a hole-sizing shell which controls the minimum size of the hole and protects the copper burner; and a sliding shield which protects the operator against the steam and spallings ejected from the hole during the piercing. The Jet piercing process has been applied successfully in United States and Canadian quarries within the last several years as an advanced method of "drilling" blast holes.

Jan 1, 1952

By G. H. Kennedy, H. E. Criner

CYCLONE thickeners are "hydraulic centrifuges" designed either to produce a maximum practical separation between the water and solids of a feed slurry or to classify the slurry solids according to particle settling rate. The possibilities of utilizing the thickener to "close" plant water circuits have been investigated. Since the thickener becomes an integral part of the plant water circuit when installed, the basic means by which the solids content of all circulating water systems must be controlled is reviewed. All coal not separated from the circulating water by means of dewatering screens or settling devices must be bled from the plant at the same rate as they are being fed or created by degradation. If this were not true, the circulated volume would finally be completely filled with solids. If the rate of bleed is low, the solids concentration in the bleed and circulating water generally will be high. To keep a reasonable circulating water concentration, large amounts of fresh water must be supplied and the bleed rate must be high. These conditions are usually undesirable because of the difficulty in securing fresh water, the loss of large quantities of coal, and the pollution of nearby streams. Thickeners are the primary stage in the separation of the water contained in the bleed from the coal. Since a thickener, when operating with reasonable efficiency, usually cannot be expected to deliver an underflow containing less than 50 pct water, secondary dewatering devices such as a slurry screen or vacuum filter must be used to separate additional water from the bleed. The surface area required by the filter or screen will be nearly proportional to the total water which must be handled, and therefore the thickener becomes necessary to hold down the original cost. The water separated from the coal is then returned to the plant circuit to maintain the water balance and thus becomes the source of fresh water. It is not necessary to return clear water to the plant to maintain control of the circulating water concentration. It is only necessary that the bleed dewatering devices remove coal in all sizes at a rate equal to that at which these sizes are entering the circulating water. However, practically speaking, in order to maintain low solids concentration, it is usually necessary that the thickener have good recovery characteristics on bituminous coals in those sizes down to 400-mesh. The thickener can remove the smaller sizes from the closed-circuit system at the "solids in" rate and prevent their "build up" in the circulating water as shown in Fig. 1. With the portion of the feed water going directly to the underflow, comes the very fine solids not concentrated by the cyclone. All the larger solids are removed from the feed and delivered in a concentrated condition at the underflow. To apply thickeners with some reasonable assurance that operating requirements will be met, it is necessary to know the rate at which solids of all sizes must be removed from the circulating water and to know the thickener characteristics. The required removal rate of fine solids not recovered by other dewatering devices may be estimated from the size distribution and tonnage of the plant feed with a reasonable allowance for degradation in the circulating water system. A more reliable estimate may be secured by sampling the plant bleed water during a constant load period.

Jan 1, 1952