Computational modelling of reduction and smelting processes in the primary metals industries

Abstract not available

Nickel isotope fractionation during laterite Ni ore smelting and refining: implications for tracing the sources of Ni in smelter-affected soils

Nickel isotope ratios were measured in ores, fly ash, slags and FeNi samples from two metallurgical plants located in the Goiás State, Brazil (Barro Alto, Niquelândia). This allowed investigating the mass-dependent fractionation of Ni isotopes during the Ni-laterite ore smelting and refining. Feeding material exhibits a large range of δ60Ni values (from 0.02 ± 0.10 ‰ to 0.20 ± 0.05 ‰, n=7), explained by the diversity of Ni-bearing phases, and the average of δ60Nifeeding materials was found equal to 0.08 ± 0.08‰ (2SD, n=7). Both δ60Ni values of fly ash (δ60Ni = 0.07 ± 0.07‰, n=10) and final FeNi produced (0.05 ± 0.02 ‰, n=2) were not significantly different from the feeding materials ones. These values are consistent with the very high production yield of the factories. However, smelting slags present the heaviest δ60Ni values of all the smelter samples, with δ60Ni ranging from 0.11 ± 0.05 ‰ to 0.27 ± 0.05 ‰ (n=8). Soils were also collected near and far from the Niquelândia metallurgical plant, to evaluate the potential of Ni isotopes for tracing the natural vs anthropogenic Ni in soils. The Ni isotopic composition of the non-impacted topsoils developed on ultramafic rocks ranges from -0.26 ± 0.09 ‰ to -0.04 ± 0.05 ‰ (n=20). On the contrary, the Ni isotopic composition of the non-ultramafic topsoils, collected close to the plant, exhibit a large variation of δ60Ni, ranging from -0.19 ± 0.13 ‰ up to 0.10 ± 0.05 ‰ (n=4). This slight but significant enrichment in heavy isotopes highlight the potential impact of smelting activity in the surrounding area, as well as the potential of Ni isotopes for discerning anthropogenic samples (heavier δ60Ni values) from natural ones (lighter δ60Ni values). However, given the global range of published δ60Ni values (from -1.03 to 2.5 ‰) and more particularly those associated to natural weathering of ultramafic rocks (from -0.61 to 0.32‰), the use of Ni isotopes for tracing environmental contamination from smelters will remain challenging.

Sports participation and health-related behaviors among US youth

Objective To examine the relationship between sports participation and health-related behaviors among high school students. Design Cross-sectional design using data from the 1997 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Participants A nationally representative sample of 14221 US high school students. Main Outcome Measures Prevalence of sports participation among males and females from 3 ethnic groups and its associations with other health behaviors, including diet, tobacco use, alcohol and illegal drug use, sexual activity, violence, and weight loss practices. Results Approximately 70% of male students and 53% of female students reported participating on 1 or more spores teams in school and/or nonschool settings; rates varied substantially by age, sex, and ethnicity. Male sports participants were more likely than male nonparticipants to report fruit and vegetable consumption on the previous day and less likely to report cigarette smelting, cocaine and other illegal drug use, and trying to lose weight. Compared with female nonparticipants, female sports participants were more likely to report consumption of vegetables on the previous day and less likely to report having sexual intercourse in the past 3 months. Among white males and females, several other beneficial health behaviors were associated with sports participation. A few associations with. negative health behaviors were observed in African American and Hispanic subgroups. Conclusion Sports participation is highly prevalent among US high school students, and is associated with numerous positive health behaviors and few negative health behaviors.

Vision-based operations of a large industrial vehicle : autonomous hot metal carrier

Hot metal carriers (HMCs) are large forklift-type vehicles used to move molten metal in aluminum smelters. This paper reports on field experiments that demonstrate that HMCs can operate autonomously and in particular can use vision as a primary sensor to locate the load of aluminum. We present our complete system but focus on the vision system elements and also detail experiments demonstrating reliable operation of the materials handling task. Two key experiments are described, lasting 2 and 5 h, in which the HMC traveled 15 km in total and handled the load 80 times.

The Archaeometallurgical Implications of New Findings of Traditional Crafts of Making High Tin ‘Delta’ Bronze Mirrors and ‘Beta’ Bronze Vessels in Kerala State of South India

New metallurgical and ethnographic observations of the traditional manufacture of specular high-tin bronze mirrors in Kerala state of southern India are discussed, which is an exceptional example of a surviving craft practice of metal mirror-making in the world. The manufacturing process has been reconstructed from analytical investigations made by Srinivasan following a visit late in 1991 to a mirror making workshop and from her technical studies of equipment acquired by Glover in March 1992 from another group of mirror makers from Pathanamthita at an exhibition held at Crafts Museum, Delhi. Finished and unfinished mirror from two workshops were of a binary, copper-tin alloy of 33% tin which is close to the composition of pure delta phase, so that these mirrors are referred to here as ‘delta’ bronzes. For the first time, metallurgical and field observations were made by Srinivasan in 1991 of the manufacture of high-tin ‘beta’ bonze vessels from Palghat district, Kerala, i‥e of wrought and quenched 23% tin bronze. This has provided the first metallurgical record for a surviving craft of high-tin bronze bowl making which can be directly related to archaeological finds of high-tin bronze vessels from the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. New analytical investigations are presented of high-tin beta bronzes from the Indian subcontinent which are some of the earliest reported worldwide. These coupled with the archaeometallurgical evidence suggests that these high-tin bronze techniques are part of a long, continuing, and probably indigenous tradition of the use of high-tin bronzes in the Indian subcontinent with finds reported even from Indus Valley sites. While the source of tin has been problematic, new evidence on bronze smelting slags and literary evidence suggests there may have been some sources of tin in South India.

Thermodynamics of oxygen in liquid copper-tin alloys

The activity coefficients of oxygen in copper-tin alloys at 1 1 00°C have been measured by two different equilibrium methodsthe cell Pt, Ni + NiO I ZrOz solid electrolyte I O[Cu + Sn], cermet. Pt and the equilibrium between Cu + Sn alloys and SnO + SiO, slags established via SnO vapour. The results from both types of measurement confirm the work of Block and co-workers and show that other data are in error. The deoxidation equilibria for Sn in liquid copper, with solid SnO, as deoxidation product, have been evaluated at temperatures of interest in copper smelting.

Deoxidation of liquid copper: effect of phosphorus on oxygen activity

An analysis of the deoxidation of liquid copper is made by use of an Ellingham-type diagram, which incorporates data now available on interactions between copper and the deoxidant in solution. To make the diagram more quantitative information is required on interactions between oxygen and the deoxidants and the activities of component oxides in slags of interest in copper smelting.

Some implications of the volcanic theophany of YHWH on his primeval identity

Abstract: YHWH’s theophany and mode of action are frequently evoked in the Bible as a volcanic event. It is shown here that this representation, of central importance in the story of the Sinai Covenant, is probably not anchored in any specific volcanic eruption experienced by the Israelites in the past. In Antiquity, volcanic activity was specifically associated with the gods who patronized metallurgy, given the homology between lava flowing from a volcano and slag released from a furnace at smelting. Evidence towards such a link is also identified in the Bible. Accordingly, rather than being simply a literary artifice imaging the outstanding powers of YHWH, volcanism may reflect the existence of metallurgical roots in Israelite theology. This contention is supported by Biblical evidences associating YHWH with metal production: (i) his primeval dominion in mining areas, (ii) his special worship by metalworkers, (iii) the representation of his celestial universe as a giant furnace. It is concluded that the volcanic representation of YHWH’s theophany and mode of action reveal a surprising level of preservation of the metallurgic religious traditions in the ancient Israelite theology.

Distribution and mobility of metals in agricultural soils near a copper smelter in South China

The distribution and mobility of heavy metals in the paddy soils surrounding a copper smelting plant in south China was investigated. We assessed the degree of metal contamination using an index of geoaccumulation. The metals were divided into two groups: (1) Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd, whose concentrations were heavily affected by anthropogenic inputs, and (2) Ni, Co and Cr, which were mainly of geochemical origin. Concentrations of Cu, Cd, Zn, and Pb in the polluted soils were higher than the Chinese soil quality criteria. The chemical partitioning patterns of Pb, Zn and Cu indicated that Pb was largely associated with the residual and NH2OH HCl extractable fractions. In contrast, Cd was predominantly associated with the MgCl2 extractable fraction. A large proportion of Cu was bound to the acidic H2O2 extractable fractions, while Zn was predominantly found in the residual phase. The fraction of mobile species, which potentially is the most harmful to the environment, was found to be elevated compared to unpolluted soils in which heavy metals are more strongly bound to the matrix. The mobility of the metals was studied by water extraction using a modification of Tessier's procedure, and the order of mobility was Zn > Cd > Cu > Ce > Pb.

植物对环境污染的磁学响应机理研究

With development of industry and acceleration of urbanization, problems of air quality as well as their influences on human health have recently been regarded highly by current international communities and governments. Generally, industrializations can result in exhausting of a lot of industry gases and dusts, while urbanization can cause increasing of modern vehicles. Comparing with traditional chemical methods, magnetic method is simple, rapid, exact, low-cost and non-destructive for monitoring air pollution and has been widely applied in domestic and international studies. In this thesis, with an aim of better monitoring air pollution, we selected plants (highroad-side perennial pine trees (Pinus pumila Regel) along a highroad linking Beijing City and the Capital International Airport, and tree bark and tree ring core samples (willow, Salix matsudana) nearby a smelting industry in northeast Beijing) for magnetic studies. With systemic magnetic measurements on these samples, magnetic response mechanism of contamination（e.g. tree leaves, tree ring）to both short- and long-term environmental pollution has been constructed, and accordingly the pollution range, degree and process of different time-scale human activities could be assessed. A series of rock magnetic experiments of tree leaves show that the primary magnetic mineral of leaf samples was identified to be magnetite, in pseudo-single domain (PSD) grain size range of 0.2-5.0 μm. Magnetite concentration and grain size in leaves are ascertained to decrease with increasing of sampling distance to highroad asphalt surface, suggesting that high magnetic response to traffic pollution is localized within a distance of about 2 m away from highroad asphalt surface. On the other hand, highroad-side trees and rainwater can effectively reduce the concentration of traffic pollution-induced particulate matters (PMs) in the atmosphere. This study is the first time to investigate the relationship of smelting factory activities and vicissitudes of environment with tree rings by magnetic methods. Results indicate that magnetic particles are omnipresent in tree bark and trunk wood. Magnetic techniques including low-temperature experiment, successive acquisition of IRM, hysteresis loops and SIRM measurements suggest that magnetic particles are predominated by magnetite in pseudo-single domain state. Comparison of magnetic properties of tree trunk and branch cores collected from different directions and heights implies that collection of magnetic particles depends on both sampling direction and height. Pollution source-facing tree trunk wood contains significantly more magnetic particles than other sides. These indicate that magnetic particles are most likely intercepted and collected by tree bark first, then enter into tree xylem tissues by translocation during growing season, and are finally enclosed in a tree ring by lignifying. Correlation between magnetic properties such as time-dependent SIRM values of tree ring cores and the annual steel yields of the smelting factory is significant. Considering the dependence of magnetic properties in sampling directions, heights, and ring cores, we proposed that magnetic particles in the xylem cannot move between tree rings. Accordingly, the SIRM and some other magnetic parameters of tree ring cores from the source-facing side could be contributed to historical study of atmospheric pollution produced by heavy metal smelting activities, isoline diagrams of SIRM values of all the tree rings indicate that air pollution is increasing worse. We believed that a synthetic rock magnetic study is an effective method for determining concentration and grain size of ferromagnets in the atmospheric PMs, and then it should be a rapid and feasible technique for monitoring atmospheric pollution.

中国炼锌向大气排汞及其环境影响的初步研究

汞是一种毒性极强的环境污染物。由于汞能在大气中存在并能长距离迁移，因此汞已经被定义为全球性污染物。研究表明有色金属锌的冶炼是大气汞的一个重要的人为汞污染源。西方发达国家在炼锌过程中由于有严格的污染物控制措施，使得这个问题得到有效的控制。由于经济和技术的原因我国大多数锌冶炼企业在冶炼过程中没有进行烟气汞的回收，从而使得我们不能借鉴国外的相关研究成果。我国2005年精锌总产量占到了世界的1/4，是全世界最大的锌锭生产国家，但相关的研究却非常滞后。近年来我国锌冶炼向大气排汞的问题已经引起了国际争议，而且冶炼过程中排放的汞对局部生态系统会产生重要影响，因此锌冶炼过程中释放汞所造成的环境问题已经越来越受到人们的关注和重视。 本研究的目的是通过对不同锌矿山的锌矿石和浮选锌精矿以及冶炼厂不同源锌精矿的研究从而了解我国的矿石汞含量，及矿石浮选过程中汞的分配；通过对冶炼过程向大气排汞的研究，认识锌精矿中汞在锌冶炼过程中的分配，估算不同冶炼方式汞的释放因子。如A、B和C冶炼厂是用不同的工艺来炼锌的，其汞的释放因子也不同。通过对土法炼锌区和工业炼锌区水体、土壤、大气和植物中汞的分布、迁移转化规律的研究，认识锌冶炼对局部生态系统产生的影响。 1.矿石和锌精矿中汞的研究 成因和分类不同的铅锌矿床锌矿石和浮选锌精矿中汞的测定结果表明：凡口矿的矿石和浮选的锌精矿中汞含量比兰坪矿矿石和浮选锌精矿高了2个数量级。凡口矿锌矿石和锌精矿中汞的含量分别是64.5-107 mg∙kg-1，588-602 mg∙kg-1；对应兰坪矿锌矿石和锌精矿中汞的含量分别是0.23~0.40 mg∙kg-1，1.91-3.33 mg∙kg-1。不同冶炼厂不同矿源的锌精矿中汞含量测定结果表明：不同源锌精矿中汞含量在0.10-1100 mg∙kg-1之间，变动范围非常大。而冶炼厂冶炼所用的混合锌精矿中汞含量差别不大，冶炼所用的混和锌精矿汞含量在37-105 mg∙kg-1之间变动。 2.锌精矿中汞在冶炼过程中的分配和汞释放因子的研究 对采用不同炼锌工艺的冶炼厂和有除汞工艺的A、B冶炼厂所用的锌精矿中的汞在冶炼过程分配的质量平衡对比表明，A冶炼厂和B冶炼厂锌精矿中的汞在冶炼过程中的分配显著不同，主要制约因素是是否对烟气中汞进行回收。在烟气到达除汞设备前，A和B冶炼厂在焙砂和尘、酸洗、电除雾等流程对烟气中汞的去除效果相近。不同的是，A厂要进行烟气汞回收，烟气经过汞回收后，50%以上烟气中的汞在这一流程被去除。这使得A、B冶炼厂后续的流程制酸吸收汞和排向大气汞所占的比例有较大的差异。 不同冶炼方式的汞释放因子表明，无任何环保措施的土法炼锌活动的释汞因子为113 g·t-1，不对烟气汞进行回收的B厂和C冶炼厂汞的释放因子分别为49 g·t-1和243 g·t-1，对烟气汞回收的A冶炼厂汞的释放因子为5.7 g·t-1。综合各种不同炼锌方式的汞释放因子及其精锌产量，得出了锌冶炼过程中汞的综合释放因子，从而估算出我国锌冶炼向大气排汞量约61.3-178 t·y-1。 3.锌冶炼对局部生态系统的影响 炼锌区的冶炼废渣是冶炼过程中的主要废弃物，随意堆放的废渣是当地农田土壤的重要汞污染源，大气汞中活性汞和颗粒态汞的沉降也是当地农田土壤另一个汞污染源。土法炼锌区和工业炼锌区土壤分析结果表明，工业炼锌对局部环境的影响更为严重。土壤汞含量对比如下：A冶炼厂周边环境污染土壤汞含量259-2990 μg·kg-1，远高于威宁土法炼锌点污染土壤汞含量72-355 μg·kg-1。威宁土法炼锌点土壤中甲基汞含量的分析表明，在冶炼点附近的土壤中甲基汞绝对含量和甲基汞/总汞的比例都高于其它样点，说明冶炼点附近土壤中汞的甲基化水平提高。A冶炼厂污水处理渣亦没有得到妥善的处理，成为当地潜在的汞污染源。 土法炼锌区水体汞的含量明显受到冶炼渣的影响。工业炼锌过程产生的废水经处理后的水汞含量100%超过国家工业废水排放标准，这些处理后的水的排放是当地重要的汞污染源。A冶炼厂周边稻田水分析表明，溶解态甲基汞占溶解态总汞的的平均比率（5%）远高于一般自然水体（<1%），可能与稻田特殊环境有关。 土法炼锌区大气汞含量测定表明，冶炼点附近大气汞浓度剧增，高达5220 ng·m-3，锌冶炼是当地主要的大气汞污染源。大气汞浓度的提升，是导致农作物玉米叶部位汞含量增高的原因。植物体的地上绿色部分通过叶片吸收大气汞是植物体内汞富集的重要途径之一。 土法炼锌区和工业炼锌区农作物果实中汞含量的测定结果对比如下：A冶炼厂附近稻田产出的部分大米样品中总汞含量已经超过了国家食品限量卫生标准（20 µg·kg-1），所有辣椒中总汞含量全部超出了国家蔬菜卫生限量标准（10 µg·kg-1）。土法炼锌区所取农作物样品未出现果实汞含量超标现象。食用这些汞含量超标的食物将对当地居民带来潜在的危害。

The heavy metal content of skeletons from an ancient metalliferous polluted area in southern Jordan with particular reerence to bioaccumulation and human health

Pyatt, F.B., Pyatt, A.J., Walker, C., Sheen, T., Grattan, J.P, The heavy metal content of skeletons from an ancient metalliferous polluted area in southern Jordan with particular reerence to bioaccumulation and human health, Ecotoxicology & Environmental Safety 60, 13th August 2003, 295-300