Concentrate processing

Lime Soda. Process. Lime (CaO) reacts with a dilute (10—14%), hot (100°C) soda ash solution in a series of agitated tanks producing caustic and calcium carbonate. Although dilute alkaH solutions increase the conversion, the reaction does not go to completion and, in practice, only about 90% of the stoichiometric amount of lime is added. In this manner the lime is all converted to calcium carbonate and about 10% of the feed alkaH remains. The resulting slurry is sent to a clarifier where the calcium carbonate is removed, then washed to recover the residual alkaH. The clean calcium carbonate is then calcined to lime and recycled while the dilute caustic—soda ash solution is sent to evaporators and concentrated. The concentration process forces precipitation of the residual sodium carbonate from the caustic solution the ash is then removed by centrifugation and recycled. Caustic soda made by this process is comparable to the current electrolytic diaphragm ceU product. 

A newer juice concentration process, requiring minimal heat treatment, has been appHed commercially in Japan to citms juice concentration. The pulp is separated from the juice by ultrafiltration and pasteurized. The clarified juice containing the volatile flavorings is concentrated at 10°C by reverse osmosis (qv) and the concentrate and pulp are recombined to produce a 42—51 °Brix citms juice concentrate. The flavor of this concentrate has been judged superior to that of commercially available concentrate, and close to that of fresh juice (11). 

Amalgamation, which was once widely used, has been largely discontinued because of inefficiency and environmental concerns. Gold in association with metals such as copper, nickel, and lead, generally follows these in the concentration process and eventually can be separated and recovered. 

Opa.nte. There are two methods used at various plants in Russia for loparite concentrate processing (12). The chlorination technique is carried out using gaseous chlorine at 800°C in the presence of carbon. The volatile chlorides are then separated from the calcium—sodium—rare-earth fused chloride, and the resultant cake dissolved in water. Alternatively, sulfuric acid digestion may be carried out using 85% sulfuric acid at 150—200°C in the presence of ammonium sulfate. The ensuing product is leached with water, while the double sulfates of the rare earths remain in the residue. The titanium, tantalum, and niobium sulfates transfer into the solution. The residue is converted to rare-earth carbonate, and then dissolved into nitric acid. 

AH metals come originally from natural deposits present in the earth s cmst. These ore deposits result from a geological concentration process, and consist mainly of metallic oxides and sulfides from which metals can be extracted. Seawater and brines are another natural source of metals, eg, magnesium (see Chemicals frombrine Magnesium and magnesium alloys Ocean raw materials). Metal extracted from a natural source is called primary metal. 

The treatments used to recover nickel from its sulfide and lateritic ores differ considerably because of the differing physical characteristics of the two ore types. The sulfide ores, in which the nickel, iron, and copper occur in a physical mixture as distinct minerals, are amenable to initial concentration by mechanical methods, eg, flotation (qv) and magnetic separation (see SEPARATION,MAGNETIC). The lateritic ores are not susceptible to these physical processes of beneficiation, and chemical means must be used to extract the nickel. The nickel concentration processes that have been developed are not as effective for the lateritic ores as for the sulfide ores (see also Metallurgy, extractive Minerals recovery and processing). 

PGM Concentration. The ore mined from the Merensky Reef in South Africa has a maximum PGM content of 8.1 g/1, of which 50—60% is platinum, and 20—25% palladium. The PGMs are in the form of a ferroplatinum alloy, or as their sulfides, arsenides, or teUurides. The aim of the concentration process is to separate from the ore a cmde metal concentrate, having a PGM content of 60%. The majority of other metals, such as nickel and copper, are separated out at this stage for further refining. 

Fig. 1. Concentration process for ore of Merensky Reef origin, where (O) indicate stages of the process and (D), the product obtained.

The Stamicarbon (22) and Kaltenbach high concentration processes are designed to use the evaporated water vapor produced by pressure neutralization to heat the evaporator used for concentration. The Kaltenbach neutralizer operates at 350 kPa (3.5 bar) and 175°C, and produces steam used to concentrate the solution to 95% in a vacuum evaporator. A recent variation uses a final atmospheric evaporator to produce a 99.7% melt (22). 

For a soluble wastewater, the VSS is proportional to the biomass concentration. Process performance may also be related to the sludge age, which is the average length of time the organisms are in the process. 

Union Carbide Beer Concentration Process, Pamphlet, Union Carbide Development Co., Div. of Union Carbide Cotp., New York, 1961. 

Process Control As is the case in all concentration processes, optimum results will be obtained under steady operating conditions. 

Wastage may appear as general attack or as grooving, or it may be localized. Pitting almost never occurs. Each attack morphology is characteristic of concentration processes associated with corrosion. 

This is an oversimplified treatment of the concentration effect that can occur on a thin layer plate when using mixed solvents. Nevertheless, despite the complex nature of the surface that is considered, the treatment is sufficiently representative to disclose that a concentration effect does, indeed, take place. The concentration effect arises from the frontal analysis of the mobile phase which not only provides unique and complex modes of solute interaction and, thus, enhanced selectivity, but also causes the solutes to be concentrated as they pass along the TLC plate. This concentration process will oppose the dilution that results from band dispersion and thus, provides greater sensitivity to the spots close to the solvent front. This concealed concentration process, often not recognized, is another property of TLC development that helps make it so practical and generally useful and often provides unexpected sensitivities. 

That benzene hexachloride isomer mixture is then the raw material for lindane production. The production of lindane per se is not a chemical synthesis operation but a physical separation process. It is possible to influence the gamma isomer content of benzene hexachloride to an extent during the synthesis process. Basically, however, one is faced with the problem of separating a 99%-plus purity gamma isomer from a crude product containing perhaps 12 to 15% of the gamma isomer. The separation and concentration process is done by a carefully controlled solvent extraction and crystallization process. One such process is described by R.D. Donaldson et al. Another description of hexachlorocyclohexane isomer separation is given by R.H. Kimball. 

Water treatment to be used/cycles of concentration Process... 

It is seen that with 1 ml samples the peak for a concentration of 1 ppm is well off scale and a clearly defined peak was observed for 10 ppb. When a 10 ml sample was used, acetophenone at a concentration of 1 ppb could just be detected. Under the conditions used, the ultimate mass sensitivity of the system was about 10 ng. This level of sensitivity was achieved, on the one hand, by the sample concentrating process, and on the other, as a result of the high mass sensitivity of small bore columns. 

Evaporation is the oldest process for the concentration of liquid foods. Temperatures are higher compared to those of the more modern membrane filtration or freeze concentration processes. Tocopherols, carotenes, ascorbic acid, flavonoids and other phenolic antioxidants are partially destroyed by heating. Therefore, it is necessary to minimise the time needed for evaporation, and heating to the evaporation temperature should be carried out very rapidly. The temperature may be decreased if the pressure is reduced. The process is then more expensive, but losses of antioxidants become substantially lower. 

A process is inherently safe in a rigorous sense, when no fluctuation or disturbance can cause an accident. To search for synthetic routes that avoid hazardous reactants, intermediates, and reaction mixtures, is an impetus to be seriously considered by chemists and process designers. Nevertheless, there will always be a need to cope with potentially hazardous materials and reaction mixtures in future process design work, the more so because process streams are expected to become potentially more dangerous in the future. The process streams will be more concentrated to increase energy efficiency, to ease purification, and to decrease the load of wastewater and spent acids. More concentrated process streams have a higher specific content of latent energy and are hence less stable. 

Figure 5.38 Routes to uranium mill concentrate processing to power /research reactor fuel products.

The analytical power of XRF and XRD has lately been combined in an integrated XRF/XRD system, in which XRD powder measurements are examined for phase identification and Rietveld analysis on the basis of element concentrations. Process analysis, a former stronghold of XRF, can now be performed by highspeed XRD, which is supported by XRF element-analytical data. 

Large amounts of water are used in the copper concentration process, although disposal of liquid wastes is rarely a problem because the vast majority of the water is recycled back into the process. Once the wastewater exits the flotation process it is sent to a sediment control pond where it is held long enough for most of the sediment to settle. 

The colon s absorption of most of the water and salt from the chyme results in this "drying" or concentrating process. As a result, only about 100 ml of water is lost through this route daily. The remaining contents, now referred to as feces, are "stored" in the large intestine until it can be eliminated by way of defecation. 

In all simulation experiments carried out under assumed prebiotic conditions, the question of possible concentrations in a primeval ocean arises 0.1 M solutions appear unrealistic, as this would correspond to about 12 g of amino acid per litre of seawater Miller s lagoons and Darwin s ponds then come to mind, i.e., the concentration of dilute solutions in small localized areas due to evaporation of water. Recently, the attention of scientists has shifted towards concentration processes occurring at the surface of minerals however, many of the problems involved remain unsolved. 

Myttenaere, C., Verfaillie, G. and Bordeau, P. (1967). Uptake and distribution of 144-Ce in Oryza Sativa, page 437 in Radioecological Concentration Processes, Aberg, B. and Hungate, F. P., Eds. (Pergamon Press, London). 

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