Mineral-forming processes

Correlation with Ionic Potential, The ionic potentials of the elements, Z/r, where Z is the ionic charge and r is the lomc radius, are summarized in Table III. The ionic potentials of elements have a large effect on the association of the element in mineral-forming processes (23). Elements having low ionic potential (Z/r 3), such as Na, Mg, and Ca, associate as hydrated cations. Insoluble hydrolysates have ionic potential of 3 < Z/r < 12, and include, for example, the elements Al, Si, and Ti. 

Copper ore minerals maybe classified as primary, secondary, oxidized, and native copper. Primaryrninerals were concentrated in ore bodies by hydrothermal processes secondary minerals formed when copper sulfide deposits exposed at the surface were leached by weathering and groundwater, and the copper reprecipitated near the water table (see Metallurgy, extractive). The important copper minerals are Hsted in Table 1. Of the sulfide ores, bornite, chalcopyrite, and tetrahedrite—teimantite are primary minerals and coveUite, chalcocite, and digenite are more commonly secondary minerals. The oxide minerals, such as chrysocoUa, malachite, and azurite, were formed by oxidation of surface sulfides. Native copper is usually found in the oxidized zone. However, the principal native copper deposits in Michigan are considered primary (5). 

Almost all larger FT and HP boiler plants employ some form of external capital equipment for MU water and FW treatment. The rationale for installing capital equipment is to eliminate (or at least minimize) the level of mineral impurities, process contaminants, and noncondensable gases entering the boiler via the FW system to reduce the potential for the development of waterside deposition, corrosion, steam contamination, and other waterside problems. 

A rich supply of manganese lies in nodules of ore that litter the ocean floors (Fig. 16.9). These nodules range in diameter from millimeters to meters and are lumps of the oxides of iron, manganese, and other elements. However, because this source is technically difficult to exploit, manganese is currently obtained by the thermite process from pyrolusite, a mineral form of manganese dioxide ... 

As an example, the migration of clay from the surface of a soil to a lower horizon results from several processes occurring when certain soil and environmental properties exist. First, claysized minerals must form, usually requiring weathering to have occurred. Clay minerals formed in the surface soil can then go into suspension when salt concentrations in solution are low. Seasonal rains can move the clay down... 

There are a number of industrial and technological areas in which nanoscale adhesion is important. One of the earliest fields concerned with adhesion on this scale was colloid science. Colloid particles lie in the intermediate region between macro and nano, with dimensions typically of the order of hundreds of nanometers up to a few microns. This means that their true contact areas he well within the nano-domain and are influenced by interactions on this length scale. Adhesion between such particles is important, due to its influence on mineral separation processes and on the aggregation of powders, for example, on the walls of machinery or in the forming of medical tablets. In an extraterrestrial context, such... 

Of all the elements, phosphorus is the only one that was first isolated from a human source. The element was extracted from human urine in 1669 using an unsavory process After a sample of urine was allowed to stand for several days, the putrefied liquid was boiled until only a paste remained. Further heating of the paste at high temperature produced a gas that condensed to a waxy white solid when the vapor was bubbled into water. It wasn t until 1779 that phosphorus was discovered in mineral form, as a component of phosphate minerals. 

Some applications of the coupled fluid flow-reaction model were carried out to the ore-forming process (e.g., Lichtner and Biino, 1992). However, a few attempts to understand quantitatively the precipitations of minerals from flowing supersaturated fluids in the submarine hydrothermal systems have been done (Wells and Ghiorso, 1991). Wells and Ghiorso (1991) discussed the silica behavior in midoceanic ridge hydrothermal system below the seafloor using a coupled fluid flow-reaction model. 

Some mineral products are employed essentially in the form in which they are mined, with only shaping, crushing, cleaning or other treatments that do not change their compositions. Coal, in most of its uses, is a typical example. Most minerals are processed, however, to yield usable products - metals, chemicals or other materials from which most of the items of utility are derived. As regards coal, it may be pointed out that it is often referred to as a mineral, but unlike a true mineral, it has no fixed chemical formula. 

Flotation is certainly the major separation method based on the surface chemistry of mineral particles. It is, however, not the only method. Selective flocculation and agglomeration may be mentioned as other methods used commercially to a limited extent. The former is for hematite, while the latter is for coal and finely divided metallic oxide minerals. Both processes use the same principles as described for flotation to obtain selectivity. In selective flocculation, polymeric flocculants are used. The flocculants selectively adsorb on the hematite, and the hematite floes form and settle readily. Thereby separation from the sili-... 

The major raw materials used at present for the production of alumina are bauxites, which are found in the following mineral forms gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (AlO OH), and diaspore (AlO OH). The major impurities are the oxides of iron, silicon, and titanium, and organic compounds, all of which must be removed before alumina is suitable for aluminum production. The process objectives are, therefore, separation of impurities and compound production in the present case. Bauxite is first dried to facilitate grinding, destroy organic matter, and oxidize the associated ferrous minerals to the ferric state. The temperature of drying is not allowed to exceed 150 °C, because at higher temperature a part of the combined water is expelled and the solubility is affected adversely. 

MINERAL- AND ROCK-FORMING PROCESSES - CRYSTALLIZATION AND PRECIPITATION... 

Properly designed, the injected acid enters the flow channels of the formation and flows radially outward from the wellbore dissolving mineral fine particles in the flow channels. Minerals forming the flow channel walls also react with the acids. These processes increase formation permeability near the wellbore. The end result... 

The Amethyst fluid is richer in strontium and calcium than the other fluids, but nearly depleted in barium. Celestite becomes saturated first, and more of this mineral forms from this fluid than from the Forties fluid. Anhydrite becomes saturated later in the mixing process and precipitates,... 

Sulfate, halide, and carbonate minerals form in mine waste as a result of chemical weathering reactions and as a by-product of mineral processing. The formation of carbonate minerals is of particular interest for its potential in offsetting greenhouse gas emissions associated with mining. We have documented secondary carbonate mineral precipitation at the Mount Keith Nickel Mine (Western Australia) and the... 

Minerals formed in natural waters and in sediments provide a record of the physical chemical processes operating during the period of their formation they also give us information on the environmental factors that regulate the composition of natural waters and on the processes by which elements are removed from the water. The memory record of the sediments allows us to reconstruct the environmental history of the processes that led to the deposition of minerals, in the past. 

The sedimentary and metamorphic rocks uplifted onto land have become part of continents or oceanic islands. These rocks are now subject to chemical weathering. The dissolved and particulate weathering products are transported back to the ocean by river runoff. Once in the ocean, the weathering products are available for removal back into a marine sedimentary reservoir. At present, most mass flows on this planet involve transport of the secondary (recycled) materials rather than the chemical reworking of the primary (juvenile) minerals and gases. The natirre of these transport and sediment formation processes has been covered in Chapters 14 through 19 from the perspective of the secondary minerals formed. We now reconsider these processes from the perspective of impacts on elemental segregation between the reservoirs of the crustal-ocean-atmosphere factory and the mantle. 

Rubidium does not exist in its elemental metallic form in nature. However, in compound forms it is the 22nd most abundant element on Earth and, widespread over most land areas in mineral forms, is found in 310 ppm. Seawater contains only about 0.2 ppm of rubidium, which is a similar concentration to lithium. Rubidium is found in complex minerals and until recently was thought to be a rare metal. Rubidium is usually found combined with other Earth metals in several ores. The lepidolite (an ore of potassium-lithium-aluminum, with traces of rubidium) is treated with hydrochloric acid (HCl) at a high temperature, resulting in lithium chloride that is removed, leaving a residue containing about 25% rubidium. Another process uses thermochemical reductions of lithium and cesium ores that contain small amounts of rubidium chloride and then separate the metals by fractional distillation. 

Remineralisation occurs when partly dissolved crystals are induced to grow by precipitation of the mineral-forming ions Ca + and POl". This is a natural process that occurs as a result of the concentration of these ions in saliva [23] and it serves to oppose the demineralising effects of caries. The processes involved are complex [24] and involve dynamic activity at the interface between the tooth, the saliva, the pellicle and the plaque. Fluoride plays a role in enhancing these processes, and though this is not the only contribution that fluoride makes to protect the tooth from caries, it is nonetheless an important one. 

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