Mineral composition

Mineral and Chemical Composition. X-ray diffraction is used to determine the mineral composition of an Mg(OH)2 sample. Induced coupled plasma (icp) spectrophotometry is used to measure the atomic concentrations present in a sample. X-ray fluorescence analysis is another comparative instmmental method of determining chemical composition. 

Each basic operation can be divided into one or more unit operations. Size reduction involves cnishing and grinding depending on the size of material handled, and these may be carried out in stages. Separations can be either soHds from soHds, based on size or mineral composition, or soHds from Hquids, ie, dewatering (qv). Size separation or classification is an integral part of any flow sheet, not only to meet product size specifications, but also to ensure a narrow size distribution for subsequent minerals separation circuits and to decrease the load and improve the efficiency of size reduction units which are energy intensive. 

A development in the 1960s was that of on-line elemental analysis of slurries using x-ray fluorescence. These have become the industry standard. Both in-stream probes and centralized analyzers are available. The latter is used in large-scale operations. The success of the analyzer depends on how representative the sample is and how accurate the caUbration standards are. Neutron activation analyzers are also available (45,51). These are especially suitable for light element analysis. On-stream analyzers are used extensively in base metal flotation plants as well as in coal plants for ash analysis. Although elemental analysis provides important data, it does not provide information on mineral composition which is most cmcial for all separation processes. Devices that can give mineral composition are under development. 

Thermal Conductivity. The refractory thermal conductivity depends on the chemical and mineral composition of the material and increases with decreasing porosity. The thermal conductivities of some common refractories are shown in Figure 2. 

In a general way, the identification of asbestos fibers can be performed through morphological examination, together with specific analytical methods to obtain the mineral composition and/or stmcture. Morphological characterization in itself usually does not constitute a reHable identification criteria (1). Hence, microscopic examination methods and other analytical approaches are usually combined. 

Calcium sulfate [7778-18-9J, CaSO, ia mineral form is commonly called gypsum and occurs abundandy ia many areas of the wodd. In natural deposits, the main form is the dihydrate. Some anhydrite is also present ia most areas, although to a lesser extent. Mineral composition can be found ia Table 1. 

Clays are composed of extremely fine particles of clay minerals which are layer-type aluminum siUcates containing stmctural hydroxyl groups. In some clays, iron or magnesium substitutes for aluminum in the lattice, and alkahes and alkaline earths may be essential constituents in others. Clays may also contain varying amounts of nonclay minerals such as quart2 [14808-60-7] calcite [13397-26-7] feldspar [68476-25-5] and pyrite [1309-36-0]. Clay particles generally give well-defined x-ray diffraction patterns from which the mineral composition can readily be deterrnined. 

MiscelDneous. Other important properties are resistance to thermal shock, attack by slag, and, in the case of refractories (qv), thermal expansion. For whiteware, translucency, acceptance of glazes, etc, may be extremely important. These properties depend on the clay mineral composition, the method of manufacture and impurity content. 

Measuring process parameters on full-scale plants is notoriously difficult, but is needea for control. Usually few of the important variables are accessible to measurement. Recycle of material makes it difficult to isolate the effects of changes to individual process units in the circuit. Newer plants have more instrumentation, including on-line viscosimeters [Kawatra and Eisele, International ]. Mineral Processing, 22, 251-259 (1988)], mineral composition by on-line X-ray fluorescence, belt feeder weighers, etc., but the information is always incomplete. Therefore it is helpful to have models to predict quantities that cannot be measured while measuring those that can. 

The X-ray microanalysis is the basic method of study of rare-metal and rare-earth minerals of micron size. The multi-component composition, instability of minerals under the electron beam, overlap of X-ray characteristic lines, absence of reference samples of adequate composition present difficulties in the research of mineral composition. 

Mineral composition, permeability, and porosity, grain-size distribution, in-situ density, moisture content... 

Ehleringer, J.R., Field, C.B., Lin, Z.F. Kuo, C.Y. (1986). Leaf carbon isotope and mineral composition in subtropical plants along an irradiance dine. Oecologia, 70, 520-6. 

Takahashi, H. (1985) Methods for estimating mineral composition of altered rocks of the Hosokura Pb-Zn ore deposits, Japan. Mining Geology, 38, 347-356 (in Japanese). 

Tatsumi, T, and Oshima, T. (1966) Mineral composition of the Kuroko ores of the Kosaka and Hanaoka mines. 

Aoki, M. and Nakamura, K. (1989) The occurrence of chimneys in Izena Hore No. 2 orebody and texture and mineral composition of the sulfide chimneys. Proc. JAMSTEC Symp. Deep Sea Res., 5, 197-210. 

Gonzales Paramas, A. M., Gomez Barez, J. A., Garcia ViUanova, R. J., Rivas Pala, T., Ardanuy Albajar, R., and Sanchez, J. (2000). Geographical discrimination of honeys by using mineral composition and common chemical quality parameters. /. Sci. Food 80,157-165. 

Gonzalez-Miret, M. L., Terrab, A., Hernanz, D., Femandez-Recamales, M. A., and Heredia, F. J. (2005). Multivariate correlation between color and mineral composition of honeys and by their botanical origin. /. Agric. Food Chem. 53, 2574-2580. 

In the previous paragraph, it has been stated that minerals have the same structure but different compositions (phenomenon of isomorphism of minerals) while some minerals have the same composition but different structures (phenomenon of polymorphism of minerals). Mineral composition and structure are both important in studying and classifying minerals. The major class of minerals - based on composition and structure - include elements, sulfides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, oxides, phosphates, and silicates. The silicate class is especially important, because silicon makes up 95% of the minerals, by volume, in the Earth s crust. Mineral classes are divided into families on the basis of the chemicals in each mineral. Families, in turn, are made of groups of minerals that have a similar structure. Groups are further divided into species. 

Although low in volume compared with other foundry solid waste, baghouse dust may still be used beneficially in the production of portland cement. This opportunity arises from its attractive mineral composition silica, clay, and metal fines, which are needed in the cement kiln. Also, special efforts may be undertaken to characterize its chemical composition and purity. 

Some properties of the rock used in this study were measured The cation exchange capacity (cec) was determined by the barium sulfate method as described by Mortland and Mellor (33). Surface area was measured by using a Digisorb Meter (Micromeritics Instrument Corporation) through nitrogen adsorption. Estimation of mineral composition and indentification of the rock were performed by X-ray diffraction. 

Bacteria and their composites with soil minerals or organic matter are capable of taking up a wide range and variety of toxic metals in soil environments. Research done over the last decade or so has greatly improved our understanding of the mechanisms on biosorption of metals and bacte-ria-metal-soil component interactions. However, more studies from molecular level are needed in order to enhance the ability of bacteria and their association with soil components to remediate toxic metals-contaminated soils. The focus of future investigations should be on the mechanisms by which metals are sorbed and bound by bacterial cell surfaces and bacteria-soil/mineral composites. In this connection, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a promising technique because it can provide information about... 

Wall MM. 2006. Ascorbic acid, vitamin A, and mineral composition of banana (Musa sp.) and papaya (Carica papaya) cultivars grown in Hawaii. J Food Comp Anal 19 434 145. 

The implications of these mechanistic studies for our understanding of environmental iron sequestration by siderophores is as follows. The hydroxyl containing aqua ferric ions will tend to form ferri-siderophore complexes more rapidly than the hexaaqua ion and ferrous ion will be sequestered more rapidly than the ferric ion. However, once in a siderophore binding site the ferrous ion will be air oxidized to the ferric ion, due to the negative redox potentials (see Section III.D). This also means that Fe dissolution from rocks will be influenced by mineral composition (other donors in the first coordination shell) as well as surface reductases in contact with the rock, and of course surface area (4,13). 

Schutt B (2000) Holocene paleohydrology of playa lakes in northern and central Spain a reconstruction based on the mineral composition of lacustrine sediments. Quatem Int 73 1 7-27... 

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