Natural resource recovery/processing separation processes

The manufacture of most products from natural gas feed ultimately relies on a series of catalytically enhanced chemical reactions. For example, a typical 1000—metric ton/day ammonia plant has at least eight unit operations that make use of fixed-bed catalysts, with an overall catalyst volume of approxi-mately 310 m. The catalyst operations vary in useful economic life from 2 to over 10 years, depending on service. Historically, all of the catalysts were disposed of in sanitary landfills, since they are basically inert and pose no environmental or health problems. Today, with stricter regulation of the nation s landfills, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), greater attention is being given to recycling of catalyst for recovery of the main metal components. Today, numerous, cost-effective processes exist to reclaim valuable metal components from spent catalyst. Complete separation of the spent catalyst into its component parts, and subsequent reuse in the industry, leaves no environmental liability. 

In this chapter, the use of MD simulations in examining the solution chemistry and interfacial phenomena of selected flotation systems common to mineral processing are examined, including soluble salt minerals, phyllosilicate minerals, oxide minerals, and natural hydrophobic minerals. These initial MD simulation results are discussed in terms of their significance in the understanding of flotation technology for the separation and recovery of mineral resources. 

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