Scaling pyrite

Because calcium oxide comprises about 65% of Pordand cement, these plants are frequendy situated near the source of their calcareous material. The requisite silica and alumina may be derived from a clay, shale, or overburden from a limestone quarry. Such materials usually contain some of the required iron oxide, but many plants need to supplement the iron with mill scale, pyrite cinders, or iron ore. Silica may be supplemented by adding sand to the raw mix, whereas alumina can be furnished by bauxites and Al202-rich flint clays. 

Potential Processes. Sulfur vapor reacts with other hydrocarbon gases, such as acetjiene [74-86-2] (94) or ethylene [74-85-1] (95), to form carbon disulfide. Higher hydrocarbons can produce mercaptan, sulfide, and thiophene intermediates along with carbon disulfide, and the quantity of intermediates increases if insufficient sulfur is added (96). Light gas oil was reported to be successflil on a semiworks scale (97). In the reaction with hydrocarbons or carbon, pyrites can be the sulfur source. With methane and iron pyrite the reaction products are carbon disulfide, hydrogen sulfide, and iron or iron sulfide. Pyrite can be reduced with carbon monoxide to produce carbon disulfide. 

Figure 4-469 shows the effect on corrosion rates of 1020 steel in different water systems with dissolved hydrogen sulfide. The difference in corrosion rates is due to different corrosion products formed in different solutions. In solution I, kansite forms. Kansite is widely protective as the pyrrhotite coats the surface giving slightly more protection until a very protective pyrite scale is formed. In solution II, only kansite scale forms, resulting in continued increase in the corrosion rate. Finally, in solution 111, pyrite scale is formed as in solution I however, continued corrosion may be due to the presence of carbon dioxide. 

Figure 3. Plot of 10 1nP56/54 values versus 10 /7 (K) for (A) Fe minerals calculated from Polyakov and Mineev (2000), and for (B) aqueous Fe species calculated from Schauble et al. (2001). Temperature scale in °C shown at top. Mineral abbreviations are Py pyrite, Mt magnetite, Celad celadonite, Hem hematite, Goe goethite, Lepid lepidocrocite, 01 olivine, Sid siderite, Ank-2 ankerite (Cai iMg ,jFe ,3Mn ,i(C03)2), Ank-1 ankerite (CaiMgo,5Feo,5(C03)2).

Fig. 2. Trace element variations in type 1 pyrite. Average values for pyrite in proximal (n=10) and distal (n=5) bars indicate io. Note log scale.

The Williams Brook property has yielded high gold assays. Preliminary work presents evidence suggesting that Au mineralization occurs in two forms 1) as refractory Au in mm scale massive sulfide (dominantly pyrite) and disseminated veins that cut potassically altered rocks, and 2) as vuggy quartz veins as finegrained (< mm) free gold. Trace element correlations indicate that Au may be related to epithermal mineralization as there are good correlations of Au with Ag,... 

Mineral standards were hand crushed to -1/4 inch, then ground to a fine powder in a ball mill (alumina elements) or Bleuler Model 526/LFS678 puck mill. The resultant powder was aerodynamically classified in a Bahco Model 6000 micro particle classifier and the finest fraction ( 18 throttle) was collected. A size criterion of 90% or more by weight of particles 5 micron and smaller in diameter was used for the mineral standards. Sizes were verified by Coulter Counter. Duplicate 13 mm KBr pellets were prepared and the spectra were weight-scaled by techniques similar to those reported by Painter (3) and Elliot (4). With one exception, all the mineral standard spectra were averages of spectra from duplicate pellets. The one exception was the iron sulfate spectrum, which was obtained as the difference spectrum by subtracting the spectrum of HCl-washed weathered pyrite from that of the weathered pyrite. A weight correction was applied to the difference spectrum. 

The most common type of troublesome scale is that of amorphous silica and calcium carbonate. Scales of various metallic sulphides is the rule rather than the exception. By far the most abundant sulphide scale consists of iron sulphides. They include pyrite, marcasite, and pyr-rhotite (Kristmannsdottir 1989), but sulphide scale of other metals have also been observed, such as Cu, Pb, and Zn (White et al. 1963 Gallup 1989 Gallup et al. 1995 Hardardottir et al. 2001 Reyes et al. 2002). Sulphide scales are often poorly crystalline and they may be amorphous to X-rays. Moreover, the sulphidebearing scales are known to be enriched in various elements such as Ag, As, Au, Cd, and Mn. Reyes et al. (2002) observed that scales at Rotokawa, New Zealand, also contained elevated concentrations of Hg, Sb, and Se, which were incorporated in pyrite. The quantity of sulphide scale formation is generally very limited and may in fact be beneficial rather than troublesome as the scale forms a stable protective... 

Geothermal aquifer waters are close to saturation with some scale-forming minerals (calcite, pyrite) but undersaturated with others (amorphous silica, amorphous metallic sulphides). Only the slightest degassing suffices to produce calcite oversaturated water. By contrast, extensive cooling may be required to produce amorphous-silica oversaturation. As solubility constants are... 

Sulfuric acid was one of the first chemicals to be produced industrially on a large scale. Until the early 1700s, sulfuric acid was produced in glass jars of several liters in which sulfur and potassium nitrate, KNO, were heated. Pyrite was often substituted for sulfur because of... 

The importance of polysulfides in the pyrite formation process was outlined by several studies (37, 38). Schoonen and Barnes (37) showed that no precipitation from homogeneous solution can be observed within a reasonable time scale, even in solutions highly supersaturated with respect to pyrite, unless pyrite seeds are already existing. Therefore future studies should address the role of ferric oxide surfaces in promoting the nucleation of pyrite. 

---