Infrared thermography for prediction of spontaneous combustion of sulfide ores

The method of infrared thermography to predict the temperature of the sulfide ores has a large error. To solve this problem, the temperature of the sulfide ores is measured by thermal infrared imager and recording thermometric instrument contrastively. The main factors, including emissivity, distance, angle and dust concentration that affect the temperature measurement precision, are analyzed. The regression equations about the individual factors and comprehensive factors are obtained by analyzing test data. The application of the regression equations improves the precision of the thermal infrared imager. The geometric information lost in traditional infrared thermometry is determined by visualization grid method and interpolation method, the relationship between the infrared imager and geometry information is established. The geometry location can be measured exactly.

Self-heating tendency evaluation of sulfide ores based on nonlinear multi-parameters fusion

In order to reveal the nonlinear dynamics characteristics of unsteady self-heating process of sulfide ores, nine different kinds of sulfide ore samples from a pyrite mine in China were taken as experimental materials and their self-heating characteristics were measured in laboratory. Furthermore, the measured temperature was studied by integrating wavelet transform, nonlinear characteristic parameters extraction and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. The results indicate that only the ore samples 1, 2, 6 and 9 have obvious self-heating phenomenon, and their self-heating initiative temperatures are 220 ℃, 239 ℃, 220 ℃ and 220 ℃, respectively, which means that they are difficult to produce self-heating under normal mining conditions. The correlation dimension of self-heating process is fraction and the maximum Lyapunov exponent is positive, which means that it is feasible to study the self-heating process based on chaotic dynamics theory. The nonlinearities of self-heating process of these four samples （ore samples 1, 2, 6 and 9） are 0.8227, 0.7521, 0.9401 and 0.8827 respectively and the order of the samples according to these results is： sample 6, sample 9, sample 1, sample 2, which is consistent with the measured results of self-heating characteristics. Therefore, the nonlinearity method can be used to evaluate the self-heating tendency of sulfide ores, and it is an effective verification of the reliability of measured results.

Locating method of fire source for spontaneous combustion of sulfide ores

in order to achieve a more efficient way to accurately detect the position of the fire source of spontaneous combustion underground mine, a simple fire source locating method, based on infrared scanning system which can determine the point where the highest temperature on the surface of igniting ores occurs, was proposed. First, the differential equations that describe heat flow in ore body were presented and the relationship between the surface temperature distribution and the depth and intensity of inner fire source was established with a relatively simple heat transfer model. With the solution of equation, the expression of the relationship between the surface temperature distribution and the inner fire source was deduced and the mathematical-physical model of heat transfer process was set up. Then, with the model, visualization of fire source on the basis of MATLAB simulation platform was realized. The results show that： 1） within 10 m, when the detecting depth is less than 2 m, the temperature perturbation on ores surface can change rapidly, and then slowly; after 4 m, in contrast, it changes very little, and is even close to zero at 10 m; 2） When it is close to self-ignition duration and the detective depths are 2, 5 and 10 m, respectively, the maximum temperature differences are correspondingly 0.5, 0.04 and 0.005 ℃ in the scope of 1 m×1 m; under the same condition, the maximum temperature differences are 1.391, 0.136 and 0.018 ℃, respectively, in the scope of 2 m×2 m. Therefore, this system can be used to measure the temperature differences on the surface of ore body and determine the highest temperature point directly. Also, it is possible to determine the depth of fire source and its intensity by locating method of fire source indirectly.

Bioleaching of complex polymetallic sulfide ores by mixed culture

Bacterial leaching of single sulfide minerals and polymetallic sulfide ores was operated in shake flasks and small-scaled columns.The results show that bioleaching of jamesonite is not accessible,the iron extraction rate of pyrrhotite bioleaching reaches 98.2% after 26 d,and the zinc extraction rate of marmatite bioleaching reaches 92.3%,while the corresponding iron extraction reaches only 13.6% after 29 d.Pulp density has a significant effect on metal extraction of pyrrhotite and marmatite bioleaching.The corresponding metal extraction rate decreases with the increase of pulp density.For the polymetallic sulfide ores,zinc extraction of 97.1% is achieved after bioleaching in shake flasks for 10 d,while only 7.8% is obtained after bioleaching in small-scaled column.Analytical results of scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis(EDX) reveal that large amount of calcium sulfate is formed on the mineral surface.

Coupling of anionic wetting agents to dust of sulfide ores by dropping liquid method

By using the experimental approach of dropping liquid, the coupling of three anionic wetting agents with ten dust samples of sulfide ores was studied, and particularly the wetting effects of the wetting agents on the sulfide dust influenced by factors of agent concentration and sulfate additive in the wetting agent solutions were investigated. The results show that when the solution temperature is about 20 ℃, all the selected wetting agents are effective to most dust samples, but the effect is different. Wetting agents are more effective to the dust which is difficult to be wetted. Wetting agent solution with sodium sulfate can improve the wetting ability of sulfide dust. For sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, the suitable concentration of sodium sulfate is 12 mmol/L. The cost of wetting agents can be reduced because the sodium sulfate is much cheaper than many surfactants. Since the dust of sulfide ores is composed of various minerals and elements, the whole effect of depressing dust should be considered while innovating a wetting agent.

Nonlinear characteristics of induced spontaneous combustion process of sulfide ores

To investigate the relationship between nonlinear parameters and spontaneous combustion tendency of sulfide ores, nine different sulfide ore samples were taken from a pyrite mine in China, and induced spontaneous combustion experiment was carried out in the laboratory. Different stages of the induced spontaneous combustion process were studied by integrating wavelet technology and nonlinear dynamics theory. The results show that ignition points of all the ore samples are above 330 ℃, indicating that sulfide ores of the pyrite mine are difficult to combust spontaneously under normal mining conditions. Spontaneous combustion process includes three stages： incubation stage, development stage and approaching stage. The average temperature rising rate of the three stages are 1.0 ~C/min, 2.0 ~C/min and 4.2 ~C/min, respectively. During the spontaneous combustion process, mean values of approximate entropy and correlation dimension increase at first, and then decrease in the following stage. The mean value of the maximum Lyapunov exponent increases with the passage of reaction time. In a whole, correlation among the three nonlinear parameters firstly weakens, then enhances, and the best correlation period is at approaching stage. As ignition point increases, the maximum Lyapunov exponent of approaching stage decreases. Therefore, combustible tendency of sulfide ores could be qualitatively evaluated based on the maximum Lyapunov exponent of this stage.

Spontaneous combustion tendency of fresh and pre-oxidized sulfide ores

Three representative sulfide ore samples were collected from typical metal mines,and their corresponding pre-oxidized products were obtained under nature environment.The thermal behaviors of each sample at heating rates of 5,10,15 and 20 °C/min in air flow from ambient temperature to 800 °C were studied by simultaneous thermal analysis and the TG/DSC curves before and after the pre-oxidation were compared.By the peak temperature of DTG curves,the whole reaction process for each sample was divided into different stages,and the apparent activation energies were calculated by the Ozawa-Flynn-Wall method.The results show that the reaction process of each sample after pre-oxidation is more complex,with quicker reaction rates,fewer heat production quantities,and higher or lower ignition-points.The apparent activation energies decrease from 364.017-474.228 kJ/mol to 244.523- 333.161 kJ/mol.Therefore,sulfide ores are more susceptible to spontaneous combustion after the pre-oxidation.

Enhanced copper recovery from low grade copper sulfide ores through bioleaching using residues produced by fermentation of agricultural wastes

Effects of residues produced by agricultural wastes fermentation(AWF)on low grade copper sulfide ores bioleaching,copper recovery,and microbial community were investigated.The results indicated that adding appropriate bulk of AWF made contributions to low grade copper sulfide ores bioleaching,which may be mainly realized through reducing the passivation layer formed by Fe3+hydrolysis.Improved copper recovery(78.35%)and bacteria concentration(9.56×10^(7)cells·mL^(−1))were yielded in the presence of 5 g·L^(−1)AWF.The result of 16S rDNA analysis demonstrated that microbial community was differentiated by adding AWF.Bacteria proportion,such as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans,Moraxella osloensis,and Lactobacillus acetotolerans changed distinctly.Great difference between samples was showed according to beta diversity index,and the maximum value reached 0.375.Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans accounted for the highest proportion throughout the bioleaching process,and that of sample in the presence of 5 g·L^(−) AWF reached 28.63%.The results should show reference to application of agricultural wastes and low grade copper sulfide ores.

Test of oxidation behavior of sulfide ores at ambient temperature for fire control

The coincidence of relevant factors, e.g. oxygen absorption quantity, weight increment, water soluble iron ions and sulfate ion of sulfide ore samples in the oxidation process, was tested through experiment. Based on a large number of tests for a group sample of sulfide ores from a mine, some important conclusions were obtained. The results obtained by the investigation indicate that there is no general interpretation relative to the oxygen absorption and the formation products of sulfate ion and water soluble iron ions during the oxidation process of sulfide ores at ambient temperature. However, the weight increment of the sulfide ore samples in the oxidation process at ambient temperature has a linear relationship with the auantitv of oxvaen absorption.

Bioleaching of low-grade copper sulfide ores by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

The grown conditions of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans were investigated,and then experiments were conducted to research the bioleaching behaviors of crude ore of copper sulfide and hand-picked concentrates of chalcopyrite by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans.The experimental results show that the bacteria grow best when the temperature is(30±1) °C and the pH value is 2.0.The bacteria concentration is 2.24×107 mL-1 in this condition.It is found that the copper extraction yield is affected by the inoculum size and the pulp density and the extraction yield increases as the inoculum size grows.The bioleaching rates reach their highest point in sulfide copper and chalcopyrite with a pulp density of 5% and 10%,respectively.Column flotation experiments of low-grade copper sulfide ores show that the bioleaching recovery reaches nearly 45% after 75 days.

Leaching of nickel-molybdenum sulfide ore in membrane biological reactor

The bioleaching of molybdenum from its sulfide ore using a Mo-resistant thermophilic bacterium sulfolobus metallics combined with a membrane biological reactor（MBR） was studied.The experimental results showed that the concentration of Mo can be controlled by filter of the membrane in MBR and the toxicity of Mo to microorganism is decreased in the process of bioleaching.It was also evidenced that there were different leaching rates of Ni and Mo when the concentration of Mo was different.After leaching for 20 d in the MBR at Mo concentration of 395 mg/L,the leaching rates of Ni and Mo reached the maximum of 79.57% and 56.23% respectively under the conditions of 100 g/L of mineral density,65 ℃,pH=2 and 1.0 L/min of the aeration rate.While 75.59% Ni and 54.33% Mo were leached out in column without membrane under the same conditions.

Multi-scale impact crushing characteristics of polymetallic sulphide ores

The effects of crushing energy, ore hardness and particle size of cassiterite polymetallic sulphide ore and lead-zinc polymetallic sulphide ore on the crushing characteristics during impact crushing were investigated by mineral liberation analyzer(MLA) and drop weight test. The results show that both ores contain pyrrhotite, sphalerite, jamesonite, gangue mica and quartz except cassiterite. Cassiterite is closely associated with sulphide and quartz to form aggregates, which are mixed with each other in the form of intergrowth or symbiotic disseminated fine grains. Cassiterite has a significant impact on ore crushing characteristics. Ore hardness is negatively correlated with the product of crushing parameters of A and b, i.e. A×b, the effect of crushing energy on crushing fineness is related to crushing parameters A and b, and the influence degree increases with the increase of A. The influence degree increases with the increase of b when crushing energy ECS is less than 1 kW·h/t, and the influence degree decreases with the increase of b when crushing energy ECS is greater than 1 kW·h/t. The impact of crushing energy on crushing fineness is greater than that of ore particle size when the crushing energy is lower;on the contrary, the impact of ore particle size on crushing fineness is greater than that of crushing energy when crushing energy is higher.

Acid equilibrium during bioleaching of alkaline low-grade sulfide copper ore

This article reports the study on acid equilibrium during bioleaching of alkaline low-grade copper sulfide ore. Adding auxiliary agents 1# （sulfur） and 2# （pyrite） makes bacterial leaching of copper and acid production carried out simultaneously because the auxiliary agents can be oxidized by bacteria and the oxidation products involve acid. The acid required for dissolving alkaline gangue during bacterial leaching is produced, and acid equilibrium is reached during the ore bio-leaching. The recovery of copper reaches more than 95%.

Bioleaching of low-grade copper sulfide ore by extremely thermoacidophilic consortia at 70℃in column reactors

The effects of introducing M.sedula derivatives having different Cu^2+-resistance on bioleaching capacity of a defined consortium(consisting of A.brierleyi DSM1651 and M.hakonensis HO1-1)were studied in column reactors at 70℃.Introducing M.sedula copA mutant,a copper sensitive derivative,only had negligible effects on bioleaching.While introducing M.sedula ARS50-2,a Cu^2+resistant strain,substantially consolidated bioleaching process,with 27.77%more copper recovered after 58 d of bioleaching.Addition of M.sedula ARS50-2 likely enhanced the sulfur oxidation capacity of consortium after the 24th day under the Cu^2+stress.The majority of extreme thermoacidophiles were attached on minerals surface as indicated by quantitative PCR(qPCR)data.Successions of microbial community of extremely thermoacidophilic consortia that attached on surface of minerals were different from those in leachate.M.hakonensis HO1-1 was the dominant species attached on minerals surface in each column reactor throughout bioleaching process.The sessile M.sedula ARS50-2 remained as a major species till the 34th day.A.brierleyi DSM1651 was the most abundant planktonic species in leachate of each column reactor.These results highlight that higher Cu^2+-resistance is a beneficial trait for extreme thermoacidophiles to process copper minerals.

Application of response surface methodology in optimization of bioleaching parameters for high-magnesium nickel sulfide ore

The response surface methodology(RSM)was used to optimize the operating parameters during the bioleaching of Jinchuan high-magnesium nickel sulfide ore.The particle size,acid addition,pulp density and inoculation amount were chosen as the investigated parameters.To maximize the leaching efficiency of nickel,copper,cobalt and minimize the dissolution of magnesium and iron ions,the model suggested a combination of optimal parameters of particles less than 0.074 mm being 72.11%,sulfuric acid addition being 300 kg/t,pulp density being 5%and inoculation amount being 12.88%.Under the conditions,the average results of three parallel experiments were 89.43%of nickel leaching efficiency,36.78%of copper leaching efficiency,84.07%of cobalt leaching efficiency,49.19%of magnesium leaching efficiency and 0.20 g/L of iron concentration.The model indicated that the most significant factor in response of the leaching efficiency of valuable metal is the particle size,and the most significant factor in response to the leaching efficiency of harmful ions(Mg2+)is the amount of sulfuric acid addition.And according to the suggested models,no significance of the interaction effect between particle size and acid addition was shown.Under the optimized parameters suggested by models,the valuable metals could be separated from harmful ions during the bioleaching process.

Co-extraction of valuable metals and kinetics analysis in chlorination process of low-grade nickel-copper sulfide ore

To efficiently co-extract Ni and Cu from low-grade nickel-copper sulfide ore,chlorination roasting with NH;Cl followed by a water leaching process was investigated.The results show that 98.4%Ni and 98.5%Cu can be synchronously extracted when the ore particle size is 75-80μm,the roasting time is 2 h,the mass ratio of NH;Cl to ore is 1.6:1 and the roasting temperature is 550°C.The evolution behavior of various minerals was elucidated using X-ray diffraction(XRD)coupled with scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The kinetics of the chlorination process based on the differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis(DTA-TG)data was analyzed by Kissinger method and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa(FWO)method.The chlorination process of low-grade nickel-copper sulfide ore mainly contains two stages:the decomposition of NH;Cl and the chlorination of ore.The maximum apparent activation energies(Ea)at two stages are determined to be 114.8 and 144.6 kJ/mol,respectively.The condensed product of exhaust gas is determined to be ammonium chloride,which can be recycled as the reactant again,making the process economic and clean.

Effect of technological factors on bacterial leaching of low-grade Ni-Cu sulfide ore

The bioleaching of a low grade Ni Cu sulfide ore from Jinchuan Mine with Thiobacillus ferrooxidans (TF5) and Thiobacillus thiooxidans (TT) was investigated. The effect of pH, the initial cell numbers of bacteria, the pulp density and the ratio of TF5 and TT on leaching was described, and the favorable bioleaching conditions for the ore were experimentally confirmed. The aeration leaching, agitation leaching with air bubbling, and column leaching were respectively tested. The highest recovery was achieved in the aeration leaching. After leaching for 20?d with pulp density of 15%, the extractions of Ni, Cu and Co were respectively 95.4%, 48.6% and 82.6%.

STUDY ON GREY FORECASTING MODEL OF COPPER EXTRACTION RATE WITH BIOLEACHING OF PRIMARY SULFIDE ORE

A model GM （grey model） （1,1） for forecasting the rate of copper extraction during the bioleaching of primary sulphide ore was established on the basis of the mathematical theory and the modeling process of grey system theory. It was used for forecasting the rate of copper extraction from the primary sulfide ore during a laboratory microbial column leaching experiment. The precision of the forecasted results were examined and modified via ＂posterior variance examination＂. The results show that the forecasted values coincide with the experimental values. GM （1,1） model has high forecast accuracy; and it is suitable for simulation control and prediction analysis of the original data series of the processes that have grey characteristics, such as mining, metallurgical and mineral processing, etc. The leaching rate of such copper sulphide ore is low. The grey forecasting result indicates that the rate of copper extraction is approximately 20% even after leaching for six months.

Leaching kinetics of antimony-bearing complex sulfides ore in hydrochloric acid solution with ozone

The leaching kinetics of Sb and Fe from antimony-bearing complex sulfides ore was investigated in HCl solution by oxidation?leaching with ozone.The effects of temperature,HCl concentration,stirring speed and particle size on the process were explored.It is found that the recoveries of Sb and Fe reach86.1%and28.8%,respectively,when the reaction conditions are4.0mol/L HCl,900r/min stirring speed at85°C with<0.074mm particle size after50min leaching.XRD analysis indicates that no new solid product forms in the leaching residue and the leaching process can be described by shrinking core model.The leaching of Sb corresponds to diffusion-controlled model at low temperature(15?45°C)and mixed-controlled model at high temperature(45?85°C),and the apparent activation energies are6.91and17.93kJ/mol,respectively.The leaching of Fe corresponds to diffusion-controlled model,and the apparent activation energy is1.99kJ/mol.Three semi-empirical rate equations are obtained to describe the leaching process.

Mineralogical Characterization of a Polymetallic Sulfide Ore to Improve Silver Recovery

Based on the mineralogical characterization for the polymetallic sulfide ore, the way to improve silver recovery was studied. The results showed that silver was the most valuable metal whose grade was 448.82 g/t Ag, while 0.118% Cu, 1.65% Pb and 1.06% Zn may be comprehensively utilizated. The main silver-bearing minerals were argent and aregentite which accounted for 87.18% of total silver. Argentite and other metal minerals were distributed in the gangue minerals in complex forms. Argentite grains of 33.76% minus 50 μm indicated that a fine grinding scheme was necessary to enhance the degree of dissociation, and meanwhile selective grinding must be considered to prevent a complete grinding of coarse grains. The optimum regrinding fineness in the Cu flotation was determined as 73% minus 37 μm, while grains of 68.5% minus 74 μm in one-stage grinding remained unchanged as much as possible. Consequently, silver recovery increased to 2.68%, as well as the content of Pb simultaneously decreased from 7.26% to 2.68% in the Cu concentrate. From the lead pyrometallurgical point of view, recovering larger amounts of silver and lead at the expense of decreasing the grade of lead to a suitable level is not only economically viable for the plant, but also convenient for subsequent processing. Silver and lead recovery increased to 13.18% and 12.58%, respectively, while the Pb grade decreased from 53.1% to 46.12% for the Pb concentrate.