For the past decade, the Bureau of Mines has addressed the problem of using low-grade scrap, such as the ferrous fraction of municipal refuse, to produce steels of acceptable quality. The investigations are a part of the Bureau’s 65- year commitment to minimize the requirements for mineral commodities by devising new technologies for the recovery … Read more
In accordance with its objective to maximize minerals recovery from secondary domestic resources, Bureau of Mines conducted research on recycling chrome refractory wastes. Since 20 pct of the U.S. demand for imported chromite is used in the production of refractories, primarily for the steel, copper, and glass industries, samples of used chrome-containing refractories from copper … Read more
To increase metal recoveries and to minimize pollution by improved extraction technology, the Bureau of Mines investigated a hydrometallurgical technique to recover copper, lead, nickel, and cobalt from lead smelter mattes. The metals were converted from insoluble sulfides to soluble chlorides using a HCl-Cl2-O2 leaching system. Parameters studied in a 50-gallon, glass-lined reactor were the … Read more
As a part of a research program designed to help minimize national requirements for new mineral commodities by maximizing recovery of metals from domestic secondary resources, the Bureau of Mines investigated the development of economic methods for recovering copper and associated metals from complex electronic scrap. Three types were selected for research: multiple-pin plugs and … Read more
The experimental program described in this report demonstrated key process steps for the recovery of chromium as ferrochromium in a batch process. The process involves oxidation of chromium into a slag phase, subsequent separation of the slag phase from the remaining metal, followed by reduction of chromium from the slag phase to produce ferrochromium. Although … Read more
Fluidized-Bed Roasting of Chromium Sulfide The chromium concentrate produced either directly as flotation tails or indirectly as a leach residue is composed primarily of chromium sulfide with chromium comprising about 80 percent of the metal content. Nickel and molybdenum sulfides would be present in the flotation tails along with heavy metal oxides. The leach residue … Read more
Described here is a process for recovering chromium and other metals from superalloy scrap. Laboratory-scale experiments were conducted to test a complex flowsheet utilizing a wide range of extractive metallurgical operations. The novel basis for the process is the formation of a sulfide matte in which chromium is concentrated in a discrete chromium sulfide phase. … Read more
Previous research by the U.S. Bureau of Mines showed that autoclave cyanide leaching of used automobile exhaust catalysts for recovery of platinum group metals (PGM) was technically feasible. This work involves a more detailed investigation of the chemistry of the dissolution of PGM in cyanide solutions. The PGM species in solution were identified by ultraviolet … Read more
Resource Recovery for Municipal Solid Waste Disposal—An Overview Archeological information on the nature of man’s earliest societies comes primarily from examination of discarded materials left on what was then open countryside. In a nomadic society, populating the surface of the earth very sparsely, there was no reason for concern. Even as man “settled down” and … Read more