Principles of Process Metallurgy

• Mineral beneficiation – Physical

separation of minerals
• Extraction of metals – Principles and
methods
 Main topics in MEMS
• Fundamental properties of Materials
• Non metallic materials
• Metal extraction
• Properties of Metals and alloys
• Fabrication processing
• Corrosion of Metals and alloys
Principles of Process Metallurgy
Mineral to metal journey

Stockpile
Mine
Smelt
Beneficiate
Refine
Sell to a smelter
Shape & sell
Mineral beneficiation Metal extraction
Mineral beneficiation

Also termed – Mineral

Processing
Physical beneficiation of minerals
Concentration of mineral
 Mineral processing
Mining (mineral vs ore)
Size reduction (liberation)
Screening (separation based on size)
Concentration (based on colour, size, sp. gravity,
bulk resistance, surface property)
Drying
Selling
 Extraction of metals
Thermodynamic aspects
Energy requirements
Kinetic considerations
Extraction process (furnaces/reactors)
Metal refining process
Secondary metal processing
 Product valuation
Smelter: Purchases concentrates and smelts
(reduces) them to saleable metal.
Price of concentrate depends upon:
• Market price of metal
• All costs involved in smelting
• Penalties for ore constituents which are
detrimental to smelting process
 Sample Cu smelter schedule
Payments
Copper: Deduct 1.5 units* from Cu assay and pay
for 97.5% of remainder at published price, less a
deduction of 26.4 ₹/Kg of Cu.( No payment for <
3% Cu).
Gold: Deduct 0.7gm/tonne* and pay for 92.5% of
remainder at published price less deduction
3.2₹/gm.
Silver: Deduct 34.0gm/tonne and pay for 95% of
remainder at published price less deduction of
0.32 ₹/gm
* 1tonne=1000kg. 1unit is 1% of a tonne, i.e., 10kg.
 Sample Cu smelter schedule
Deductions
Treatment charges: ₹ 4488/tonne
Labour adjustment: Smelter charge is based on average
hourly labour cost of ₹ 700.0
Increase or decrease charges by 13.75 ₹ for each 1 ₹/hr
that average hourly cost changes.
Arsenic: Charge ₹ 68.0/unit if > 0.5 units
Antimony: Allow 0.2 units free. Excess at ₹ 101.5/unit
Bismuth: Allow 0.05 units free. Excess at ₹ 34.0/unit
Nickel: Allow 0.3 units free. Excess at ₹ 350.0/unit
Zinc: Allow 5.0 units free. Excess at ₹ 20.4/unit
 Sample Zn smelter schedule
Payments
Zinc: Pay for 85% of Zn content at published price
less a deduction of 2.2 ₹ /kg
Cadmium: Pay for 40% of Cd at published price less
₹ 224.4/kg
Lead: Deduct 1.5 units, and pay for 65% of
remainder at published price less 1.1 ₹ /kg. No
payment for less than 3%Pb.
Silver: Deduct 170gm/tonne, and pay for 60% of
remainder at published price less 0.18 ₹ /gm.
 Sample Zn smelter schedule
Deductions
Treatment charges: ₹ 11220.0/tonne. Increase by
₹150.0 tonne for each 1.0 ₹ increase in the Zn
price above 29 ₹.
Labour adjustment: Smelter charge is based on
average hourly labour cost of ₹ 680.0.
Increase or decrease charges by 26 ₹ for each
1₹/hr that average hourly cost changes.
Iron: Deduct 8 units; charge for excess at ₹ 102/unit
Unit operations in process Metallurgy
Size reduction
Screening (Size based separation)
Mineral concentration
Solid – liquid separation
(Water removal from mineral-water slurry)
Smelting of concentrates
Purification of metals
 Typical Lead mine concentrate

Ore assay Conc. assay

10% PbS Mineral 80% PbS
2g Ag/kg of PbS concentrator Recovered Ag
17.32g As/kg of Recovered As
PbS Metal prices
• Pb= ₹ 140/kg
• Ag= ₹ 39000/kg
• labour rate = ₹ 680/hr
 Separation process
STREAMS
Product containing
valuable
INPUT Process Concentrate (+)

Residue or Waste e.g.

Tailings or Recycle (-)
Basic concentration circuit

FEED TAILINGS (-)

Concentrator
Mineral +
Water

CONCENTRATE (+)
 Calculation of grade and recovery
Amount of Feed =1000kg
Cu percentage in feed = 1%
Cu in Concentrate is =7Kg
Waste in Concentrate = 50Kg
Grade of Cu in concentrate =
Copper in feed = 1000*.01=10Kg
Recovery of Cu= 100* 7/10 = 70%
Grade of Cu in Tailing = Cu in Tailing / Cu+ waste in
tailing
= 3KgCu/(943)kg [waste+Cu]  0.32%
 Basic concentration circuit
RECYCLE
Tailing
FEED Rougher Scavenger TAILINGS
Mineral +
Water concentrate concentrate

Cleaner
Tailing
Why
Final concentrate
recycle?
 Basic concentration circuit
RECYCLE

FEED Rougher Scavenger TAILINGS

Mineral +
Water

Cleaner Regrind

Final concentrate
 Basic concentration circuit
1000t/hr Feed rate
10%PbS
FEED Rougher Scavenger TAILINGS
O(-)R
G(-)R

O(+)R
G(+)R Cleaner Regrind

Final concentrate
 Basic concentration circuit

FEED Rougher Scavenger TAILINGS

O(+)R
G(+)R Cleaner Regrind
O(-)C
G(-)C
Final concentrate
O(+)C
G(+)R
Recovery=R%
 Basic concentration circuit
O(-)S
G(-)S
FEED Rougher Scavenger TAILINGS
O(-)R
G(-)R

O(+)S
Cleaner G(+)S
Regrind

Final concentrate
 Basic concentration circuit
Re cycle
1000t/hr Circulating load = Fresh feed O(-)S
10%PbS
G(-)S
FRESH FEED Rougher Scavenger TAILINGS
O(-)R
G(-)R

Recycle
O(+)S
O(+)R
Cleaner G(+)S
G(+)R Regrind
O(-)C
G(-)C
Final concentrate Calculations
O(+)C
G(+)R • Mass balance
Recovery=R% • Flow balance
 Why recycle
Cyclone 100T/
Overflow 24hrs
Circulating load ratio = 400/100 = 4.0 ……(400%)
Recycle = 400T/24hrs
Role of circulating load

Fresh feed
100T/24hrs

500T/24hrs
Reduced capacity due to circulating load

Role of circulating load

Circulating load in practical

situations ranges from 200-700%
 Flow sheet – mass balance example
In actual plants, water balance should also be considered
Tailings
Feed O(-) t/hr
1000 t/hr
Concentrator
0.19%PbS
10%PbS
Concentrate
O(+) t/hr,
Total flow 80%PbS
1000 (t/hr) = O(+) (t/hr) + O(-) t/hr ……………………..(1)
PbS flow balance
1000(t/hr).(10%/100) = O(+)(t/hr).(80%/100) +
O(-)(t/hr). (0.19%/100) …….(2)
From (1) & (2)
O(+) = 122.9 (t/hr) and O(-) = 1000 – 122.9 = 877.1 (t/hr)
 Flow sheet – typical problem
1000t/hr
10%PbS
FEED Rougher Rougher
tailings
O(+)R=? O(-)R=?
G(+)R=? G(-)R=?

Cleaner
O(-)C = 250 t/hr
G(-)C = 20% Four eqns., 5 unknowns
Final concentrate 1. Rougher mass balance
O(+)C = ? 2. Rougher PbS balance
3. Cleaner mass balance
G(+)R = 90%
4. Cleaner PbS balance
Recovery=98%
 Size reduction
Typical unit operations in mineral processing
1. Mine (large stones or boulders)
2. Reduce size (Crushing and Grinding) for
liberation [Why reduce size?]
3. Separation of valuables and waste (Wet
concentration)
4. Removing water (thickening and drying)
Particle diameter and shape play important role in
steps 3 & 4
 Characterization of particles
Particle size (particle diameter)
Diameter of sphere (d0)
Sieve diameter (dA)
Surface diameter (dS)
Volume diameter (dV) dM
dPA
Projected area diameter (dP)
dF
Stokes diameter [dSt = 18v/(rS-rf)g]
Specific surface diameter [(dS)= d3V/d2S]
 Particle diameter
Average size of a Individual particles
Geometric
distribution of Having same
mean
particles dng
dn sed sedimentation
rate
Arithmetic dna
average
Sphere of
dnS same
dnqp surface area
Median diameter
Statistical
dn sieve dnW Sphere of same
over properties
weight or
q & p. e.g. count,
Sphere passing volume(dnV)
length, area,
mass, moment.. same sieve aperture
 Particle shape
• Particles are complex 3-dimensional objects. Hence
some simplification of the description of the particle
shape is required
Particle shape is frequently referred as-
• Angular
• Flaky
• Modular
• elongated
Particle shape
 Particle shape
In general, for irregular particles, ratios-
Volume / (diameter)3 , and Surface area/ (diameter)2
are constant.

These effectively define the shape factors

Actual SF depends upon choice of nominal diameters

[e.g. n = average, stokes….]
 Particle shape
Commonly used shape factor is defined as

1. Sphericity, Y=

It follows that
 Typical shape factors
Type of material lVn lSn y
Rounded particles: 0.32 – 0.41 2.7 – 3.4 0.817
Water worn sands
Atomized metals.
Angular particles of 0.2 – 0.28 2.5 – 3.2 0.655
pulverized minerals:
Coal, limestone, sand
Flaky particles 0.12 – 0.16 2.0 – 2.8 0.543
Talc, gypsum
Very thin flakes: 0.01 – 0.03 1.6 – 1.7 0.216
Mica graphite, Al.
 To summarize
• Particle diameters are defined by equating
various property of a particle to an equivalent
sphere
• Definition of average diameter of a
distribution of particles may be based on
arithmetic, geometric or statistical averages
• Particle shape is defined by likening it to
spheres having similar area or volume
 Size separation by sieving

Mesh size = number of openings /inch

Screening – industrial screens

Trommel
Trommel screen
 Size fractions
Sieving separated product in size ranges-
5 mm particles Sieve having 5 mm opening (+5mm)

-5+1mm Sieve having 1 mm opening

-1+0.5mm Sieve having 0.5 mm opening

- 0.5 mm

Sieve size range ?

0.5 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0
 Sieve sizes
Interv Arithmet Average ratio Geometric Avera Ratio
al ic series series(cm) ge
(cm)
1 0-10 5 1-2 1.5
2 10-20 15 1:3 2-4 3 1:2
3 20-30 25 1:1.67 4-8 6 1:2
4 30-40 35 1:1.4 8-16 12 1:2
5 40-50 45 1:1.29 16-32 24 1:2
6 50-60 55 1:1.22 32-64 48 1:2
Taking average size as arithmetic average of diameter
range
Representation of sieve analysis
Sieve Average % retained Cumulative%
aperture aperture (d) passing (Y-)
-13.6 + 9.5mm 11.55mm 0.03
-9.50 +6.80 8.15mm 0.43 99.97
-6.80 +4.75 5.78mm 2.03 99.54
-4.75 +3.40 4.075mm 4.17 97.51
-3.40 +2.36 2.88mm 6.97 93.34
-2.36 +1.70 2.03mm 9.59 86.37
-1.70 +1.18 1.44mm 10.94 76.78
-1.18 +850mm 1.02mm 10.80 65.84
-850 +600mm 725 mm 9.91 55.04
-600 +425mm 512 mm 8.42 45.13
-- -- -- --
-38mm 19 4.98 4.98
Graphic representation - histogram

LIN - LIN
Average diameter
Graphic representation - histogram

LIN - LOG
Graphic representation -cumulative

LIN - LOG
Graphic representation -cumulative

LOG - LOG
 Mathematical representation
Where size distribution is represented by a reference
Cumulative passing Y - = fn(particle size & distribution)
size(size modulus) and size spread (distribution modulus)
u

= cumulative fraction(or %), measured on basis

(property) u, smaller than size dn [dA in shown graph]
d* = reference size --(size modulus)
Distribution modulus?
Spread of particles Slope=n
e.g. if Y-u = (d/d*)n
log Y-u = nlogd – nlog d*
d*
 Mathematical representation
Commonly Cum. Mass fraction Significance of d*
used names passing d, Y-
Gates-Gaudin- Maximum particle
Schuhmann size
Gaudin-Meloy Maximum particle
size
Rosin-Rammler Size at which Y- =
or Weibull 0.632
Harris -3 Median particle
parameter size
equation
 Interpreting particle size distributions
• Size distribution in terms of an average size
• Assuming all particles are spheres of representative dia.

Mode
Size with highest freq.

Mean
Average size
Median
Frequency

50% population

Particle size
 Interpreting distributions

Cumulative plot Frequency plot

Cumulative W

Frequency
80%
10% 10%

D10 D50 D90 Particle size mm

Particle size mm
 Interpreting distributions
Analyze presence of excess fines or coarse sizes.
D50
D90
D10
Property

Size classes mm
 Liberation
Mineral particles are locked in gangue
Comminuting and liberation
Fully Locked
liberated

Crushing and Grinding

 Liberation
• Liberation is an essential prerequisite for
separation of an ore into valuable and waste
fractions
• Degree of liberation: %age of given mineral
that exists as free particles
• Particles that contain both valuable as well as
gangue are called locked particles
• Main difficulties in mineral separation
processes arise due to locked particles
 dG Liberation d
Assume cubic If breakage
grains of matrix, d =
dimension dG dG/2, then
(grain lattice) liberation is 2
in 16 or 12.5%
Superposition of
fracture lattice on Fully liberated
grain lattice dark particles
light

• Degree of liberation (L) is expressed in terms of ratio RL=dG/d

and volumetric fraction, FV of each component in original
aggregate (expressions to be discussed in tutorial)
• Liberation needs to be evaluated in 3 dimensions
 Liberation
• Incomplete liberation limits either grade or recovery
• More abundant mineral is always freer than less
abundant mineral
• Less abundant mineral is not liberated unless particle
size is reduced below the grain size
• For the less abundant mineral to be appreciably
liberated, the particle size must be significantly smaller
than the grain size
• The degree of liberation of the less abundant mineral is
essentially independent of the ore grade.
 Expressions for liberation
When RL=dG/d > 1.0, Liberation is defined as

When RL< 1.0, Liberation is defined as

Fraction of particles that remain as locked

particles of minerals A & B is obtained as-
 Effect of liberation

70

60
Grade %

50

40

30

20

10
Grain size
0
10 100 1000 10000
Particle size, mm
Problem:
• What is the degree of liberation of hydrocyclone overflow product shown in the table below, if the grain
size is 500 mm? The ore is 10% PbS(rPbS=7600 kg/m3) and 90% gangue (rgangue=2650 kg/m3). mi*=
overflow mass% in size i. dA= average diameter, dG=grain size, mi,PbS & mi,G = mass fraction of size i of PbS
and gangue in overflow). Compute % liberation of PbS and gangue.

mi* Size (mm)

0.03 -425
2.58 -300
11.05 -212
15.50 -150
14.85 -106
13.02 -75
10.55 -53
32.42 -38
100 (To be solved in tutorial)