Chiranjib Kumar GuptaChemical Metallurgy

Chemical Metallurgy: Principles and Practice. Chiranjib Kumar GuptaCopyright 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, WeinheimISBN: 3-527-30376-6

Chiranjib Kumar Gupta

Chemical Metallurgy

Principles and Practice

Author

Dr. Chiranjib Kumar GuptaBhabha Atomic Research CentreMaterials GroupMumbai 400085India

This book was carefully produced. Nevertheless,author and publisher do not warrant the informationcontained therein to be free of errors. Readers areadvised to keep in mind that statements, data,illustrations, procedural details or other items mayinadvertently be inaccurate.

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2003 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA,WeinheimAll rights reserved (including those of translationinto other languages). No part of this book may bereproduced in any form by photoprinting, microfilm,or any other means nor transmitted or translatedinto a machine language without written permissionfrom the publishers.

Printed in the Federal Republic of GermanyPrinted on acid-free and low chlorine paper

Cover Design Grafik-Design Schulz, FugnheimTypesetting Manuela Treindl, LaaberPrinting betz-druck GmbH, DarmstadtBinding Grobuchbinderei J. Schffer GmbH & Co.KG, Grnstadt

ISBN 3-527-30376-6

V

Foreword

Dr. C. K. Gupta is a very distinguished colleague of mine. I have been familiar with his pro-fessional career over a long period. A very large number of research papers, reviews, andseveral books authored by him bear ample testimony to the diverse and wide-ranging con-tributions he has made to date to the field of chemical metallurgy. I was indeed very happyto accept the invitation from him to write a foreword for the present volume entitled, Chemi-cal Metallurgy Principles and Practice, being published by Wiley-VCH Verlag, Germany.

This volume provides in one place a self-contained and adequately detailed coverage ofthe chemical metallurgy of the major metals, common as well as less common. It has beenbrought into being as an exceedingly well-structured treatise. The presentation has beenorganised in seven chapters. The first chapter gives a general appraisal of the whole field ofchemical metallurgy. The coverage also includes a brief account of resources. The next twochapters are devoted to thermodynamics and kinetics and to processing of minerals. Theremaining three chapters deal, respectively, with pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, andelectrometallurgy. The last chapter attends to energy and environmental considerations.Physicochemical principles provided for the various unit operations and description of thekey details of the processes deserve special mention as being among the attractive featuresof this volume. One must also additionally note the emphasis laid on the less commonmetals in the presentation. This is decidedly an additional special feature of the book. Chemi-cal metallurgy of the less common metals described with pertinent principles involved hasnot been done earlier in one place as has been accomplished in this publication. The abun-dance of illustrations and the comprehensive collection of carefully selected references ap-pended to each chapter add to the value and enhance considerably the overall strength ofthe book. On the whole, the presentation displays an imaginative and competent handlingof the subject matter and really reaches out to the readers.

The volume deals with a very wide technical field and will be of interest and relevance tomany disciplines, particularly metallurgy, chemical engineering, and chemistry. It will un-doubtedly be a valuable addition to the list of available books dealing with chemical metal-lurgy. At the same time, this volume will be very useful to professionals working in the areaof extractive and process metallurgy. The present book has had the benefit of Dr. Guptaswide and long-standing experience in the field in full measure and will certainly be greatlyvalued by those to whom it is addressed. I wish this publication all success and hope it willbe as useful as the other books which Dr. Gupta has authored.

India, May 2003 B. BhattacharjeeDirector of Bhabha Atomic Research Centreand Member of Atomic Energy Commission

Chemical Metallurgy: Principles and Practice. Chiranjib Kumar GuptaCopyright 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, WeinheimISBN: 3-527-30376-6

VII

Preface

As the title, Chemical Metallurgy: Principles and Practice implies, this text blends theorywith practice covering, of course, a good deal of descriptive items on hows and whys ofextraction and processing of metals and materials. While the processes for the extraction ofthe common metals have been provided in sufficient detail, I have tried to go in equaldepth, if not more, to provide focus on the less common metals. I have, however, avoidedlengthy descriptions of current commercial practices as these change rapidly. Rather,selected examples have been presented to illustrate the various principles dealt with in thetext. It is expected the readers will supplement this text with appropriate examples of cur-rent practices. All along I have made an effort to lead the treatment to a point where thereaders will find the transition to more advanced and specialized metallurgical engineeringtextbooks, texts, and monographs with emphasis on chemical metallurgy quite easy.

This book altogether contains seven chapters. In Chapter 1, I have endeavored to organ-ize the text with a view to acquainting the readers with a miscellany of relevant informationand preparing them for going into the contents of the subsequent chapters. Chapter 2 dealswith mineral processing, which usually takes the position as the principal front-end opera-tion in the overall process flowsheet for metal extraction. Chapter 3 pertains to thermo-dynamics and kinetics which provide unequivocally a sound basis for the understanding ofthe processes. The next three chapters delve into pyro-, hydro-, and electro-metallurgy, inthat order. Chapter 7 addresses certain representative issues concerning energy consump-tion and environmental pollution aspects especially pertinent to chemical metallurgyoperations.

It is difficult for an author to praise the virtues of his own book. However, just to say a fewwords, I may add that, as pointed out, I have systematized the organization of the text in thechapters by presenting the process principles first and then following up with process prac-tice. I have in my opinion adopted a lucid style readable, interesting, intelligible, andinformative for a wide and varied audience. It has on the whole been a delightful experi-ence for me to produce and place this book for the readership it will fetch. May I end bysaying that I earnestly believe the book will provide an interesting reading and knowledge,and will certainly be highly successful in putting the readers into the fascinating worldof preparative metallurgy, into the arduous journeys through which different metals andmaterials traverse to come into their useful beings and finally make themselves available inthe service of man. A carefully selected reference list and a good number of clear illustra-tions may be treated as additional features which should not be lost sight of. All thesepresentations have not been carried out without incorporating the backing of the principlesinvolved and this very element should go to provide additional attractions and spice, so tosay, for the book.

Chemical Metallurgy: Principles and Practice. Chiranjib Kumar GuptaCopyright 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, WeinheimISBN: 3-527-30376-6

VIII

Acknowledgements

For kind permission to use matter of which they hold the copyright, in the preparation ofdiagrams and tables, the author is most grateful to the following:

Academic PressAmerican Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engrs., Inc.CRC PressElsevier Science PublishersErrol G. Kelly and David G. SpottiswoodFreund Publishing House Ltd.Gordon and Breach Publishers, Inc.Hayes Publishing Co.John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Macmillan Publishing Co.Maxwell Macmillan Canada, Inc.McGraw Hill Publishing Co.Pergamon Press Ltd.Blackwell Science Ltd.ButterworthsThe Society of Chemical IndustryLongmansMcGraw-Hill International Book Company

Chemical Metallurgy: Principles and Practice. Chiranjib Kumar GuptaCopyright 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, WeinheimISBN: 3-527-30376-6

IX

Appreciation

No reader of this book can fail to recognise how much I owe to others who have written earlierin this field. To the authors and the editors of the references cited in this volume I expressmy heartfelt thanks. A book is very much a team project. I am truly indebted to my colleagues,Tapan Kumar Mukherjee, Ashok Kumar Suri, N. Krishnamurthy, and Pradip Mukhopadhyay,whose counsels I sought and whose opinions and advice, so generously given, have largelydetermined the scope and character of what I have written. All have greatly brought life tothe project in the form of unique insights in chemical metallurgy.

Prof. Kenneth N. Han of South Dakota School of Mines and Prof. Paul Duby of HenryKrumb School of Mines have had occasions to review this work. They provided knowledge,insight, and plain common sense to guide me during the process of development of thiswork. I wish to record my deepest gratitude to them. In the same breath, my deepest appre-ciation goes to Pr