Patents Examined by Kathleen McNelis
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Patent number: 7172640Abstract: In a method and a device for melting down metal-containing material, preferably fine-particulate metal-containing material, such as sponge iron, in a metallurgical melting furnace (1), wherein, in an interior space (11) of the melting furnace (1), a metal melt (5) and a slag layer (6) floating on top of the metal melt (5) are maintained, the metal-containing material is added by means of a supply means dipping into the slag layer (6) and energy is added in the form of electric arcs (14), the metal-containing material is charged directly into the central region (Z) of the melting furnace (1) by means of at least one charging tube (8) exclusively serving for conveying material via the charging tube outlet (9) of the same, the electric arcs (14) are directed obliquely towards the metal melt (5) against the central region (Z) of the melting furnace (1) and the metal-containing material is melted in the slag layer (6) and a mixed process slag-metal melt is maintained in the region of the charging tube outlet (9).Type: GrantFiled: October 22, 2001Date of Patent: February 6, 2007Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbHInventors: Harald Berger, Peter Mittag, Bernhard Aigner
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Patent number: 7169205Abstract: A process for producing liquid smelting iron in an electric arc furnace includes several electrodes, equipped with a hearth, and containing a heel covered with a non-foaming liquid slag. The process further includes the reduction of the metallic fines, in order to form pre-reduced metallic fines containing an excess of free carbon; the hot transfer of the pre-reduced metallic fines within a curtain of inert gas into the heel contained in the electric arc furnace; the agitation of the heel by the injection of gas in such a manner that the formation of crusts is avoided; and the smelting of the pre-reduced metallic fines in the electric arc furnace in order to obtain the liquid smelting iron.Type: GrantFiled: February 20, 2002Date of Patent: January 30, 2007Assignee: Paul Wurth S.A.Inventors: Emile Lonardi, Jean-Luc Roth, Paul Berg, Fred Weisgerber, Fred Parasch
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Patent number: 7169206Abstract: Process for the recovery of Co or Ni, comprising the steps of: preparing a metallurgical charge comprising Fe, slag formers, and a useful load containing either one or both of Co and Ni; feeding the charge to a shaft furnace; and smelting the charge so as to form a Co or Ni-bearing alloy, an Fe-bearing slag and a gaseous phase, characterised in that the useful load comprises at least 30 wt. % electrochemical batteries or their scrap, and in that the redox potential in the furnace is chosen so as to slag at least 20 wt. % of the Fe, and at most 20 wt. % of the Co or 20 wt. % of the Ni present in the charge.Type: GrantFiled: April 18, 2005Date of Patent: January 30, 2007Assignee: UmicoreInventors: Daniel Cheret, Sven Santen
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Patent number: 7166255Abstract: The temporary compacting of the powder for use in sintering is carried out, the temporary sintering is carried out, the main compacting is carried out, the main sintering is carried out, and the thickness of the radius direction of the base part of the cam before the heat-treatment is set to 3.0 mm or more.Type: GrantFiled: March 11, 2005Date of Patent: January 23, 2007Assignee: Nippon Piston Ring Co., Ltd.Inventors: Shunsuke Takeguchi, Hiroyuki Takamura
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Patent number: 7166145Abstract: This invention relates to the recovery of precious metals and, more particularly, to the recovery of precious metals, such as platinum group metals, gold and rhenium, from various sources using a solution comprising at least one ammonium salt, at least one halogen salt and at least one oxidant.Type: GrantFiled: January 9, 2004Date of Patent: January 23, 2007Assignee: South Dakota School of Mines and TechnologyInventor: Kenneth N. Han
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Patent number: 7163593Abstract: An iron-based alloy comprises 1.5 to 2.5 wt % of C, 0.25 to 4.75 wt % of Ni, and W and V in quantities surrounded by the line L as shown in FIG. 1 of the attached drawings with a balance of Fe and inevitable impurities. The iron-based alloy is obtained by a first heat treatment for applying a solid solution treatment by rapidly cooling the iron-based alloy from a temperature of an austenite forming temperature or more to consequently obtain a mixed matrix comprising a base matrix of martensite and remaining austenite phases and a non-molten carbide, and a second heat treatment for cooling the iron-based alloy after precipitating an MC type carbide within an eutectoid transformation temperature range to consequently precipitate a low carbon content austenite phase.Type: GrantFiled: April 19, 2002Date of Patent: January 16, 2007Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Takeshi Sugawara, Noriyuki Yamada, Makoto Asami
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Patent number: 7163570Abstract: A chromatographic separation method separates ruthenium from other platinum group metals in a feed solution, by converting the Ru to a nitrosyl complex, retaining the nitrosyl complex temporarily on the chromatography column and subsequently eluting Ru, for example using an oxidising or reducing eluent. FIG. 1 shows the elution profile obtained from a mixture of Rh chloro-complexes (Peak 1) and Ru nitrosyl species (Peak 2).Type: GrantFiled: October 26, 2001Date of Patent: January 16, 2007Assignee: Anglo American Platinum Corporation LimitedInventor: Richard Alasdair Grant
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Patent number: 7160354Abstract: A heap is constructed with hypogenic copper sulfide bearing ore to include exposed sulfide mineral particles at least 25 weight % of which are hypogenic copper sulfides. The concentration of the exposed sulfide mineral particles is such that the heap includes at least 10 Kg of exposed sulfide sulfur per tonne of solids in the heap. At least 50% of the total copper in the heap is in the form of hypogenic copper sulfides. A substantial portion of the heap is heated to at least 50° C. The heap is inoculated with a thermophilic microorganism, and bioleaching is carried out so that sufficient sulfide mineral particles in the heap are biooxidized to oxidize at least 10 Kg of sulfide sulfur per tonne of solids in the heap and to cause the dissolution of at least 50% of the copper in the heap in a relatively short period of time.Type: GrantFiled: October 12, 2004Date of Patent: January 9, 2007Assignee: Geobiotics, LLCInventors: William J. Kohr, Vandy Shrader, Chris Johansson
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Patent number: 7156894Abstract: A method of recovering precious metal values from refractory sulfide ores is provided. The method includes the steps of separating clays and fines from a crushed refractory sulfide ore, forming a heap from the refractory sulfide ore, producing a concentrate of refractory sulfide minerals from the separated fines and adding the concentrate to the heap, bioleaching the heap to thereby oxidize iron sulfides contained therein, and hydrometallurgically treating the bioleached ore to recover precious metal values contained therein.Type: GrantFiled: November 24, 2003Date of Patent: January 2, 2007Assignee: Geobiotics, LLCInventor: William J. Kohr
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Patent number: 7150800Abstract: When a metastable austenitic stainless steel strip with a value Md(N), which is calculated from a composition, of 20–100 is ring-rolled to a steel belt, the relationship of ?0.3913T+0.5650Md(N)+60.46??65.87 is established among a material temperature T, an equivalent strain ? and the value Md(N). Due to the controlled rolling, a stainless steel belt for a continuously variable transmission is bestowed with fatigue properties similar or superior to those of a 18%-Ni maraging steel belt. The value Md(N) is defined by the equation of Md(N)=580?520C?2Si?16Mn?16Cr?23Ni?300N?10Mo, and the equivalent strain ? is defined by the equation of ?=?{square root over (4(1n(1?R))2/3)} (R: reduction). Furthermore, the steel belt is stabilized in its quality and profile by confining a variation ?T of the material temperature T within a range of ±6.4° C.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2002Date of Patent: December 19, 2006Assignee: Nisshin Steel Co.Inventors: Katsuhide Nishio, Masahito Sakaki, Yoshiyuki Umakoshi, Kenji Hara, Kouki Tomimura
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Patent number: 7138005Abstract: The present invention provides a nickel refining method which uses nickel sulfide produced from nickel oxide ore using a hydrometallurgical process, as the raw material, and in which chlorine leaching is performed using a chloride solution, wherein a cementation reaction is caused between the nickel sulfide and copper ions, using copper ions, preferably included in the leaching solution itself, and a portion of the nickel in the nickel sulfide is leached into the solution, and the remaining nickel and copper are left as a residue, and copper and nickel are chlorine leached from this residue, and wherein the cementation reaction is performed with an oxidation-reduction potential as measured by a silver-silver chloride electrode of below ?20 mV, preferably below ?100 mV.Type: GrantFiled: September 9, 2002Date of Patent: November 21, 2006Assignee: Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd.Inventors: Keiji Kudo, Masaki Imamura, Kouji Ando
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Patent number: 7125436Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system for recovering metal values from metal-bearing materials. During a reactive process, a seeding agent is introduced to provide a nucleation site for the crystallization and/or growth of solid species which otherwise tend to passivate the reactive process or otherwise encapsulate the metal value, thereby reducing the amount of desired metal values partially or completely encapsulated by such material. The seeding agent may be generated in a number of ways, including the recycling of residue or the introduction of foreign substances. Systems embodying aspects of the present invention may be beneficial for recovering a variety of metals such as copper, gold, silver, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, zinc, rhenium, uranium, rare earth metals, and platinum group metals from any metal-bearing material, such as ores and concentrates.Type: GrantFiled: March 29, 2005Date of Patent: October 24, 2006Assignee: Phelps Dodge CorporationInventors: John O. Marsden, Robert E. Brewer, Joanna M. Robertson, David R. Baughman, Philip Thompson, Wayne W. Hazen, Roland Schmidt
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Patent number: 7118637Abstract: Carbon steels of high performance are disclosed that contain dislocated lath structures in which laths of martensite alternate with thin films of austenite, but in which each grain of the dislocated lath structure is limited to a single microstructure variant by orienting all austenite thin films in the same direction. This is achieved by careful control of the grain size to less than ten microns. Further improvement in the performance of the steel is achieved by processing the steel in such a way that the formation of bainite, pearlite, and interphase precipitation is avoided.Type: GrantFiled: April 2, 2003Date of Patent: October 10, 2006Assignee: MMFX Technologies CorporationInventors: Grzegorz J. Kusinski, David Pollack, Gareth Thomas
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Patent number: 7078122Abstract: A process for rendering hazardous materials present in multi-element waste non-hazardous, and for recovering valuable components of said waste, particularly metals, comprising contacting the waste with an aqueous solution of HX, wherein X is halogen, thereby converting metals present in the waste to the corresponding halides, and subsequently separating said metal halides from other components of the reaction mixture and from each other.Type: GrantFiled: July 25, 2000Date of Patent: July 18, 2006Inventor: Ariel Rosenberg
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Patent number: 7066981Abstract: The invention provides a method of assaying a mineral sample for determining the concentration of selected metals in a sample comprising the steps of providing a comminuted mineral sample; mixing such sample with a flux; preheating a reaction vessel to a temperature which approximates the melting point of the flux; introducing the mixture of the mineral sample and flux into the crucible, whereby the mixture is transformed to a molten state to capture the metal to be assayed in a collector material; and separating slag from the collector material.Type: GrantFiled: July 12, 2001Date of Patent: June 27, 2006Assignee: Innovative MET Products (PTY) LimitedInventors: George M. Cowan, Boyne F. Hohenstein, Keith S. McIntosh, Pierre K. Hofmeyer
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Patent number: 7041152Abstract: The present invention relates generally to a process for the production of sulfuric acid and liberation of precious metal values from materials containing sulfur through pressure leaching operations. In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, the sulfur-bearing materials may comprise residues from pressure leaching operations, such as those carried out at medium temperatures. The process of the present invention can be advantageously used to convert such sulfur-bearing materials to sulfuric acid by means of pressure leaching. The sulfuric acid so produced can be used beneficially in other mineral processing operations, for example those at the site where it is produced. Metals, such as precious metals, that are contained within the sulfur-bearing materials advantageously may be recovered from processing products by established precious metals recovery technology.Type: GrantFiled: March 29, 2005Date of Patent: May 9, 2006Assignee: Phelps Dodge CorporationInventors: John O. Marsden, Robert E. Brewer, Joanna M. Robertson, Wayne W. Hazen, Philip Thompson, David R. Baughman
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Patent number: 6989040Abstract: A method and composition for removing sulfur from molten ferrous material, particularly molten iron. The desulfurization agent includes reclaimed magnesium scrap, a gas-producing compound and a calcium compound.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2002Date of Patent: January 24, 2006Inventor: Gerald R. Zebrowski