CN2011073371 METHOD FOR PREPARING METALLURGICAL-GRADE ALUMINA BY USING FLUIDIZED BED FLY ASH
As we've documented for you a number of times, as, for instance, in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Iowa Improves Recovery of Aluminum from Coal Ash | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,362,703 - Process for Preparing Cryolite from Fly Ash; 1982; Assignee: Iowa State University Research Foundation; Abstract: Cryolite (Na3AlF6) as a source of aluminum is prepared from coal fly ash by reacting the aluminum oxide (Al2O3) in fly ash with phosphoric acid to form aluminum phosphate, which is then converted to sodium aluminate by reaction with sodium hydroxide, and the sodium aluminate is converted to cryolite by reaction with hydrofluoric acid (HF), or equivalent reagent providing H+ and F- ions. Aluminum is thereby obtained from fly ash in a preferred form (as cryolite) for use in producing metallic aluminum";
Coal Ash can serve as a rich source of Aluminum ore. It is so rich a store of Aluminum, in fact, that, even though the United States now has to import all of the virgin Aluminum ore she refines, as attested to by our United States Department of Energy in:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Says Coal Ash Could End Aluminum Ore Imports | Research & Development; concerning, in part: "Resource Recovery from Coal Residues; 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; 1980; G. Jones, et. al.; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; USDOE; Abstract: Several processes are being developed to recover metals from coal combustion and conversion residues. Methods to obtain substantial amounts of aluminum, iron, and titanium from these wastes are presented. The primary purpose of our investigation is to find a process that is economically sound or one that at least will partially defray the costs of waste processing. A cursory look at the content of fly ash enables one to see the merits of recovery of these huge quantities of valuable resources. The major constituents of fly ash of most interest are aluminum (14.8%), iron (7.5%), and titanium (1.0%). If these major elements could be recovered from the fly ash produced in the United States (60 million tons/year), bauxite would not have to be imported, iron ore production could be increased, and titanium production could be doubled";
we could become self-sufficient in our supplies of virgin Aluminum if we were simply to wake up to the fact that Coal Ash can serve admirably as a sort of pre-concentrated form of it's mineral ore.
China, sagacious and wise as they are, just as, as seen in:
West Virginia Coal Association | China Awarded 2010 US Liquefaction Patent | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,763,167 - Process for Direct Coal Liquefaction; 2010; Assignee: Shenua Coal Liquefaction Corporation, Beijing; Process for direct liquefaction of coal ... . The process can operate long periods, with higher reactor efficiency and utilization factor, increased liquid oil yield and can supply high-quality feedstock for further processing" and, in:
West Virginia Coal Association | China Makes "Huge Profits" from Coal Liquefaction | Research & Development; concerning: "'China Coal Producer Reaps Huge Profits From CTL Project'; Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer, has made huge profits from its pilot coal-to-liquid (CTL) project in north China in the first three months of this year, a company executive said";
they have begun to act, with attendant great reward, on the fact that Coal can be profitably converted into anything we in the US currently indenture our grandchildren to the beneficent powers of OPEC to keep ourselves supplied with in the here and now, have also, as in:
West Virginia Coal Association | China Recovers Aluminum and Silica from Coal Ash | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,871,583 - Recovery of Silica Followed by Alumina from Coal Fly Ash; 2011; Assignee: Pingshuo Industrial Limited, Shanxi Province (China); A process for recovery of silica and alumina from fly ash"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | China Extracts Aluminum Ore from Coal Ash | Research & Development
concerning: "'China's Shenua to Produce Alumina from Coal Ash'; 2011; China's Shenhua Group began construction Sunday of a coal ash-based alumina refinery in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the official Xinhua news agency said. Shenhua plans to invest Yuan 135.8 billion ($21.4 billion) in the project, deputy manager Ling Wen is quoted as having said. Located in the Jungar coal mining area in Ordos city, the project will include a 6.6 GW power plant, an alumina plant and a gallium plant";
acknowledged, and begun to act, on the fact that Coal Ash is, in fact, as we suggested, just such a valuable pre-concentrated ore of strategic metals.
In our report of:
concerning: "Method For Extracting Gallium From Fly Ash; Publication No.: WO/2011/134402; International Patent Application No.: PCT/CN2011/073392; 2011; Applicant: China Shenhua Energy Company, Beijing
Abstract: Disclosed is a method for extracting gallium from fly ash";
we documented the technology we suppose "China's Shenua", var: "China Shenhua", the largest miner of Coal in the world, are, or will be, using at their "coal ash-based alumina refinery in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region" within the attached "gallium plant".
And, herein, we see what might well be their process for extracting concentrated Aluminum ore, from one form, or component, of Coal Ash, at that "coal ash-based alumina refinery".
Note, too, that "alumina refinery" means just that. They are producing refined "alumina", Aluminum ore, from the Coal Ash. The concentrated "alumina" must then be further processed at an Aluminum refinery to produce the actual metal.
With that, perhaps unnecessary, clarification out of the way, comment follows excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"Method For Preparing Metallurgical-Grade Alumina By Using Fluidized Bed Fly Ash
Publication Number: WO/2011/134398; International Application Number: PCT/CN2011/073371
Publication Date: November, 2011
Applicants: China Shenhua Energy Company Limited, et. al., Beijing
Inventors: Zhaohua Guo, et. al., China
Abstract: Provided a method for preparing metallurgical-grade alumina by using fluidized bed fly ash, comprising:
a) removing iron by wet magnetic separation after crushing the fly ash;
b) reacting the fly ash after magnetic separation with hydrochloric acid to obtain a hydrochloric leachate;
c) passing the hydrochloric leachate through macroporous cationic resin to deeply remove iron to obtain a refined aluminum chloride solution;
d) concentrating and crystallizing the refined aluminum chloride solution to obtain an aluminum chloride crystal; and:
e) calcining the aluminum chloride crystal to obtain the metallurgical-grade alumina.
The method is simple, the procedure is easy to be controlled, the leachate rate of alumina is high, the production cost is low, and the product quality is steady.
A fluidized bed fly ash preparation of metallurgical grade alumina
Technical Field: The present invention relates to a fluidized bed of fly ash utilization methods, and more specifically, the method is a use of the fluidized bed fly ash preparation of metallurgical grade alumina.
Background Art: Fly ash is the waste discharged by coal-fired power plants. Our country is based on coal as the main energy of the country ... .
(Fly Ash) contains a variety of components (we) can use, for example, the circulating fluidized bed ash, usually containing 30 - 50% of alumina. In today's (world, with) bauxite resources become increasingly scarce, extracting alumina from fly ash is ... effective way of turning waste into treasure, comprehensive utilization, with good social and economic benefits.
Fly ash according to different calcination conditions can be divided into pulverized coal fly ash and circulating fluidized bed fly ash. Pulverized Coal fly ash is a glass state or the presence of the mullite crystals in the form of corundum crystals, at high temperatures (1400 - 1600C) generated by combustion, wherein the alumina component was very high stability; while loop fluidized bed ash combustion temperature of about 850 C, than traditional pulverized coal ash combustion temperature is greatly reduced. Different decisions of the combustion temperature of the circulating fluidized bed ash with traditional pulverized coal fly ash on the nature of differences in the phase composition: its main phase composition of amorphous high cold stone, including silica, alumina and iron oxide, etc. having a very good activity.
Currently, the method of extracting alumina from fly ash in alkaline and acid can be broadly divided into two categories. Wherein the soda process can be divided into the limestone (soda lime) sintering method, and sodium carbonate sintering method.
(In the above and immediately following, they are making reference to what is known generically in certain informed circles as the "Cal-Sinter" or "Lime-Sinter" process for extracting Aluminum ores from unconsolidated mineral masses, especially Coal Ash. An example can be studied in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Iowa Mines Metals from Coal Ash for the USDOE | Research & Development; concerning, in part: "United States Patent 4,397,822 - Process for the Recovery of Alumina from Fly Ash; 1983; Inventor: Marlyn Murtha, Iowa; Government Interests: The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. W-7405-ENG-82 between the U.S. Department of Energy and Ames Laboratory. Abstract: An improvement in the lime-sinter process for recovering alumina from pulverized coal fly ash is disclosed".)
Limestone (soda lime) sintering method (soda lime) after mixing of the fly ash and limestone, calcined and activated at high temperatures (1320 - 1400 C), in this process, in the fly ash, alumina and silica respectively. aluminate and dicalcium silicate reaction with limestone. Leaching the calcined product with sodium carbonate solution, after filtration, aluminum, calcium enters the solution in the form of sodium aluminate, aluminum hydroxide obtained after the de silicon, carbon stars (or points), and finally calcined alumina products ... (and) CaSi slag can be used as a feedstock for the production of cement.
(As we've previously documented, the mineral residue remaining after the extraction of metal ores from Coal Ash can still be used and consumed in the making of Cement, a meritorious use for Coal mineral residues arising from a number of Coal utilization processes, that, as perhaps suggested by our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | WVU & Canada Cement from Coal Liquefaction Residues | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent Application 20120090510 - Forming Cement as a By-Product of Coal Liquefaction; 2012; Inventor: Alfred H. Stiller, Morgantown, WV; (Chemical Engineering - Dr.Alfred H. Stiller; "West Virginia University; College of Engineering and Mineral Resources; Department of Chemical Engineering"); Assignee: Quantex Research Corporation; Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods and systems for coal liquefaction and obtaining a cement by-product";
our seemingly-disinterested Coal Country press should be paying a lot more attention to.)
(The above) limestone sintering method and sodium carbonate sintering method ... is suitable for the poor reactivity pulverized coal fly ash. The higher activity of the circulating fluidized bed fly ash without activation directly to the fly ash and acid reaction.
The acid method is Fly directly reacted with an acid solution, the aluminum salt solution, and then the aluminum salt calcination (for) prepared alumina.
(The inventors cite a number of Chinese national patents which would fully explain the prior art processes for extracting Aluminum ore from Coal Ash; but, we unfortunately do not have access to those.)
Summary Of The Invention: The object of the invention is to provide an improved method of fly ash metallurgical grade alumina as raw material, the production process is simple, low cost, stable product quality. Fly ash metallurgical grade alumina as raw material provided by the present invention includes the following steps (as described specified).
Said fly ash in the present invention (includes) but (is) not limited to circulating fluidized-bed ash ... .
(Magnetic separation is fully described for pre-treating the Coal Ash, after pulverization, to remove any Iron compounds. And, two things are of interest. First, the Iron is recovered and can be further processed and refined. Second, there exists a commercial brand of industrial magnetic separator that is manufactured and marketed in China. It is specified further on in the Disclosure and is established and commercially-utilized technology. Further, the inventors go on to describe membrane and resin-based filtration and separation for some of the acid washes and solutions they specify. Those are beyond our scope herein; but, we have dealt with them to some extent previously, as in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | New York City CO2 to Methane via Artificial Photosynthesis | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent Application 20120208903 - Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Methane Using Visible Light; 2012; Inventor: Harry D. Gafney; Assignee: Research Foundation of City University of New York, NYC; Abstract: The invention relates to a method for converting carbon dioxide to methane";
wherein some commercial membrane separation products are named and described.)
In the present invention as described (there) is obtained ... a crystalline aluminum chloride product (which is calcined at a temperature of) 900 - 1200 C, the preferred range is 950 - 1100 C ..., to obtain a metallurgical grade alumina product.
Compared with existing technology, the present invention has the beneficial effect is mainly reflected in the following aspects: the production process is simple, easy to control the production process, the the alumina extraction rate, low production costs, product quality and stability. The present invention is used with a high activity of a circulating fluidized bed of fly ash as a raw material ... .
The alumina product obtained by the method according to the present invention, its Al2O3 content of not less than 98.9 wt%, with Fe2O3 content is not higher than 0 004 wt%, ... are at or above the People's Republic of China's non-ferrous metals industry standard 'YS/T274-1998 alumina purity requirements of metallurgical grade alumina product'."
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Well, they are, it seems, in China, now extracting high-quality Aluminum ore from Coal Ash, just as they are, right now, making "huge profits" by converting Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels, direct replacements for anything we now, in the United States, debase our economy and our ideals by purchasing from OPEC.
And, just as we don't have a lot of natural petroleum left in the United States, we don't have any, really, commercial deposits of natural Aluminum ore.
King Coal could solve two major economic problems for our nation as far as those issues are concerned.
When, do you suppose, he will finally, publicly, be given the opportunity to do so.