Computational Methods in Engineering

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Process optimization is one of the most important activities in todays competitive industries. the rather high cost of research and development has necessitated the development of experimental methods by which the factors affecting processes could be determined with minimum number of experiments. Over the last two decades, various types of experimental designs have been used. Among the different methods of experimental design such as complete and partial factorial and Latin squares design, the Taguchi method has found wide applications in some industrial divisions because of its comprehensive nature. In this paper, the laboratory scale flotation of the Sarcheshmeh copper ore which mainly consists of chalcocite was studied using the Taguchi method. The effects of seven factors namely collectors, Z11 (Xanthate) and R407 (Methyl isoboutyl carbonyl), frothers, pine oil and A65 (Polypropylene glycol), particle size, pH and flotation time were investigated. In addition to a significant reduction in cost and time of experimentation, the results indicated that a 5% increase in copper recovery could be obtained if all the factors are tested at their high experimental levels, as suggested by the Taguchi method. The optimal flotation time was also found to be 11 minutes.

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Reductive leaching was used to dissolve metals, especially cobalt, present in Fars Tidar mine,. In this paper, cobalt ore was leached with sulphuric acid in the presence of phenol to determine the effects of various factors on leaching. These factors included temperature, acid concentration, time, phenol content, pulp density, and interaction between some of the parameters. The results indicated that temperature was more effective on SN ratio (Signal to Noise ratio) which was found to be about 80%. The effecst of time and acid concentration on SN ratio were also determined at about 8% and 4 %, respectively. Although the effect of phenol content on cobalt leaching was too low but dissolution of cobalt decreased in the absence of phenol. Therefore, it was concluded that phenol was one of the factors in effective the leaching process. Anyway, three parameters including temperature, acid concentration, and time were selected as more effective parameters. Consequently optimum conditions can be obtained with high levels content of temperature, acid concentration, and time with low levels of phenol and pulp density.