Equipment/Capabilities Available Within the Parker Centre
By its very nature, the Parker Centre’s cooperative approach allows the full array of the Research Participants' expertise and facilities to be brought to bear on any hydrometallurgical problem. The instruments and equipment cover the range from those which allow individual atoms to be viewed during crystal growth to continuous pilot plant scale equipment for testing flowsheets on the kilogram scale. The Centre has the capability to link microscopic understanding of the underlying chemistry with the macroscopic performance of operating plants.
Surface
Studies/Mineralogy/Microscopy/Analytical
- SEM/EDAX (scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive analysis by X-rays)
- XRF (X-ray fluorescence)
- XRD (X-ray diffraction)
- AAS (atomic absorption spectroscopy)
- DRS (dielectric relaxation spectroscopy)
- FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy)
- NIR (near infrared spectroscopy)
- Atomic force microscopy
- Scanning tunnelling microscopy
- Transmission electron microscopy
- TG-DTA (thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis)
- TG-FTIR (thermogravimetry-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy)
- TG-MS (thermogravimetry-mass spectrometry)
- XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy)
- Auger spectroscopy
- ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma-Auger electron spectroscopy)
Comminution/Separation/Sample
Preparation
- Crushing, screening, flotation
- Particle analysis facility (including a QEMSCAN automated mineral analysis system)
Leaching/Recovery
- Electrochemistry of leaching/electrowinning
- Pressure leaching (titanium, zirconium and stainless steel autoclaves)
- Bioleaching
- Solvent extraction (batch and continuous)
- Crystallisation
Solid-liquid Separation
- Flocculant evaluation/thickening
- Rheology testing
- Filtration
Pilot
Plant Facilities
- Hydrometallurgy pilot plant facility (Murdoch University)
- Becher Building pilot plant facilites (CSIRO Minerals):
- - Multi-stage continuous leaching, purification and electrowinning
circuit
- - High pressure grinding rolls (HPGR)
- - Rotary kiln
- - Multi-stage continuous SX rig and pulsed column capability
- - Flotation circuit
- - Magnetic and gravity separation
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