Ore Volume-Based Zonal Injection for Ionic Rare Earth Leaching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current ionic rare earth ore mining methods, such as in-situ leaching and heap leaching, often result in inefficient use of leaching agents, leading to excessive environmental pollution and resource loss due to a lack of zonal differentiation in ore volume-based injection, which increases production costs and environmental impact.
Innovation Solution
An ore volume-based zonal injection method is developed, where the ore body is divided into units based on actual ore volume, allowing for dynamic control of leaching agent dosage and injection strength, optimizing the leaching process by merging units into injection zones for targeted leaching agent application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the injection amount of the leaching agent is increased to increase the leaching rate, then the leaching rate is improved, but the production cost increases and environmental pollution is aggravated
Solution Approach 1:
The ore body is divided into multiple injection zones based on ore volume per unit area, with each zone receiving customized leaching agent injection amounts. This segmentation allows precise control of leaching agent dosage in different spatial regions, avoiding both overuse and underuse, thereby resolving the contradiction between increasing leaching rate and reducing leaching agent consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Different injection amounts of leaching agent are applied to different injection zones according to their specific ore volume characteristics. Each zone receives a locally optimized dosage, ensuring efficient leaching where needed while minimizing unnecessary consumption in other areas, thus improving leaching rate without proportionally increasing overall leaching agent consumption.
2Productivity
If the injection amount of the leaching agent is increased to increase the leaching rate, then the leaching rate is improved, but environmental pollution is aggravated
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the ore body into multiple injection zones with customized leaching agent dosages, the method minimizes excessive leaching agent application in any single zone. This prevents the accumulation of harmful substances in the environment while maintaining effective leaching rates, thereby resolving the contradiction between productivity improvement and environmental protection.
Solution Approach 2:
Each injection zone receives a locally optimized leaching agent dosage matched to its ore volume characteristics. This localized precision ensures that leaching agent is applied only where needed and in the correct amount, preventing environmental pollution from excessive application while maintaining high leaching rates where required.
3Productivity
If the injection amount of the leaching agent is increased, then the production cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The ore body is divided into multiple injection zones, each with customized leaching agent injection amounts based on ore volume per unit area. This segmentation enables precise dosage control, ensuring leaching agent is used efficiently in each zone rather than applying excessive amounts across the entire ore body, thereby improving leaching rate while controlling production costs.
Solution Approach 2:
Different injection zones receive different leaching agent dosages optimized for their specific ore volume characteristics. This local optimization ensures that leaching agent is applied at the minimum necessary amount in each zone to achieve effective leaching, reducing overall consumption and production costs while maintaining high leaching rates.
4Ease of operation
If experience-based injection methods are used, then the process is simple to operate, but resource loss occurs due to underuse of leaching agent in some zones
Solution Approach 1:
The ore body is divided into multiple injection zones with different leaching agent injection amounts determined by ore volume per unit area. This segmentation provides a systematic, calculation-based approach that replaces subjective experience with objective criteria, ensuring each zone receives appropriate dosage to maximize resource recovery while maintaining operational feasibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The injection amount parameter is dynamically adjusted for each zone based on the ore volume per unit area. This parameter optimization ensures that each zone receives the precise dosage needed for effective leaching, preventing resource loss from underuse while avoiding excessive consumption, thereby improving resource recovery without overly complicating the operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method increases the leaching rate by 3.57% while reducing leaching agent consumption and alleviating environmental pollution by ensuring precise application based on ore volume variations, providing a more efficient and sustainable mining approach.
Implementation Method 1
When clay minerals adsorbed with rare earth ions encounter an electrolyte solution, the rare earth ions can be exchanged by ions with more active chemical property in the electrolyte solution.
Implementation Method 2
testing a saturation permeability coefficient K of the ore body
Data Source
AI summary
An ore volume-based zonal injection method for ionic rare earth includes six steps of ore body data acquisition; ore volume calculation by units; calculation of leaching agent consumption γ per unit ore volume; calculation of unit ore volume-based zoning range difference; merging of the units into injection zones; and injection.