Research Article
Statistical Evaluation of Ammonium Hydrofluoride Process for Beryllium Extraction from Indian Beryl Ore
B.M. Tripathi1*, Jyoti Prakash2, D.D. Thorat3 and D. Sathiyamoorthy41Powder Metallurgy Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Vashi Complex, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai 400705, India
2Powder Metallurgy Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Vashi Complex, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai 400705, India
3Powder Metallurgy Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Vashi Complex, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai 400705, India
4Powder Metallurgy Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Vashi Complex, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai 400705, India
- *Corresponding Author:
- D. Sathiyamoorthy
Head, Powder Metallurgy Division
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Vashi Complex
Turbhe, Navi Mumbai 400705, India
Tel: 25505010
E-mail: dsathiyamoorthy@gmail.com
Received Date: September 27, 2013; Accepted Date: November 20, 2013; Published Date: November 25, 2013
Citation: Tripathi BM, Prakash J, Thorat DD, Sathiyamoorthy D (2013) Statistical Evaluation of Ammonium Hydrofluoride Process for Beryllium Extraction from Indian Beryl Ore. J Powder Metall Min 2:118. doi: 10.4172/2168-9806.1000118
Copyright: © 2013 Tripathi BM, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Extraction of beryllium from Indian beryl ore using ammonium hydrofluoride as fluorinating agent was studied and optimized. This is process seems to be potentially promising for Indian beryl ore for extraction of beryllium. Four control factors, including first stage reaction temperature (T1), first stage reaction time (t1), second stage reaction temperature (T2) and second stage reaction time (t2), each in three levels have been anlysed using Taguchi technique. L9 orthogonal array and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied to determine the optimum conditions and the most significant factors affecting the overall beryllium recovery in the extraction process. The optimum extraction conditions to maximize beryllium recovery were T1=1500C, t1=60 min, T2=4000C and t2=60 min. In the verification extraction experiment, beryllium recovery was 97.7%. It was also found that first stage reaction temperature has the highest effect on beryllium recovery (75.15%). The other factors namely first stage reaction time, second stage reaction temperature and second stage reaction time could yield respectively 7.75%, 2.98% and 14.11% beryllium. The results were in close agreement with the prediction by the statistical model.