Vale Clydach Refinery

presentation

Vale site visit

Value

Vale

"Act with integrity, Make it happen, Life matters most, Respect our planet and communities, Value the people who build our company"

1902

The difference between the process now and then is how advanced the technology has become and the many challenging criterias set.

Now

+ info

Mond accidentally created a nickel carbonyl and since then the process has been the same for 120 years

CNR - The Mond

timeline

CNR

Mines, Distributors and Refinery

associated with CNR

MAP

More than two -third of nickel turned into stainless steel

Vale

20%

Worldwide nickel production

17% of Europe Number 2 in nickel production worldwide

280+

Customers

91 % customer satisfaction8.55 global satisfaction

31000

Tonnes

Storage

pellet and powder plant

Kiln

Gas purification and seperation

4 key steps

process

Gas seperation and purification

• absorption of gasses using liquids
• each liquid absorbs a certain gas from the Grade B Syngas
• liquid containing each gas are separated in different columns
• Each column undergoes a reaction to produce pure CO, CO2
• transferred to storage

• "Grade C Syngas – raw Syngas that comes from the gasifier that contains approximately 30% hydrogen and carbon monoxide combined, 30% carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen.

• Grade B Syngas – is the Syngas that has undergone some polishing to remove hydrocarbons and has been reformed increasing the combined amount of carbon monoxide and hydrogen to around 70% with carbon dioxide and nitrogen making up the rest.

• Grade A Syngas – is further processing of the Grade B gas to increase the purity of the hydrogen to >98.0%"

Kiln

SO2 catalyst

• Sticks into "spiky" nickel particles

• oxidation of waste metals
• To insure metals are stable when returning to Canada. For safety and environmental reasons

metal + oxygen MO

• CO addition
• New CO added
• Some CO recycled from pellet and powder plant

Ni + 4CO Ni(CO)4

Reduction

• Reduction equation

NiO + H2 Ni+ impurities + water

• spins to ensure all the nickel is oxidized.

• takes around two weeks

2 KilnsreductionSO2 catalyst CO additionoxidation of waste metals

• Fun fact: Same as nickel pellets but some companies don't like it when they

• Turbine plate
• industrial vessel and pipework
• coinage

T255 - filamentary powder

T123 - Discrete spherical powder

flat pellets

Nickel pellets

Main Nickel products

ValeProcess: Nickel carbonyl is produced through the reaction of nickel metal with carbon monoxide gas. This forms a volatile nickel carbonyl gas, which is then thermally decomposed to yield pure nickel metal. Purity: The nickel obtained through this process has 99.9% purity, comparable to electrode purification. Energy Consumption: The nickel carbonyl process is generally considered to be energy-efficient compared to some other refining methods.

NickelbergProcess: Nickel is refined through electrolysis. partially purified nickel ore is dissolved in a solution, and the nickel ions are then reduced and deposited onto a cathode. Purity: This method produces a 99.9% purity. Energy Consumption: Electrolysis requires alot of energy, making this method relatively energy-intensive.

comparison

Health and Safety inside refinery

Vale.comgov.ukhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao1tvps_-ZQ

Thanks!

Refrences