Heavy Metal Extraction

Precious Metal Recovery from Waste Ponds,
Freeport Mineral

NUCON evaluated the feasibility of further precious metal recovery from the residues of the waste material generated by a gold extraction process used by Freeport. NUCON studied removal technologies and confirmed process feasibility. The project was enlarged to include design of the process and detail of the equipment. After installation, NUCON also participated in the startup and then established operating control procedures for the facility.

Review of Process Design and Equipment Selection,
Freeport Mineral

Freeport Mineral employed NUCON as a consultant to review the process design, major equipment selection and plant layout for a precious metal recovery facility developed by Bechtel. The review process consisted of evaluating the process, the suitability and maintainability of the major equipment and materials of construction.

Removal of Heavy Metals from Hydrocarbon Fluids,
Mobil Oil Co.

Hydrocarbon liquids from some locations are contaminated by heavy metal, particularly mercury. This presents a health hazard, leads to corrosion of equipment and may poison catalysts in downstream operations. NUCON was contracted by Mobil Oil Co. to develop methodologies to use radioactive tracer and other detection equipment to determine the efficacy of potential mercury control processes. An additional study involved laboratory tests of various candidate products to remove the mercury without affecting the properties of the hydrocarbon fluids. The efficiency of these methods was evaluated along with the commercial applicability. A third phase was NUCON pilot testing with the contaminated condensate to establish optimum processing parameters.