Post combustion trials at Dofasco's KOBM furnace

Post combustion trials were conducted at Dofasco's 300 tonne KOBM furnace as part of the AISI Direct Steelmaking Program. The purpose of the project work was to measure the post combustion ratio (PCR) and heat transfer efficiency (HTE) of the post combustion reaction in a full size steelmaking vessel. A method of calculating PCR and HTE using off gas analysis and gas temperature was developed. The PCR and HTE were determined under normal operating conditions. Trials assessed the effect of lance height, vessel volume, foaming slag and pellet additions on PCR and HTE

Evidence from Opportunity's Microscopic Imager for Water on Meridiani Planum

The Microscopic Imager on the Opportunity rover analyzed textures of soils and rocks at Meridiani Planum at a scale of 31 micrometers per pixel. The uppermost millimeter of some soils is weakly cemented, whereas other soils show little evidence of cohesion. Rock outcrops are laminated on a millimeter scale; image mosaics of cross-stratification suggest that some sediments were deposited by flowing water. Vugs in some outcrop faces are probably molds formed by dissolution of relatively soluble minerals during diagenesis. Microscopic images support the hypothesis that hematite-rich spherules observed in outcrops and soils also formed diagenetically as concretions