Chen Jiayong:Pioneer in hydrometallurgy and chemical engineering disciplines

Zai-Sha Mao,Huizhou Liu,Chao Yang

Institue of Process Engineering,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100190,China

Dr.Chen Jiayong(Chia-Yung)was born on Feb.17,1922 in a prestigous intellectual clan at Jintang County,Sichuan Province,China.After receiving early education at the Chengdu County Middle School (now Chengdu 7th School),he was admitted as an undergraduate student to the Department of Chemical Engineering,the National Central University at the city of Chongqing from 1939 through 1943 during the Anti-Japanese War.After graduation,he continued to work as a teaching assistant for both the inorganic and organic chemistry courses.In 1947,he enrolled in the graduate program in the Department of Chemical Engineering on the Urbana-Champaign campus,University of Illinois,USA,and was conferred the MS and PhD degrees in 1949 and 1951 respectively.His doctoral thesis topic was on reaction kinetics of carbon with vapor and water in a porous graphite tube.In 1948,he married Ms.Liu Rong who was also studying at University of Illinois.After graduation in 1951,his intention was to return to China,but his journey was delayed by the US government due to the outbreak of the Korean War.During this period,he took positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,University of Illinois(Urbana-Champaign),and the Yerkes Institute of the DuPont Film Division at Buffalo,NY.

In 1956,the Chinese and American governments reached agreement allowing Chinese students to return.Dr.Chen finally returned home with his wife and two daughters in August of the same year.He decided to work at the Institute of Chemical metallurgy (ICM),Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS),which was in the start-up period,with the “determination of going all out for the modernization of Chinese science and technology “.In his entire career of more than 50 years at the Institute of Chemical Metallurgy/Institute of Process Engineering (IPE),CAS,he made great contribution to the development of hydrometallurgy and chemical engineering disciplines in China.He served as the director of the hydrometallurgy division in 1958–1984,and the deputy director of ICM in 1978–1984.He was assigned as the 4th through 8th National Committee Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (1964–1997).He held the position of the associate council chairman of the Chinese Non-Ferrous Metal Association,and served as the council members of the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China and the Chinese Society for Metals.He was also the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering (1993–2012) and associate editor-in-chief of Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China (both Chinese and English editions),the honorary adviser of the CIESC Journal,and an editorial board member of Hydrometallurgy.

Prof.Chen was elected the member of CAS in 1980 due to his outstanding achievements in hydrometallurgy and chemical engineering.He received many major science and technology prizes and awards,including the National Science Conference Prize (2 pieces) in 1978,the 3rd prize of State Invention Award in 1980,the 3rd prize of State Natural Science Award in 1987,the 3rd prize of State Science and Technology Progress Award in 1995,the 2nd prize of State Natural Science Award in 2009,the 2nd prize of State Technological Innovation Award in 2014,as well as many other awards from ministries and provinces.He was granted the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation in 1996.Together with his peers,he organized the first International Conference on Hydrometallury (1988,Beijing),and took an active role in the 2nd (1991,Changsha) and 3rd (1998,Kunming)events.

1.Pioneer in Hydrometallurgical Research

In 1958,Prof.Chen was in charge of setting up the first research division on hydrometallurgy at Institute of Chemical Metallurgy,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and cultivated the field of hydrometallurgy with a point of view of chemical engineering principles.They harvested many achievements in pressurized leaching of mineral ores,pressurized hydrogen reduction,and preparation of metal powders from aqueous liquor,etc.,contributed to a solid scientific and technological ground for the further development of hydrometallurgy in China.

In 1950s and 1960s,motivated by the urgent needs of Chinese economic reconstruction,Prof.Chen started working on the new hydrometallurgical technologies for refining minerals important to the national economy.He proposed a new process of pressurized ammonical leaching of low grade copper oxide ore from the Dongchuan Mine,Yunnan,China,which was successful with a 90%recovery of copper.Later,the pilot plants with the respective capacity of 100 tons of ore per day were built and run smoothly.In the same period,he developed a new advanced process combining reductive roasting and hydrometallurgical leaching to treat the nickel oxide ores and the route for imported cobalt ores with high content of arsenic by dearsenization followed with aqueous leaching.

The project “comprehensive utilization of Albanian nickel-laterite ores” was a key project in the state-administered foreign assistance program in 1960s.Profs.Chen Jiayong and Guo Musun led a hard-working team of ICM researchers and succeeded in establishing an efficient technology consisting of fluidized roasting -ammonical leacching nickel/cobalt -magnetized sorting of Fe3O4-steel making.The pilot plant with the capacity of 100 t·d-1was built and tested in Shanghai,and on this basis an industrial factory was built in Albania.The project “new process for Albanian nickellaterite ores and pilot plant test” was awarded the National Science Conference Prize in 1978.

In 1970s,he developed a new technology for refining metal lead from lead sulfide ores by aqueous carbonization,and extended it to the lead recovery from waste acidic battery and to hydrorefining gold ores containing lead sulfide.New hydrometallurgical techniques also played an important role in environmental engineering projects,“New technology for treating the cathode mud in nickelbase alloy electrolysis production” was granted a 3rd prize of the State Invention Award in 1980,and “Comprehensive recovery of cathode mud from high temperature alloy electrolysis production and related environmental healing” a 2nd prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award by the Aeronautic Industry Ministry in 1987.

In 1980s and 1990s,he led his staff making efforts in developing the theory and process for efficient utilization of complex,low grade and refractory gold ores,achieved great progress in pressure oxidative pretreatment and microbial-catalyzed pretreatment of refractory arsenical gold ores,high lead-content gold ores refining,as well as non-cyanide leaching of gold silver ores,having made important contributions to the growth of Chinese gold production.

2.Explorer in Chemical Engineering

Prof.Chen started his chemical engineering research after he finished his undergraduate study in 1943.In the autumn of 1952,he was invited by his doctoral adviser to conduct the project of filtration of aerosols by fiberous media.He resolved the existing argument on the aerosol size which was thought the most difficult one to be filtrated,and proposed a new correlation of pressure drop across the fiberous filter media.The results were published on Chemical Review in 1955,and since then the paper was continuously being cited by international colleagues as the benchmark for new analyses and experimental tests.

He took the position of research engineer at the Yerkes Institute of the DuPont Film Division,and joined in studying the continuous polymerization of bis-ethylene terephthalate in 1954.He analyzed in-depth the mechanism of polymerization by applying chemical engineering principles,and proposed to intensify the mixing by agitation and enhance the transport of reactants so as to speed up the polymerization process.He also developed new configurations of polymerization reactor.

Prof.Chen knew well the importance of chemical engineering as the scientific foundation to the process industries.Early in 1960s and 1970s,he urged to couple hydrometallurgy and chemical engineering for studying gas-liquid-solid three-phase reactors and chemical kinetics of heterogeneous reactions.Gaslift loop reactor(called as Pachuca tank for leaching ores in aqueous systems)was targeted by him in 1963 using the concept of residence time distribution in the chemical reaction engineering discipline which emerged lately in 1950s.Around 1980,he invented multideck gaslift loop reactors (5 decks,16.6 m high;5 decks,7.93 m high) for pilot plant production of copper at Tangdan Copper Mines,Yunnan province and semi-industrial operation for vanadium extraction at Panzhihua Iron and Steel Works,Sichuan province respectively.Further in 1981,he established a theoretical multi-section model(consisted of riser,downcomer,and top gas-liquid separation zone)for analyze and correlate the gas-liquid interphase mass transfer rate data.In 1990s,more sophsticated one-dimensional and axisymmetrical hydrodynamic models were developed and numerically solved for understanding the two-phase hydrodynamic properties in gaslift reactors.These efforts pushed forwards the study of loop reactor to a higher theoretical level and helped the progress in the research of other multiphase chemical reactors in terms of mathematical modeling and numerical simulation.

He undertook the key program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China “Fundamental and engineering research of gas-liquid-solid three-phase chemical reactors”(1992–1995) and was in charge of the project “study on the performance,optimization and simulation of trickle bed reactor”.Trickle beds were popularly used in petroleum refinery and chemical industry,and considered conventionally as porous media of uniform texture.His group explored the nonlinear hysteresis of hydrodynamic properties,non-uniform distribution of gas-liquid flow intensity,and sub-models needed in the mathematical modeling of trickle bed from the standpoint of novel multi-disciplinary methodology,and pushed largely the mathematical modeling study forwards.The theorem of minimized entropy production in non-equilibrium thermodynamics was applied to trace the root of non-uniform distributed gas-liquid flow through a trickle bed,and set up a capillary bundle model to illustrate the mechanisms of flow nonuniformity.The first theoretical model of static liquid holdup in trickle bed was built based on the combining the static fluid mechanics and the stability criterion of equilibrium thermodynamics.The overall liquid holdup,flow pattern transition,liquidsolid interphase mass transfer,and radial liquid flow distribution evolution were modeled mathematically as the building blocks of a comprehensive trickle bed reactor model,which also offered useful inspirations to modeling other multiphase chemical systems over the fixed porous frame.

Prof.Chen started to investigate numerically the finer elements(particle,bubble and drop)with respect to their motion and transport phenomena,so as to lay the scientific basis for in-depth mechanistic comprehension of the macroscopic operation properties of commercial multiphase systems.He supervised students to apply mathematical model and numerical simulation to investigate the motion of single moderate Reynolds number deformable droplets and drop swarms in solvent extraction operations and related interphase mass transfer,and extended the same approach further to single particles and their clusters,as well as particle swarms in turbulent conditions.Those knowledges did provide reference to the optimization of the gas-liquid-liquid reactor for hydroformylation processes.The project “fundamental studies on chemical reaction engineering of multiphase systems and reactors and applications” won the 2nd prize of State Natural Science Award in 2009.

3.Achievements in Extractive Separation

In 1960s and 1970s Prof.Chen blazed a technical trail for resolving the problem of As contamination in producing cobalt by pressure alkaline leaching of smaltite from Jinchuan Mine,Gansu province.He also worked on extracting nickel and cobalt from laterite and silicic acid nickel ore.Later,he worked on extractive chemistry and technology for separating vanadium and chromium from the leachate of sodium salt-aided roasting of Va and Cr containing titanomagnetite from Panzhihua Mine,Sichuan province,and succeeded in developing the technology for separating vadadium from chromium using primary amine extractants in neutral or weak alkaline liquors.With subsequent progress,the theory on extraction chemistry of solvation extraction by primary amine extractants was well established,and the project “solvation extraction by primary amines and its synergistic extraction with neutral extractants” won the 3rd prize of State Natural Science Award in 1987.

Based on synergistic solvation extraction with mixed extractants,he developed the mixed extractant consisting of primary amines and neutral phosphate esters,which was particularly efficient in separating rhenium from alkaline and weakly alkaline liquor containing molybdenum,thus the new technology for recovering rhenium by solvent extraction from the alkaline liquor produced by pressure leaching of molybdenite and with co-leached molybdenum separated.He introduced creatively the theorem of phase transition into the field of solvent extraction,proposed four types of mixed solvents for extraction.With these findings,he solved the problem of difficult stripping of iron,and invented several technologies for Fe stripping,with the stripping reagent (sulfuric acid) used dropped to about 20% that of the literature level.The project “the new technology for extractive removal of iron from sulfuric acid liquor,its mechanisms and applications” won the 2nd prize of the Natural Science Award of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991.

4.Novel Technologies in Separation Engineering

In 1980s,Prof.Chen worked on the new extraction systems for antibiotics(penicillin,lincomycin,demeclocycline,etc.)and related separation/purification,and developed several efficient patents on these mixed solvent extractants.

In 1985,he led the group to investigate the surfactant-induced emulsification in solvent extraction and the underlying mechanisms,laying down the scientific basis for development of domestic efficient demulsifiers.The new demulsifier D925m was successfully synthesized in 1990,officially certified by government and put in mass production in 1993,making a breakthrough of the situation that emulsifiers were all imported from foreign countries.The project “development of novel efficient demulsifier and its domestic production” won the 3rd prize of State Science and Technology Progress Award in 1995.

After systematic study of the microscopic structure of extraction systems and related phase forming mechanisms,they proposed novel efficient microemulsion extractive separation processes,such as reverse micelle extraction,polymeric micelle or reverse micelle extraction,predispersed solvent extraction,and membrane extraction,and applied the composite separation techniques (extraction-microemulsion,extraction-porous media,extraction-gas floating) in a targeted way to the separation and purification of commercial products.For polymeric micelle extraction,the regularity of phase transition of block copolymer micelle solutions during the heating and cooling was discovered,and the mechanisms of micelle formation and dissociation clarified,to provide the theoretical foundation for purposely managing the structures of microemulsion.Furthermore,the “microreactor” formed on the microemulsion structure was applied to produce ultra-fine functional materials,thus creating a new aera of superparamagnetic particles.All these promoted greatly the progress in the technology of extractive separation.The project “gas-floating superparamagnetic extraction technology” won the 2nd prize of State Technological Invention Award in 2014.

5.Art for Fine Composite Powders

To meet the urgent demands to the special powders in 1960s,Prof.Chen extended his experience and art in hydrometallurgy to the preparation of new functional metal/oxide finer particles.Following the technical route of “coated composite fines -superfine powders -ceramic powders”,he first applied the hydrotherrnal method with pressure hydrogen reduction to prepare the nickelcoated aluminum,nickel-coated graphite,cobalt-coated tungsten carbide powders,and aluminum-coated hollow glass beads powders to meet the requirements in defense-oriented production.The project “prodcution of coated composite powders (nickelcoated aluminium,cobalt-coated tungsten carbide,nickel-coated graphite)” won the State Science Conference prize and the Major Science/Technology Achievement prize in 1978.Many other types of composite powders such as nickel-coated diatomite,nickelcoated diamond,nickel/chromium coated diatomite,nickel/chromium coated silicon carbide,and other superfine powders such as superfine nickel,superfine cobalt,superfine copper,superfine nickel-coated titanium and superfine oxides (α-Al2O3,ZrO2,Cu2O,α-Fe2O3)were produced in succession,and most of them are being produced to meet the market,including thousands of aeronautic engines.The project “nickel-coated diatomite for engine sealing” won the 1st prize of Major Achievement Award of CAS in 1981.

6.Tutor,Guide and Friend of Young Scholars

Since the nationwide reform and opening-up in 1980s,Prof.Chen took an active part in international academic exchange,and was invited to visit Australia,USA,Canada,Japan,UK,Germany,Soviet Union,Belgium,Singapore etc.for attending symposia,giving lectures,conducting academic and technical investigations.

He was diligent and enthusiastic in training younger scientific generations,and supervised 57 graduate students (including 34 doctors,16 masters) and 8 post-doctoral researchers in his whole career.He encouraged them to go abroad for study and then return to serve China.He made his best in managing the IPE Fellowship Program supported by the Li Foundation USA,and recommended many young workers to study one year in renowned institutions in USA.

Despite of his great achievements and prestigious status,Prof.Chen was rather modest and amiable,a respectful teacher to the young,and good friend to peer workers.His spirit and attire are valuable treasures for younger generations of scholars.He was a Chinese Communist Party member,enjoyed in scientific research and education in his whole life,and made continuously contribution to the reconstruction of modern China.His memory lives in the hearts of the numerous students and colleagues.

7.Representative Publications

(1) Chen J.Y.,Yu S.Q.,Wu Z.C.,Separation and Utility of Iron in Hydrometallurgy,Metallurgical Industry Press,Beijing,1991.(in Chinese)

(2)Zha J.Y.,Chen J.Y.,Principle and Application of Transport Processes,Metallurgical Industry Press,Beijing,1997.(in Chinese)

(3)Chen J.Y.,Yang S.Z.,Ke J.J.,Mao M.H.,Research and Development of Hydro metallurgy,Metallurgical Industry Press,Beijing,1998.(in Chinese)

(4) Wang J.D.,Chen J.Y.,Handbook of Solven Extraction,Chemical Industry Press,Beijing,2001.(in Chinese)

(5) Chen J.Y.,Yang S.Z.,Process Engineering and Clean Production via Environment-Friendly Route,Qinghua University Press,Beijing,2004.(in Chinese)

(6) Mao Z.S.,Chen J.Y.,Elemental Chemical Reaction Engineering,Science Press,Beijing,2004.(in Chinese)

(7) J.Y.Chen,Handbook of Hydrometallurgy,Metallurgical Industry Press,Beijing,2005.(in Chinese)

(8) Chen C.Y.,Filtration of aerosols by fibrous media,Chem.Rev.55 (1955) 595–623.

(9) J.Y.Chen,G.X.Xia,Chemical kinetics of reaction of copper with oxygen and sulfur dioxide,CIESC J.(1) (1965) 1-12.(in Chinese)

(10) Mao Z.X.,Li Z.H.,Yang S.Z.,Chen J.Y.,Xia G.X.,Study on gasliquid-suspended solid mulideck gas lift reactor,CIESC J.1 (1980)1–12.(in Chinese)

(11) Yu S.Q.,Meng X.S.,Chen J.Y.,Solvent extraction of vanadium(V) from aqueous solutions by primary amines,Sci.Sin.B25 (2) (1982) 113–123.

(12) Deng T.,Ke J.J.,Chen J.Y.,Kinetic of disproportionation of elemental sulfur in aqueous solution,CIESC J.35 (4) (1984) 328–334.(in Chinese)

(13)Lu L.Z.,An Z.T.,Fan Z.,Chen J.Y.,Axial miixing of continuous phase in a rotating disk extraction column,CIESC J.36 (4) (1985)407–417.(in Chinese)

(14) Lu K.Y.,Chen J.Y.,Conversion of galena to lead carbonate in ammonium carbonate solutions—A new approach to lead hydrometallurgy,Hydrometallurgy17 (1986) 73–83.

(15) Chen Z.B.,Yang S.Z.,Chen J.Y.,Unsteady state heterogeneous diffusion-reaction model and its solution,CIESC J.38 (4)(1987) 426–437.(in Chinese)

(16) Zhao G.H.,Li Z.H.,Chen J.Y.,Stochastic approach of backmixing and reaction of particles in continuous flow systems,CIESCJ.39 (4) (1988) 393–400.(in Chinese)

(17)Yu S.Q.,Chen J.Y.,Synergistic extraction of ferric iron in sulfate solutions by tertiary amine and 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid or dialkyl phosphonic acid,Hydrometallurgy22 (1989) 183–192.

(18) Fang Z.H.,Chen J.Y.,Electrochemical studies on anodic dissolution of synthetic nickel sulfides,Acta Metall.Sinica B2 (3)(1989) 159–166.

(19) Chen J.Y.,Yu S.Q.,Liu H.Z.,Meng X.Q.,Wu Z.C.,New mixedsolvent systems for the extraction and separation of ferric iron in sulfate-solutions,Hydrometallurgy30 (1–3) (1992) 401–416.

(20) Mao Z.S.,Xiong T.Y.,Chen J.Y.,Theoretical prediction of static liquid holdup in trickle bed reactors and comparison with experimental results,Chem.Eng.Sci.48 (1993) 2697–2703.

(21) Chang Q.L.,Liu H.Z.,Chen J.Y.,Extraction of lysozyme,alpha-chymotrypsin,and pepsin into reverse micelles formed using an anionic surfactant,isooctane,and water,Enzyme Microb.Technol.16 (11) (1994) 970–973.

(22) Wang R.,Mao Z.S.,Chen J.Y.,Experimental and theoretical studies of pressure drop hysteresis in trickle bed reactors,Chem.Eng.Sci.50 (1995) 2321–2328.

(23) Y.C.Zhao,J.Y.Chen,Extraction of phosphorus,arsenic and/or silica from sodium tungstate and molybdate solutions with primary amine and tributyl phosphate as solvents.I.Synergistic extraction and separation of phosphorus,arsenic and/or silica from tungstate and molybdate solutions,Hydrometallurgy,42 (1996)313–324.

(24) Lin W.C.,Mao Z.S.,Chen J.Y.,Hydrodynamic studies on loop reactors.II.Airlift loop reactors,Chin.J.Chem.Eng.5 (1) (1997) 11–22.

(25) Xie Y.C.,Liu H.Z.,Chen J.Y.,Candida rugosa lipase catalyzed esterification of racemic ibuprofen with butanol:Racemization of R-ibuprofen and chemical hydrolysis of S-ester formed,Biotech.Lett.20 (5) (1998) 455–458.

(26) Chen J.Y.,A brief survey of green manufacturing technology,Huagong Yejin20 (1) (1999) 82–85.(in Chinese)

(27) Guo C.,Liu H.Z.,Chen J.Y.,A Fourier transform infrared study of the phase transition in aqueous solutions of ethylene oxide-propylene oxide triblock copolymer,Colloid Polymer Sci.277 (4) (1999) 376–381.

(28) Yu J.,Liu H.Z.,Chen J.Y.,“Modified flocculation” of protein with a combination of copolymer and polyacrylamide,Chem.Eng.Sci.54 (24) (1999) 5839–5843.

(29) Chang Z.D.,Liu H.Z.,Chen J.Y.,Foam separation of tributyl phosphate from aqueous solutions I.Experiment,Sep.Purif.Technol.19 (1–2) (2000) 131–136.

(30) Chen J.Y.,Zhang Y.,Lu K.Y.,Gong Q.,Zhu G.C.,Studies on environmentally friendly leaching processes in China,Chin.J.Chem.Eng.9 (1) (2001) 5–11.

(31) Chen J.Y.,Process industry and process engineering,Chin.J.Process Eng.1 (1) (2001) 8–9.(in Chinese)

(32) Yang C.,Mao Z.S.,Wang Y.F.,Chen J.Y.,Kinetics of hydroformylation of propylene using RhCl(CO)-(TPPTS)2/TPPTS complex catalyst in aqueous system,Catal.Today74 (1–2) (2002) 111–119.

(33) Su Y.L.,Liu H.Z.,Wang J.,Chen J.Y.,Study of salt effects on the micellization of PEO-PPO-PEO block copolymer in aqueous solution by FTIR spectroscopy,Langmuir18 (3) (2002) 865–871.

(34) Luo M.F.,Xing J.M.,Gou Z.X.,Li S.,Chen J.Y.,Desulfurization of dibenzothiophene by lyophilized cells of Pseudomonas delafieldii R-8 in the presence of dodecane,Biochem.Eng.J.13 (1) (2003)1–6.

(35) Mao Z.S.,Chen J.Y.,Numerical simulation of Marangoni effect on mass transfer to single drops in liquid-liquid extraction systems,Chem.Eng.Sci.59 (8–9) (2004) 1815–1828.

(36) Yu J.,Liu H.Z.,Chen J.Y.,An overview on microemulsion phase extraction technology,CIESC J.57 (8) (2006) 1746–1755.(in Chinese)

(37)Liu H.Z.,Guo C.,Chang Z.D.,Yang C.,Li H.Z.,Chen J.Y.,Vision of nano/micro-structured interfacial phenomenon prediction and control in chemical process engineering,Chin.J.Process Eng.8(4) (2008) 660–666.(in Chinese)

(38)Chen J.Y.,Follow the example of Prof.Jiading Wang’s study and work,CIESC J.61 (7) (2010) inside cover.(in Chinese)

(39) Mao Z.S.,Yang C.,Chen J.Y.,Mathematical modeling of a hydrophilic cylinder floating on water,J.Colloid Interface Sci.377(2012) 463–468.

(40) Chen J.Y.,Chemical engineering and hydrometallurgy:Two inseparabale disciplines,CIESC J.64 (1) (2013) 1–2.(in Chinese)