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Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
Hydrometallurgy 95 (2009) 1–4
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Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
Professor A. Richard Burkin MSc, PhD, CEng, CChem, FRCS, FIMM (1923–2008)
Richard Burkin was born on 23rd September, 1923 in Stratford, East London. He attended Ilford Grammar School, where he excelled in the sciences. In 1943, he obtained a BSc degree in chemistry at the age of 19 and then joined the photographic company, Ilford Ltd., where he worked as a research chemist on war-time military projects. While working at Ilford Ltd, he met his future wife, Ruth, whom he married in 1949. After the war was over, he moved from industry into academia when, aged 22, he was appointed as a lecturer in inorganic chemistry at University College, Southampton, which was then an external college of the University of London. While lecturing in Southampton, Burkin continued studying part-time, obtaining MSc and PhD degrees awarded by the University of London, in 1946 and 1948, respectively. In 1952, he left Southampton to move to London, where he joined the staff of the Royal School of Mines in the Imperial College of Science and Technology in South Kensington, the famous institution where he spent the rest of his distinguished career. At that time, a new undergraduate degree course in Mineral Technology was being set up in the Mining department and Dr Burkin was responsible for teaching chemical aspects of the subject, mainly surface and coordination chemistry. He started a research programme on flotation chemistry with particular emphasis on insoluble reagents, such as oils, which resulted in a series of research papers (Burkin and Soane, 1960; Burkin and Halsey, 1961, 1963; Burkin and Bramley, 1961, 1963; Halsey and Burkin, 1962), two of which were published in Nature (Burkin and
doi:10.1016/j.hydromet.2008.06.010
Halsey, 1961; Halsey and Burkin, 1962). However, the mineral technology course at the RSM was focused on industry and, possibly as a result of this emphasis, Burkin became particularly interested in the use of aqueous chemistry for the processing of metal ores and concentrates and he began research into the effects of high temperature aqueous solutions on minerals using pressurized stirred autoclave reactors (Burkin, 1960; Farrow and Burkin, 1975). In 1960, Professor Denys Richardson, who was the leader of the renowned Nuffield Research Group in Extraction Metallurgy within the Metallurgy department in the RSM, invited Burkin to change departments and to set up a course in hydrometallurgy for the extraction metallurgy option of the undergraduate metallurgy course and to develop a hydrometallurgy research group in the Metallurgy department. At that time, the RSM was undergoing a major expansion and refurbishment and Burkin was fortunate to be able to move into brand new, state-of-the-art, laboratories and offices in the newly opened Bessemer extension of the RSM. He took full advantage of this unique opportunity and quickly built up a significant research group by attracting students and research funding from various sources. In particular he was supported by the National Research and Development Corporation (NRDC), a funding quango set up by Harold Wilson's Labour government in its “white heat of technology” phase. In the early 1960s, Burkin used his brand new autoclave facilities to study the leaching of refractory oxide and silicate ores, such as zircon, columbite and pyrochlore, and he was granted several patents as a result of this work (Burkin and Barry, 1960, 1961; Burkin et al., 1962; Burkin and Sawyer, 1963; 1964; Burkin, 1964). In 1966, Richard Burkin's seminal textbook “The Chemistry of Hydrometallurgical Processes” (Burkin, 1966) was published. In this slim volume, which was the first textbook on modern hydrometallurgy, he concentrated primarily on the thermodynamic and kinetic fundamentals of hydrometallurgical processes. Within a short period, this book greatly enhanced Burkin's growing international reputation as an academic leader in the subject. Also in 1966, John Monhemius, who had studied hydrometallurgy in Canada, returned to England to join the staff of the Metallurgy department as an assistant lecturer to aid Burkin with teaching the undergraduate hydrometallurgy course, which was subsequently expanded in size and scope. This was the start of a professional partnership that lasted until Burkin's retirement in 1988. The publication of his textbook led in due course to several significant industrial consultancy appointments for Burkin. In the UK, the Power Gas Corporation in Stockton-on-Tees (later to become Davy McKee), which was developing a commercial interest in the new industrial technique of solvent extraction, became aware of Burkin's innovative research work on the direct reduction of metal powders from organic solvents by reduction with hydrogen gas under pressure and hired him as a consultant. Under Burkin's guidance, Power Gas tried to develop this process to industrial fruition. Unfortunately, these efforts were unsuccessful and direct metal reduction from organic
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Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
solutions was never commercialized. Nevertheless, the experience and confidence that Power Gas gained in the techniques of solvent extraction while undertaking this development work, led to the company entering the business of the design and construction of solvent extraction plants. The company subsequently built many plants around the world for the production of copper by solvent extraction and electrowinning, including the Nchanga Tailings Leach Plant at Chingola, Zambia, which when it opened in 1974 was the world's largest SX plant, producing 90,000 tons of cathode copper per year. In the words of Barrie Scuffham, who led the solvent extraction design team in Davy McKee: “Richard Burkin, directly or indirectly, helped Davy in the early years of solvent extraction and Davy went on to be a world leader in this technology.” Burkin's hydrometallurgical expertise was also sought by companies outside the UK. In the USA, he was contracted by the huge du Pont de Nemours chemical company, which was considering whether to enter the metal production business, to guide its R&D programme in this area. This contract, which lasted for 2 years, involved Burkin in regular trans-Atlantic commuting to the company headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. Established metallurgical companies also sought his advice, including Kennecott Copper in the USA and Metallurgie Hoboken Overpelt in Belgium. Another important consultancy was with the Anglo-Belgian company, Interox Chemicals Ltd. This began in 1976 and lasted until 1988, when Burkin retired. Interox, which was a joint venture between Laporte Chemicals in the UK and Solvay Chemicals in Belgium, was one of the world's three largest manufacturers of hydrogen peroxide and peroxy chemicals. Interox's commercial department had noticed that increasingly large orders for hydrogen peroxide were being received from the mining industry, particularly from gold mines. This was an industry about which Interox knew nothing and so they turned to Richard Burkin for advice and help in developing further opportunities in this large and potentially lucrative new market for peroxides in hydrometallurgical processes. Burkin took up this new challenge with enthusiasm and, with the active support of the Interox board, he developed a large research programme at the RSM on the application of peroxides in hydrometallurgy, fully funded by the company. In due course, Interox decided that, in addition to the academic research being carried out in the RSM, an industrial R&D group in hydrometallurgy should be established within the company. This group was set up in the research laboratories of Laporte Chemicals in Widnes, Cheshire, where, by pure coincidence, the research manager was Dr John Bramley, who had been one of Richard's first PhD students when he had joined the RSM a quarter of a century earlier (Burkin and Bramley, 1961, 1963). In the 1980s, there was a great deal of activity in the gold mining sector, with new mines being developed, old mines being reworked, and new extraction processes making possible the recovery of gold from ore deposits that previously were considered to be untreatable. There was plenty of consultancy and process design work available and Richard Burkin realised that there was an opportunity to commercialize the extensive and often under-utilised experimental and analytical facilities in the Royal School of Mines. In 1986, Burkin, together with his colleague, John Monhemius, and two businessmen, set up Consort Research Ltd. This company was based in the Royal School of Mines and its business model was that it contracted consultancy work with mining or other companies and then it hired the necessary laboratory space, equipment and technical staff in the Royal School of Mines, paying the department at pre-agreed rates for the use of the facilities and staff. This arrangement required a considerable amount of negotiating skill by Burkin to persuade the Imperial College authorities that it could be managed to the benefit of all parties. Consort Research Ltd was in essence the first “spin-out” company from Imperial College and it was set up many years before such entrepreneurial arrangements, which today are commonplace, became politically fashionable and readily sanctioned in research
universities. The Consort business model worked successfully for about 5 years, but then the consultancy market was hit by the recession of the early 90s and Consort Research never fully recovered thereafter and it was eventually wound up. Another innovatory organization that grew out of Consort Research during its active period was an international network of metallurgical consultants that operated under the name METNET. This was a mutual support network that enabled individual consultants to offer their own clients a full spectrum of services by drawing on the specialist know-how of others in the network. Apart from Burkin, Monhemius and their colleague, Rod Gochin, who were based in the RSM in London, the METNET experts, who were mainly all RSM alumni, were working in Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA. Today, similar international arrangements amongst consultants are fairly common and are greatly facilitated by the virtually instant global communications available through the internet, but in the preinternet days of the late 1980s, METNET was a ground-breaking innovation that was unique in the mining world. In the 1980s, the Hydrometallurgy Research Group in the RSM was at its peak in terms of numbers, with more than two dozen research students, post-doctoral research assistants and technicians working in a suite of dedicated laboratories, with supervision of the group shared between Richard Burkin and John Monhemius. By then, the research group had become world famous, with post-graduate students coming from all parts of the globe to carry out research in hydrometallurgy, and Richard Burkin himself had been promoted to a personal chair in Hydrometallurgy. Following the success of his 1966 hydrometallurgy textbook, he continued periodically to publish books, mainly as the editor of compilations of didactic papers on aspects of extractive metallurgy, of which he published four between 1975 and 1987 (Burkin, 1975, 1980, 1987a,b). One of these books, called Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy and published by the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (Burkin, 1975), was a compilation composed largely of papers on his own research, written by him with his research students. In 1985, staff retirements and other changes within the RSM resulted in Professor Burkin being asked by the Rector of Imperial College to take over the headship of the Mineral Technology section in the Department of Mineral Resources Engineering, (MRE) which had grown from the original Mining department. The whole of the staff, students and equipment of the Hydrometallurgy section, together with responsibility for its main laboratories, were transferred to the MRE department. Thus Burkin returned to his first home in the RSM, but one of his main tasks now was to close down the Mineral Technology undergraduate course, which he had originally been hired to help start up in the 1950s. This course, which had run successfully for over 30 years, was by now suffering from a lack of students and it had become uneconomic to continue to keep it going. This task was successfully accomplished, but the result was that hydrometallurgy at undergraduate level was then being taught at Imperial College only to the diminishing number of students in metallurgy and chemical engineering that opted to take the subject as part of their main degree studies. Meanwhile, the hydrometallurgy research group continued to flourish until 1988 when, at the age of 65, Richard Burkin retired from full-time academic life. In recognition of his distinguished academic career and long service in the RSM, he was granted the title of Emeritus Professor by the University of London. On retirement, Richard was able to devote more time to tending the large garden at his home in Essex that he and Ruth had developed over many years into a classic English garden. They also spent much time searching for a smaller retirement property on the coast of East Anglia, where they could indulge in their other lifetime passion of bird watching. For a number of years after his retirement, Richard continued to travel once or twice a week to Imperial College, mainly to use the library to do research for his final project—an updated and greatly expanded new textbook on hydrometallurgy. This book, Chemical Hydrometallurgy: Theory and Principles (Burkin, 2001), took him
Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
over a decade to write and it incorporated all the advances that had occurred in the science and practice of hydrometallurgy over the 30 or more years since the publication of his first ground-breaking book on the subject. In spite of their endeavours, Ruth and Richard did not find a smaller house near the coast that suited them and so they continued to live in their fine Edwardian house in Shenfield until, in February of this year, Richard died at the age of 84, a few weeks after an operation following a fall. His funeral was held in the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Shenfield, where he and Ruth had been married 59 years earlier. Richard Burkin's academic career corresponded with the period during which hydrometallurgy grew from a specialist process technology that was largely confined to the nuclear industry, where it had developed rapidly during and immediately after the Second World War, to its position today, where hydrometallurgical processes rank alongside traditional pyrometallurgical processes for the extraction of many of the non-ferrous metals. While much of the growth and innovation in hydrometallurgical processes stemmed from the USA and Canada, Richard Burkin led the academic development of the discipline in the UK and Europe. His brilliant scientific mind and his academic background in classical inorganic and physical chemistry enabled him to bring scientific rigour to the subject and to analyse the thermodynamic and kinetic principles underlying industrial hydrometallurgical processes, which often were developed using mainly empirical methods. His first textbook (Burkin, 1966), published in 1966, was for many years the only textbook in hydrometallurgy and it was very influential, being used by universities around the world. In his research, Burkin was innovative and forward-thinking. In the early 1960s, he realized that the recently-developed industrial process for the production of metal powders by the reduction of aqueous solutions of metal salts with hydrogen at high temperatures and pressures could in principle be combined with solvent extraction processes, which then were in their infancy. This realization led him to begin an extensive research programme into the direct reduction of metal powders from metal-loaded organic solutions produced by solvent extraction (Burkin, 1967, 1969b, 1973; Burkin and Richardson, 1967; Burkin and Burgess, 1971, 1972a,b). This ground-breaking research was typical of his approach to the whole subject area, where he was continually seeking to expand its boundaries and, throughout his career, his novel ideas were the subject of many patents (Burkin and Barry, 1960, 1961; Burkin et al., 1962; Burkin and Sawyer, 1963, 1964; Burkin, 1964, 1970a,b, 1974a,b; Burkin and Grayson-Smith, 1969a,b, 1971; Dain et al., 1978, 1983; Burkin and Chouzadjian, 1979; Ozensoy and Burkin, 1980; Burkin and Monhemius, 1981). Alongside his process-orientated research, he carried out an on-going programme of fundamental research designed to probe the chemical and physical phenomena that underlie hydrometallurgical reactions. This work was wide-ranging, covering important topics such as the fundamentals of sulphide mineral dissolution (Burkin and Edwards, 1964; Burkin, 1964a, 1984a; King et al., 1975; Ugarte and Burkin, 1975; Ferreira and Burkin, 1975; Sheridan and Burkin, 1980), the kinetics of heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions (Burkin, 1973; Edwards and Burkin, 1975; Needes and Burkin, 1975a,b; Mason and Burkin, 1975) and the thermodynamics of solvent extraction reactions (Burkin, 1964b; Burkin et al., 1967, 1974; Monhemius and Burkin, 1969; Cassidy and Burkin, 1971; Burkin and Preston, 1975; Radino and Burkin, 1980; Burkin and Rice, 2005a,b). Although research was his primary passion, Richard Burkin was a dedicated teacher. Lecturing did not come easily to this essentially reserved and private man, yet he was a well-liked teacher, who was much respected and admired by his undergraduate students. His enduring commitment to teaching is illustrated by the series of didactic review papers and monographs that he published throughout his career (Burkin, 1980, 1987a,b, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1969c, 1969a, 1971, 1975, 1974c, 1976, 1980a,b, 1983, 1984b, 1987c, 1994; Burkin and Manning, 1976), culminating in his second textbook, published 13 years after his
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retirement from full-time academic work (Burkin, 2001). Another important facet of his teaching was supervision of research students, of whom he guided over 40 to their PhD degrees. Many of these former students now hold positions of importance and influence in academia and industry and all, without exception, will mourn the loss of their respected and loved mentor, who in his quiet and unassuming fashion, had such a beneficial influence on their early careers. Bibliography and References Books Burkin, A.R., 1966. The Chemistry of Hydrometallurgical Processes. E. & F.N. Spon Ltd, London. Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), 1975. Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London. Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), 1980. Topics in Non-ferrous Extractive Metallurgy. Critical Reports on Applied Chemistry, vol. 1. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. Burkin, A.R., 1987a. Extractive Metallurgy of Nickel. Critical Reports on Applied Chemistry, vol. 17. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester. Burkin, A.R., 1987b. Production of Aluminium and Alumina. Critical Reports on Applied Chemistry, vol. 20. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester. Burkin, A.R., 2001. Chemical Hydrometallurgy: Theory and Principles. Imperial College Press, London.
Papers Agatzini, S., Burkin, A.R., 1985. Statistical approach to the precipitation of iron as goethite. Trans. Instn. Min. Metall. C 94, C105–C114. Almond, J.K., Burkin, A.R., 1956. Pulp density measurements with ultrasonics. Trans. IMM 66 (11), 567–582. Baker, E.H., Burgess, J.E., Burkin, A.R., Monhemius, A.J., 1985. Leaching of Carnmenellis granite in brines at 300° and 350 °C. Proc. High heat production (HHP) granites, hydrothermal circulation and ore genesis. IMM, London, pp. 1–8. Sept. Burkin, A.R.,1947. Ultra-rapid processing of photographic materials. Photographic J. 87B (5), 108–111. Burkin, A.R., 1950. Complexes between metal salts and long-chain aliphatic amines, Part I. The complexes of cupric salts with long chain amines. J. Chem. Soc. 26, 122–127. Burkin, A.R., 1951. The stabilities of complex compounds. Q. Rev. Chem. Soc. 5 (1), 1–21. Burkin, A.R., 1954. Ionisation equilibria of metal co-ordination complexes in benzene solution. Part I. J. Chem. Soc. 71–81. Burkin, A.R., 1956a. Ionisation equilibria of metal coordination complexes in benzene solution. Part II The structures of some cuprous complexes. J. Chem. Soc. 538–541. Burkin, A.R., 1956b. Stabilities of complex compounds of metals in non-aqueous solutions. Rec. Trav. Chim. 75, 769–773. Burkin, A.R., 1959. Some facets of research in mineral dressing. RSM Journal (8), 32–37. Burkin, A.R., 1960. Pressure leaching of some silicate minerals in alkali solutions. Proc. 5th Int. Min. Proc. Cong. 1960. Inst. Min. Met., London, pp. 857–862. Burkin, A.R., 1963. Metals from water. New Scientist 356, 554–556 (12 Sept.). Burkin, A.R., 1964a. The effects and mechanisms of oxidation reactions at solid surfaces during leaching. Symp. on Unit Proc. in Hydromet., 1963. Gordon & Breach, New York, pp. 80–94. Group A. Burkin, A.R., 1964b. The influence of ion polymerization on solvent extraction: with special reference to the extraction of vanadium and niobium by trinonylamine. Symp. on Unit Proc. in Hydromet., 1963. Gordon & Breach, New York, pp. 529–544. Group B,. Burkin, A.R., 1965. Extraction and refining of metals, Part 2. Reports Prog. Applied Chem. 50, 613–619. Burkin, A.R., 1967. Production of metal powders and coatings by precipitation techniques. Metall. Rev. 12, 1–14. Burkin A.R. Review of some recent developments in hydrometallurgy. in Advances in Extractive Metallurgy, Inst. Mining Metall, London, 1968, p 821–830, 958–990. Burkin, A.R., 1969a. Solid state transformations during leaching. Miner. Sci. Eng. 1 (1), 4–14. Burkin, A.R., 1969b. Production of some metal powders by hydrometallurgical processes. Powder Metall. 12 (23), 243–250. Burkin, A.R., 1969c. Recent developments in hydrometallurgy. Chem Process Eng. 50 (2), 79–80. Burkin, A.R., 1971. Progress report on recent advances in extraction metallurgy— hydrometallurgy (Metallurgical Review No. 151) Metals and Materials 5, 47–50. Burkin, A.R., 1973. Physical chemistry of metal production by reduction of loaded organic solvents by hydrogen. In: Jeffes, J.H.E., Tait, R.J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Richardson Conference: qPhysical Chemistry of Process Metallurgyq. Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 43–47. Burkin, A.R., 1974. The winning of non-ferrous metals, 1974. Proc. Royal Society, London. A 338, 419–437. Burkin, A.R., 1975. Non-ferrous extractive metallurgy. Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. 1973 (58), 347–353. Burkin, A.R., 1976. Second progress report on recent advances in extraction metallurgy— hydrometallurgy. Int. Met. Rev. 21, 118–123. Burkin, A.R., 1980a. Extractive metallurgy of uranium. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Topics in Non-Ferrous Extractive Metallurgy. Blackwell Scientific for the Society of Chemical Industry, London, pp. 70–103.
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Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
Burkin, A.R., 1980b. The use of thermodynamics in the design of hydrometallurgical processes. Special Publ. Chem. Soc., vol. 34, pp. 180–196. Industrial Use of Thermochemical Data, Proc. Conf. 1979. Burkin, A.R., 1983. Hydrometallurgy 1952–1982: a quiet revolution. Chem. Ind. 18, 690–695 (19 Sept.). Burkin, A.R., 1984a. Composition and phase changes during oxidative acid leaching reactions. In: Bautista, R.G. (Ed.), Hydrometallurgical Process Fundamentals. Plenum Press, pp. 519–525. Burkin, A.R., 1984b. Use of statistical methods of experimental design in optimizing hydrometallurgical processes. In: Bautista, R.G. (Ed.), Hydrometallurgical Process Fundamentals. Plenum Press, pp. 529–538. Burkin, A.R., 1985. Composition and phase changes during oxidative acid leaching reactions. In: Haughton, L.F. (Ed.), MINTEK 50, proceedings of the International conference on mineral science and technology held in Sandton, SA, 26–30 March 1984, vol. 2. MINTEK, Randburg, SA, pp. 519–525. Burkin, A.R., 1987c. Hydrometallurgy of nickel sulphides. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Extractive Metallurgy of Nickel. Critical Reports on Applied Chemistry, vol. 17. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, p. 98. Burkin, A.R., 1994. Chemical hydrometallurgy, 1952–1994. Trans. Instn. Min. Metall. C 103, C169–C176. Burkin, A.R., Bramley, J.V., 1961. Flotation with insoluble reagents. I. Collision and spreading behaviour in the coal–oil–water system. J. Applied Chemistry, London: SCI 11, 300–309. Burkin, A.R., Bramley, J.V., 1963. Flotation with insoluble reagents. II. Effects of surfaceactive reagents on the spreading of oil at coal–water interfaces. J. Applied Chemistry, London:SCI 13, 417–422. Burkin, A.R., Burgess, J.E.A., 1971. Production of high purity metal powders by direct pressure reduction of loaded extractants. Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Canadian Hydrometallurgists, Mines Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, October 28–9, pp. 51–62. Burkin, A.R., Burgess, J.E.A., 1972a. Production of metal powders by reduction of loaded extractants with hydrogen. Proceedings International Symposium Solvent Extraction in Metallurgical Processes. Technologisch Instituut K.VIV, Antwerp, pp. 49–52. Burkin, A.R., Burgess, J.E.A., 1972b. Production of metal powders by reduction of loaded extractants with hydrogen. Het Ingenieursblad 41 (17), 459–462. Burkin, A.R., Chouzadjian, K.A., 1982. Precipitation of manganese dioxide from zinc electrolyte solution using peroxymonosulphuric acid. In: Osseo-Asare, K., Miller, J.D. (Eds.), Hydrometall. Res. Dev. Plant Pract., Proc. Int. Symp.,1983. Met. Soc. AIME, Warrendale, pp. 603–615. Burkin, A.R., Edwards, A.M., 1964. Formation of iron oxide coatings during alkaline pressure leaching of pyrite. 6me Congres Int. de la Preparation des Minerals, 1963. Compte Rendue Scientifique, Societe de l'Industrie Minerale, Saint-Etienne, pp. 199–209. Burkin, A.R., Halsey, G.,1961. Chemisorption at solid–liquid interfaces. Nature 191, 348–349. Burkin, A.R., Halsey, G., 1963. Adsorption of n-dodecylamine at the interfaces between water and cupric, nickel and zinc oxides. J. Chem. Soc. 1014–1023. Burkin, A.R., Manning, G.D., 1976. Non-ferrous extractive metallurgy. Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. 1975 (60), 270–279. Burkin, A.R., Monhemius, A.J., 1978. Acid leaching of uranium ores using hydrogen peroxide and Caro's acid (H2SO5). Paper No 31, CIM Annual Conference of Metallurgists Joint 8th Hydrometallurgical meeting. Montreal, Aug. Burkin, A.R., Preston, J.S., 1975. Alpha-substituted oxime extractants-II Extraction of Cu (II), Ni(II), Co(II) and Fe(II) by aliphatic alpha-hydroxyiminoketones and alphadioximes. J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem. 37, 2187–2195. Burkin A.R., Rice N.M. “The effect of aqueous phase composition on the extraction of hafnium from acidic chloride-sulphate media with tri-n-octylamine in benzene.” Proc. International Solvent Extraction Conf. 2005, Beijing, P.R.China, (Guangsheng Luo, Yundong Wang and Tun Zhu, Eds.), China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, Beijing, 2005a, CD-ROM, Paper B108, p 446-453. Burkin A.R., Rice N.M. “The effect of aqueous phase composition on the exchange extraction of bisulphate from acidic chloride-sulphate media with tri-n-octylamine in benzene.” Proc. International Solvent Extraction Conf. 2005, Beijing, P.R.China, (Guangsheng Luo, Yundong Wang and Tun Zhu, Eds.), China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, Beijing 2005b CD-ROM, Paper B137, p 637-642. Burkin, A.R., Richardson, F.D., 1967. The production of metal powders from aqueous solutions. Powder Metall. 10 (19), 33–57. Burkin, A.R., Soane, B., 1960. Flotation using insoluble liquids, adsorption and spreading processes. Proc. Third Intern. Cong. Surface Activity, Cologne, vol. 4, pp. 430–434. Burkin, A.R., Manning, G.D., Monhemius, A.J., 1981. Application of hydrogen peroxide and peroxysulphuric acids in hydrometallurgy. Proc. Symp. Hydrometallurgy '81, Paper B5, UMIST, Manchester, June/July. Burkin, A.R., Rice, N.M., Rogers, M.J., 1967. Extraction of Ferric Thiocyanate Complexes by Trinonylamine. In: Dyrssen, D., Liljenzin, J.O., Rydberg, J. (Eds.), Proc. International Solvent Extraction Conf., 1966, Gothenburg. North-Holland Publ, Co., Amsterdam, pp. 439–446. Burkin, A.R., Rice, N.M., Rogers, M.J., 1974. Liquid–liquid extraction of thiocyanate and thiocyanatoferrate(III) complexes with tris(3,5,5-trimethylhexyl)amine. J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. 213–219. Burkin, A.R., Rogers, M.J., Hazel, G.J.E. “Adsorption and reaction of xanthates at galena liquid interfaces.” Proc. Seventh Int. Min. Proc. Cong. N. Arbiter (Ed.), Vol 1, 1964. Gordon & Breach, New York, 1964. p 337–345. Burkin, A.R., Saricimen, H., Steele, B.H., 1980. Preparation of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) powders by High Temperature Hydrolysis (HTH). Trans. and J. Brit. Ceram. Soc. 79, 105–108. Cassidy, P.W., Burkin, A.R., 1971. Extraction of europium from sulphate-perchlorate solutions by di-2-ethylhexylphosphoric acid. Proc. International Solvent Extraction Conference, vol. I and II. Society of Chemical Industry, London, pp. 476–482.
Edwards, M.R., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Kinetics of the reduction of nickel salts by hydrazine. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 84–90. Farrow, C.J., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Alkaline pressure leaching of chromium (III) oxide and of chromite mineral. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 20–27. Ferreira, R.C.H., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Acid leaching of chalcopyrite. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 54–66. Halsey, G., Burkin, A.R., 1962. Adsorption of long-chain aliphatic amines on glass vessels. Nature 193, 1177–1178. King, J.A., Burkin, A.R., Ferreira, R.C.H., 1975. Leaching of chalcocite by acidic ferric chloride solutions. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 36–45. Mason, T.F., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Kinetics of reduction of aqueous cupric acetate by hydrogen — a spectrophotometric study. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 102–109. Meddings, B., Burkin, A.R., 1956. Stabilities of complex compounds of metals. The system di(tri-n-butyl phosphine)dichloropalladium(II)-n-octylamine. J. Chem. Soc. 1115–1123. Monhemius, A.J., Burkin, A.R., 1969. Extraction of cobalt by tri-n-octylamine from chloride solutions containing other anions. 98th AIME Annual Meeting, Washington. Feb., TMS Paper Selection No. A69-13. Needes, C.R.S., Burkin, A.R., 1975a. Kinetics of reduction of nickel in aqueous ammoniacal ammonium sulphate solutions by hydrogen. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 91–96. Needes, C.R.S., Burkin, A.R., 1975b. Kinetics of reduction of cobalt in aqueous ammoniacal ammonium sulphate solutions by hydrogen. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 97–101. Radino, P., Burkin, A.R., 1980. Extraction of copper and nickel from ammoniacal solutions (by carboxylic acids). Proceedings of the 12th International Mineral Processing Congress, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 28 August–3 September 1977. Departmento Nacional de Producão Mineral, Brasilia, pp. 131–146. Sheridan, M.J., Burkin, A.R., 1980. Leaching silver-containing bornite with acidic ferric sulphate solutions. Proceedings of the 12th International Mineral Processing Congress, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 28 August–3 September 1977. Departmento Nacional de Producao Mineral, Brasilia, pp. 3–18. Ugarte, F.J., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Mechanism of formation of idaite from bornite by leaching with ferric sulphate solution. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 46–53. Wilkins, R.G., Burkin, A.R., 1950a. Complexes between metal salts and long-chain aliphatic amines, Part II. The complexes of cuprous halides with long chain aliphatic amines. J. Chem. Soc. 27, 127–132. Wilkins, R.G., Burkin, A.R., 1950b. Complexes between metal salts and long-chain aliphatic amines. Part III. The oxidation of copper(I) complexes to copper(II) complexes. J. Chem. Soc. 28, 132–136.
Patents Burkin A.R. “Treatment of pyrochlore.” United States Patent 3141766. July 21, 1964. Burkin A.R. “Deposition of metal values.” British Patent 1215574. Jan. 1, 1970a. 500. Burkin A.R. “Production of metal powders and coatings.” United States Patent 3532490. 501 Oct. 6, 1970b. Burkin A.R. “Deposition of copper values.” Canadian Patent 949332. June 18, 1974a. Burkin A.R. “Deposition of copper.” United States Patent 3844763. Oct 29, 1974b. Burkin A.R. and Barry B.T.K. “Treatment of zircon.” British Patent 853301, Nov. 2, 1960. Burkin A.R. and Barry B.T.K. “Process for reducing the silica content of zircon.” United States Patent 2981594, Apr. 25, 1961. Burkin A.R. and Chouzadjian K.A. “Process for the recovery of manganese from aqueous acidic solutions.” European Patent 0001680, May 2, 1979. Burkin A.R. and Grayson-Smith I.J. “Coating silicon nitride fibres with chromium by thermal decomposition of bis(arene)chromium 0 and arene–chromium carbonyl complexes in inert organic solvents.” French Patent, 1,586,667. 1969a. Burkin A.R. and Grayson-Smith I.J. “Improvements in or relating to metal coatings.” British Patent, 1,249,624. Oct. 13, 1971 Burkin A.R. and Monhemius A.J. “Extraction of pre-reduced lateritic ores with aqueous sulphuric acid in the presence of peroxidant.” British Patent 1,600,411, Oct. 14, 1981. Burkin A.R. and Sawyer H.D. “Recovery of niobium and tantalum from pyrochlore by roasting with alkalis.” British Patent 960433. 1964. Burkin A.R. and Sawyer H.D. “Treatment of pyrochlore.” Canadian Patent 667821. July 30, 1963. Burkin A.R., Meddings B. and Sawyer H.D. “Treatment of columbite and related minerals.” United States Patent 3061407, Oct. 30, 1962. Dain R.J., Manning G.D. and Burkin A.R. “Extractants (Cyclophosphazenes and siloxanes).” PCT Intl. Appln. 8000796, Oct 1978 Dain R.J., Manning G.D. and Burkin A.R. “Improvements relating to extractants.” European Patent EP0020483, April 13, 1983. Ozensoy E. and Burkin A.R. “Separation of tungsten and molybdenum by solvent extraction.” United States Patent 4275039, Feb. 11, 1980.
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Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
Professor A. Richard Burkin MSc, PhD, CEng, CChem, FRCS, FIMM (1923–2008)
Richard Burkin was born on 23rd September, 1923 in Stratford, East London. He attended Ilford Grammar School, where he excelled in the sciences. In 1943, he obtained a BSc degree in chemistry at the age of 19 and then joined the photographic company, Ilford Ltd., where he worked as a research chemist on war-time military projects. While working at Ilford Ltd, he met his future wife, Ruth, whom he married in 1949. After the war was over, he moved from industry into academia when, aged 22, he was appointed as a lecturer in inorganic chemistry at University College, Southampton, which was then an external college of the University of London. While lecturing in Southampton, Burkin continued studying part-time, obtaining MSc and PhD degrees awarded by the University of London, in 1946 and 1948, respectively. In 1952, he left Southampton to move to London, where he joined the staff of the Royal School of Mines in the Imperial College of Science and Technology in South Kensington, the famous institution where he spent the rest of his distinguished career. At that time, a new undergraduate degree course in Mineral Technology was being set up in the Mining department and Dr Burkin was responsible for teaching chemical aspects of the subject, mainly surface and coordination chemistry. He started a research programme on flotation chemistry with particular emphasis on insoluble reagents, such as oils, which resulted in a series of research papers (Burkin and Soane, 1960; Burkin and Halsey, 1961, 1963; Burkin and Bramley, 1961, 1963; Halsey and Burkin, 1962), two of which were published in Nature (Burkin and
doi:10.1016/j.hydromet.2008.06.010
Halsey, 1961; Halsey and Burkin, 1962). However, the mineral technology course at the RSM was focused on industry and, possibly as a result of this emphasis, Burkin became particularly interested in the use of aqueous chemistry for the processing of metal ores and concentrates and he began research into the effects of high temperature aqueous solutions on minerals using pressurized stirred autoclave reactors (Burkin, 1960; Farrow and Burkin, 1975). In 1960, Professor Denys Richardson, who was the leader of the renowned Nuffield Research Group in Extraction Metallurgy within the Metallurgy department in the RSM, invited Burkin to change departments and to set up a course in hydrometallurgy for the extraction metallurgy option of the undergraduate metallurgy course and to develop a hydrometallurgy research group in the Metallurgy department. At that time, the RSM was undergoing a major expansion and refurbishment and Burkin was fortunate to be able to move into brand new, state-of-the-art, laboratories and offices in the newly opened Bessemer extension of the RSM. He took full advantage of this unique opportunity and quickly built up a significant research group by attracting students and research funding from various sources. In particular he was supported by the National Research and Development Corporation (NRDC), a funding quango set up by Harold Wilson's Labour government in its “white heat of technology” phase. In the early 1960s, Burkin used his brand new autoclave facilities to study the leaching of refractory oxide and silicate ores, such as zircon, columbite and pyrochlore, and he was granted several patents as a result of this work (Burkin and Barry, 1960, 1961; Burkin et al., 1962; Burkin and Sawyer, 1963; 1964; Burkin, 1964). In 1966, Richard Burkin's seminal textbook “The Chemistry of Hydrometallurgical Processes” (Burkin, 1966) was published. In this slim volume, which was the first textbook on modern hydrometallurgy, he concentrated primarily on the thermodynamic and kinetic fundamentals of hydrometallurgical processes. Within a short period, this book greatly enhanced Burkin's growing international reputation as an academic leader in the subject. Also in 1966, John Monhemius, who had studied hydrometallurgy in Canada, returned to England to join the staff of the Metallurgy department as an assistant lecturer to aid Burkin with teaching the undergraduate hydrometallurgy course, which was subsequently expanded in size and scope. This was the start of a professional partnership that lasted until Burkin's retirement in 1988. The publication of his textbook led in due course to several significant industrial consultancy appointments for Burkin. In the UK, the Power Gas Corporation in Stockton-on-Tees (later to become Davy McKee), which was developing a commercial interest in the new industrial technique of solvent extraction, became aware of Burkin's innovative research work on the direct reduction of metal powders from organic solvents by reduction with hydrogen gas under pressure and hired him as a consultant. Under Burkin's guidance, Power Gas tried to develop this process to industrial fruition. Unfortunately, these efforts were unsuccessful and direct metal reduction from organic
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Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
solutions was never commercialized. Nevertheless, the experience and confidence that Power Gas gained in the techniques of solvent extraction while undertaking this development work, led to the company entering the business of the design and construction of solvent extraction plants. The company subsequently built many plants around the world for the production of copper by solvent extraction and electrowinning, including the Nchanga Tailings Leach Plant at Chingola, Zambia, which when it opened in 1974 was the world's largest SX plant, producing 90,000 tons of cathode copper per year. In the words of Barrie Scuffham, who led the solvent extraction design team in Davy McKee: “Richard Burkin, directly or indirectly, helped Davy in the early years of solvent extraction and Davy went on to be a world leader in this technology.” Burkin's hydrometallurgical expertise was also sought by companies outside the UK. In the USA, he was contracted by the huge du Pont de Nemours chemical company, which was considering whether to enter the metal production business, to guide its R&D programme in this area. This contract, which lasted for 2 years, involved Burkin in regular trans-Atlantic commuting to the company headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. Established metallurgical companies also sought his advice, including Kennecott Copper in the USA and Metallurgie Hoboken Overpelt in Belgium. Another important consultancy was with the Anglo-Belgian company, Interox Chemicals Ltd. This began in 1976 and lasted until 1988, when Burkin retired. Interox, which was a joint venture between Laporte Chemicals in the UK and Solvay Chemicals in Belgium, was one of the world's three largest manufacturers of hydrogen peroxide and peroxy chemicals. Interox's commercial department had noticed that increasingly large orders for hydrogen peroxide were being received from the mining industry, particularly from gold mines. This was an industry about which Interox knew nothing and so they turned to Richard Burkin for advice and help in developing further opportunities in this large and potentially lucrative new market for peroxides in hydrometallurgical processes. Burkin took up this new challenge with enthusiasm and, with the active support of the Interox board, he developed a large research programme at the RSM on the application of peroxides in hydrometallurgy, fully funded by the company. In due course, Interox decided that, in addition to the academic research being carried out in the RSM, an industrial R&D group in hydrometallurgy should be established within the company. This group was set up in the research laboratories of Laporte Chemicals in Widnes, Cheshire, where, by pure coincidence, the research manager was Dr John Bramley, who had been one of Richard's first PhD students when he had joined the RSM a quarter of a century earlier (Burkin and Bramley, 1961, 1963). In the 1980s, there was a great deal of activity in the gold mining sector, with new mines being developed, old mines being reworked, and new extraction processes making possible the recovery of gold from ore deposits that previously were considered to be untreatable. There was plenty of consultancy and process design work available and Richard Burkin realised that there was an opportunity to commercialize the extensive and often under-utilised experimental and analytical facilities in the Royal School of Mines. In 1986, Burkin, together with his colleague, John Monhemius, and two businessmen, set up Consort Research Ltd. This company was based in the Royal School of Mines and its business model was that it contracted consultancy work with mining or other companies and then it hired the necessary laboratory space, equipment and technical staff in the Royal School of Mines, paying the department at pre-agreed rates for the use of the facilities and staff. This arrangement required a considerable amount of negotiating skill by Burkin to persuade the Imperial College authorities that it could be managed to the benefit of all parties. Consort Research Ltd was in essence the first “spin-out” company from Imperial College and it was set up many years before such entrepreneurial arrangements, which today are commonplace, became politically fashionable and readily sanctioned in research
universities. The Consort business model worked successfully for about 5 years, but then the consultancy market was hit by the recession of the early 90s and Consort Research never fully recovered thereafter and it was eventually wound up. Another innovatory organization that grew out of Consort Research during its active period was an international network of metallurgical consultants that operated under the name METNET. This was a mutual support network that enabled individual consultants to offer their own clients a full spectrum of services by drawing on the specialist know-how of others in the network. Apart from Burkin, Monhemius and their colleague, Rod Gochin, who were based in the RSM in London, the METNET experts, who were mainly all RSM alumni, were working in Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA. Today, similar international arrangements amongst consultants are fairly common and are greatly facilitated by the virtually instant global communications available through the internet, but in the preinternet days of the late 1980s, METNET was a ground-breaking innovation that was unique in the mining world. In the 1980s, the Hydrometallurgy Research Group in the RSM was at its peak in terms of numbers, with more than two dozen research students, post-doctoral research assistants and technicians working in a suite of dedicated laboratories, with supervision of the group shared between Richard Burkin and John Monhemius. By then, the research group had become world famous, with post-graduate students coming from all parts of the globe to carry out research in hydrometallurgy, and Richard Burkin himself had been promoted to a personal chair in Hydrometallurgy. Following the success of his 1966 hydrometallurgy textbook, he continued periodically to publish books, mainly as the editor of compilations of didactic papers on aspects of extractive metallurgy, of which he published four between 1975 and 1987 (Burkin, 1975, 1980, 1987a,b). One of these books, called Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy and published by the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (Burkin, 1975), was a compilation composed largely of papers on his own research, written by him with his research students. In 1985, staff retirements and other changes within the RSM resulted in Professor Burkin being asked by the Rector of Imperial College to take over the headship of the Mineral Technology section in the Department of Mineral Resources Engineering, (MRE) which had grown from the original Mining department. The whole of the staff, students and equipment of the Hydrometallurgy section, together with responsibility for its main laboratories, were transferred to the MRE department. Thus Burkin returned to his first home in the RSM, but one of his main tasks now was to close down the Mineral Technology undergraduate course, which he had originally been hired to help start up in the 1950s. This course, which had run successfully for over 30 years, was by now suffering from a lack of students and it had become uneconomic to continue to keep it going. This task was successfully accomplished, but the result was that hydrometallurgy at undergraduate level was then being taught at Imperial College only to the diminishing number of students in metallurgy and chemical engineering that opted to take the subject as part of their main degree studies. Meanwhile, the hydrometallurgy research group continued to flourish until 1988 when, at the age of 65, Richard Burkin retired from full-time academic life. In recognition of his distinguished academic career and long service in the RSM, he was granted the title of Emeritus Professor by the University of London. On retirement, Richard was able to devote more time to tending the large garden at his home in Essex that he and Ruth had developed over many years into a classic English garden. They also spent much time searching for a smaller retirement property on the coast of East Anglia, where they could indulge in their other lifetime passion of bird watching. For a number of years after his retirement, Richard continued to travel once or twice a week to Imperial College, mainly to use the library to do research for his final project—an updated and greatly expanded new textbook on hydrometallurgy. This book, Chemical Hydrometallurgy: Theory and Principles (Burkin, 2001), took him
Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
over a decade to write and it incorporated all the advances that had occurred in the science and practice of hydrometallurgy over the 30 or more years since the publication of his first ground-breaking book on the subject. In spite of their endeavours, Ruth and Richard did not find a smaller house near the coast that suited them and so they continued to live in their fine Edwardian house in Shenfield until, in February of this year, Richard died at the age of 84, a few weeks after an operation following a fall. His funeral was held in the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Shenfield, where he and Ruth had been married 59 years earlier. Richard Burkin's academic career corresponded with the period during which hydrometallurgy grew from a specialist process technology that was largely confined to the nuclear industry, where it had developed rapidly during and immediately after the Second World War, to its position today, where hydrometallurgical processes rank alongside traditional pyrometallurgical processes for the extraction of many of the non-ferrous metals. While much of the growth and innovation in hydrometallurgical processes stemmed from the USA and Canada, Richard Burkin led the academic development of the discipline in the UK and Europe. His brilliant scientific mind and his academic background in classical inorganic and physical chemistry enabled him to bring scientific rigour to the subject and to analyse the thermodynamic and kinetic principles underlying industrial hydrometallurgical processes, which often were developed using mainly empirical methods. His first textbook (Burkin, 1966), published in 1966, was for many years the only textbook in hydrometallurgy and it was very influential, being used by universities around the world. In his research, Burkin was innovative and forward-thinking. In the early 1960s, he realized that the recently-developed industrial process for the production of metal powders by the reduction of aqueous solutions of metal salts with hydrogen at high temperatures and pressures could in principle be combined with solvent extraction processes, which then were in their infancy. This realization led him to begin an extensive research programme into the direct reduction of metal powders from metal-loaded organic solutions produced by solvent extraction (Burkin, 1967, 1969b, 1973; Burkin and Richardson, 1967; Burkin and Burgess, 1971, 1972a,b). This ground-breaking research was typical of his approach to the whole subject area, where he was continually seeking to expand its boundaries and, throughout his career, his novel ideas were the subject of many patents (Burkin and Barry, 1960, 1961; Burkin et al., 1962; Burkin and Sawyer, 1963, 1964; Burkin, 1964, 1970a,b, 1974a,b; Burkin and Grayson-Smith, 1969a,b, 1971; Dain et al., 1978, 1983; Burkin and Chouzadjian, 1979; Ozensoy and Burkin, 1980; Burkin and Monhemius, 1981). Alongside his process-orientated research, he carried out an on-going programme of fundamental research designed to probe the chemical and physical phenomena that underlie hydrometallurgical reactions. This work was wide-ranging, covering important topics such as the fundamentals of sulphide mineral dissolution (Burkin and Edwards, 1964; Burkin, 1964a, 1984a; King et al., 1975; Ugarte and Burkin, 1975; Ferreira and Burkin, 1975; Sheridan and Burkin, 1980), the kinetics of heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions (Burkin, 1973; Edwards and Burkin, 1975; Needes and Burkin, 1975a,b; Mason and Burkin, 1975) and the thermodynamics of solvent extraction reactions (Burkin, 1964b; Burkin et al., 1967, 1974; Monhemius and Burkin, 1969; Cassidy and Burkin, 1971; Burkin and Preston, 1975; Radino and Burkin, 1980; Burkin and Rice, 2005a,b). Although research was his primary passion, Richard Burkin was a dedicated teacher. Lecturing did not come easily to this essentially reserved and private man, yet he was a well-liked teacher, who was much respected and admired by his undergraduate students. His enduring commitment to teaching is illustrated by the series of didactic review papers and monographs that he published throughout his career (Burkin, 1980, 1987a,b, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1969c, 1969a, 1971, 1975, 1974c, 1976, 1980a,b, 1983, 1984b, 1987c, 1994; Burkin and Manning, 1976), culminating in his second textbook, published 13 years after his
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retirement from full-time academic work (Burkin, 2001). Another important facet of his teaching was supervision of research students, of whom he guided over 40 to their PhD degrees. Many of these former students now hold positions of importance and influence in academia and industry and all, without exception, will mourn the loss of their respected and loved mentor, who in his quiet and unassuming fashion, had such a beneficial influence on their early careers. Bibliography and References Books Burkin, A.R., 1966. The Chemistry of Hydrometallurgical Processes. E. & F.N. Spon Ltd, London. Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), 1975. Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London. Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), 1980. Topics in Non-ferrous Extractive Metallurgy. Critical Reports on Applied Chemistry, vol. 1. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. Burkin, A.R., 1987a. Extractive Metallurgy of Nickel. Critical Reports on Applied Chemistry, vol. 17. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester. Burkin, A.R., 1987b. Production of Aluminium and Alumina. Critical Reports on Applied Chemistry, vol. 20. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester. Burkin, A.R., 2001. Chemical Hydrometallurgy: Theory and Principles. Imperial College Press, London.
Papers Agatzini, S., Burkin, A.R., 1985. Statistical approach to the precipitation of iron as goethite. Trans. Instn. Min. Metall. C 94, C105–C114. Almond, J.K., Burkin, A.R., 1956. Pulp density measurements with ultrasonics. Trans. IMM 66 (11), 567–582. Baker, E.H., Burgess, J.E., Burkin, A.R., Monhemius, A.J., 1985. Leaching of Carnmenellis granite in brines at 300° and 350 °C. Proc. High heat production (HHP) granites, hydrothermal circulation and ore genesis. IMM, London, pp. 1–8. Sept. Burkin, A.R.,1947. Ultra-rapid processing of photographic materials. Photographic J. 87B (5), 108–111. Burkin, A.R., 1950. Complexes between metal salts and long-chain aliphatic amines, Part I. The complexes of cupric salts with long chain amines. J. Chem. Soc. 26, 122–127. Burkin, A.R., 1951. The stabilities of complex compounds. Q. Rev. Chem. Soc. 5 (1), 1–21. Burkin, A.R., 1954. Ionisation equilibria of metal co-ordination complexes in benzene solution. Part I. J. Chem. Soc. 71–81. Burkin, A.R., 1956a. Ionisation equilibria of metal coordination complexes in benzene solution. Part II The structures of some cuprous complexes. J. Chem. Soc. 538–541. Burkin, A.R., 1956b. Stabilities of complex compounds of metals in non-aqueous solutions. Rec. Trav. Chim. 75, 769–773. Burkin, A.R., 1959. Some facets of research in mineral dressing. RSM Journal (8), 32–37. Burkin, A.R., 1960. Pressure leaching of some silicate minerals in alkali solutions. Proc. 5th Int. Min. Proc. Cong. 1960. Inst. Min. Met., London, pp. 857–862. Burkin, A.R., 1963. Metals from water. New Scientist 356, 554–556 (12 Sept.). Burkin, A.R., 1964a. The effects and mechanisms of oxidation reactions at solid surfaces during leaching. Symp. on Unit Proc. in Hydromet., 1963. Gordon & Breach, New York, pp. 80–94. Group A. Burkin, A.R., 1964b. The influence of ion polymerization on solvent extraction: with special reference to the extraction of vanadium and niobium by trinonylamine. Symp. on Unit Proc. in Hydromet., 1963. Gordon & Breach, New York, pp. 529–544. Group B,. Burkin, A.R., 1965. Extraction and refining of metals, Part 2. Reports Prog. Applied Chem. 50, 613–619. Burkin, A.R., 1967. Production of metal powders and coatings by precipitation techniques. Metall. Rev. 12, 1–14. Burkin A.R. Review of some recent developments in hydrometallurgy. in Advances in Extractive Metallurgy, Inst. Mining Metall, London, 1968, p 821–830, 958–990. Burkin, A.R., 1969a. Solid state transformations during leaching. Miner. Sci. Eng. 1 (1), 4–14. Burkin, A.R., 1969b. Production of some metal powders by hydrometallurgical processes. Powder Metall. 12 (23), 243–250. Burkin, A.R., 1969c. Recent developments in hydrometallurgy. Chem Process Eng. 50 (2), 79–80. Burkin, A.R., 1971. Progress report on recent advances in extraction metallurgy— hydrometallurgy (Metallurgical Review No. 151) Metals and Materials 5, 47–50. Burkin, A.R., 1973. Physical chemistry of metal production by reduction of loaded organic solvents by hydrogen. In: Jeffes, J.H.E., Tait, R.J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Richardson Conference: qPhysical Chemistry of Process Metallurgyq. Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 43–47. Burkin, A.R., 1974. The winning of non-ferrous metals, 1974. Proc. Royal Society, London. A 338, 419–437. Burkin, A.R., 1975. Non-ferrous extractive metallurgy. Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. 1973 (58), 347–353. Burkin, A.R., 1976. Second progress report on recent advances in extraction metallurgy— hydrometallurgy. Int. Met. Rev. 21, 118–123. Burkin, A.R., 1980a. Extractive metallurgy of uranium. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Topics in Non-Ferrous Extractive Metallurgy. Blackwell Scientific for the Society of Chemical Industry, London, pp. 70–103.
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Obituary for Professor A.R. Burkin
Burkin, A.R., 1980b. The use of thermodynamics in the design of hydrometallurgical processes. Special Publ. Chem. Soc., vol. 34, pp. 180–196. Industrial Use of Thermochemical Data, Proc. Conf. 1979. Burkin, A.R., 1983. Hydrometallurgy 1952–1982: a quiet revolution. Chem. Ind. 18, 690–695 (19 Sept.). Burkin, A.R., 1984a. Composition and phase changes during oxidative acid leaching reactions. In: Bautista, R.G. (Ed.), Hydrometallurgical Process Fundamentals. Plenum Press, pp. 519–525. Burkin, A.R., 1984b. Use of statistical methods of experimental design in optimizing hydrometallurgical processes. In: Bautista, R.G. (Ed.), Hydrometallurgical Process Fundamentals. Plenum Press, pp. 529–538. Burkin, A.R., 1985. Composition and phase changes during oxidative acid leaching reactions. In: Haughton, L.F. (Ed.), MINTEK 50, proceedings of the International conference on mineral science and technology held in Sandton, SA, 26–30 March 1984, vol. 2. MINTEK, Randburg, SA, pp. 519–525. Burkin, A.R., 1987c. Hydrometallurgy of nickel sulphides. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Extractive Metallurgy of Nickel. Critical Reports on Applied Chemistry, vol. 17. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, p. 98. Burkin, A.R., 1994. Chemical hydrometallurgy, 1952–1994. Trans. Instn. Min. Metall. C 103, C169–C176. Burkin, A.R., Bramley, J.V., 1961. Flotation with insoluble reagents. I. Collision and spreading behaviour in the coal–oil–water system. J. Applied Chemistry, London: SCI 11, 300–309. Burkin, A.R., Bramley, J.V., 1963. Flotation with insoluble reagents. II. Effects of surfaceactive reagents on the spreading of oil at coal–water interfaces. J. Applied Chemistry, London:SCI 13, 417–422. Burkin, A.R., Burgess, J.E.A., 1971. Production of high purity metal powders by direct pressure reduction of loaded extractants. Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Canadian Hydrometallurgists, Mines Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, October 28–9, pp. 51–62. Burkin, A.R., Burgess, J.E.A., 1972a. Production of metal powders by reduction of loaded extractants with hydrogen. Proceedings International Symposium Solvent Extraction in Metallurgical Processes. Technologisch Instituut K.VIV, Antwerp, pp. 49–52. Burkin, A.R., Burgess, J.E.A., 1972b. Production of metal powders by reduction of loaded extractants with hydrogen. Het Ingenieursblad 41 (17), 459–462. Burkin, A.R., Chouzadjian, K.A., 1982. Precipitation of manganese dioxide from zinc electrolyte solution using peroxymonosulphuric acid. In: Osseo-Asare, K., Miller, J.D. (Eds.), Hydrometall. Res. Dev. Plant Pract., Proc. Int. Symp.,1983. Met. Soc. AIME, Warrendale, pp. 603–615. Burkin, A.R., Edwards, A.M., 1964. Formation of iron oxide coatings during alkaline pressure leaching of pyrite. 6me Congres Int. de la Preparation des Minerals, 1963. Compte Rendue Scientifique, Societe de l'Industrie Minerale, Saint-Etienne, pp. 199–209. Burkin, A.R., Halsey, G.,1961. Chemisorption at solid–liquid interfaces. Nature 191, 348–349. Burkin, A.R., Halsey, G., 1963. Adsorption of n-dodecylamine at the interfaces between water and cupric, nickel and zinc oxides. J. Chem. Soc. 1014–1023. Burkin, A.R., Manning, G.D., 1976. Non-ferrous extractive metallurgy. Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. 1975 (60), 270–279. Burkin, A.R., Monhemius, A.J., 1978. Acid leaching of uranium ores using hydrogen peroxide and Caro's acid (H2SO5). Paper No 31, CIM Annual Conference of Metallurgists Joint 8th Hydrometallurgical meeting. Montreal, Aug. Burkin, A.R., Preston, J.S., 1975. Alpha-substituted oxime extractants-II Extraction of Cu (II), Ni(II), Co(II) and Fe(II) by aliphatic alpha-hydroxyiminoketones and alphadioximes. J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem. 37, 2187–2195. Burkin A.R., Rice N.M. “The effect of aqueous phase composition on the extraction of hafnium from acidic chloride-sulphate media with tri-n-octylamine in benzene.” Proc. International Solvent Extraction Conf. 2005, Beijing, P.R.China, (Guangsheng Luo, Yundong Wang and Tun Zhu, Eds.), China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, Beijing, 2005a, CD-ROM, Paper B108, p 446-453. Burkin A.R., Rice N.M. “The effect of aqueous phase composition on the exchange extraction of bisulphate from acidic chloride-sulphate media with tri-n-octylamine in benzene.” Proc. International Solvent Extraction Conf. 2005, Beijing, P.R.China, (Guangsheng Luo, Yundong Wang and Tun Zhu, Eds.), China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, Beijing 2005b CD-ROM, Paper B137, p 637-642. Burkin, A.R., Richardson, F.D., 1967. The production of metal powders from aqueous solutions. Powder Metall. 10 (19), 33–57. Burkin, A.R., Soane, B., 1960. Flotation using insoluble liquids, adsorption and spreading processes. Proc. Third Intern. Cong. Surface Activity, Cologne, vol. 4, pp. 430–434. Burkin, A.R., Manning, G.D., Monhemius, A.J., 1981. Application of hydrogen peroxide and peroxysulphuric acids in hydrometallurgy. Proc. Symp. Hydrometallurgy '81, Paper B5, UMIST, Manchester, June/July. Burkin, A.R., Rice, N.M., Rogers, M.J., 1967. Extraction of Ferric Thiocyanate Complexes by Trinonylamine. In: Dyrssen, D., Liljenzin, J.O., Rydberg, J. (Eds.), Proc. International Solvent Extraction Conf., 1966, Gothenburg. North-Holland Publ, Co., Amsterdam, pp. 439–446. Burkin, A.R., Rice, N.M., Rogers, M.J., 1974. Liquid–liquid extraction of thiocyanate and thiocyanatoferrate(III) complexes with tris(3,5,5-trimethylhexyl)amine. J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. 213–219. Burkin, A.R., Rogers, M.J., Hazel, G.J.E. “Adsorption and reaction of xanthates at galena liquid interfaces.” Proc. Seventh Int. Min. Proc. Cong. N. Arbiter (Ed.), Vol 1, 1964. Gordon & Breach, New York, 1964. p 337–345. Burkin, A.R., Saricimen, H., Steele, B.H., 1980. Preparation of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) powders by High Temperature Hydrolysis (HTH). Trans. and J. Brit. Ceram. Soc. 79, 105–108. Cassidy, P.W., Burkin, A.R., 1971. Extraction of europium from sulphate-perchlorate solutions by di-2-ethylhexylphosphoric acid. Proc. International Solvent Extraction Conference, vol. I and II. Society of Chemical Industry, London, pp. 476–482.
Edwards, M.R., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Kinetics of the reduction of nickel salts by hydrazine. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 84–90. Farrow, C.J., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Alkaline pressure leaching of chromium (III) oxide and of chromite mineral. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 20–27. Ferreira, R.C.H., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Acid leaching of chalcopyrite. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 54–66. Halsey, G., Burkin, A.R., 1962. Adsorption of long-chain aliphatic amines on glass vessels. Nature 193, 1177–1178. King, J.A., Burkin, A.R., Ferreira, R.C.H., 1975. Leaching of chalcocite by acidic ferric chloride solutions. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 36–45. Mason, T.F., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Kinetics of reduction of aqueous cupric acetate by hydrogen — a spectrophotometric study. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 102–109. Meddings, B., Burkin, A.R., 1956. Stabilities of complex compounds of metals. The system di(tri-n-butyl phosphine)dichloropalladium(II)-n-octylamine. J. Chem. Soc. 1115–1123. Monhemius, A.J., Burkin, A.R., 1969. Extraction of cobalt by tri-n-octylamine from chloride solutions containing other anions. 98th AIME Annual Meeting, Washington. Feb., TMS Paper Selection No. A69-13. Needes, C.R.S., Burkin, A.R., 1975a. Kinetics of reduction of nickel in aqueous ammoniacal ammonium sulphate solutions by hydrogen. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 91–96. Needes, C.R.S., Burkin, A.R., 1975b. Kinetics of reduction of cobalt in aqueous ammoniacal ammonium sulphate solutions by hydrogen. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 97–101. Radino, P., Burkin, A.R., 1980. Extraction of copper and nickel from ammoniacal solutions (by carboxylic acids). Proceedings of the 12th International Mineral Processing Congress, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 28 August–3 September 1977. Departmento Nacional de Producão Mineral, Brasilia, pp. 131–146. Sheridan, M.J., Burkin, A.R., 1980. Leaching silver-containing bornite with acidic ferric sulphate solutions. Proceedings of the 12th International Mineral Processing Congress, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 28 August–3 September 1977. Departmento Nacional de Producao Mineral, Brasilia, pp. 3–18. Ugarte, F.J., Burkin, A.R., 1975. Mechanism of formation of idaite from bornite by leaching with ferric sulphate solution. In: Burkin, A.R. (Ed.), Leaching and Reduction in Hydrometallurgy. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 46–53. Wilkins, R.G., Burkin, A.R., 1950a. Complexes between metal salts and long-chain aliphatic amines, Part II. The complexes of cuprous halides with long chain aliphatic amines. J. Chem. Soc. 27, 127–132. Wilkins, R.G., Burkin, A.R., 1950b. Complexes between metal salts and long-chain aliphatic amines. Part III. The oxidation of copper(I) complexes to copper(II) complexes. J. Chem. Soc. 28, 132–136.
Patents Burkin A.R. “Treatment of pyrochlore.” United States Patent 3141766. July 21, 1964. Burkin A.R. “Deposition of metal values.” British Patent 1215574. Jan. 1, 1970a. 500. Burkin A.R. “Production of metal powders and coatings.” United States Patent 3532490. 501 Oct. 6, 1970b. Burkin A.R. “Deposition of copper values.” Canadian Patent 949332. June 18, 1974a. Burkin A.R. “Deposition of copper.” United States Patent 3844763. Oct 29, 1974b. Burkin A.R. and Barry B.T.K. “Treatment of zircon.” British Patent 853301, Nov. 2, 1960. Burkin A.R. and Barry B.T.K. “Process for reducing the silica content of zircon.” United States Patent 2981594, Apr. 25, 1961. Burkin A.R. and Chouzadjian K.A. “Process for the recovery of manganese from aqueous acidic solutions.” European Patent 0001680, May 2, 1979. Burkin A.R. and Grayson-Smith I.J. “Coating silicon nitride fibres with chromium by thermal decomposition of bis(arene)chromium 0 and arene–chromium carbonyl complexes in inert organic solvents.” French Patent, 1,586,667. 1969a. Burkin A.R. and Grayson-Smith I.J. “Improvements in or relating to metal coatings.” British Patent, 1,249,624. Oct. 13, 1971 Burkin A.R. and Monhemius A.J. “Extraction of pre-reduced lateritic ores with aqueous sulphuric acid in the presence of peroxidant.” British Patent 1,600,411, Oct. 14, 1981. Burkin A.R. and Sawyer H.D. “Recovery of niobium and tantalum from pyrochlore by roasting with alkalis.” British Patent 960433. 1964. Burkin A.R. and Sawyer H.D. “Treatment of pyrochlore.” Canadian Patent 667821. July 30, 1963. Burkin A.R., Meddings B. and Sawyer H.D. “Treatment of columbite and related minerals.” United States Patent 3061407, Oct. 30, 1962. Dain R.J., Manning G.D. and Burkin A.R. “Extractants (Cyclophosphazenes and siloxanes).” PCT Intl. Appln. 8000796, Oct 1978 Dain R.J., Manning G.D. and Burkin A.R. “Improvements relating to extractants.” European Patent EP0020483, April 13, 1983. Ozensoy E. and Burkin A.R. “Separation of tungsten and molybdenum by solvent extraction.” United States Patent 4275039, Feb. 11, 1980.