COURSE UNIT TITLE

: BORATES AND SODIUM CARBONATES

Description of Individual Course Units

Course Unit Code Course Unit Title Type Of Course D U L ECTS
GEE 5032 BORATES AND SODIUM CARBONATES ELECTIVE 3 0 0 6

Offered By

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences

Level of Course Unit

Second Cycle Programmes (Master's Degree)

Course Coordinator

Offered to

Economic Geology
Economic Geology

Course Objective

Borates are often defined and sold by their boric oxide or B2O3 content, and most staticstial data are listed in tons of B2O3. Of the products sold by the industry, borax pentahydrate or 5 mol and boric acid are the most commonly traded commodities. Boric acid plants are operated by all of the major borate producers. Also, the purpose of the course is to examine the state of the sodium carbonate minerals, mainly trona, the natural soda ash industry and trends and directions of the natural and synthetic soda ash industries as we approach the 21 st century. The course also covers technical notes on the geology and exploration for natural soda ash deposits, on conventional and new methods of mining and processing trona, and on environmental issues. The course also emphasizes the roles of genesis, distributions and applications of borate and sodium carbonate minerals.

Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit

1   This course is expected to intraduce borate and sodium carbonate minerals.
2   To emphasize the genesis and distribution of these minerals and related rocks
3   To give general view about economical uses of these industrial minerals.

Mode of Delivery

Face -to- Face

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

None

Recomended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Contents

Week Subject Description
1 Introduction
2 Mineralogy of borate and sodium carbonate minerals
3 Chemistry of boron and borates
4 Origin of borate and sodium carbonate deposits
5 Major borate and sodium carbonate deposits
6 Recent borate and sodium carbonate deposits
7 Special borate formations
8 Borate and sodium carbonate exploration techniques
9 Mining
10 Processing
11 Uses of borates
12 Uses of sodium carbonate minerals
13 Economic factors and industry statistics
14 Presentations by students

Recomended or Required Reading

Grew, E.S. and Anovitz, L.M. (editors), 1996, Boron : mineralogy, petrology and geochemistry. Mineralogical
Society of America, Reviews in Mineralogy, Volume 33, 862 pp.

Garrett, D.E. 1998, Borates. Handbook of Deposits, Processing, Properties, and Use. Academic Press, 483 pp.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

The course lectures, class presentation and discussion format. All class members are expected to attend to both the lecture and seminar hours and take part in the discussion sessions. Besides the course lecture, group presentations are to be prepared by the groups assigned for that week and presented to open a discussion session.
Lectures: Interactive lectures
Assignment: Homework prepared by the student

Assessment Methods

SORTING NUMBER SHORT CODE LONG CODE FORMULA
1 ASG ASSIGNMENT
2 PRS PRESENTATION
3 FCG FINAL COURSE GRADE ASG * 0.50 + PRS * 0.50


Further Notes About Assessment Methods

None

Assessment Criteria

LO 1-2 and 3 will be evaluated via presentations and assignments given by the students

Language of Instruction

English

Course Policies and Rules

To be announced.

Contact Details for the Lecturer(s)

cahit.helvaci@deu.edu.tr

Office Hours

Monday 13.00-15.00

Work Placement(s)

None

Workload Calculation

Activities Number Time (hours) Total Work Load (hours)
Lectures 13 3 39
Preparing assignments 1 60 60
Preparing presentations 1 62 62
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours) 161

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

PO/LOPO.1PO.2PO.3PO.4PO.5PO.6PO.7PO.8PO.9PO.10PO.11PO.12PO.13PO.14
LO.154214115435511
LO.254214115535511
LO.354214125535511