- Title
- Examining the partitioning of coal particles in the reflux flotation cell
- Creator
- Sutherland, Joshua L.; Dickinson, James E.; Galvin, Kevin P.
- Relation
- APCChE 2015 Incorporating CHEMECA 2015. Asia Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering Congress 2015: APCChE 2015, incorporating CHEMECA 2015 (Melbourne 27 September - 1 October, 2015) p. 2309-2316
- Relation
- ARC
- Publisher
- Engineers Australia
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2015
- Description
- Froth flotation is a three-phase gravity separation process used extensively in the coal and mineral industry to separate fine particles based on their difference in hydrophobicity. The hydrodynamic conditions established within a flotation device are highly dependent on operating parameters and system design, thus each system exhibits its own hydrodynamic signature to affect recovery. Recently, advances made in the field of solid-liquid gravity separation have been implemented into a novel device termed the Reflux Flotation Cell (RFC), which features a fluidisation distributor enclosing the top of the system, and inclined channels located below the main fluidising chamber. The inclined channels enhance bubble-liquid segregation and extend the throughput capacity beyond conventional flotation limits. In this investigation coal particles of known size and density were manually added as discrete tracers to the RFC in order to explore its hydrodynamic signature in terms of particle partitioning between the overflow and underflow. Particle sizes of 0.43, 0.60 and 1.2 mm were used to assess detachment at the upper size range of 'floatable' particles. Recovery was observed to increase with increasing feed flux (0.7 - 5.1 cm/s), also giving rise to greater bubble holdup. Conversely, recovery decreased with increasing gas flux (0.5 - 3.0 cm/s) in spite of increasing bubble holdup. It is hypothesised that particle recovery is controlled by a balance between bubble holdup in the cell and the turbulence generated upon exiting the downcomer. A 'safety net' mechanism is discussed with regard to the role that high bubble holdup has on particle recovery.
- Subject
- coal; fluidised bed; froth flotation; inclined channels; reflux flotation cell
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1314704
- Identifier
- uon:22807
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781922107473
- Language
- eng
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