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In chemical engineering, apparatus making it possible to carry out several operations of the production process sequentially or simultaneously within a specified vo!mne [i] are widely used. For example, a column apparatus in which hydromechanical (separatory) and physicochemical (mass-exchange) processes occur in a heterogeneous system (liquid-solid). Using such apparatus allows us to decrease the number of units of equipment in the production line and to reduce capital investment in processing equipment and operating expenses. For intensification of the processes occurring in the apparatus, it is expedient to use such methods as creation of a suspended homogeneous bed of dispersed particles~ imposition of mechanical effects (vibration, pulsation, discrete unloading of the processed materials, etc.), and transverse sectioning of the vertical flow by contacting elements.In this paper, we consider the practicality of using a column apparatus with a suspended bed of sediment and pulsation mixing of the phases with the goals of intensification of the process of separation and washing of coarsely dispersed material and improvement of the apparatus design for this process; we present technical solutions resulting in intensification of the countercurrent processes.The column apparatus ( Fig. i) consists of a cylindrical chamber (2) sectioned by contacting elements (3), upper (4) and lower (i) conical chambers, a side pulsation chamber (7), a feed vessel (6), and an outer discharge pocket (5)~ The processed dispersed medium (suspension or slurry, obtained upon grinding and subsequent leaching of valuable substances from ore materials) enters through the feed vessel into the upper conical chamber of the apparatus, where separation of its solid phase into a coarsely dispersed fraction (particles larger than 0.074-0.16 mm) and a finely dispersed fraction occurs.The coarsely dispersed material (with a slight amount of slurry) settles under the force of gravity into the cylindrical chamber, in which its intense interaction occurs with the ascending flow of wash liquid as a result of pulsation mixing, turbulization, and transverse sectioning of the vertical flow by special devices. After displacement of the highconcentration solution from the slurry by the low-concentration wash solution and completion of the phase contacting, the coarsely dispersed product enters the lower conical chamber and exits from the process as a thick sediment with rather high density.The finely dispersed material (slurry) together with the liquid containing the dissolved valuable components recovered from the gravity moisture of the original slurry, and also from the film and pore moisture of the particles of the coarsely dispersed materials, is removed from the upper part of the apparatus through the outer discharge pocket. Using a sleeve-valve gear (pulsator) through an air buffer (pulsation chamber), low-frequency rotational-translational motions are communicated to the column of slurry in the apparatus; these motions exert an additional effect o...

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