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Enhanced gravity separators are widely used in minerals beneficiation, as their superior gravity field enables them to separate particles within narrow classes of density and size. This study aims to shed light on the Falcon concentrator's ability to separate particles within size and density ranges lower than usual, say 5 to 60 µm and 1.2 to 3.0 s.g. respectively. As differential particle settling is expected to be the prevailing separation mechanism under such conditions, this study presents the workings of a predictive Falcon separation model that embeds phenomenological fluid and particle flow simulation inside the Falcon's flowing film. Adding to the novelty of modeling the Falcon concentrator using a fluid mechanics approach, one point of practical significance within this work is the derivation of the Falcon's partition function from fluid flow simulation results.

International audienceA predictive model of the Falcon enhanced gravity separator has been derived from a physical analysis of its separation principle, and validated against experimental data. After summarizing the previous works that led to this model and the hypotheses on which they rely, the model is extended to cover a wide range of operating conditions and particle properties. The most significant development presented here is the extension of the analytical law to concentrated suspensions, which makes it applicable to actual plant operating conditions. Two examples of industrial use cases are described and studied by interrogation of the model: dredged sediment waste reduction and coal recovery from fine tailings. Comparisons with empirical studies available in the literature show a good agreement between model predictions and industrial data. The model is then used to identify separation efficiency limitations as well as possible solutions to overcome them. These two examples serve to show how this predictive model can be used to obtain valuable information to improve physical separation processes using a Falcon concentrator, or to evaluate Falcon separator's abilities for new applications

Centrifugal gravity separators, such as the Falcon UltraFine (UF) concentrator, are the most common gravity concentration techniques used for fine particles processing. Hence, understanding the kinetics and separation mechanisms at play within these separators is of paramount interest. Recent research yielded a predictive physical model for the Falcon UF which however does not explain some results obtained with industrial ores. The Falcon UF kinetics have been investigated through the processing of fine-grained ores from the Altenberg tin deposit (Germany), the Tabuaço tungsten deposit (Portugal), a synthetic iron ore as well as results from previous studies on kaolin residues. Results have shown an evolution of Falcon UF performance with time/feed mass in contradiction with the stationary separation hypothesis on which the physical model was based. In terms of Falcon UF separation timing, four phases can be distinguished. First, upon initial feeding of the bowl, particles are trapped or rejected depending on their settling velocity. It yields a relatively ineffective selection according to density so that only ultrafine particles are ejected from the bowl, resulting in the quick growth of the concentrate bed. When the bed reaches a critical size, recovery and enrichment continue to increase through selective resuspension phenomenon that favours the concentration of dense particles and the ejection of larger particles. This way, the bed builds up while the content of concentrate bed surface evolves until resuspension balances the stream of dense material reaching the bed and recovery drops. The evolution of partition curves over time confirmed the low recovery of ultrafine particles during the whole operation but also showed a decrease of coarse particles recovery with time. It suggests that the second separation mechanism is less sensible to particle size compared to the first one and that size even has a negative impact on recovery. Furthermore, erosion figures in furrows are observed in the concentrate bed which may play locally an active role in the separation. These observations suggest that two separation mechanisms are at play. Firstly, differential particles settling within the flowing film which is already accounted for in the existing physical model. Secondly, resuspension of particles from the concentrate bed by the action of a lift force acting preferentially on coarse particles deposited at the surface of the bed and resulting in the rejection of coarser and lower-density particles. The addition of a lift force component to the existing model is discussed and a resuspension criterion is proposed as a guidance of the physics involved in this second separation mechanism. Future developments will require a dynamic model which would need to integrate the evolution of the concentrate bed content over time.

The industrial objective of lowering the mass of mechanical structures requires continuous improvement in controlling the mechanical properties of metallic materials. Steel cleanliness and especially control of inclusion size distribution have, therefore, become major challenges. Inclusions have a detrimental effect on fatigue that strongly depends both on inclusion content and on the size of the largest inclusions. Ladle treatment of liquid steel has long been recognized as the processing stage responsible for the inclusion of cleanliness. A multiscale modeling has been proposed to investigate the inclusion behavior. The evolution of the inclusion size distribution is simulated at the process scale due to coupling a computational fluid dynamics calculation with a population balance method integrating all mechanisms, i.e., flotation, aggregation, settling, and capture at the top layer. Particular attention has been paid to the aggregation mechanism and the simulations at an inclusion scale with fully resolved inclusions that represent hydrodynamic conditions of the ladle, which have been specifically developed. Simulations of an industrial-type ladle highlight that inclusion cleanliness is mainly ruled by aggregation. Quantitative knowledge of aggregation kinetics has been extracted and captured from mesoscale simulations. Aggregation efficiency has been observed to drop drastically when increasing the particle size ratio.

Experimental validation of a fluid dynamics based model of the UF Falcon concentrator in the ultrafine range . (2012) Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 92. pp. 129-135. ISSN 1383-5866 Open Archive Toulouse Archive Ouverte (OATAO)OATAO is an open access repository that collects the work of Toulouse researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the repository administrator: staff-oatao@inp-toulouse.fr The process of separating ultrafine particles, say below 80 lm, on the basis of density is a true technical challenge. Indeed, the separation process itself becomes very much size dependent with such fine particles, so that large enough density differentials are necessary for offsetting the strong particle size effect. Our study is concerned with understanding the limitations of the UF Falcon concentrator, an enhanced gravity separator specifically designed for treating slurries with ultrafines. To this end, based on a number of hypotheses, we have already derived and published a theoretical model of the UF Falcon concentrator for treating dilute suspensions. This paper presents the validation and calibration of this model, based on experimental measurements carried out under controlled conditions using a laboratory scale concentrator. By comparing measured and predicted separation results for particles with known size distribution and density, the work validates the key model hypotheses, thereby confirming our understanding of the physics of the separation process. Moreover, by changing operating conditions in a systematic manner, the work is able to calibrate the model so that it can be used to make quantitative prediction of the UF Falcons performance.

Removing inclusions from the melt is an important task in metallurgy with critical impact on the quality of the final alloy. Processes employed with this purpose, such as flotation, crucially depend on the particle size. For small inclusions, the aggregation kinetics constitute the bottleneck and, hence, determine the efficiency of the entire process. If particles smaller than all flow scales are considered, the flow can locally be replaced by a plane shear flow. In this contribution, particle interactions in plane shear flow are investigated, computing the fully resolved hydrodynamics at finite Reynolds numbers, using a lattice Boltzmann method with an immersed boundary method. Investigations with various initial conditions, several shear values and several inclusion sizes are conducted to determine collision efficiencies. It is observed that although finite Reynolds hydrodynamics play a significant role in particle collision, statistical collision efficiency barely depends on the Reynolds number. Indeed, the particle size ratio is found to be the prevalent parameter. In a second step, modeled collision dynamics are applied to particles tracked in a fully resolved bubbly flow, and collision frequencies at larger flow scale are derived.

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