The effects of flotation operation parameters, including froth depth, air flowrate, and frother dosage, on the froth and collection zone recovery and the flowrate of particles into the froth phase were investigated in a 10 m3 industrial cell. The results showed that froth recovery increases upon increasing air flowrate and frother dosage, as well as reducing froth depth. While all tested parameters affected the particles that entered into the froth phase, air flowrate and frother dosage showed the most and least significance, respectively. When the air flowrate, frother dosage, and froth depth were 146 m3/h, 150 mL/min, and 5 cm, respectively, froth recovery was found to be above 84%. Also, the effect of the parameters studied on collection zone recovery was different from their effect on the froth zone, with air flowrate having the greatest impact on the former.
SYNOPSIS The effect of flotation operational parameters on froth stability and froth recovery was studied. Froth stability was measured using a special column. To determine the froth recovery, the froth height change model and froth height exponential model were used. It was found that since the interactions between the pulp and froth zones affect the time of froth formation, the exponential model is more suitable than the froth height change method for determining the froth recovery. The results showed that superficial air velocity and collector dosage have, respectively, the highest and lowest effect on the froth recovery, while froth recovery decreases sharply with increasing froth height. Keywords: froth stability, froth recovery, superficial air velocity, collector dosage, frother dosage.
Bubble loading is the ratio of the weight of the solid particles to the bubble’s surface, and it has an effective role in the flotation efficiency. This paper investigates bubble loading an industrial processing circuit through considering the important role of the bubble diameter in calculating bubble loading, and the effect of the aeration rate and frother dosage on the bubble diameter. The ratio of the weight of solid particles to the bubble volume was estimated to be in the range of 8 to 24 g/L. Although increasing the aeration could result in increasing the weight of the particles attached to the bubbles, the bubble loading was reduced by increasing the aeration rate due to its impact on the bubble diameter and the percentage of bubble surface coverage. For example, when the aeration rate was increased from 45 to 146 m3/h, the bubble loading decreased from 23 to 12 g/L. By increasing the frother dosage from 70 to 150 mL/min, the bubble loading increased from 16 to 19 g/L.
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