Investigation of Effective Operating Parameters on Carrying Capacity in Column Flotation of Copper Sulfide Minerals

Abstract

The carrying capacity (Ca) in column flotation can be determined by experiments in terms of mass of solids per unit time per unit column cross-sectional area. The estimation of Ca has been typically defined by a simplified statement on the basis of representative particle size and the floatable mineral density. Although this statement encountered with several assumptions and limited ranges of the data that increase errors for other applications, in Ca expressions, the effect of particular variables, such as particle size, feed solids rate, bubble diameter, air flow rate, feed solid content, frother dosage, and froth height should be considered. In this study, the effects of these parameters on the Ca were investigated in column flotation using copper sulfide ore. It was found that when the feed solid rate increased, the concentrate solid rate increased to a certain point, whereafter it started to decrease. When the air flow rate increased, the Ca first increased then drastically decreased. In low feed flow rates, the increase in frother rate led to the higher carrying capacity, whereas in feed flow rates over 1.2 cm/s, the carrying capacity in frother rate of 45 ppm was more than 75 ppm. By decreasing the froth height and increasing the solid percentage (up to 30%), Ca increased. The results of the experiments at various feed particles sizes showed that the particles with size 45–63 µm had the maximum carrying capacity.

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Bubble size; carrying capacity; column flotation; copper sulfide ores; particle size

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1548-0046; 0272-6351

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 Taylor and Francis Group; Taylor and Francis, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

18 Aug 2019

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