| Effect of Dimensionless Hydrodynamic Parameters on Coarse Particles Flotation |
| B. SHAHBAZI†, B. REZAI* and S.M. JAVAD KOLEINI‡ |
Department of Chemistry, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
E-mail: brezai1@yahoo.com |
| Abstract
The upper particle size is an important parameter in
flotation operation and the sharp decrease of flotation response
when particle size approaches such a limit is well known
phenomenon. Nowadays, particle size is often measured and
controlled in flotation concentrators. In this study the dependence
of the dimensionless hydrodynamic parameters
(Reynolds Number-Re, Froude Number-Fr and Weber Number-
We) on the particle size variation was investigated on the
quartz particles using laboratory mechanical flotation cell.
Maximum flotation response was observed at Re = 89800, Fr
= 2.4 and We = 1558. For either more quiescent (Re < 73500
and Fr < 1.61) or more turbulent (Re > 106200 and Fr >
3.35) conditions, flotation recovery decreased steadily.
Under more quiescent hydrodynamic conditions, the lower
recovery was due to the fact that the impeller was not capable
of keeping particles in suspension properly whereas under
more turbulent conditions the disruption of particle/bubble
aggregate was intensively observed. Furthermore, amount of
collision probabilities is calculated using various equations.
According to this study, with increasing particle size or
impeller velocity, increase in probability of collision and with
increasing air flow rate, decrease in probability of collision
was observed. |
| Keywords
o Flotation, Coarse particle, Dimensionless parameters, Collision probability, Quartz. |
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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