Bench-scale simulation of flotation plant performance
CIM Bulletin, Vol. 75, No. 848, 1982
G.E. AGAR Section Head, Mineral Processing, Inco Metals Company, J. Roy Gordon Research Laboratory, Sheridan Park, Mississauga, Ontario, and, R. STRATTON-CRAWLEY, Project Metallurgist, No. 3 Research Station, Port Colborne, Ontario
A study has been done of the scale-up of laboratory bench-scale flotation to continuous plant circuit performance. It was found that the impellor speed and the airflow rate influenced the results and in this case extreme values of these operating variables were required in order to reproduce the plant rougher results in the laboratory. Despite the experimental uncertainty introduced by these extreme values, it was demonstrated that the plant performance could be predicted and experimentally reproduced with bench-scale tests.
Keywords:
Mineral processing, Simulation, Flotation plants, Plant circuits, Laboratory simulation, Roughers, Cleaners, Nickel recovery.
