Simulation of a Continuous Processing by Flotation From Laboratory Test

In general, it is obvious that the results obtained in the batch type tests, at a laboratory level, will not be entirely sufficient for their industrial application, for the economical evaluation of a project or the scaling of the plant, because it does not tell the degree of the concntrates or of the recuperations which are to be obtained in a continuous process, of the selection of the appropriate circuit, etc., in such a manner that effectuating a systematic work program will be necessary, which additionally includes experimental tests of continuous flotation at a laboratory level (locked cycle test), performing of continuous tests of flotation at a scale of the pilot plant and, finally, pulls of industrial plants.

 The utility of the metallurgical tests, as a matter of fact, is seen compromised because there are no form established to predict the degree of the concentrate and the recuperation of the values of interest. This situation complicates itself, even more when when there are many stages of cleanliness, because the number of intermediate products is increased with the number of stages. In batch tests of minerals, the number of products is n + 1 when there are n stages of separation.

This problematic has taken many investigators to look for a technique capable of simplifying and/or eliminate some of the stages inthe scaling. Investigating in this field, Agar and Kipkie (1) have found perfect conditions among the results of tests of cyclio and plants of flotation with the values obtained of calculus in base of the results of bach tests in laboratories.

This method which is the simulation of circuits of continuous flotation, is known as the method of the FACTORS OF DISTRIBUTION. The basic idea for representing a circuit of flotation is attributed to the factor of distribution (split factor) of each component and in each stage of separation, this factor of distribution is not more than the fraction of the feeding which the non-floatable fluxes offer or second washings of metals in each stage of separation (Rougher, Scavenger, cleaner, recleaver, cleaner – scavenger, etc).

The magnitude of the factors of distribution depend fundamentally on the time of flotation and the physico-chemical conditions of the mineral sample in the flotation, data which are determined in a test of batch flotation at a laboratory level, in this manner we would be quantifying the factors of distribution and with those factors the results would be calculated of a simulated continuous test (Locked cycle Test) or of a pilot plant. This method is applied taking a a base the test of flotation of our experiment to simulate the continuous process of flotation which is shown. Each flux is numerated in such a form in which it can be identified very easily; the symbols of rhombus form represent the unions where two or more fluxes join together to form a third. The stages of separation are identified by a rectangle ennumerated in sequence.