The flotation recovery pathway is crucial

6/23/2012 3:27:55 AM

The application of the flotation method is regarded as a significant achievement in the mining technology in the 20th century. Besides the continuous disposition of the increasing various ores and opening new ways, flotation plays a vital role in promoting and improving metallurgical technological and economic indicators, comprehensively recycling all kinds of valuable components. At the moment, 90% of the nonferrous metal mineral output capitalizes on the flotation method for recycling. It is reported that almost the entire ores and mineral raw materials can adopt the flotation way to get processed. In addition, the flotation method is also used in the comprehensive recovery aspect of the metallurgy semi-finished products as well as these perspectives like salts, borax, rubber raw materials, paper, sugar refining, and chemical processing of raw materials etc.

The working principle of the mechanical agitation and air self-priming flotation machine (including the impeller flotation machine and the rod wheeled flotation machine) is basically the same: it takes advantage of the negative pressure created by the rotation of the impeller or rod wheel, and inhales air via the quill shaft, ultimately forming the bubbles. The air bubbles blend fully with the ore pulp under the stirring and projectile impact of the impeller or the rod mill. These useful mineral particles selectively adhere to bubbles under the influence of the collector, they float to the pulp surface then scrapped by the scrapper into the fine mineral chute. Therefore the sorting operations are finished.

Due to the fact that the rod flotation machine is shallow trenched, it has a fast flotation speed, big inspiratory capacity and strong stirring force. It is suitable for the mineral flotation with intense ore concentration, big proportion and coarse grain size. The impeller flotation machine and the rod wheeled flotation machine have common features, both inhaling the air with the help of the high-speed rotation of the impeller (or rod wheel) at the bottom of the flotation cells. The structure of the impeller (rod) determines the aeration of the ore pulp, mixing degree as well as the dispersion degree of the bubbles. As far as the impeller flotation machine is concerned, its aeration quantity is big, but the gap between the impeller and the cover board changes due to the abrasion that severely impinges on the aeration quantity and decreases the separating indexes. In terms of the structure and performance, rod type flotation machine is superior to the impeller type flotation machine. However, the inhalation slot is complex and the aqueduct body is shallow. Therefore the gravity connection is difficult.