An investigation on laboratory Knelson Concentrator separation performance: Part 2: Two-component feed separation modelling

Abstract

In the previous study, a mathematical model was proposed to predict retained mass inside a laboratory Knelson Concentrator bowl. In this part, a model is proposed to describe the particle separation performance of the laboratory Knelson Concentrator. The separation model considers the main forces (fluid drag force, Fd, centrifugal force, Fc, and buoyancy force, Fb) acting on particles inside the concentrating bowl, which are functions of material properties as well as the operating condition parameters. Several materials with different densities including magnetite, zinc, ferromolybdenum, lead, and tungsten were used as valuable components to simulate minerals with the same densities in two-component synthetic feeds with various size fractions. The modelling of component separation in the Knelson Concentrator was performed based on the ratio of Fd/(Fc-Fb). Based on an extensive experimental database, practical and simple models were proposed as predictors of recovered mass of valuable components from tailings and the mass of quartz (as gangue) in the Knelson Concentrator versus the ratio of Fd/(Fc-Fb) for quartz.