Abstract
Efficient mineral pulp-mixing can reduce energy consumption and lower turbulence level of the following mineral flotation column, thereby increasing the overall separation efficiency. In this work, the mixing performance and material suspension performance of different stirrer configurations with and without accessories (draft-tube and baffles) were studied. Experimental results showed that draft-tube could order flow pattern, strengthen circulation performance and save energy consumption, thus enhancing the mixing efficiency. Baffles weakened the toroidal movement, prevented the liquid surface center from forming cavity and entraining large volume of air, diminished or eliminated pre-flotation, but also increased energy consumption and shear effect, thus reducing the mixing efficiency. Draft-tube could enhance the axial effect, improve suspension level and expand the effective range, but the just-suspended capability was reduced slightly. Baffles weakened axial circulation effect and reduced effective range, but the just-suspended capability was improved. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to simulate the flow field to investigate the impact of accessories on flow field pattern, velocity field, shear rate distribution and turbulent kinetic energy distribution. The numerical simulation results not only confirmed the experimental observation but also provided insights into the working mechanisms of stirred pulp-mixing accessories.
Published Version
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