Model of particle accumulation on matrices in transverse field pulsating high gradient magnetic separator

Abstract

The static buildup model of particle on single wires (SBM-sw), illustrating the effect of these influencing parameters such as applied magnetic induction, fluid velocity and wires size on particle accumulation, plays a dominant role in instructing the design of a high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) device. However, in a real separation chamber of HGMS filled with piles of matrices, the changes of hydrodynamic due to gap shrinkage of matrices disturb particle accumulation. When slurry within the matrix is exposed to pulsation, this disturbance is intensified. Consequently, compared to SBM-sw, the model of magnetic particle accumulation on double wires (SBM-dw) is supposed more suitable to reveal the processing of magnetic particle accumulation on matrices. In this article, SBM-sw and SBM-dw of a transverse field pulsating HGMS separator (TPHGMS) was presented based on force equilibrium. The effect of pulsating slurry, wire spacing and applied magnetic induction on particle accumulation of the TPHGMS was investigated and discussed with calculating the buildup profiles under specific parameters. Pulsating slurry directly impinges the regions of paramagnetic particle capture and leads to sharp decrease of particle buildup under high frequency. Enlarging wire spacing or decreasing pulsating frequency can weaken the impact of slurry and slow down the decrease of particle buildup. In addition, increasing applied magnetic induction within a certain range can also significantly increase particle buildup. Finally the SBM-dw model was compared with a series of experiments. Results indicated that experimental particle buildup weights agreed with the calculated particle buildup weights of SBM-dw which provides better authenticity to understand and predict the performance of the TPHGMS.