Particle Size in the concentrator
Description
Ball mills are widely used in mining industry in a closed circuit with a hydrocyclone battery. The aim of the ball mill / hydrocyclone circuit is to produce the optimum Floatation feed particle size while maintaining grind throughput. The optimal operating point is a tradeoff between throughput, recovery, and grinding cost. Coarse material in the Floatation feed reduces the economic performance of the concentrator through lower valuable mineral recovery and in extreme cases, through blocking of the flow path in the Floatation cells. The real time monitoring of the particle size in the concentrator with the SOPAT system allows instantaneous measurements to optimize performance and to minimize down times.
The SOPAT technology is based on photo-optic in-situ microscopy in combination with an automated image analysis package that is able to extract the relevant particle information from the image data.
Different probes are available to cover a measurement range from 1 to 10000 μm. For a certain anticipated particle size range, a specific probe is chosen to perform the measurement.
SOPAT probes are rubber or ceramic lined to be used inline despite heavy abrasion challenges.
SOPAT can measure in:
Liquid/liquid
Gas/liquid
Solid/liquid
Solid/gas
Gas/liquid/liquid
Gas/liquid/solid