DENSE

DENSE MEDIUM
MEDIUM SEPARATION
SEPARATION

HEAVY MEDIA SEPARATION

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DENSE
DENSE MEDIUM
MEDIUM SEPARTION
SEPARTION


 Sink – float separation
 Calcium chloride – 1 350kg/m3

Coal
 Zinc Chloride up to – 1 800kg.m3


 Heavy liquids – toxic and cost


 Used in laboratories only

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DENSE
DENSE MEDIUM
MEDIUM SEPARATION
SEPARATION

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PSEDO
PSEDO HEAVY
HEAVY LIQUIDS
LIQUIDS


 Magnetite – coal – up to 2.5
 Ferrosilicon – treatment of ores


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5
Viscosity
Viscosity


 Viscosity – very important
 Dependent on solids concentration


 Rapid movement of particles and high capacity



 E.g Galena – Sg 4.3 but practical limit S.G is 3.3



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Approximately
critical content of
solids

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Medium
Medium preparation
preparation


 Mill in ball mill – cheap
 Atomisation of the molten material

 More spherical shape – lower apparent viscosity
 Chemically sable media


35 -38% media volume – wide range of particles
 45 – 48% media volume – narrow sized feed.


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Example
How much 10% FeSi needs to be added to 1L of water to make a heavy liquid of S.G.
2.8?
What is the maximum media S.G. that can be used with this solid?
Density of FeSi – 7000kg/m3 Density of water = 1000kg/m3

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Solution
Solution

 Step 1: Calculate the mass of the solids

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Solution
Solution

 Step 2: Calculate the maximum medium density

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Solution
Solution


 Assumption – solids is immiscible with liquids

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Equipment
Equipment


 Bath or Trough separators
 Centrifugal separators


 Bath or Trough separators



1) Drum separator – coal separation

1)
 range – 4.6 – 7m long
 Capacity – 800t/hr

 feed size range – 6mm to 30cm

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Bath
Bath or
or Trough
Trough separators
separators

2)
2) Drewboy bath separator – Cleaning of coal
Feed size – 12.7 – 600mm

Capacity – up to 820t/hr

3)
3) Cone separator – ore treatment
 Diameters – 0.9 to 6.1m
 Capacity – 450t/hr
 Feed size – about 10cm

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Centrifugal
Centrifugal DMS
DMS

Static bath
-ve float
+ve sink

Centrifugal separator

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
 Static – force proportional to g
 Centrifugal separator – V22/R (which is much higher)


 For conical section – Further increased by v√R



 At apex – over 200 times



 Two advantages


- a relatively high capacity

- high forces of separation – more applicable for
separation of small particles
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Centrifugal
Centrifugal Equipment
Equipment


 Separation density > specific gravity of the feed medium
 DMS Cyclones –


 several size (dia 0.5 – 1.0 m)
 Capacity – 50t/hr of raw coal


 Cone angle – 20oo



 Medium to coal ratio – 5: 1



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Centrifugal
Centrifugal Equipment
Equipment


 Swirl cyclone
 Dyna whirlpool


 Vorsyl separator


 Water Only Cyclone (WOC) – cleaning of coal – 6mm



 Does not employ any dense medium
 Much large cone angle – up to 120oo


 Longer vortex finder



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Separation
Separation Efficiency
Efficiency

 Performance is based on sink- float analysis and washability
curves.

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SINK
SINK –– FLOAT
FLOAT ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS


 Analysis of clean coal and rejected coal followed by ash
determination of various fractions.

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21

 F1.30 – material floating at S.G of 1.30

 S1.30 – material sink at S.G of 1.30

 Column 2 – mass % of the sample corresponding density range

 Column 3 – Grade of particles in the density range as ash %

 Column 4 – Mass (amount of Ash) in density fraction (2 x 3)

 Column 5 – Lists the normal density of fraction taken as floating density

 Column 6-11 – Cumulative values of both floats and sinks and the associated ash
content summed from top to bottom for floats and from bottom up for sinks

 Column 8 – Cumulative grade (wt average) of the combined floats up to the
nominal density – Hence the value of 27.5% at 100%

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
 Column 12 – 13 – Calculate the instantaneous ash which represents the highest ash
content of any individual particle in the floats at that density.

 Instantaneous Ash Calculation
 Consider an increase in medium density from 1.55 to 1.60
 At higher density – cumulative floats ash = 15.7%
 Average ash in this new incremental density (1.55 -1.60) =33.2% (Column 3)
 A mixture of particles High and low ash content – half way between 1.55 and 1.60
 Cumulative floats corresponding – average of the cumulative floats at 1.55 (73.6%)
Column 6 and average cumulative floats and density 1.60 (77%)

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Instantaneous
Instantaneous Ash
Ash


 Cumulative floats at 33.2 % ash = 73.6 +77/2 = 75.3%
 Conclusion
If a coal sample was placed in a heavy liquid to float 75.3% of the


mass, then the maximum ash content of any one particle in the
floats will have an ash content of 33.2%.

 Note : Column 13 is a repeat of column 3.

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25
Washability
Washability Curves
Curves

There are 5 curves that can be plotted from the table

1. Cumulative floats curve
1.

2. Cumulative sinks curve

2.

3. Instantaneous ash curve

3.

4. Relative density curve

4.

5. Distribution +- 0.1 S.G. curve

5.

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
 Cumulative floats curve
•• Plot cumulative mass of floats at each relative density increment against Ash at
that point (column 6 and 8)
•• Used to indicate yield obtainable for any set ash required

 Cumulative sinks curve

 Plot cumulative mass % sink at each relative density increment against the
cumulative ash at the sinks for that separation (9 and 11)

 The ash point for 100% sinks must be equal to ash point for 100% floats.

 The curve indicates the ash content of the rejects when a certain yield is required

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
 Instantaneous ash curve ( elementary, characteristic ash curve
or observed curve)
 Represents change of ash at different yield ( 12 and 13)

 Relative density curve

 Plot cumulative % floats against relative density for that

separation (5 and 6)

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
 Distribution or +- S.G Curve

 For example S.G 1.60
 Calculate the difference in cumulative floats from S.G of 1.50 and 1.70


 This represents the % of the feed that is close to a separation of 1.60 or



percentage near gravity in the feed.

 Thus the curve indicates the difficulty of separation


 < 10% satisfactory



 > 20 % indicates a very difficult separation



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Washability
Washability Curves
Curves

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
 For example
 For a yield of 75%,


 the clean coal would contain 15.1% ash,
 Rejects 64% Ash


 Separation would be made at 1.575 S.G



 Separation would be very difficult (24)



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TROMP
TROMP CURVE
CURVE
- Assessing the sharpness of separation
-- Predict the performance of plant treating a particular coal feed.

-- Dependent upon the particle size distribution and the type of separating unit.

-- Data from float and sink analysis on the raw coal, clean coal and the rejected coal is

used to determine partition coeffeciences.

-- Partition Coeff. = Mass of coal in any S.G range x 100

-- Mass of feed coal present in the S.G. Range

-- Mass split = Floats yield = Mass of floats (clean coal) x 100

--Mass of raw feed

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35
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
 Plot Partition Coeff. Vs mean of its density

 Effective separation density (d50
50
) is determined

 May not be exactly the same as the operating density

 Probable error of Separation (Ep) = S.G 25 25
– S.G 75
75
/2

 Ep – 0.02 to 0.03 – efficient separation

 Imperfection = Probable error/Partition density – 1 = Ep/d50 - 1

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