APPLICATION: SCAVENGING

APPLICATION:SCAVENGING

The development of the HydroFloat was based on applying flotation fundamentals to teeter-bed separation. The presence of the fluidized bed increases collision rates beyond that which can be obtained in open flotation cells. As a result, the HydroFloat excels as a scavenging device.

It can be installed on the tail end of processing circuits to capture the “hard-to-recover” coarse and middling particles. These particles are typically lost when using conventional technology. Both test work and industrial data show that the HydroFloat is able to recover particles up to and exceeding 3-mm in potash and up to 2-mm in sulfides.

Most importantly, the HydroFloat is able to recover particles with minimal exposed hydrophobic surface area. Mineral liberation analysis has verified the high flotation rate offered by this device, as SEM backscatter images showed no valuable species present on the mineral surface after treatment in the HydroFloat.