Effect of Solid Concentration on Settling Rate of Iron Ore(Slimes)

The study investigates the settling phenomenon of aqueous iron ore particles as a function of solid concentration. The height of solid-liquid interface decreases linearly with time at all solid concentration till a situation, herein referred to as "transition zone",is reached.Beyond this zone settling is markedly reduced. The maximum sett-ling rate is observed during the initial period which decreases exponentially with increasing solid concentra-tion. The transition zone reaches quicker for dilute pulp and conversely later when solid concentration is higher.

Mathematical correlations developed in this work suggest that the settling data in dilute concentration range follow the Richardson and Zaki as well as Michaels and Bolger models. The optimum solid concentration in relation to batch settling has been worked out.