Process Optimization in Flotation Separation Plants

Abstract

Flotation separation of low grade, complex and finely disseminated ores wil continue to remain a formidable challenge to the mineral processing professionals for quite sometime. Innovation strategies will have to be devised to derive maximum benefits from existing operat-ing plants as well as to meet the inceasingly stringent demands of productivity, quality, yield, energy efficie-ncy and eco-friendliness in the coming decades. Successful flotation separations depend on the interre-lation among the various physical, chemical & mechanical factors involved in the system. As summarized by Prof. Doug Fuerstenau, the science and engineering of flotation process can be represented schematically as the inter-active effect between the physics of flotation, chemical control of physical phenomena and the mechanical design of flotation machines.