Numerical Study of Water Mixing in a Conventional Flotation Cell

Abstract

Flotation is an important and well-established process in the minerals industry. The fundamentals of flotation are, however, not well understood as those of other unit operations in this industry. The performance of a flotat-ion cell is influenced by physical features, such as, impeller, stator and tank design, and by operating condi-tions, such as, impeller speed and aeration rate. Flota-tion cells are conventionally designed using empirically derived relations. The efficiency of the flotation process depends highly on the initial contact between the air bubble and the mineral particle. To enhance this contact, flotation cells are designed to achieve good mixing between the suspending solids and the dispersing air.