Development of the Hydrojet Flotation Cell

ABSTRACT: The possibility of utilizing water jets in flotation has been experimentally proved at the laboratory scale. . The prototype flotation cell, named HYDROJET, is set up in a continuous-operation laboratory plant installed at the DIGITA Laboratories of the University of Cagliari. In the past a number of tests have been carried out with this prototype on coal, industrial minerals and sulphide ores, taking into account various operational variables. With the use of waterjet cell performance always resulted to be considerably better than that achieved with the cell agitated by a conventional impeller. For improving metallurgical results, a new configuration of the flotation cell was designed in which the nozzles were placed at the periphery of the vessel. Flotation tests on coal so far carried out in continuous runs show that the hydrodynamic regime in the cell is further improved and combustible recovery is considerably higher than that achieved with either the previous model of the Hydrojet cell or with the mechanical cell at equal conditions. Finally, a further substantial reduction in specific energy consumption is also obtained.