In the past 40 years substantial changes have occurred in flotation machines. This has included
increases in mechanical cell size to 630 m3
, significant changes to flotation column aeration design
and widespread use of the Jameson cell and other pneumatic flotation cells. Over the corresponding
period there has been increased used of machine characterisation measurements to benchmark and
optimise flotation circuit performance.
JKTech maintains a database of industrial flotation machine characterisation measurements. The
database contains over 4000 entries and includes gas dispersion measurements, such as bubble
size, gas hold-up and superficial gas velocity, cell dimensions and impeller tip speeds. Data comes
from numerous operating sites and commodity groups, including gold, copper, molybdenum, nickel,
palladium, lead-zinc, platinum, silica, phosphate, coal and iron ore. Flotation duties registered
include flash flotation, preflotation, roughing, scavenging and cleaner circuits.
Measurements have been conducted on a wide range of flotation machines from different
manufacturers. This includes forced air machines, such as Outotec and Dorr Oliver, and self-aerated
machines, such as Denver and Wemco. The database also includes substantial flotation column
entries, such as the Microcel, Eriez/CMT Slamjet and Jameson cell.
This paper describes the flotation machine characterisation database and discusses the variation
between different types of industrial flotation machines, in operating production circuits.