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The term spiral separator can refer to either a device for separating slurry components by density (wet spiral separators), or for a device for sorting particles by shape (dry spiral separators).
Spiral separators of the wet type, also called spiral concentrators, are devices to separate solid components in a slurry, based upon a combination of the solid particle density as well as the particle's hydrodynamic properties (e.g. drag). The device consists of a tower, around which is wound a sluice, from which slots or channels are placed in the base of the sluice to extract solid particles that have come out of suspension.
As larger and heavier particles sink to the bottom of the sluice faster and experience more drag from the bottom, they travel slower, and so move towards the center of the spiral. Conversely, light particles stay towards the outside of the spiral, with the water, and quickly reach the bottom. At the bottom, a "cut" is made with a set of adjustable bars, channels, or slots, separating the low and high density parts.
Typical spiral concentrators will use a slurry from about 20%-40% solids by weight, with a particle size somewhere between 0.75—1.5mm (17-340 mesh), though somewhat larger particle sizes are sometimes used. The spiral separator is less efficient at the particle sizes of 0.1—0.074mm however.[ citation needed ] For efficient separation, the density difference between the heavy minerals and the light minerals in the feedstock should be at least 1 g/cm3; [1] and because the separation is dependent upon size and density, spiral separators are most effective at purifying ore if its particles are of uniform size and shape. A spiral separator may process a couple tons per hour of ore, per flight, and multiple flights may be stacked in the same space as one, to improve capacity. [2]
Many things can be done to improve the separation efficiency, including:
Dry spiral separators, capable of distinguishing round particles from nonrounds, are used to sort the feed by shape. The device consists of a tower, around which is wound an inwardly inclined flight. A catchment funnel is placed around this inner flight. Round particles roll at a higher speed than other objects, and so are flung off the inner flight and into the collection funnel. Shapes which are not round enough are collected at the bottom of the flight.
Separators of this type may be used for removing weed seeds from the intended harvest, or to remove deformed lead shot.
A slurry pipeline is a specially engineered pipeline used to move ores, such as coal or iron, or mining waste, called tailings, over long distances. A mixture of the ore concentrate and water, called slurry, is pumped to its destination and the water is filtered out. Due to the abrasive properties of slurry, the pipelines can be lined with high-density polyethylene (HDPE), or manufactured completely from HDPE Pipe, although this requires a very thick pipe wall. Slurry pipelines are used as an alternative to railroad transportation when mines are located in remote, inaccessible areas.
Hydrocyclones are a type of cyclonic separators that separate product phases mainly on basis of differences in gravity with aqueous solutions as the primary feed fluid.
Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas or liquid stream, without the use of filters, through vortex separation. When removing particulate matter from liquid, a hydrocyclone is used; while from gas, a gas cyclone is used. Rotational effects and gravity are used to separate mixtures of solids and fluids. The method can also be used to separate fine droplets of liquid from a gaseous stream.
Froth flotation is a process for selectively separating hydrophobic materials from hydrophilic. This is used in mineral processing, paper recycling and waste-water treatment industries. Historically this was first used in the mining industry, where it was one of the great enabling technologies of the 20th century. It has been described as "the single most important operation used for the recovery and upgrading of sulfide ores". The development of froth flotation has improved the recovery of valuable minerals, such as copper- and lead-bearing minerals. Along with mechanized mining, it has allowed the economic recovery of valuable metals from much lower grade ore than previously.
In the field of extractive metallurgy, mineral processing, also known as ore dressing, is the process of separating commercially valuable minerals from their ores.
A dust collector is a system used to enhance the quality of air released from industrial and commercial processes by collecting dust and other impurities from air or gas. Designed to handle high-volume dust loads, a dust collector system consists of a blower, dust filter, a filter-cleaning system, and a dust receptacle or dust removal system. It is distinguished from air purifiers, which use disposable filters to remove dust.
A coal preparation plant is a facility that washes coal of soil and rock, crushes it into graded sized chunks (sorting), stockpiles grades preparing it for transport to market, and more often than not, also loads coal into rail cars, barges, or ships.
An API oil–water separator is a device designed to separate gross amounts of oil and suspended solids from industrial wastewater produced at oil refineries, petrochemical plants, chemical plants, natural gas processing plants and other industrial oily water sources. The API separator is a gravity separation device designed by using Stokes Law to define the rise velocity of oil droplets based on their density and size. The design is based on the specific gravity difference between the oil and the wastewater because that difference is much smaller than the specific gravity difference between the suspended solids and water. The suspended solids settles to the bottom of the separator as a sediment layer, the oil rises to top of the separator and the cleansed wastewater is the middle layer between the oil layer and the solids.
A sand separator is a device that separates sand or other solids from water.
Gravity separation is an industrial method of separating two components, either a suspension, or dry granular mixture where separating the components with gravity is sufficiently practical: i.e. the components of the mixture have different specific weight. All of the gravitational methods are common in the sense that they all use gravity as the dominant force. One type of gravity separator lifts the material by vacuum over an inclined vibrating screen covered deck. This results in the material being suspended in air while the heavier impurities are left behind on the screen and are discharged from the stone outlet. Gravity separation is used in a wide variety of industries, and can be most simply differentiated by the characteristics of the mixture to be separated - principally that of 'wet' i.e. - a suspension versus 'dry' -a mixture of granular product. Often other methods are applied to make the separation faster and more efficient, such as flocculation, coagulation and suction. The most notable advantages of the gravitational methods are their cost effectiveness and in some cases excellent reduction. Gravity separation is an attractive unit operation as it generally has low capital and operating costs, uses few if any chemicals that might cause environmental concerns and the recent development of new equipment enhances the range of separations possible.
Clarifiers are settling tanks built with mechanical means for continuous removal of solids being deposited by sedimentation. A clarifier is generally used to remove solid particulates or suspended solids from liquid for clarification and/or thickening. Inside the clarifier, solid contaminants will settle down to the bottom of the tank where it is collected by a scraper mechanism. Concentrated impurities, discharged from the bottom of the tank, are known as sludge, while the particles that float to the surface of the liquid are called scum.
Magnetic separation is the process of separating components of mixtures by using a magnet to attract magnetic substances. The process that is used for magnetic separation separates non-magnetic substances from those which are magnetic. This technique is useful for the select few minerals which are ferromagnetic and paramagnetic. Most metals, including gold, silver and aluminum, are nonmagnetic.
A vacuum ceramic filter is designed to separate liquids from solids for dewatering of ore concentrates purposes. The device consists of a rotator, slurry tank, ceramic filter plate, distributor, discharge scraper, cleaning device, frame, agitating device, pipe system, vacuum system, automatic acid dosing system, automatic lubricating system, valve and discharge chute. The operation and construction principle of vacuum ceramic filter resemble those of a conventional disc filter, but the filter medium is replaced by a finely porous ceramic disc. The disc material is inert, has a long operational life and is resistant to almost all chemicals. Performance can be optimized by taking into account all those factors which affect the overall efficiency of the separation process. Some of the variables affecting the performance of a vacuum ceramic filter include the solid concentration, speed rotation of the disc, slurry level in the feed basin, temperature of the feed slurry, and the pressure during dewatering stages and filter cake formation.
Jig concentrators are devices used mainly in the mining industry for mineral processing, to separate particles within the ore body, based on their specific gravity.
The IsaMill is an energy-efficient mineral industry grinding mill that was jointly developed in the 1990s by Mount Isa Mines Limited and Netzsch Feinmahltechnik ("Netzsch"), a German manufacturer of bead mills. The IsaMill is primarily known for its ultrafine grinding applications in the mining industry, but is also being used as a more efficient means of coarse grinding. By the end of 2008, over 70% of the IsaMill’s installed capacity was for conventional regrinding or mainstream grinding applications, with target product sizes ranging from 25 to 60 µm.
Sepro Mineral Systems Corp. is a Canadian company founded in 1987 and headquartered in British Columbia, Canada. The outcome of the acquisition of Sepro Mineral Processing International by Falcon Concentrators in 2008, the company's key focus is the production of mineral processing equipment for the mining and aggregate industries. Sepro Mineral Systems Corp. also provides engineering and process design services. Products sold by Sepro include grinding mills, ore scrubbers, vibrating screens, centrifugal gravity concentrators, agglomeration drums, and dense media separators. The company is also a supplier of single source modular pre-designed and custom designed plants and circuits.
A separation process is a method that converts a mixture or a solution of chemical substances into two or more distinct product mixtures, a scientific process of distinguishing two or more substance in order to obtain purity. At least one product mixture from the separation is enriched in one or more of the source mixture's constituents. In some cases, a separation may fully divide the mixture into pure constituents. Separations exploit differences in chemical properties or physical properties between the constituents of a mixture.
The Jameson Cell is a high-intensity froth flotation cell that was invented by Laureate Professor Graeme Jameson of the University of Newcastle (Australia) and developed in conjunction with Mount Isa Mines Limited.
A pusher centrifuge is a type of filtration technique that offers continuous operation to de-water and wash materials such as relatively in-compressible feed solids, free-draining crystalline, polymers and fibrous substances. It consists of a constant speed rotor and is fixed to one of several baskets. This assembly is applied with centrifugal force that is generated mechanically for smaller units and hydraulically for larger units to enable separation.
A trommel screen, also known as a rotary screen, is a mechanical screening machine used to separate materials, mainly in the mineral and solid-waste processing industries. It consists of a perforated cylindrical drum that is normally elevated at an angle at the feed end. Physical size separation is achieved as the feed material spirals down the rotating drum, where the undersized material smaller than the screen apertures passes through the screen, while the oversized material exits at the other end of the drum.