Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 5158 This article is also available online at: www.elsevier.

com/locate/mineng

Modelling of entrainment in industrial otation cells: the eect of solids suspension

X. Zheng
a

a,*

, J.-P. Franzidis b, N.W. Johnson c, E.V. Manlapig

Anglo Platinum Research CentreRustenburg, PostNet Suite 358, Private Bag X 82245, Rustenburg 0300, South Africa b Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, The University of Queensland, 4069, Australia c School of Engineering, The University of Queensland, 4072, Australia Received 14 May 2004; accepted 14 June 2004

Abstract Solids concentration and particle size distribution gradually change in the vertical dimension of industrial otation cells, subject primarily to the otation cell size and design and the cell operating conditions. As entrainment is a two-step process and involves only the suspended solids in the top pulp region near the pulpfroth interface, the solids suspension characteristics have a signicant impact on the overall entrainment. In this paper, a classication function is proposed to describe the state of solids suspension in otation cells, similar to the denition of degree of entrainment for classication in the froth phase found in the literature. A mathematical model for solids suspension is also developed, in which the classication function is expressed as an exponential function of the particle size. Experimental data collected from three dierent Outokumpu tank otation cells in three dierent concentrators are well tted by the proposed exponential model. Under the prevailing experimental conditions, it was found that the solids content in the top region was relatively independent of cell operating conditions such as froth height and air rate but dependent on the cell size. Moreover, the results obtained from the total solids tend to be similar to those from a particular gangue mineral and hence may be applied to all minerals in entrainment calculation. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Froth otation; Flotation froth; Particle size; Modelling

1. Introduction Entrainment is the process by which particles enter the base of a otation froth and are transferred up and out of the otation cell suspended in the water between bubbles (Smith and Warren, 1989). Entrainment always occurs in parallel with true otation and is the primary recovery mechanism for gangue, especially nes. Due to its unselective nature and the fact that gangue minerals are generally far more abundant than valuable minerals in the ore, entrainment recovery may have a signicant detrimental eect on the concentrate grade (Jowett, 1966; Trahar, 1981; Smith and Warren, 1989; Savassi, 1998). Several cleaning stages may be required to eliminate or minimize entrainment recovery and achieve a
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +27-14-598-2233; Fax: +27-14-5982432. E-mail address: xzheng@amplats.co.za (X. Zheng).

particular grade of the concentrate (Kirjavainen, 1996). The additional cost involved is what any operation tries to avoid. If only the solids reaching the pulpfroth interface by suspension in the water (Warren, 1985; Smith and Warren, 1989) or in the wake of the rising bubbles (Smith, 1985) or in the bubble lamella (Gaudin, 1957; Hemmings, 1981) have the opportunity of being entrained, entrainment is clearly strongly inuenced by the state of solids suspension in the otation cell. Although in the literature the connection between entrainment and cell hydrodynamic conditions has been realised, only a few investigations on the eect of cell hydrodynamic conditions/state of solids suspension on entrainment have been carried out (Cliek and Yilmazer, 2003: Guerra and Schubert, 2003). Most researchers bypass this issue by directly relating entrainment with water recovery and using the term degree of entrainment/classication function (Engelbrecht and Woodburn, 1975: Johnson,

0892-6875/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2004.06.002

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X. Zheng et al. / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 5158

1972; Bisshop and White, 1976; Kirjavainen, 1992; Savassi et al., 1998). The modelling of the degree of entrainment or classication function has been extensively explored by the same authors. Meanwhile, a lot of research has been done on modelling the transportation of the water and entrained particles in the froth phase (Moys, 1978, 1984; Neethling and Cilliers, 2002), and an attempt has also been made to model the gangue recovery by entrainment from the pulp phase to the froth phase using a kinetic approach, i.e., assuming the recovery of gangue follows a similar rst order reaction process to the hydrophobic particles in the pulp phase (Harris, 2000). Nevertheless, despite the fact that the dierence in solids concentration and particle size distribution between the upper pulp zone and the average pulp volume is well documented in the literature (Harris et al., 1983; Savassi, 1998), no simultaneous modelling of the gangue recovery from the pulp phase to the froth phase and the recovery from the froth phase to the concentrate has been reported that takes into account the eect of solids suspension. This paper aims to provide a relatively simple solution to modelling the two entrainment mechanisms in the otation process simultaneously (including transfer of the suspended solids in the pulp phase to the froth phase and transfer of the entrained particles in the froth phase to the concentrate). The state of solids suspension in the otation cell is represented mathematically by a classication function, which is consistent with the existing denition of the degree of entrainment or the classication function of the froth in the literature. The degree of entrainment is modelled separately but using a similar form of equation. The advantage of such an arrangement is that the two steps in the entrainment process can be easily combined to calculate the overall entrainment recovery.

To quantify the transfer rate of the particles in the feed to the top of the pulp region (near the pulpfroth interface), the suspension parameter should be divided by the mass fraction of the same size fraction of particles in the feed slurry. However, it should be noted that solids suspension concerns only the particles suspended in the water in the pulp phase and excludes the particles attached to the air bubbles. The feed contains both particles that will suspend in the water and those that will attach to the air bubbles in the pulp phase. Johnson (1972) suggested that a non-oating and fully liberated tracer should be used to determine the classication function and that the same classication function values could be applied to other particles. However, such an ideal tracer is often not available in a real ore. Hence, it is assumed that the tailings may be taken to represent the feed excluding the particles that will attach to the air bubbles in the pulp phase. The classication function for solids suspension may be dened as: CFi xp i xt i 2

2. Classication function for solids suspension In an industrial otation cell, there is a gradual change in the solids dispersion prole in terms of solids concentration and particle size distribution, especially along the vertical direction. The state of suspended solids at any location of the pulp phase can be represented by referring to the water. The mass of solids in the ith size fraction per unit mass of water xi can be calculated by: xi mi X 100 X 1

where the suspension parameter xi depends on the particle size and density, mi is the mass fraction of the ith size fraction of the suspended particles at the point of interest, and X is the solids concentration at the same point of interest (% mass fraction solids).

where p and t represent the pulp and tailings respectively. It should be noted that the average solids concentration and particle size distribution in the pulp are not necessarily the same as in either the feed or the tailings; and the solids concentration and particle size distribution in the tailings are not necessarily the same as in the bottom of the pulp, even if the tailings discharge is located near the bottom of the otation cell. The solids content near the tailings discharge diers from the bottom of the pulp in terms of both total solids concentration and particle size distribution. It should also be noted that the solids content of the upper pulp region does not depend solely on the cell hydrodynamic conditions: the presence of the froth phase results in drained material (including the entrained and detached particles) returning to the pulp phase. Depending on the froth properties, the drained material may have a dierent % solids value and particle size distribution from those in the pulp and will change the suspended solids prole in the region. However, unless the drainage current (in comparison with the entrainment ow entering the froth phase) and the selectivity between dierent particle sizes in the froth are both signicant, it can be assumed that the state of the suspended solids in the top of the pulp region is independent of the froth behaviour and hence the eect of froth drainage is not considered in the classication calculation and the modelling of solids suspension in this paper. It may need to be in the future. It is often dicult to quantify the suspension status of individual minerals. However, if a particular mineral is fully liberated, its suspension status can be determined by:

X. Zheng et al. / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 5158

p ap ij xi t at ij xi

53

CFi

where ai is the assay of mineral j in the ith particle size fraction. If the eect of density on solids suspension can be neglected for dierent minerals and the mineral distribution is similar among the dierent size fractions for suspended solids, Eq. (2) can be applied for all minerals.

3. Experimental work The data included in this paper were collected from otation cells of dierent sizes (Outokumpu 3, 100 and 150 m3 tank cells) in dierent concentrators in Australia (Xstrata Mt Isa Mines copper concentrator, Perilya Broken Hill lead/zinc concentrator and Newcrest Cadia copper concentrator, respectively). The Outokumpu 3 m3 tank cell was an experimental cell and was operated under various conditions, while the others were plant cells operated under normal plant operating conditions. The solids suspension samples, which also represent samples of material entering the froth phase by entrainment, were taken from the pulp just below the pulpfroth interface. Two sampling techniques were employed. One used an in-pulp sampler, consisting of a chamber with lids on both ends that can be opened and closed separately by a mechanism on its handle. Once the sampler is immersed into the pulp and is in position, the top lid can be opened to allow the slurry (water and suspended solids only, excluding the air bubbles and

attached particles) to ow into the chamber. After the sampler is removed from the cell, the bottom lid can be opened to allow the sample to drain into a container. The second method used a funnel attached to one end of a peristaltic pump by means of a long exible hose (see set-up in Fig. 1). The funnel is located about 10 cm below the pulpfroth interface with the opening of the funnel facing upward. The pump is started once the funnel is in position. It is important that no bubbles are drawn into the sample container and at the same time that no particle settling occurs inside the tube. Generally, the pump is operated at a maximum speed (to avoid particle settling, or preferential sampling) without any bubbles coming into the sample container (from visual observation). For both techniques, samples were taken at a number of dierent points across the cross-sectional area of the cell to constitute one representative nal sample. Tailings samples were taken from the discharge streams. Once the pulp and tailings samples were taken, %solids, particle size distribution, solids SG, and if necessary, chemical assay were determined.

4. Solids suspension 4.1. Solids suspension in an Outokumpu 150 m3 tank cell at Newcrest Cadia Mine Solids suspension measurements were conducted in the rst cell of the copper rougher circuit in the Newcrest Cadia copper concentrator. The cell is a 150 m3 Outokumpu tank cell with an internal concentrate launder (ring type) and a large froth crowder. The feed to the cell contained 36.2% solids by mass with a P80 value of approximately 160 lm. Pulp samples just below the pulpfroth interface were taken at dierent locations across the cell using the in-pulp sampler. The solids suspension measurement results are summarized in Table 1 and Fig. 2. Fig. 2 clearly shows that under the prevailing plant cell operating conditions, the CF value decreases with increase in particle size in a non-linear manner. It is expected that the coarse particles would tend to settle in the lower part of the cell while the ne particles would likely follow the water and be uniformly dispersed in the entire cell pulp volume. As can be seen in Table 1,

Peristaltic pump Froth

Pulp

Sampling bucket

Fig. 1. Diagram of pulp sampling set-up using a peristaltic pump.

Table 1 Summary of the solids suspension measurement results in the Outokumpu 150 m3 tank cell at the Newcrest Cadia copper concentrator %Solids Pulp Tailings CF 29.1 36.5 )38 lm 53.4 38.6 0.99 38 lm 8.2 7.2 0.82 53 lm 11.2 9.9 0.81 75 lm 9.5 10.1 0.67 106 lm 8.8 11.8 0.53 150 lm 5.6 10.3 0.39 212 lm 2.7 7.6 0.26 300 lm 0.6 4.6 0.10

54
1.0 0.9 Classification Function 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0 100
y = 1.1155e 2 R = 0.9952
-0.0058x

X. Zheng et al. / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 5158

related to the cell hydrodynamic situation, which is a function of cell design and size and cell operating conditions such as impeller speed and air rate. 4.2. Solids suspension in an Outokumpu 100 m3 tank cell at Perilya Broken Hill Mine The solids suspension measurements in the Perilya Broken Hill lead and zinc concentrator (previously owned by Pasminco) were conducted in the rst zinc rougher cell, an Outokumpu 100 m3 tank cell. The feed to the plant cell contained 38% solids by mass with a P80 value varying between 170 and 180 lm. The cell operating conditions were able to be varied during the tests, including three dierent air rates. The pulp samples were taken at dierent locations across the cell using the inpulp sampler. The measurement results are summarized in Table 2 and Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows a similar trend to that found in Fig. 2 with a sharper decrease in the CF value with increase in particle size. In the Outokumpu 100 m3 tank cell at Broken Hill, particles over 75 lm appeared unlikely to enter the froth phase by entrainment (CF75 lm 0:2). It should be noted that this particular Outokumpu 100 m3

200 300 400 Particle Size (m)

500

600

Fig. 2. Classication function for solids suspension in the Outokumpu 150 m3 tank cell at the Newcrest Cadia copper concentrator.

particles ner than 38 lm (with a CF value close to one) behaved almost identically to the water, while few coarse particles were found in the top of the pulp region (i.e., CF300 < 0:2). It should be noted that the particle size used for the experimental data points in Fig. 2 is an average value of the neighbouring screen sizes. If an exponential curve is tted to the experimental data excluding the two end points which were less well dened, it can be found that the CF value correlates well with particle size in the following way: CFi / ekdi 4 where di is the particle size, and / and k are constants. In general, when particle size is zero, the CFi value should be exactly one. However, in practice, transportation in the slurry current is not the only mechanism responsible for the content of the suspended solids in the top of the pulp region. Entrained particles returning from the froth phase and some attached particles dropping o from the bubble surface alter the solids content. This is an inevitable part of otation process. In the interest of modelling entrainment, the term represented by the parameter / may be included in the modelling of classication function for solids suspension. Meanwhile, the parameter k in Eq. (4) is mainly

1.0 0.9 0.8

Classification Function

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0 50 100 150 200 250

Qa=8.04m3/min Qa=8.50m3/min Qa=9.53m3/min

300

350

400

450

Particle Size (m)

Fig. 3. Classication function for solids suspension in the Outokumpu 100 m3 tank cell at the Pasminco Broken Hill lead/zinc concentrator.

Table 2 Summary of the solids suspension measurement results in the Outokumpu 100 m3 tank cell at the Perilya Broken Hill lead/zinc concentrator Air rate 8.04 m3 /min Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF %Solids 17.13 40.37 17.36 41.08 19.05 40.89 )38 lm 71.77 26.58 0.824 70.18 30.03 0.704 71.76 26.88 0.908 38 lm 10.06 7.16 0.429 11.01 6.65 0.499 10.38 6.28 0.562 53 lm 8.49 10.21 0.254 9.58 9.49 0.304 8.72 9.65 0.307 75 lm 4.84 12.40 0.119 5.35 11.69 0.138 5.05 11.68 0.147 106 lm 2.73 13.18 0.0631 2.39 12.52 0.0574 2.55 12.38 0.0700 150 lm 1.61 14.72 0.0335 1.19 13.90 0.0259 1.20 14.45 0.0284 212 lm 0.41 8.97 0.0139 0.25 8.98 0.0085 0.30 9.75 0.0103 300 lm 0.084 6.77 0.0038 0.048 6.75 0.0021 0.049 8.93 0.0019

8.50 m3 /min

9.53 m3 /min

X. Zheng et al. / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 5158

55

tank cell was originally converted from a conditioning tank (Burgess, 1997), and has a higher height/diameter ratio (5.3 m in height to 5 m in diameter) than a typical Outokumpu tank cell (height/diameter ratio 1). The extended quiescent zone appeared to create a further separation between solids and water, which may be the main reason for the sharper decreasing curve obtained in Fig. 3. It should also be noted that the Broken Hill

ore, containing sphalerite and galena, has a higher density than the Cadia ore. Density plays an important role in determining solids suspension. Applying a similar model to Eq. (3) to the experimental data from the Outokumpu 100 m3 tank cell at Broken Hill, and holding the / value at one, produced the tted curves found in Fig. 3 with the following correlations:

Table 3 Summary of the solids suspension measurement results in the Outokumpu 3 m3 tank cell at the Xstrata Mount Isa Mines copper concentrator Air rate 1.10m3 /min Froth height 9.72 cm Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF Pulp Tailings CF %Solids 31.53 38.12 31.17 32.49 29.36 31.95 31.19 33.81 30.46 34.10 32.19 37.90 32.29 37.56 33.08 39.08 32.38 40.98 31.00 40.70 29.83 39.22 27.36 40.85 35.23 39.21 33.99 37.50 32.46 34.69 31.24 33.67 )38 lm 63.13 47.98 0.984 61.24 55.21 1.044 62.01 56.72 0.968 61.78 55.21 0.993 61.64 52.91 0.99 60.94 49.07 0.97 63.48 52.16 0.97 62.89 48.84 0.99 63.95 45.82 0.96 69.15 48.64 0.93 71.44 49.37 0.95 76.01 46.31 0.89 57.43 48.60 1.00 59.91 52.80 0.97 62.89 57.56 0.99 64.16 58.19 0.99 38 lm 5.40 4.84 0.835 5.98 5.71 0.986 6.10 5.97 0.905 5.53 5.64 0.869 5.98 5.75 0.88 5.55 5.12 0.84 5.58 5.31 0.83 7.10 6.60 0.83 7.75 7.10 0.75 7.51 7.19 0.68 5.13 5.24 0.65 5.37 5.18 0.56 6.33 6.00 0.89 6.61 6.22 0.91 6.61 6.07 0.98 6.40 6.45 0.89 53 lm 8.40 8.15 0.770 8.21 8.29 0.932 8.40 8.37 0.888 7.83 8.16 0.851 9.18 9.26 0.84 8.59 8.51 0.79 8.43 8.76 0.76 6.84 6.93 0.76 7.22 7.63 0.65 6.65 7.65 0.57 7.79 8.95 0.57 7.02 8.57 0.45 9.99 9.87 0.85 9.17 9.24 0.85 8.74 8.98 0.88 8.39 8.97 0.84 75 lm 8.87 10.14 0.654 9.13 9.75 0.881 9.32 10.06 0.820 8.95 9.69 0.819 9.51 10.58 0.76 9.05 10.17 0.69 8.70 10.22 0.67 7.88 9.31 0.65 8.34 10.81 0.53 7.18 10.25 0.46 6.86 10.60 0.43 5.83 10.37 0.31 10.86 11.87 0.77 9.94 11.06 0.77 9.46 10.63 0.81 8.79 10.39 0.76 106 lm 6.87 10.01 0.513 7.42 8.83 0.792 7.35 8.89 0.732 7.50 8.96 0.743 7.31 9.79 0.63 7.47 9.97 0.58 6.77 9.62 0.56 6.58 9.37 0.54 6.30 10.41 0.42 4.99 9.65 0.34 4.79 10.34 0.31 3.45 10.03 0.19 8.19 10.40 0.66 7.63 9.55 0.69 6.99 8.91 0.71 6.86 8.39 0.73 150 lm 7.33 18.89 0.290 8.02 12.21 0.618 6.82 9.99 0.605 8.42 12.34 0.605 6.38 11.71 0.46 8.39 17.15 0.38 7.04 13.93 0.40 8.72 18.94 0.35 6.43 18.24 0.24 4.52 16.63 0.18 3.99 15.51 0.17 2.32 19.53 0.06 7.20 13.27 0.46 6.74 11.13 0.52 5.31 7.85 0.61 5.40 7.61 0.63

14.41 cm

18.59 cm

23.28 cm

1.38 m3 /min

9.22 cm

13.91 cm

18.59 cm

23.28 cm

1.66 m3 /min

10.62 cm

14.80 cm

19.50 cm

24.17 cm

1.94 m3 min

10.62 cm

14.80 cm

19.50 cm

24.17 cm

56

X. Zheng et al. / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 5158

At an air rate of 8.04 m3 /h, CFi e0:01937di At an air rate of 8.50 m3 /h, CFi e0:01968di At an air rate of 9.53 m3 /h, CFi e0:01858di The values of the tting parameter k are very similar and the three tted curves nearly overlap each other despite the dierent air rates tested. In other words, air rate did not seem to have a signicant eect on solids suspension in this instance. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that the cell has a well developed quiescent zone in which the settling process is independent of the bubble population. It is likely that the inuence of air rate on cell hydrodynamic conditions reached only the middle level of the pulp phase. 4.3. Solids suspension in an Outokumpu 3 m3 tank cell at Xstrata Mount Isa Mines Solids suspension measurements were conducted in an Outokumpu 3 m3 tank cell at the Mount Isa Mines (now Xstrata) copper concentrator. The experimental cell was operated in parallel with the plant rougher otation banks under various operating conditions including four dierent air rates and, at each air rate, four dierent froth heights. The feed to the cell contained between 34% and 39% solids by mass, with a
3

P80 value between 100 and 110 lm. The pulp sample was drawn directly from the pulp across the entire cell cross-section using a peristaltic pump, as illustrated in Fig. 1. All samples were sized using screens (down to 38 lm) and a cyclosizer (for the )38 lm fraction). Each size fraction was then assayed for silica. The measurement results are summarised in Table 3 and Fig. 4. The CF values for the ne particles ()38 lm) are close to one regardless of cell operating conditions. The dierence between the ndings in the Outokumpu 3 m3 tank cell in Mount Isa and those in the large tank cells at Cadia and Broken Hill is that more coarser particles tended to disperse into the upper region of the pulp phase (higher CF values, despite the ner feed) in the 3 m3 cell, which implies that solids suspension is a function of the cell size. Exponential curves appear to t all the experimental data well, with parameter / close to one. In most cases, the curves do not separate much from each other at the dierent froth heights. It seems that the ability of the cell to suspend/disperse solid particles decreased with increase in air rate (within the operating range of air from 1.10 to 1.66 m3 /min). However, at the high air rate of 1.94 m3 /min, the CF values for coarse particles increased again.

Air Rate = 1.10 m /min

1.2 1
Classification Function

Air Rate = 1.38 m /min

1.2

0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 50 100 150 Particle Size (m)

3

Classification Function

y = 1.1235e 2 R = 0.9917

-0.0029x

1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0

200 250

y = 1.0797e 2 R = 0.9954
-0.0056x

-0.0051x

y = 1.0149e 2 R = 0.9794

-0.0026x

y = 1.0302e 2 R = 0.9944 FH=9.7cm FH=14.4cm FH=18.6cm FH=23.3cm y = 1.1582e 2 R = 0.9925

-0.0067x

-0.0026x

y = 1.0878e 2 R = 0.9988

y = 1.0828e 2 R = 0.996

-0.0042x

FH=9.2cm FH=13.9cm FH=18.6cm FH=23.3cm 0 50

y = 1.0447e 2 R = 0.9993

-0.0048x

100 150 Particle Size (m)

200

250

Air Rate = 1.66 m /min

1.2 1
Classification Function

Air Rate = 1.94 m /min

1.2
FH=10.6cm FH=14.8cm FH=19.5cm FH=24.2cm
-0.0042x

Classification Function

y = 1.0709e 2 R = 0.9978

-0.0075x

1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 50 FH=10.6cm FH=14.8cm FH=19.5cm FH=24.2cm

y = 1.1041e 2 R = 0.9891

0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 50 100 150 Particle Size (m) 200 250 y = 1.0399e 2 R = 0.9908
-0.0093x

y = 0.9874e 2 R = 0.9539 y = 1.0631e 2 R = 0.9706

-0.0029x

-0.0023x

y = 1.0471e 2 R = 0.9969

-0.0089x

y = 1.1275e 2 R = 0.9989

-0.0143x

y = 1.0598e 2 R = 0.9972

-0.0035x

100 150 Particle Size (m)

200

250

Fig. 4. Classication function for solids suspension in the Outokumpu 3 m3 tank cell at the Xstrata Mount Isa Mines copper concentrator.

X. Zheng et al. / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 5158

57

1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 Silica CFi 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

Taking into account the eect of solids suspension on entrainment, the recovery of suspended solids by entrainment should be determined by: Rent CF ENT Rw 5 where ENT is the degree of entrainment, Rent is the recovery by entrainment, and Rw is the water recovery. This step eliminates the need to assume perfect mixing in the pulp zone in order to calculate the mass of a mineral per mass of water (for a given size fraction) at the top of the pulp zone. The experimental data required to determine the degree of entrainment in all of the above tests have been collected. Degree of entrainment describes the classication process in the froth phase, the second step in entrainment recovery. A separate paper is being prepared to combine the modelling of solids suspension with the existing model of entrainment in the froth.

Total Solids CFi

Fig. 5. Classication function for silica particles in the Outokumpu 3 m3 tank cell at the Mount Isa Mines (now Xstrata) copper concentrator.

Acknowledgements The silica assay was determined for all size fractions. It was found that the classication curves for silica showed a similar trend to those for the total solids, and the exponential model Eq. (3) worked well with silica. Fig. 5 plots the calculated CFi values for the total solids against those for silica. The CFi values for the total solids are slightly greater, probably due to the assumption that silica is fully liberated and non-oatable. The close agreement between the CFi values for total solids and silica implies that CFi calculated from the total solids can be used as an estimate for silica and maybe even for all minerals. This will greatly reduce the amount of experiments, assays and liberation analyses required and simplify the calculation procedure considerably. The authors would like to thank the sponsors of the AMIRA P9 project for the funding which made this work possible. The authors would also like to thank the sta of the Newcrest Cadia concentrator, the Perilya Broken Hill concentrator (previously owned by Pasminco) and the Mt Isa (now Xstrata) copper concentrator for their support during the on-site testwork, and Outokumpu for the loan of the 3 m3 cell used in the test work at the Mt Isa (now Xstrata) copper concentrator. Finally the authors wish to acknowledge gratefully useful discussions with Mr. Martin Harris of The University of Cape Town on the contents of this paper.

References
Bisshop, J.P., White, M.E., 1976. Study of particle entrainment in otation froths. Trans. Inst. Miner. Metall. 85, C191C194. Burgess, F.L., 1997. OK100 tank cell operation at PasmincoBroken Hill. Miner. Eng. 10 (7), 723741. Cliek, E.C., Yilmazer, B.Z., 2003. Eects of hydrodynamic parameters on entrainment and otation performance. Miner. Eng. 16, 745 756. Engelbrecht, J.A., Woodburn, E.T., 1975. The eect of froth height, aeration rate and gas precipitation on otation. J. South African Inst. Mining Metall. Special Issue 76, 125132. Gaudin, A.M, 1957. Flotation. McGraw-Hill, New York. pp. 573. Guerra, E.A., Schubert, H., 2003. Eect of the suspension state on the entrainment in otation machines. In: Proceedings of the XXI International Mineral Processing Congress, Vol. B, B8a-8-15, Cape Town. Harris, C.C., Arbiter, N., Musa, M.J., 1983. Mixing and gangue dispersion in otation machine pulps. Int. J. Miner. Process. 10, 4560. Harris, T.A., 2000. The development of a otation simulation methodology towards an optimization study of UG2 platinum otation circuits. PhD thesis (unpublished), University of Cape Town, South Africa.

5. Summary and future work A classication function (CFi ) has been proposed to describe the state of solids suspension for dierent particle size fractions in a otation cell. Data collected from a number of Outokumpu otation tank cells of dierent sizes show a similar trend of exponential decline in the value of the classication function with increase in particle size. Findings to date indicate that the solids content in the top region of the pulp appears to be relatively independent of cell operating conditions such as froth height or air rate but is a function of cell size. Furthermore, the classication function values obtained for a gangue mineral are found to be similar to those for the total solids, suggesting that the values obtained from the total solids can be used as estimates for all minerals.

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