Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 347352

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Flotation scale up: use of separability curves q

J.B. Yianatos
a

a,*

, L.G. Bergh a, J. Aguilera

Department of Chemical Engineering, Santa Mara University, Valparaso, Chile

b
Divisi
on Salvador, Codelco-Chile, El Salvador, Chile
Received 31 October 2002; accepted 17 January 2003

Abstract
Separability curves (mineral recovery versus yield) have been used to characterize the copper otation process both at batch
laboratory scale and industrial plant scale (rougher banks). Then, to approach the scale-up problem the rougher bank operation and
the batch were compared using the corresponding separability curves. Comparison was made at the maximum separation eciency
point in both operations. Thus, a time factor was established for optimal technical separation. The time factor can then be used for
kinetic scale-up models, together with the ratio between minerals recovery in both operating scales. Experience from several tests
recorded over a period of 10 months in an industrial concentrator showed a good consistency for scaling-up the rougher otation
recovery from batch tests within a 1% absolute error range.
The eect of particle size and air owrate in laboratory batch tests was evaluated in the space of separability curves, regarding
their eect on recovery at the optimum separability point. Also, the eect of pulp level and particle size on the bank otation kinetics
was evaluated in an industrial otation circuit. Thus, estimation of recovery changes due to variations in mineral characteristics and
operating conditions was explored.
2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Flotation; Scale-up; Particle size; Optimal separability

1. Introduction
The otation scale-up problem is complex because
the mineral characteristics (grade, size, mineralogy), cell
characteristics (geometry, power consumption, energy
dissipation, bubble and particle size distribution), reagent conditioning and operating conditions (air owrate, pulp level, froth transport and discharge facilities)
are dierent and variable in batch and plant operation.
Time scale up factors for otation kinetics prediction
are generally derived by comparison of industrial otation banks and laboratory batch cell recovery. However,
in plant practice it is common to nd very low mineral
recoveries in the last cells of the rougher banks. Thus, a
direct time comparison between the overall bank performance and the batch operation, at the same recovery,
can introduce large errors. A better approach was to
simulate the bank performance in order to estimate the
q
Presented at Minerals Engineering 02, Perth, Australia, September
2002.
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: juan.yianatos@pqui.utfsm.cl, jyianato@pqui.utfsm.cl (J.B. Yianatos).

otation rate constant and recovery at innite times,

and then to compare these parameters with those estimated from batch otation (Yianatos et al., 2000). Even
so, there is a lack of standard reference for batch tests
and results are strongly dependent not only on mineral
characteristics, such as particle size and grade, but also
on otation operating conditions such as air rate and
pulp level. An alternative way to approach this problem
is to compare the rougher bank operation and the batch
otation using the corresponding separability curves.
1.1. Separability curves
Separability curves represent the evolution of the
mineral separation of a particular otation process in
terms of the concentrate mineral recovery and the process yield dened as the ratio between concentrate and
feed mass owrates. Also, considering the x-axis as the
ratio between process yield and feed grade, it is possible
to estimate the average concentrate grade by the slope of
the straight line resulting from connection of any recovery point of the curve with the origin. In addition,
any straight line tangent to the curve represents the incremental concentrate grade at that point. According to

0892-6875/03/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0892-6875(03)00024-4

J.B. Yianatos et al. / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 347352

Agars principle (Agar et al., 1980), this property can be

used to estimate the optimal separability point, when the
concentrate incremental grade equals the feed grade.
Separability curves depend on feed characteristics
and mineral conditioning as well as on characteristics
and operation of otation cells. Thus, assuming a
standard batch test gives the best otation separation
for a non-perfectly liberated mineral, the batch separability curve can be used as an ideal target for plant operation. In this approach the combined eect of the
concentrate grade and recovery can be observed at the
optimal separability point.
2. Flotation process modelling
The particle collection rate is based on fundamental
particle-bubble collision and/or cavitation and adhesion
processes (Schulze, 2002). However, from a practical
point of view, the overall otation process is generally
well represented by a rst order kinetic model (Polat and
Chander, 2000). Thus, mineral species recovery in continuous industrial otation equipment can be described
by the general equation,
Z 1Z 1
rt r1
1  ekt F kEt dk dt
1
0

where r1 represents the maximum otation recovery at

innite time. The term 1  ekt represents the mineral
recovery of a rst order process with invariant kinetic
rate constant k, as a time function. F k is the kinetic
constant distribution function for mineral species with
dierent otation rates, and Et is the residence time
distribution function for continuous processes with different mixing characteristics.
The simplest F k distribution is the rectangular distribution which allows accounting for dierent kinetic
properties of complex minerals, while maintaining the
parsimony principle of using a reduced number of parameters. The rectangular distribution model is described as follows,
1
F k
for 0 < k < kmax
2
kmax
F k 0 for 1 > k > kmax
2.1. Batch otation modelling
The mineral recovery in a batch otation test can be
estimated from Eqs. (1) and (2), with Et dt by,
1  1  ekmax t 
rt r1
kmax t

2.2. Rougher otation modelling

For N continuous perfect mixers-in-series, with a
total residence time s, Eq. (4) has shown a good agreement to represent the residence time distribution of the
rougher plant (Yianatos et al., 2002).
tN 1 e s
Et  N
s
CN
N
N t

Thus, the following Eq. (5) can be derived from Eqs. (1),
(2) and (4) for mineral recovery,


 
s 1N
1  1  1 kmax
N
Rs R1
5
kmax s
N

1
N

3. Experimental
Experimental work was developed at laboratory and
plant scale at Divisi
on Salvador, Codelco-Chile. Batch
otation was developed at the Metallurgical Laboratory, using two standard Wemco cells of 2.7 (L) and 5.3
(L). Two kinds of tests were considered: (a) predictive
monthly tests using ore samples, and (b) special tests to
study the eect of dierent variables, such as particle size
and air rate on batch performance. Plant testing was
developed in the rougher otation circuit, consisting of
ve parallel otation banks. Each bank provided with
nine self-aerated Wemco cells of 42.5 m3 (1500 ft3 ) in
arrangement 333. Rougher otation performance was
evaluated on the basis of daily overall sampling (three
shifts), and also special tests for kinetic characterization
of the rougher bank were developed.
3.1. Batch otation characterization
Fig. 1 shows an example of the data over a monthly
predictive batch test using Eq. (3).

100

80

Cu Recovery, %

348

60

40

Data

where rt and r1 are the mineral recovery at time t and

the maximum recovery at an innite time, kmax is the
maximum rate constant of a rectangular F k distribution and t is the eective residence time.

20

Model

0
0

10

15

20

Time, min

Fig. 1. Batch otation data tting.

25

30

J.B. Yianatos et al. / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 347352

349

16

Cumul. Grade

14

Increm. Grade

12

Cu Grade, %

Feed Grade
10
8
6
4
2
0
60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

Cu Recovery, %

Fig. 4. Eect of air owrate on batch separability curves.

Fig. 2. Grade or incremental grade versus recovery in batch otation.

Data from the same experience in Fig. 1, can be

represented in a grade-recovery space, or an incremental
grade-recovery space, in order to visualize the optimal
separability point where the incremental grade equals
the feed grade, as it is shown in Fig. 2.
An alternative way of representing the batch process
is the separability curve. In this approach the maximum
technical separability point corresponds to the point of
tangency of the feed grade line, as it is shown in Fig. 3.
3.2. Eect of air rate on batch separability curves
The change of air owrate was evaluated regarding
their eect on recovery for the optimum separability
point. Thus, estimation of recovery changes due to
variations in mineral characteristics and operating conditions was explored. Fig. 4 shows the comparison of
batch separability curves at two air owrates, low and
high, corresponding to 6 and 10 l/min. From Fig. 4 it is
shown that at higher air owrate the nal copper recovery and the nal yield were both higher than for the

lower air owrate. Similarly, for the same recovery, the

concentrate grade decreased at higher air owrates. In
both conditions optimal separation was achieved at
similar recoveries, however the time was lower for the
higher air owrate. This result shows how sensitive the
ideal separability is in terms of the operating conditions.
3.3. Eect of grinding level on batch separability curves
Among other variables, separability curves strongly
depend on particle size, or otherwise on mineral liberation. For example, Fig. 5 shows a series of batch tests
developed at the same otation conditions but varying
the grinding level from 5% to 30% 212 lm. Here, it
can be seen that the grinding eect became signicant at
recoveries higher than 50% where the separability curves
start to deviate more rapidly from the dash line representing the copper grade of the pure mineral. In this
case, copper recovery for optimal separation varied
from 70% to 85%, whereas the coarse particles content
decreased from 30% to 5% 212 lm. The dash line

100
100

90

80

80

Recovery of Cu, %

Cu Recovery, %

90

70

60

Batch
50

Feed

70
5% +212 um
60

15% +212 um

50

20% +212 um
25% +212 um

40

30% +212 um
30

Min. Grade

20

Feed Grade

10

40

10

15

Yield / feed grade

Fig. 3. Separability curve in batch otation.

20

10

15

Yield / feed grade

Fig. 5. Eect of grinding on batch separability curves.

20

J.B. Yianatos et al. / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 347352

represents the maximum ideal separability, while the

continuous straight line corresponds to the feed grade
and represents the case of a perfect sampling without
separation.
3.4. Eect of pulp level on rougher otation operation
The eect of pulp level was observed from a kinetic
study performed in two parallel rougher otation banks.
Sampling and overall mass balances per size class were
developed by local sampling (around three cells) along
the bank. The pulp level was increased in one rougher
bank and the performance was compared with the
rougher bank operating in parallel under normal conditions. Results showed a moderate increase of 2.7% in
the nal copper recovery, as it is shown in Fig. 6.
However, comparison of separability curves of both
operations, in Fig. 7, showed a critical eect in the
middle section of the bank operating at high pulp level,
where the concentrate overow increased dramatically,
thus generating a signicant entrainment and an in-

100

Recovery of copper, %

90
80

90
80
70
60
50

Size: + 212 um

40

Size: +75-212 um

30

Size: +45-75 um

20

Size: -45 um

10

Feed grades

0
0

10

15

20

Yield / feed grade

Fig. 8. Separability curves for dierent particle size classes in rougher

otation.

crease in the overall yield above normal ranges. Also,

the nal concentrate grade showed a strong decrease
while the overall pulp residence time increased. The
signicance of this experience is that sometimes a small
modication in operating conditions, i.e. pulp level, can
signicantly destabilize the overall circuit performance,
despite the expected result of achieving an increase in
recovery. This problem arose because of an improper
operation of the level control system in the middle of the
bank.
3.5. Eect of particle size on rougher plant operation

70
60
50

High level
Low level

40
30
0

12

Cell number

Fig. 6. Eect of pulp level in two parallel otation banks.

100

90

Recovery of copper, %

100

Recovery of copper

350

80

70

Fig. 8 shows the separability curves for four particle

size classes in a rougher otation bank operating under
normal conditions. Maximum recovery of 95.2% was
achieved in the medium size class, +4575 lm, and a
minimum recovery of 30% was obtained for the coarser
mineral, +212 lm. In both cases the nal separability
was very good. However, the nest size class, )45 lm,
only reached an 80.3% nal recovery, with an overall
yield signicantly higher than other classes. The reason
is that the nest particle size class has a signicant entrainment, particularly in the rst three otation cells of
the bank, where the cumulative concentrate grade (slope
of the curve) was the lowest despite the nest mineral
being better liberated.
In summary, feed characteristics and their conditioning as well as experimental operating conditions,
both at laboratory and plant scale, can signicantly affect the comparison for scale up purposes.

60

Feed Grade
Low level

50

4. Scale-up factors

High level

40
0

10

15

20

25

30

Yield/ feed grade

Fig. 7. Eect of increasing pulp level in rougher otation banks.

35

The following two dimensionless variables, from Eqs.

(3) and (5), were found to be reasonably constant while
comparing the batch laboratory and rougher plant operations,

J.B. Yianatos et al. / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 347352

Kmax sPlant kmax tLab





Rs
rt

R1 Plant
r1 Lab

6
7

Then, the following scale-up factors were selected at the

optimum separability point,
s kmax

t Kmax
Rs R1

rt
r1

8
9

The parameters to evaluate are the otation times s and

t, as well as recoveries Rs and rt, for plant and laboratory otation at the optimal separability point.
The proposed method was tested by comparing the
average monthly rougher recovery with the recovery of
monthly batch tests. Both operations were rstly characterized by their corresponding separability curves and
then compared at the optimal separability point. Here,
optimal technical separation refers to the point where
the concentrate incremental grade, tangent to the curve,
is equal to the feed grade.
Fig. 9 shows an example of this approach where data
from batch and plant rougher operation was compared
using separability curves.
Separability curves for the rougher otation circuit
was based on the average recovery calculated from daily
recorded data (three shifts) on feed, concentrate and
tailings grade, as well as average feed tonnage and pulp
density. The data was processed in a rougher otation
simulator to generate the corresponding separability
100

351

curves. The simulator was previously validated from

kinetic otation sampling developed on the same
rougher banks. An example of average monthly data
and their standard deviation is presented in Table 1.
Fig. 10 shows the results for the scale-up factor corresponding to the ratio between plant s NT and
laboratory t otation times, evaluated at the optimal
separability point, considering repeats in the monthly
batch otation predictions. The average result over a
period of 10 months was,
sPlant
2:26
0:35
10
tlab
On the other hand, it was found that the scale-up
factor corresponding to the ratio between plant and
laboratory recoveries, Eq. (9), was strongly dependent
on the % of soluble copper in plant operation. Fig. 11
shows the eect of soluble copper content (%) on the
ratio between plant and laboratory otation recovery,
both evaluated at the optimal separability point. This
relation was correlated by the following equation, considering the maximum (R=r) ratio as a function of the
soluble copper content,
Rs
1:045  0:00945 % soluble copper
rt

11

In summary, using Eqs. (8)(11) the parameters for

plant simulation, Kmax and R1 , can be derived from
batch otation characterization by kmax and r1 .
Fig. 12 shows the comparison between the actual
rougher recovery and the rougher recovery estimated
from batch tests, using scale-up factors and simulation
of the rougher circuit operation for the same conditions.
From Fig. 12 it can be seen that for the testing period of

(NT/ t) at optimal separability

Recovery of Cu, %

90

80

70

Batch Lab.

60

Rougher Plant
50

Feed Grade

40

10

15

20

10

11

Month

Yield / feed grade

Fig. 9. Separability curves for batch and rougher plant operation.

Fig. 10. Comparison of otation time between plant and laboratory at

optimal separability.

Table 1
Rougher operating conditions, monthly average
Month

Feed %Cu

Soluble Cu (%)

% 212 lm

Throughput TPD

Cu recovery (%)

Solid (%)

November
December
January

0.715
0.033
0.697
0.028
0.722
0.005

9.16
1.68
7.52
0.86
8.03
1.94

24.46
1.56
22.92
1.61
22.35
0.27

34,590
2368
32,680
4015
31,567
486

81.38
1.31
83.71
1.35
83.79
0.39

35.96
0.57
35.24
0.61
35.05
0.31

352

J.B. Yianatos et al. / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 347352

(R /r) at optimal separability

data
model

0.98

0.96

0.94

0.92
0.9

0.88
4

10

12

14

16

Soluble copper, %
Fig. 11. Eect of soluble copper on the ratio between plant and batch
recovery at optimum separation.

88

mance, based on separability curves, was developed and

evaluated in order to estimate scale-up factors.
This approach is more robust and less sensitive to the
laboratory and rougher otation operation, particularly
the last cells in the rougher bank.
Experience from several tests recorded over a period
of 10 months in an industrial concentrator showed a
good consistency for scaling-up the rougher otation
recovery from batch tests within a 1% absolute error
range.
The signicant eect of changing operation variables
such as particle size and air owrate at laboratory scale
was evaluated for predictive purposes. It was also found
that maximization of the rougher otation recovery, by
increasing pulp level, is critically limited by the quality
of the pulp level control system.

Acknowledgements

Plant copper recovery

86

The authors are grateful to El Salvador Division of

Codelco-Chile for providing access to their plant and for
valuable assistance in the experimental work. Funding
for process modeling and control research is provided by
CONICYT, project Fondecyt 1020215, and Santa
Mara University, project 270122.

84
82
80
78
76

References

74
74

76

78

80

82

84

86

88

Estimated copper recovery

Fig. 12. Estimated versus plant recovery from scale-up model tting.

10 months the scale-up procedure shows a reasonable

good result with a maximum deviation of about 1% in
plant copper recovery.

5. Conclusions
A standard comparison between laboratory batch
otation tests and industrial rougher otation perfor-

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