The Use of Radioactive Tracers to Detect and Correct Feed Flowrate Imbalances in Parallel Flotation Banks

Felipe Henríquez, Luis Maldonado, Juan Yianatos, Paulina Vallejos, Francisco Díaz and Luis Vinnett
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Felipe Henríquez: Minera Los Pelambres, Antofagasta Minerals, Salamanca 1950410, Chile
Luis Maldonado: Minera Los Pelambres, Antofagasta Minerals, Salamanca 1950410, Chile
Juan Yianatos: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Paulina Vallejos: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Francisco Díaz: Trazado Nuclear e Ingeniería, Santiago 7760016, Chile
Luis Vinnett: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile

J, 2022, vol. 5, issue 2, 1-11

Abstract: This work presents the application of radioactive tracers to detect and correct feed flowrate imbalances in parallel rougher flotation banks. Several surveys were conducted at Minera Los Pelambres concentrator, in banks consisting of 250 m 3 mechanical flotation cells. The feed pulp distribution was estimated from the mean residence times, which were obtained from residence time distribution measurements. The tracer was injected in the feed distributor and the inlet and outlet tracer signals of cells 1 and 2 were measured by on-stream sensors. The baseline condition for the pulp distribution was defined by the valve settings in the feed distributor, which led to an unbalanced condition for two parallel rougher banks, with 34% of the pulp being fed to bank A and 66% to bank B. New valve configurations were evaluated, with a fraction of the feed being directed to the rougher bank C, which was not initially fed from the same distributor. The feed distribution was finally balanced with 49% of the pulp being fed to bank A versus 51% to bank B. Thus, the radioactive traces proved to be a powerful tool to industrially detect and improve feed distributions in parallel flotation circuits.

Keywords: flotation; radioactive tracers; feed flowrate distribution; residence time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I10 I12 I13 I14 I18 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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