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• Maldonado, M
• Araya, R
• Finch, J
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• Araya, R
• Finch, J
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• Araya, R
• Finch, J

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Minerals 2012, 2(4), 258-271; doi:10.3390/min2040258

Article

An Overview of Optimizing Strategies for Flotation Banks

Miguel Maldonado, Rodrigo Araya and James Finch*

Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A2B2

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 4 July 2012; in revised form: 23 August 2012 / Accepted: 12 September 2012 / Published: 10 October 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mineral Processing)

Download PDF Full-Text [347 KB, uploaded 10 October 2012 11:09 CEST]

Abstract: A flotation bank is a serial arrangement of cells. How to optimally operate a bank remains a challenge. This article reviews three reported strategies: air profiling, mass-pull (froth velocity) profiling and Peak Air Recovery (PAR) profiling. These are all ways of manipulating the recovery profile down a bank, which may be the property being exploited. Mathematical analysis has shown that a flat cell-by-cell recovery profile maximizes the separation of two floatable minerals for a given target bank recovery when the relative floatability is constant down the bank. Available bank survey data are analyzed with respect to recovery profiling. Possible variations on recovery profile to minimize entrainment are discussed.

Keywords: air profiling; mass-pull; peak air recovery (PAR); optimization; flotation bank

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