Humped Flow Channel in Drum Magnetic Separator Leads to Enhanced Recovery of Magnetic Seeds in Magnetic Flocculation Process

This study examines the effect of smooth and humped flow channels on the recovery of industrial magnetic seeds in a drum magnetic separator. The results demonstrate that under varying feeding slurry quantities and drum rotational speeds, the humped channel consistently achieves higher recovery rates compared with the smooth channel, with an improvement of up to 3%. Scanning electron microscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry analyses of the samples reveal the presence of a small amount of impurities (predominantly consisting of elements, such as Al, Si, and Ti) in the industrial magnetite magnetic particles. These impurities exhibit lower magnetization, leading to reduced capture efficiency in the conventional smooth-channel drum magnetic separator. Simulations of the magnetic field, flow field, and particle trajectory indicate that the magnetic field force at the bottom of the smooth channel is only 0.6 kg²/(m·s⁴·A²), i.e., approximately 18 times lower than that at the roller surface. The incorporation of a humped channel shifts the impure magnetic seeds from a region with low magnetic field force to a region with higher magnetic field force, significantly enhancing the capture efficiency of the impure magnetic seeds.