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Minerals
Special Issues
Kinetic Characterization and Its Applications in Mineral Processing
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Kinetic Characterization and Its Applications in Mineral Processing

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 November 2025 | Viewed by 1732

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luis Vinnett

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Av. España 1680, Valparaíso, Chile
Interests: flotation; modelling and simulation; optimization; hydrodynamics and gas dispersion; process control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ahmad Hassanzadeh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geoscience and Petroleum, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Andersens veg 15a, 7031 Trondheim, Norway
Interests: particle-bubble interactions; flotation machines; surface and colloidal chemistries; kinetics and thermodynamics; ultrafine grinding; gold and silver leaching
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Diego Mesa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Interests: flotation design; multiphase fluid dynamics; froth stability; sustainable geometallurgy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Kinetic characterizations have been used extensively in mineral processing to determine the rates at which a product is obtained. These rates are related to several sub-processes in both comminution and concentration. A kinetic characterization typically consists of measuring a metallurgical index as a function of time, determining parameters associated with the decay ratios and steady performances. From these results, ore or machine features are determined, which are critical to the scale-up of metallurgical results from laboratory tests to industrial systems. Kinetic responses also allow for the comparison of different operating conditions and machines in mineral processing. Although kinetic studies are widely used in academic research and routinely conducted in industrial applications, it has widely been accepted that there is a lack of experimental and modelling standards, which has justified further investigations in this regard. Under the advancements in analytical, mineralogical and computational tools, kinetic characterizations have been expanded to incorporate different particle properties, new models and estimation algorithms, or both together. The aim of this Special Issue is to invite contributions from a group of experts to present the latest results and recent advancements in the following areas:

  • Kinetic characterizations at laboratory, pilot or industrial scales to evaluate and compare metallurgical performances.
  • Kinetic modelling and its applications in mineral processing.
  • Recent advancements in kinetic characterizations incorporating different particle properties, such as size, composition, liberation, association, among others.
  • The use of new tools, model strategies and algorithms to characterize kinetic responses in mineral processing.
  • Scale-up of laboratory results to continuous/industrial systems, and the implications for machine and circuit sizing.

Dr. Luis Vinnett
Dr. Ahmad Hassanzadeh
Dr. Diego Mesa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • flotation kinetics
  • breakage rate
  • flotation rate
  • selection function
  • scale-up
  • time-recovery data
  • flotation modelling
  • comminution modelling
  • simulation

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 693 KB  
Article
Flotation Kinetics of Copper-Bearing Shale in the Presence of NaCl and α-Terpineol
by Wojciech Nowak and Tomasz A. Ratajczak
Minerals 2025, 15(7), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15070689 - 27 Jun 2025
Viewed by 265
Abstract
This study investigates the influence of salt (NaCl) and, separately, frother (α-terpineol) on flotation of copper-bearing shale. It was shown, as expected, that increasing concentration of either NaCl or α-terpineol improves both ultimate shale recovery and the kinetics of flotation, except for very [...] Read more.
This study investigates the influence of salt (NaCl) and, separately, frother (α-terpineol) on flotation of copper-bearing shale. It was shown, as expected, that increasing concentration of either NaCl or α-terpineol improves both ultimate shale recovery and the kinetics of flotation, except for very high frother concentrations, which lead to a drop in flotation. It appears that the relationship between the first-order flotation rate constant and ultimate recovery for both applied reagents follows the same pattern regardless of the different mechanisms of NaCl and frother action. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Kinetic Characterization and Its Applications in Mineral Processing)
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18 pages, 3737 KB  
Article
On the Sensitivity of Kinetic Modeling to the Selection of Flotation Intervals in Batch Tests
by Luis Vinnett, Alex Esteban, Francisca Orellana, Marcelo Rivera and Matías Benítez
Minerals 2025, 15(6), 583; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15060583 - 29 May 2025
Viewed by 400
Abstract
Batch tests were conducted to recover copper minerals by flotation. Seven intervals (cumulative flotation times) were chosen to characterize flotation kinetics in terms of maximum recoveries, R∞, and flotation rate distributions, f(k). The responses were subsampled, removing one [...] Read more.
Batch tests were conducted to recover copper minerals by flotation. Seven intervals (cumulative flotation times) were chosen to characterize flotation kinetics in terms of maximum recoveries, R∞, and flotation rate distributions, f(k). The responses were subsampled, removing one datapoint at a time to obtain seven datasets with six time-recovery datapoints. The main objective of this subsampling procedure was to assess the sensitivity of the R∞–f(k) estimates to moderate changes and arbitrary selection of flotation intervals in batch tests. These datasets were fitted to the Single Flotation Rate (SFR), Rectangular, and Gamma models. The R∞–f(k) pairs proved to be sensitive to changes in the flotation intervals, particularly under poor model fitting and noisy kinetic responses. The former was observed with the SFR model in all cases and with the Rectangular model in one test, whereas the latter was observed with the Gamma model for the noisiest kinetic response, showing a trend to overfitting. A simplified scale-up procedure was performed, showing significant uncertainties in the predicted recoveries when the R∞–f(k) pairs were strongly influenced by different flotation intervals. The scale-up results presented a variability that was directly justified by the R∞–f(k) uncertainties, caused by the arbitrary selection of flotation intervals in the batch tests. The analysis highlights the need for more robust experimental designs in kinetic characterizations, particularly for the prediction of metallurgical results at a large scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Kinetic Characterization and Its Applications in Mineral Processing)
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10 pages, 1227 KB  
Article
Using Intensified Flotation Cells to Improve Cleaning Circuit Performance
by Paulina Vallejos, Juan Yianatos, Marcelo Rodríguez and Jorge Cortínez
Minerals 2025, 15(5), 453; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15050453 - 27 Apr 2025
Viewed by 587
Abstract
The cleaning circuit of the collective Cu-Mo flotation plant at Collahuasi (north of Chile) consisted of two parallel flotation rows, each one of three first cleaner cells in series with six cleaner–scavenger cells. The second cleaner consisted of 10 parallel columns (6 rectangular [...] Read more.
The cleaning circuit of the collective Cu-Mo flotation plant at Collahuasi (north of Chile) consisted of two parallel flotation rows, each one of three first cleaner cells in series with six cleaner–scavenger cells. The second cleaner consisted of 10 parallel columns (6 rectangular and 4 circular), whose tailings were directly recycled to the first cleaner. Recently, a project was developed to upgrade the cleaning circuit by decreasing the large Mo circulating load and improving the cleaning circuit performance. For this purpose, a testing strategy was set up at a pilot scale to evaluate the use of intensified flotation (Jameson cells), mainly for collecting the fine Mo particles accumulated in the circulating load, which contributes to the Mo losses from the scavenger stage into the final tailings. The preliminary results regarding kinetics at the pilot scale showed good potential to improve the metallurgical performance of Mo and Cu, and a sensitivity study was carried out to evaluate the application of this technology in the industrial cleaning circuit. Then, two parallel Jameson cells were selected to re-treat the whole column tailings stream. This operation allowed for the generation of a direct final Cu-Mo concentrate (that joins the columns concentrate) while recycling their tailings to the first cleaner. After commissioning, three sampling campaigns were performed on the whole flotation plant, particularly on the overall cleaning circuit, to evaluate the impact of the new flotation cells. Results showed that the Jameson cells effectively decreased the minerals circulating loads in the cleaning stage, mainly for Mo (in 49%). The Jameson cells directly contribute 48% of Mo and 25% Cu of the minerals in the final concentrate and allow for increasing the Mo final grade (0.45% Mo vs. 0.29% from columns). These results were in good agreement with predictions from the pilot testing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Kinetic Characterization and Its Applications in Mineral Processing)
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