AN APPROACH TO CHARACTERISE FROTHER ROLES IN FLOTATION

Cesar O. Gomez and James A. Finch McGill University Department of Mining and Materials Engineering Daniela Muoz-Cartes Minera Escondida

INTRODUCTION
Frother roles in flotation

It is generally agreed that frothers play two major roles in flotation:

Reduction of bubble size by preserving bubble formation size; and Froth stabilization by influencing water carrying and drainage in the froth.

Frother characterization efforts have been focussed:

Measuring bubble formation and velocity (mostly for single bubbles); or Bubble coalescence or water drainage during formation or collapsing of a froth layer.

It has been demonstrated that a significant interaction between zones exists; therefore, frother effects should be characterized allowing this interaction to occur.

INTRODUCTION
Previous work
Reduction of bubble size by preventing coalescence
5

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

INTRODUCTION
Previous work
Critical Coalescence Concentration (CCC)
5

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

CCC (Critical Coalescence Concentration)

2

0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

INTRODUCTION
Previous work
Frothers affect gas holdup (same gas flow rate)
20 F150 1-Octanol 15 MIBC 1-Pentanol

GAS HOLDUP, %

10

0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, mmol/L

INTRODUCTION
Previous work
Water carrying rate (same froth depth)
0.5

WATER OVERFLOW RATE, cm/s

0.4

F-150 1-Octanol MIBC 1-Pentanol

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0 0 10 20 30 40

GAS HOLDUP, %

OBJECTIVES

Develop a laboratory technique to simultaneously characterize frother roles in flotation. The following features were considered necessary:
Simultaneous measurement of three parameters: critical coalescence concentration (CCC), water carrying rate, and gas holdup in the collection zone; Continuous interaction between the collection and froth zones during measurements; Automated operation, particularly on-line automatic control of froth depth and volumetric gas flow rate in the test section; and Automated monitoring and registering of process variables.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Laboratory column flotation
Db F Overflow water

PVC column; Assembled with flanged sections; Height: 3.7 m; Diameter: 0.1 m.
T

DP Test section

P1

Underflow control valve

SS porous sparger P2 F Air Feed tank Peristaltic pump

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Measurement of bubble size
McGill bubble size analyzer (MBSA)
Db F

DP

P1

P2 F Air

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Sparger details
Db F

Sliding sparger to facilitate installation;

DP

Dispersing component is an exchangeable SS porous cylinder; Cylinders with different porosities are available.
T
P1

P2 F Air

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Sparger details
Db F

DP

P1

P2 F Aire

RESULTS
Effect of air flow rate on bubble size
(10 ppm of DF250)
40

Jg = 0.5 cm/s

NUMBER FREQUENCY, %

Jg = 1.0 cm/s
30

Jg = 1.5 cm/s

20

10

0 0 1 2 3 4 5

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

RESULTS
Effect of sparger porosity on bubble size
(DF250, Jg = 1 cm/s)
5

Sparger 1 (coarser)

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

Sparger 2 (finer)

0 0 20 40 60 80 100

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

RESULTS
Effect of air flow rate on CCC
(DF250, Sparger 1)
5

Jg = 0.5 cm/s

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

Jg = 1.0 cm/s
4

Jg = 1.5 cm/s

0 0 20 40 60 80 100

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

RESULTS
Typical characterization measurements
(DF250, sparger 1, Jg = 1 cm/s )
5 25
0.25

Bubble size Gas holdup

WATER OVERFLOW RATE, cm/s

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

20

0.20

GAS HOLDUP, %

15

0.15

10

0.10

0.05

0 0 20 40 60 80 100

0.00 0 5 10 15 20 25

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

GAS HOLDUP, %

RESULTS
Comparison of frother roles
(MIBC vs. DF260)
5 0.20

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

WATER OVERFLOW RATE, cm/s

MIBC DF250

MIBC DF250
0.15

0.10

0.05

0 0 20 40 60 80 100

0.00 0 5 10 15 20

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

GAS HOLDUP, %

RESULTS
Measurement reproducibility
(DF 250, bubble size)
4

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

Repeat 1 Repeat 2 Repeat 3 Repeat 4 Repeat 5

0 0 25 50 75 100 125

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

RESULTS
Measurement reproducibility
(DF250, collection zone gas holdup)
25

20

GAS HOLDUP, %

15

10

Repeat 1 Repeat 2 Repeat 3 Repeat 4 Repeat 5

0 0 25 50 75 100 125

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Laboratory column flotation
Db F Overflow water DP Test section

P1

T Underflow control valve

SS porous sparger P2 F Air Feed tank Peristaltic pump

RESULTS
Measurement reproducibility
(DF250, water overflow rate)
0.06

WATER OVERFLOW RATE, cm/s

0.05

0.04

Repeat 1 Repeat 2 Repeat 3 Repeat 4 Repeat 5

0.03

0.02

0.01

0.00 0 5 10 15 20 25

GAS HOLDUP, %

RESULTS
Plant frother replacement
(DF250)
4

0.20

WATER OVERFLOW RATE, cm/s

BUBBLE DIAMETER, mm

DF250 Frother 1 Frother 2 Frother 3

0.15

DF250 Frother 1 Frother 2 Frother 3

0.10

0.05

0 0 25 50 75 100 125

0.00 0 10 20 30

FROTHER CONCENTRATION, ppm

GAS HOLDUP, %

CONCLUSIONS

The results obtained in this work demonstrated:

Frother effects on gas dispersion can be effectively used to characterize frother roles by determination of:
The CCC to characterize bubble size reduction; and The minimum gas holdup to produce water overflow for a selected froth depth.

The gas holdup in the collection zone correlates with water overflowing the froth, which have the potential to describe interactions between zones; Frother strength in one role does not necessarily reproduce in a different role; and Measurements in a laboratory column with no solids were useful to decide replacement of a frother in an industrial operation.