212 Wills’ Mineral Processing Technology space of the thickener, oxidation of liberated parti- cles may occur in the thickener, which may affect subsequent processes, especially froth flotation. The hydrocyclone This is a continuously operating classifying device that utilises centrifugal force to accelerate the settling rate of particles. Its one of the most impor- tant devices in the minerals industry, its main use in ‘mineral processing being as a classifier, which has proved extremely efficient at fine separation sizes. It is widely used in closed-circuit grinding oper- ations (Napier-Munn et al., 1996) but has found ‘many other uses, such as de-sliming, de-gritting, and thickening. It has replaced mechanical classifiers in many applications, its advantages being simplicity and high capacity relative to its size. A variant, the “water-only-cyclone”, has been used forthe cleaning ‘of fine coal (Osbome, 1985) and other minerals A typical hydrocyclone (Figure 9.13) consists cof a conically shaped vessel, open at its apex, or underflow, joined to a cylindrical section, which hhas a tangential feed inlet. The top of the cyli drical section is closed with a plate through which passes an axially mounted overflow pipe. The pipe is extended into the body of the cyclone by a short, removable section known as the vortex finder, roane 5. ] Figure 9.13 Hydrocyclone (trom Napior-Munn et al, 1996; Courtesy JKMRC, The University of Queensland) which prevents short-circuiting of feed directly into the overflow. ‘The feed is introduced under pressure through the tangential entry which imparts a swirling motion to the pulp. This generates a vortex in the eyclone, with a low-pressure zone along the vertical axis. An air core develops along the axis, normally ‘connected to the atmosphere through the apex opening, but in part created by dissolved air coming ‘out of solution in the zone of low pressure. ‘The classical theory of hydrocyclone action is that particles within the flow pattern are subjected to two opposing forces an outward centrifugal force andan inwardly acting drag (Figure 9.14). The centrifugal force developed accelerates the settling rate of the particles thereby separating particles according t0 size, shape, and specific gravity. Faster settling particles move to the wall of the cyclone, where the velocity is lowest, and migrate to the apex opening. Due to the action of the drag force, the slower-settling particles move towards the zone of low pressure along the axis and are carried upward through the vortex-finder to the overflow. Radius of orbting parle cer Contrgel oa tore Moto of pantie Figure 9.14 Forces acting on an orbiting particle in the hydrocyclone ‘The existence of an outer region of downward flow and an inner region of upward flow implies a position at which there is no vertical velocity. This applies throughout the greater part of the cyclone body, and an envelope of zero vertical velocity should exist throughout the body of the cyclone (Figure 9.15). Particles thrown outside the envelope of zero vertical velocity by the greater centrifugal force exit via the underflow, while particles swept to the centre by the greater drag force leave in the overflow. Particles lying on the envelope of zero velocity are acted upon by equal centrifugal and drag forces and have an equal chance of reporting either to the underflow or overflow. Jorma tetera mereSEpMEENE LGR Figure 9.15. Distribution of the vertical and radial ‘components of velocity in a hydrocyclone Experimental work reported by Renner and Cohen (1978) has shown that classification does not take-place throughout the whole body of the cyclone as the classical model postulates. Using a high-speed probe, samples were taken from several selected positions within a 150-mm diam- eter cyclone, and were subjected to size anal- ysis. The results showed that the interior of the cyclone may be divided into four regions that contain distinctively different size distributions (Figure 9.16) Essentially unclassified feed exists in a narrow region A adjacent to the cylinder wall and roof of the cyclone, Region B occupies a very large part of the cone of the cyclone and contains fully clas- sified coarse material, ie. the size distribution is practically uniform and resembles that ofthe coarse underflow product. Similarly, fully classified fine material is contained in region C, a narrow region surrounding the vortex finder and extending below the latter along the cyclone axis. Only in the toroid- shaped region D does classification appear to be taking place. Across this region, size fractions are radially distributed, so that decreasing sizes show Classification 213 Figure 9.16 Regions of similar size distribution within eycione maxima at decreasing radial distances from the axis. The cyclone was nun at low pressure, $0 the region D may be larger in production units. Hydrocyclones are almost universally used in grinding circuits (Figure 9.17) because oftheir high capacity and relative efficiency. They can also clas- sify over a very wide range of sizes (typically 5-500m), smaller diameter units being used for finer classification, Cyclone efficiency ‘The commonest method of representing cyclone efficiency is by a performance or partition curve (Figure 9.18), which relates the weight fraction, for percentage, of each particle size in the feed Which reports to the apex, or underflow, to the particle size. It is analogous to the partition curve for density separation (Chapter 11). The cut point, ‘or separation size, of the cyclone is defined as the size for which 50% of the particles in the feed report to the underflow, i.e. particles of this size have an equal chance of going either with the over- flow or underflow (Svarovsky, 1984). This point214 Wills’ Minaral Processing Technology Figure 9.17 Ball mill n closed cirout with rocyciones, Batu Hijau mine, Indonesia (Courtesy JKMAG and JiTech Ply Ltd) 3 Feed appearing in undertow, % a Size (um) Figure 9.18 Partition curve for hydrocyclone is usually referred to as the dsp size. The sharp- ness of the cut depends on the slope of the central section of the partition curye; the closer to vertical the slope, the higher is the efficiency. The slope of the curve can be expressed by taking the points at which 75 and 25% of the feed particles report to the underflow. These are the dys and dos sizes, respectively. The efficiency of separation, or the so-called imperfection J, is then given by dys— ds 2d Many mathematical models of hydrocyclones include the term “corrected dy." taken from the rected” classification curve. Kelsall (1953) suggested that solids of all sizes are entrained inthe coarse product liquid by short-cireuiting in direct proportion to the fraction of feed water reporting to the underflow. For example, if the feed contains 16th"' of material of a certain size, and 12th reports tothe underflow, then the percentage of tis size reporting to the underflow, and plotted on the normal parti- tion curve, is 75%. However, if, say, 25% of the feed water reports to the underflow, then 25% of the feed material will short-circuit with it; therefore, 4th” of the size fraction will short-circuit to the underflow, and only 8th leave in the underflow due to classification, ‘The corrected recovery of the size fraction is thus (0.14) ‘The uncorrected partition curve can therefore be ‘corrected by utilising the equation ya2ik I-k where y’ is the corrected mass fraction of a pa ular size reporting to underflow, yi the actual mass fraction of a particular size reporting to the under- flow, and R is the fraction of the feed liquid which is recovered in the coarse product stream, The corrected curve thus describes particles recovered to the underflow by true classification. It should be noted that Kelsall’ assumption has been ques- tioned, and Flintoff et al. (1987) reviewed some of the arguments. However, the Kelsall correction has the advantages of simplicity, utility, and familiarity through long use. Figure 9.19 shows uncorrected and corrected classification curves. ‘The method of construction of the partition curve can be illustrated by means of an example. It is easily performed in a spreadsheet. Suppose (9.15)09) 1% ood to undertow eo Ge ( Sizo—— Figure 9.19 Uncorrected and corrected classification curves a cyclone is being fed with quartz. (density 2700kgm-*) in the form of a slurry of pulp density 1670kgm_®. The cyclone underflow density is 1890kgm-*, and the overflow 1460kgm™~*. Using Equation 3.6, the percentage solids by weight in the cyclone feed is 63.7%. Therefore, the lution ratio (water-solids ratio) of feed is, 36.3 7 Similarly, the underflow and overflow dilution ratios can be calculated to be 0:34 and 1,00 respec- tively. If the cyclone is fed at the rate of Fth™ of dry solids and the underflow and overflow mass flow- rates are U and Vth! respectively, then, since the total amount of water entering the cyclone must equal the amount leaving in unit time O.STF=034U+V =0.57 \34U + (F-U) 652 The underflow is thus 65.2% of the total feed weight and the overflow is 34.8% of the feed. Classification 215 ‘The performance curve for the cyclone can now be prepared by tabulating the data as in Table 9.1. Columns 1, 2, and 3 represent the sereen anal- yyses of the overflow and underflow, and columns 4 and 5 relate these results in relation to the feed ‘material. Column 4, €...is prepared by multiplying the results of column 2 by 0.652. Adding column 4 10 column 5 produces column 6, the reconst- tuted size analysis of the feed material. Column 8 is determined by dividing each weight in column 4 by the corresponding weight in column 6, Ploting column 8 against column 7, the arithmetic mean of the sieve size ranges, produces the partition curve, from which the dsp (177.5 jm) can be determined, ‘The partition curve can be corrected by utilising Equation 9.15. The value of R in this example is 65.20. 100x057 ~ Lynch and Rao (reported in Lynch [1977 describe the application of the “reduced efficiency curve”, which is obtained by plotting corrected weight percentage of particles reporting to the underflow against the actual size divided by the comected dgy (Figure 9.20), and suggests that it can be used to derive the actual performance curve after any changes in operating conditions, the curve being independent of hydrocyclone diam- ter, outlet dimensions, or operating conditions. ‘A number of mathematical functions have been suggested to describe the reduced efficiency curve. ‘The commonest are. reviewed by Napier-Munn eral. (1996), Although partition curves are extremely useful in assessing classifier performance, the minerals engi- neer is usually more interested in knowing fineness of grind (ie. cyclone overflow size analysis) than the cyclone dso, A simple fundamental relationship between fineness of grind and the efficiency curve of a hydrocyclone has been developed by Kawatra and Seitz (1985), 39 Mathematical models of hydrocyclones Many attempts have been made to capture the key relationships between hydrocyclone operating and geometrical variables in models for use in design and optimisation, with some success. Progress is being made in using computational fluid dynamics216 Wills’ Mineral Processing Technology Table 9.1 a @) a @ 0 6) ” 6) Sice (um) We Wi % offeed Reconstiuted Nominal size Sof feed (arithmetic feed uF oF ur On mean) VE F168 “7 rae 96 5 1000 na wae 142 sss 1000 295-589 250 59 163 24 184 422.0 886 208-295 14 90 48 34 79 2515 ws, 187-208 63 17 41 a 82 1773 500 10-147 43 2 34 39 70 128s 443 74-108 29 79 19 27 46 wo 413 -74 mm 54301289 30.1 = 372 oval 100 100281000 demonstrates some of the process trends well, but z cannot be used directly in practical design or oper- : ational situations. : ‘The most widely used of the published empir 5 ical models are probably those of Pitt (1976) 2 ‘and Nageswararao (1995, though first published in zg 1978). Plitt published a slightly modified form of Figure 9.20 Reduced efficiency curve to model hydrocyclones from first principles (e.g. Brennan et al,, 2003; Nowakowski et al, 2008) though this approach is very computationally- intensive and not yet mature. All the models commonly used in. practice are sill essentially ‘empirical in nature. Bradley's seminal book (1965) listed eight equa tions for the cutsize, and these have increased significantly since then. Bradley's own equa- tion based on the equilibrium orbit hypothesis (Figures 9.14 and 9.13) was: (525) Qc(0, — Pr) where D; = cyclone diameter, p= fuid viscosity, ,— feed flow rate, p,— solids density, py = fluid density, n= hydrodynamic constant (0.5 for particle laminar flow), k= constant incorporating other factors, particularly cyclone geometry. d, (9.16) his model in 1980 (Flintoff et al, 1987). These ‘models, based on a phenomenological description of the provess with numerical constants determined from large databases, are described in Napier-Mum. tal, (1996) and were reviewed and compared more recently by Nageswararao etal, (2004), Plit’s modified model for the corrected cut size gg) in microns is: 39.7 D8 DP DI?" 5 exp(0.063C,) (DAP 40% goss (a3 dae @.17) where D,, Dj, Dy, and D, are the inside diame- ters of the cyclone, inlet, vortex finder, and apex respectively (cm), 7 isthe liquid viscosity (cP), C, is the feed solids volume concentration (%), h is the distance between apex and end of vortex finder (cm), kis a hydrodynamic exponent to be estimated from data (default value for laminar flow 0.5), is the feed flow rate (Umin), and p, is the sotids density (g/em'). Note that for non-circular inlets, D,= V4A/a where A (cm?) is the cross-sectional area of the inlet.‘The equation for the volumewie flow rate of slurry to the cyclone, Q,, is: aia all pepe a exp(O003C,) B vier Piste pressure drop sro the cyclone in KPa (1 psi =6.896 kPa). F, and F, in Equations 9.17 and 9.18 are material-specific constants that must te determined from texts with the fod material eceoed Plitt also reports equations for the flow split between underflow and overflow, and for the effi- ciency parameter in the reduced efficiency curve. Ncpevvacras' model tna eas for eurecied cot tan, preeame-low ‘ale, end flow ‘split, though not efficiency. It also requires the esti- mate of feed-specific constants from data, though first approximations can be obtained from libraries ‘of previous case studies, This requirement for feed-specific calibration emphasises the important effect which feed conditions have on hydrocyclone performance. Asomah and Napier-Munn (1997) reported an empirical model which incorporates the angle of inclination of the cyclone, as well as explicitly the slurry viscosity, but this has not yet been validated into largestlo use which bus been enjoyed by the Pit and Nagenwararao models “asf general approximation forthe flow rate i hydrocyclone 095 x 10°VP D Flow rate and pressure drop together define the useful work done in the cyclone: (9.18) (9.19) PQ Power =o kW (9.20) = flow rate (m°/h), P= pressure drop (kPa), and D= cyclone diameter (cm). The power can be used as a first approximation to size the ‘pump motor, making allowances for head losses and pump efficiency. ‘These models are easy to incorporate in spread- sheets, but are particularly useful in process design and optimisation using dedicated computer simula- tors such as JKSimMet (Napier-Munn et al., 1996) ‘and MODSIM (King, 2001), or the flowsheet simu- lator Limn (Hand and Wiseman, 2002). They can also be used as a virtual instrument or “soft sensor” (Morrison and Freeman, 1990; Smith and Swartz, Classification 217 1999), inferring cyclone product size from geom- etry and operating variables as an alternative t0 using an on-line sizer (Chapter 4). Scale-up and design of hydrocyciones A preliminary scale-up from a known situation (eg. a laboratory or pilot plant test) 19 the unknown (eg. a full production installation) can be done via the basic relationships between cut-size, eyclone diameter, flow rate, and pressure drop. These are: amo) (4) (3) Ge) (21) and Fa($ (9.22) where P is pressuite drop, Q flow rate, D cyclone diameter, the subscripts | and 2 indicate the known ‘and scale-up applications respectively, and n,_ are constants which are a function of the flow condi- tions. The theoretical values (for dilute slurries and particle laminar flow in small cyclones) are: m= 15, m=0.5, ny=0.5, 1, 0, and ng =4.0, The constants to be used in practice will depend on conditions and which particular model is favoured. In particular, high feed solids concen- trations will substantially influence both cut size (Gncrease) and pressure drop at a given flow rate (reduce). There is no general consensus, but in most applications the following values will give more realistic predictions: ny = 1.54, n,=0.43, m= 0.72, ny=0.22, ns =2.0, and n,=3.76, ‘These relationships tell us thatthe diameter, flow rate, and pressure must be considered together For example, cut-size cannot be scaled purely on cyclone diameter, as a new diameter will bring either a new flow rate or pressure or both. For example, if it is desired to scale to a larger eyclone at the same cut size, then dq, = dy, and Dy = D,(P,/P,)™!™. Classification efficiency can sometimes be improved by arranging several cyclones in series to re-treat overflow, underflow or both. Svarovsky (1984) has pointed out that if V cyclones with iden- tical classification curves are arranged in series, cach treating the overflow of the previous one, then