Analysis of the kinetics of the flow of wetting films in flotation processes

The work is aimed at obtaining new knowledge in the field of hydrodynamic interaction of hydrophobic surfaces in order to increase the extraction of mineral microdispersions by the flotation method. In this work, to increase the recovery of finely dispersed gold, the effect of a high rate of sticking of small particles to large ones was used by introducing carrier minerals into the pulp in the form of a crude concentrate isolated from a part of the ore. In this mode of separation of minerals in the flotation system, the content of the target component simultaneously increases, which contributes to the growth of its extraction into a commercial product. Moreover, in the operation that produces a commercial product, the flotation system is aerated for a short time (approximately 15–25% of the total) with air bubbles filled with a coolant – hot water vapor – in order to supplement the forces involved in the separation of minerals with surface forces of structural origin. In the accepted flotation mode, the influence of surface flows under the action of shear stresses – capillary-concentration, thermocapillary and thermoosmotic flows – on the kinetics of thinning and breakthrough of the interfacial film is proposed to be taken into account in the form of a correction to the slip length of the liquid in the hydrophobic gap. The correction value is expressed in fractions of the limiting thickness of the wetting film, which is determined from the condition of invariance of its thickness when the flows in the interfacial gap are equal – outflowing (due to the action of clamping force) and inflowing (Marangoni flows and thermoosmotic flow). On samples of gold-bearing ores from two deposits, experiments were carried out on gold flotation under conditions simulating a continuous process. The technological advantages of the developed scheme and regime of gold microdispersion flotation are shown in comparison with the basic technology.

Evdokimov S. I., Guseva E. A., Konstantinova M. V., Filushina E. V., Tynchenko Ya. A. Analysis of the kinetics of the flow of wetting films in flotation processes. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2023;(11-1):207-225. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2023_111_0_207.

The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Grant No. 23-27-00093.

S.I. Evdokimov, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, North Caucasus Mining-and-Metallurgy Institute (State Technological University), 362021, Vladikavkaz, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia, e-mail: eva-ser@mail.ru,
E.A. Guseva¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: el.guseva@rambler.ru,
M.V. Konstantinova¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: mavikonst@mail.ru,
E.V. Filushina^2,3, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: ies_ief@mail.ru,
Ya.A. Tynchenko^2,3, Graduate Student,
¹ Irkutsk National Research Technical University, 664074, Irkutsk, Russia,
² Reshetnev Siberian State University of Science and Technology, 660037, Krasnoyarsk, Russia,
³ Siberian Federal University, 660041, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

S.I. Evdokimov, e-mail: eva-ser@mail.ru.

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