The Use of Radioactive Tracers to Detect and Correct Feed Flowrate Imbalances in Parallel Flotation Banks

Abstract

This work presents the application of radioactive tracers to detect and correct feed flowrate imbalances in parallel rougher flotation banks. Several surveys were conducted at Minera Los Pelambres concentrator, in banks consisting of 250 m3 mechanical flotation cells. The feed pulp distribution was estimated from the mean residence times, which were obtained from residence time distribution measurements. The tracer was injected in the feed distributor and the inlet and outlet tracer signals of cells 1 and 2 were measured by on-stream sensors. The baseline condition for the pulp distribution was defined by the valve settings in the feed distributor, which led to an unbalanced condition for two parallel rougher banks, with 34% of the pulp being fed to bank A and 66% to bank B. New valve configurations were evaluated, with a fraction of the feed being directed to the rougher bank C, which was not initially fed from the same distributor. The feed distribution was finally balanced with 49% of the pulp being fed to bank A versus 51% to bank B. Thus, the radioactive traces proved to be a powerful tool to industrially detect and improve feed distributions in parallel flotation circuits.

Keywords

• flotation
• radioactive tracers
• feed flowrate distribution
• residence time