eo MINERAL PROCESSING The application of residence time distributions to flotation and mixing circuits J.E. NESSET Mattabi Mines Ltd. Ignace, Ontario ABSTRACT This paper discusses the importance of considering residence time distribution (RTD) in the design of flotation and mixing circuits and in the analysis of operating problems, The experi- fences and successes of Brunswick Mining in this area are covered and include: the development of @ practical RTD ‘measurement technique using pulp conductivity, baffle installa tion o improve the RTD of existing process equipment, and the ‘method in which RTD considerations have been used to design the newest flotation and conditioning operations. Introduction ‘The use of residence time distributions (RTDs) in the design and analysis of unit operations is well understood by the chemical engineering profession' while mineral processing engineers hhave tended to rely on empirical and rule-of-thumb factors. For example, in scale up from laboratory and pilot test results to full size flotation plant design, empirical rules are often used to establish residence time and number of cells in the bank. Cole- rman® suggests a factor of at east 2, and up to $ for gold ores, be applied to laboratory determined flotation times. This is fur- ther illustrated in Table 1, taken from Denver equipment”). ‘The number of cels in Series to achieve the required retention time while minimizing shor-cicuiting has generated a variety of conclusions” (Table 2). Obviously there is less than complete ALE. Nesset Jan Baward Nesset recived ¢ BEng. (metallurgical) from McGill University stitution in I9BD. From 1979 1986 Jan [Nesset was employed with Norands's Brunswick Mining. operation near Bathurst, New Brunswick, as concen- ‘rator metallurgis, project meallurgst and senior metallrgst. Since 1987 he has Bee wil superintendent at Noranda's Mattabi Mines oper ation near Ignace, Ontaria, ‘Mr. Nesset has authored numerous papers relating to magnetic property measurement and high gradient magnetic separation of {aconites and sulphides, pressure filtration of concentrates, ss well a5 trinding and flotation operations, “He ise member of CIM, Keywords: Mineral processing, Flotation, Residence time dstibuton ‘agreement on the subject. Young notes that a clear difference of opinion has emerged and cites as extremes, () the publica- tions of Outokumpu® showing unimpaited recovery for its largest machines (38 m') compared to equivalent retention times for numerous smaller machines, and (i) the experiences of Eastern European countries where the practice iso install banks ‘of 30 units or more, operating in series, often with unit retention times of only a fraction of a minute. ‘The empirical factors used by engineers presumably account for other than tested feed conditions, inefficiencies in large con- tinuous machines, inevitable day-to-day circuit disruptions, sradual equipment deterioration and any other safety factor the engineer feels compelled to incorporate. An understanding of RTD concepts and techniques should help the practicing mineral engineer to develop more soundly based factors. This paper relates the experiences of Brunswick Mining in using RTD tech- niques in the unit operations of flotation and mixing. Theoretical Aspects Consider a process vessel of volume V, being fed a slurry at a volumetric flowrate, Q. The slurry mean residence time in the vessel, s gven by: i- vg ‘The Muid and mineral particles do not all stay in the vessel the same length of time; some may exit after a very short time (resulting in short-cireuiting) and others remain for a much Tonger time. This can be represented by a “residence time distribution”* or RTD, which is simply a probability function against time. ‘The simplest method of determining the RTD of a vessels by the stimulus-response method in which a tracer is introduced to the vessel infet stream at time zero. The outlet stream is ‘monitored either continuously or discretely to detect how passage through the vessel has distributed the input signal. The simplest response to analyze is from a pulsed input, Figure | shows an RTD curve, resulting from a pulsed input, measured concentration, C, "in the vessel exit stream. ‘An RTD curve is characterized by it first two moments, i the ‘mean residence time, and ot, the variance. The mean residence time reflects mass transport phenomenon in that it defines the relationship between the vessel volume (V) and volumetric feedrate (Q). The variance, in turn, reflects the degree of mix- ing which occurs within the vessel. Both may be readily deter- ‘mined from discrete measurement values by the following Approximations. Measured concentrations are fist normalized so that the total area under the curve equals unity, ie. Paper reviewed and approved for publication by the Canadian Mineral Processors Division of CIM. CCIM Bulletin, November 1988 8eel pulse npat Tracer cutout et euve Ke ator ZEA where CC = normalized concentration E = measured concentration 24, time interval ‘The mean residence time is found from: where fea ecm ge abit! Fea * EG 3% av = Ey Cay since EC abe “The variance is found from: _ fice 4 EG ay cee ca = ERG ay - 2 discrete time value srete concentration value For several closed vessels in series, the over-all mean residence TABLE 1. Typical flotation residence times compar- ing laboratory and industrial conditions (Ret. 3) Usual industial Denver lab col Material flotation times (min) {Hlotable form) times (min)* _ (0:2 or 0-12 cel) Bante B40 45 Coal 35. 23 Copper 13.16 oa Effluents e12 a5 Fluorspar B10 a5 Feldspar 8:10 34 ‘Lead 68 35 Molybdenum 1420 87 Nickel 1014 67 oil 48 23 Phosphate 48 23 Potash 48 23 Sand (impurity flotation) 7.8 34 Silica (ron ore) 810 35. a (phosphate) 45 23 Tungsten B12 56 ‘ine. B12 86. “For roughing applications; fr cleaning, he rotenton time ie between ‘6087880 ofthe roughing time fora particular mineral, thee Side 15 50%-05% ofthe normal roughing soli 6 FIGURE 2. RTD cures for varios degrees of dspesion as ‘measured by the D/UL parameter (rom Levenspe) time and variance are simply the sum of the individual values: pred = Ee It is sometimes convenient to express these parameters in dimensionless time units: G =i a y= “(the reative variance) with the mean dimensionless residence time equal to unity by Sefinition: ‘There are two types of ideal flow; plug flow in which the ‘uid stream passes through the vessel without mixing with the vessel contents, and fully mixed flow in which the fluid ele ments are immediately dispersed throughout the tank volume. ‘Actual flow has components of both types of ideal low. Most modelling of RTD curves has made use of either dis persion or tanks-in-series models. A thorough discussion of the various models and their applicability is covered in the text bby Levenspiel\0. The degree of mixing has been quantified by Levenspiel for closed vessels through the application of @ dispersion model and a dimensionless group called the "vessel dispersion number", D/UL, a parameter which measures the ‘extent of axial dispersion and where D = axial dispersion coefficient L = length of vessel U = anil id velocity in vest For elosed ves, Levens! found og = So zorwL-210/UL PA - et-ULID) forthe famly of curves shown in Figure 2. 'A plot of the preceeding equation appears in Figure 3 and may be sed determine B/UL values for experimental RTD caves one tro have bom cst” Aword of can isin order thse relaonsip ar for closed vessel (id Eaters and eaves solely by pug ow) and lose thee apical: iy where very lage amounts of dispersion sre preset Volume 81, No. 919FIGURE 3, The relative variance asa function of D/UL after Levenspid, Nevertheless, itis possible to use the D/UL parameter to predict the extent of reaction (or recovery) which will occur. Figure 4 has been developed by Levenspiel, assuming first- order reaction kinetics, and relates the real to plug flow (or batch) volume, V/V,, D/UL and the extent of the reaction, Xq (expressed in the figure as I-X,), An Example: Lime Slaking I it has been determined in the laboratory that batch lime slaking requires 15 minutes forthe reaction to go to 98% com- pletion, what mean residence time should be designed for two Inseries mixers in a continuous plant operation so as to achieve the same extent of reaction? Assuming that through cither prior RTD measurement on single mixers or reference ‘material one knows that o,, the relative variance, is 0.8, use is ‘made of the additive nature of the variances to calculate the expected og? for two units, namely 0.4. Use is then made of Figure 3 to obtain the corresponding D/UL (=0.3). For an Xq of 0.95 and a D/UL of 0.3, Figure 4 shows that a real to plug flow volume (or time) ratio of approximately 1.8 will be re- 4uired. The two plant mixers should, therefore, be designed to provide a total mean residence time of 27 minutes (1.8 x 15 minutes). Dobby and Finch” have applied the preceeding method of reactor scale-up, assuming frst order kinetics, to column flo- tation with considerable success. The reader is again referred to the text by Levenspiel which covers the concepts and appli- FIGURE 4. Comparison of real vs eal flow (ue. plug flow) equieed volumes, V/Vp, (rom LevenspieD. cations of RTDs in detail and with great clarity. His chap- ter on diagnosing ills of operating equipment should prove particularly enlightening to plant operators. In sum- ‘mary, it need only be said that RTD concepts are easy to grasp and apply and that the results can be interpreted both qualita- tively as well as quantitatively. At Brunswick Mining much of this work has been carried out by engineering students Measurement of Residence Time Distribution Measurement Techniques RTD measurement involves the introduction of a tracer to the vessel feed stream and either periodic sampling (discrete ‘method) or continuous monitoring (continuous method) of the tracer in the vessel discharge. In a processing plant one is most often concerned with the behaviour of the solids. The use of solid tracers, though by no means impossible, does tend to add to both the complexity and cost of the test. The practice at Brunswick Mining has been 10 use liquid phase tracers and to ‘make the assumption thatthe liquid phase ofthe slurry closely approximates the behaviour of the solids phase. Dobbyt!® has shown thatthe validity of this approximation is a function of Particle size and improves with decreasing particle diameter. At the very fine sizes present in the Brunswick flotation circuit, TABLE 2. Literature sampling on the required number of flotation cells in series Recommended number of Publication calls ‘Additional Roterence et In sories Comments Sutherland, O.N. ‘A study of the optimization of the arrange 68 Usually sufficient ment of flotation circuits (4) Churchill, M Large flotation machine development and 78 For typical sulphides Degner, WA. ‘operation (8) Abiter, Ny Design of flotation cells an circuits (6) 1244 12 minimum Weiss, N, Wilson, R.A. 1218 12 minimum Dawson, HA Nit Experiences with large Outokumpu flotation 6s 4 minimum Tarvainon, M machines (8) for large cells itu, Discussion period 45 Degner, V.A, Authors’ replies, 63 Dominici, P XiVIM PC. 1012 Minimum Lawrence, GA. Toronto, Canada (1982) (9) 48 CCIM Bulletin, November 1988 ”