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Modeling the size–density partition surface of dense-medium

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Article  in  International Journal of Mineral Processing · September 2003

DOI: 10.1016/S0301-7516(03)00118-2

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 Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443 – 453
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijminpro

Modeling the size–density partition surface

of dense-medium separators
B. Venkoba Rao, P.C. Kapur, Rahul Konnur *
Tata Research Development and Design Centre (TRDDC), 54B, Hadapsar Industrial Estate, Pune 411 013, India

Received 5 July 2002; received in revised form 6 June 2003; accepted 1 July 2003

Abstract

A stochastic model is proposed for describing the size – density partition surface in dense-medium (DSM) gravity/centrifugal
separators. The model is obtained by super-imposing a random walk on a simplified particle flow behavior inside the separator.
The novel feature of the model is that it permits a description of the partition surface without incorporating the pivot
phenomenon, i.e., without considering the partition number at the pivot point. The model also yields analytical expressions for
the cut size, cut density and the ecart probable. The computed separation indices are in agreement with existing empirical
relationships. Data from the published literature have been used to test the validity of the model in representing the partition
surface.
D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: modeling; size – density separation; partition surface; dense-medium separators

1. Introduction medium suspension. Particles of different sizes,

Dense-medium (DSM) gravity/centrifugal separa-
tors are widely used in the mineral processing industry
for classifying particles by density and size. Vast
quantities of coal and mineral fines in a rather broad
size range of 0.5– 100 mm are treated in a host of
dynamic separators, such as dense-medium (DSM)
cyclone, Vorsyl separator, Larcodems, Chance Cone
Separator, Dyna Whirlpool, Tri-Flo separator and
others. In these systems, the feed to the separator
consists of de-slimed coal or ore particles in a dense-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-20-4042310; fax: +91-20-
4042399.
E-mail address: rahulk@pune.tcs.co.in (R. Konnur).
shapes and densities are separated from each other
due to the differential settling rates in the dense-
medium fluid whose density can be controlled. The
presence of centrifugal force in centrifugal separators
enables separation of fine particles at a rate faster than
that achievable in gravity-only concentrating units.
The performance of a dense-medium separator is
conveniently reported in the form of a partition
surface. Any point on the surface is a partition
number, which corresponds to the fraction of feed of
given size and density reporting to the underflow or
sink. Ferrara and Schena (1987) provided a schematic
representation of the general partition surface, i.e., a
three-dimensional plot of partition number as a func-
tion of size and density, under ideal conditions of a
homogeneous Newtonian fluid and free settling of

0301-7516/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0301-7516(03)00118-2
444 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453

particles. An illustrative plot of a partition surface

generated by a stochastic model—discussed latter—is
shown in Fig. 1. The partition surface is a function of
operating conditions such as solid volume concentra-
tion and medium viscosity (Davis and Napier-Munn,
1987; Ferrara and Schena, 1987; Scott and Napier-
Munn, 1992). This surface may become steeper or
flatter depending on changes in media and ore char-
acteristics and separator design parameters. Sectioning
of the surface by planes normal to the density axis
yields a family of density-based partition curves,
shown in Fig. 2. Similarly, sectioning of the surface
by planes normal to the size axis yields a family of
size-based partition curves, shown in Fig. 3. In the
former case, particles of density less than the separa-
tion density show reverse classification. In other Fig. 2. Density based classification curves for different particle
words, the particle recovery to underflow decreases densities generated from Fig. 1.
with an increase in particle size. Regardless of density,
as particle size decreases, the density-based partition
curves flatten, and as particle size approaches zero, tion process/equipment. The pivot phenomenon
the partition curve becomes completely flat with the could arise in solid –liquid density separation sys-
partition number equal to the fluid recovery in the tems owing to the presence of particles with neutral
underflow. buoyancy which, irrespective of their size, will
As shown in Fig. 3, under the above mentioned separate in the same proportion as the medium pulp.
idealized conditions at least, the size-based partition This implies that the partition curves pass through a
curves pass through a unique pivot point whose single point, the so-called pivot point. The coordi-
coordinate is a characteristic of the specific separa-

Fig. 1. A typical partition surface generated using the stochastic

model (Eq. (18)). The parameter values are A =
23.373  10
3, Fig. 3. Size-based classification curves for different particle sizes
B =
0.63, c = 1.611 and qp = 1497. generated from Fig. 1.
 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453 445

nates of the pivot points, namely, the pivot density

qp and the pivot partition number Yp are referred to
as the pivot parameters. In the past, while many
authors have observed the pivot phenomena in
experimental data (Collins et al., 1983; King and
Juckes, 1984; Restarick and Krnic, 1991), its exis-
tence has also been utilized for the purpose of
process modeling by Scott and Napier-Munn (1992).
In practice, ferrosilicon or magnetite solids that
make up the media in a dense-medium suspension
themselves settle under the influence of gravity/cen-
trifugal forces. This settling causes segregation of the
media particles according to their size and density (in
a manner similar to the partitioning of ore particles)
and results in density gradients within the separating
unit. As a consequence, the density of the underflow
medium is greater than the density of the overflow
medium and, as seen in Fig. 4 (see discussion in
Section 5), the experimental partition curves for
different particle sizes may not cut at a single point
but over a region.

2. Background and current separator models

The efficiency of separation represented by the

partition surface can be improved or controlled at an
optimum level provided a mathematical parametric
representation of the partition surface and the corre-
lations between partition surface parameters and op-
erating and design variables of the separating unit are
established.
A survey of the status of modeling and simulation
of dense-medium separation processes at the begin-
ning of the 1990s was provided by Napier-Munn
(1991). Two of the better-known mathematical models
for the performance of classifiers in a single particle
attribute are due to Lynch (1965) and Plitt (1971).
Using data obtained from several experimental tests,
Lynch applied the following Whiten’s regression
equation to describe the classification curve of a
hydrocyclone classifier by size

expðaxÞ
1
Y¼ ð1Þ
expðaxÞ þ expðaÞ
2
Fig. 4. (a, b and c) Comparison of size based separation curves
generated by the stochastic model for low, medium and high values Plitt derived a simple model for the classification
of SSE. curve by assuming that mixing due to the turbulence
446 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453
within the classifier is responsible for imperfect sep-
aration in the classifier. Plitt’s model equation is given
by
m Yj ¼
Y ¼ 1
exp½
x lnð2Þ ð2Þ
In these models, Y is the corrected efficiency of
separation, i.e., the corrected fraction of feed passing
to the underflow, x = d/d50 is the ratio of the particle
size d and the particle size corresponding to 50%
separation d50. The parameters a and m reflect the
sharpness of separation. Note that similar expressions
with different values of parameters can be written for
classification of particles by density q.
While the Lynch and Plitt models are reason-
ably adequate for describing the classification
curve for size-only (or density-only) separation,
these are not convenient for representing the par-
tition surface of size – density separation in dense-
medium type equipment. This is because a direct
extension from one attribute (say, density) to two
attributes (density and size) would require a
knowledge of the d50 value for each density or
density class. Lynch and Napier-Munn (1986) and
Scott and Napier-Munn (1992) got around this diffi-
culty by utilizing the pivot point phenomenon as a
constraint for extending the Lynch model for density
partition curve to a size – density partition surface.
These authors begin with the Lynch reduced partition
equation in discrete density intervals
expðaqj =q50 Þ
1
Yj ¼ ; j ¼ 1; 2 . . . ð3Þ
expðaqj =q50 Þ þ expðaÞ
2
Here, Yj is the partition number defined as the
weight fraction of density species qj in the feed that
reports to sink after separation, q50 is the cut density
and a is a shape parameter. The ecart probable, Ep,
which reflects the separation inefficiency at the given
particle size, is given by


q75
q25 q50 3ð3ea
2Þ
Ep ¼ ¼ ln ð4Þ
2 2a ea þ 2
For typical values of a which tend to be greater
than 4
lnð3Þq50
Ep ¼ ð5Þ
a lnð3Þ
Substitution of a from Eq. (5) into Eq. (3), fol-
lowed by some simplification yields
1
ð6Þ
1 þ exp½1:099ðq50
qj Þ=Ep
This is a logistic function, which was also proposed
independently by Klima and Luckie (1989). Imposing
the conditions that (i) all size-based partition curves
pass through the pivot point Yp at particle density qp,
and (ii) all these partition curves at different particle
sizes are linked to the partition surface through an
empirical power law of ecart probable expressed in
particle size (Scott and Napier-Munn, 1992)
Ep ¼ kd n ð7Þ
where the proportionality constant k incorporates the
effect of viscosity and the strength of forces acting
within the separator, while the parameter n is related to
the flow conditions prevailing within the separator. Eq.
(6) transforms to the particle size –density partition
surface in percent partition number coordinate as
follows
100
Y ¼
1þ exp½lnðYp
1
1Þ þ 1:099ðqp
qÞ=ðkd n Þ
ð8Þ
This model consists of four parameters YP, qP, k
and n that can be estimated from the experimental
data. Although not derived by the authors, expressions
for cut size and cut density can be extracted from the
model Eq. (8). For the sake of completeness, the
derived relations for the two separation parameters
are given below
!ð 1n Þ
lnð3Þ ðq
qp Þ
d50 ¼ ð9Þ
k lnðYp
1
1Þ
It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the above expression
for cut size is defined for
1. q>qP, when YP V 0.50 (i.e., for YP V 50%)
2. q < qP, when YP z 0.50 (i.e., for YP z 50%)
kd n
q50 ¼ qp þ lnðYp
1
1Þ ð10Þ
 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453 447

Note that the functional form of Eq. (10) is similar tively. Given particle size and density and liquid
to the one proposed independently by Collins et al. viscosity, this equation can be used to calculate the
(1983). transient particle position h(t), which denotes the
A different approach for modeling separation in position of a particle relative to the entry point h = 0
dense-medium separators has been recently devel- at time t
oped by Hu et al. (2001). They employ a modified
suspension model for predicting the partition curves hðtÞ ¼ ðvs
vl Þt þ Vr t ð12Þ
of smaller size fractions using experimental data
The velocity Vr a random variable which deter-
obtained from density tracer tests carried out using
mines the probability of a particle reporting to float or
large size particles in dense-medium cyclones. This
sink stream, can be written as
approach is based on the work of Schubert and Neese
(1973) and Clarkson and Wood (1993), who have hðtÞ
developed a general model for turbulent cross-flow Vr ¼ þ vl
vs ð13Þ
t
wet classification.
In this work, a stochastic model is proposed for Next, the central limit theorem is invoked to justify
describing the size – density partition surface in that the random velocity Vr is normally distributed
gravity/centrifugal dense-medium separators without with zero mean and variance r2. The cumulative
invoking the pivot phenomena. The model is a distribution function form of the random velocity is
phenomenological model obtained by considering a 

simplified particle flow behavior inside the separator. 1 Vr
FðVr ; 0; rÞ ¼ 1 þ erf 0:5 ð14Þ
It is seemingly much more general and versatile than 2 2 r
the existing models in the sense that it yields analyt-
ical expressions for various performance indices of Substitution of Eq. (13) into Eq. (14) yields the
dense-medium separators. Moreover, as shown in following distribution in h
Appendix A, it is possible to derive the Scott and 

1 h þ vl t
vs t
Napier-Munn model from the proposed model. Y ðhÞ ¼ 1 þ erf
lVhVl
2 20:5 tr
ð15Þ
3. Stochastic model
This equation represents the transient partition
surface at a height h and at time t. It can be seen that
Following Klima and Luckie (1989), it is assumed
Y(-l) = 0 and Y(l) = 1, thus fulfilling the boundary
that the separator is fed at an arbitrary height h = 0.
conditions for a distribution function. At height h = 0
Inside the separator, the movement of the particles is
(where the feed enters the separator), or as time t ! l
governed by: (i) gravity force, (ii) hydrodynamic force
(at any height in the vessel), Eq. (15) is reduced to
due to fluid flow and (iii) random forces resulting
from interparticle interactions coupled with circular 1h  v
v i
s l
motion. Under the influence of these forces, particles Y¼ 1
erf ð16Þ
2 20:5 r
either move to the sink stream at h = l, or the float
stream at h =
l. It is assumed that fluid flow This implies that under steady-state conditions, the
opposes particle settling. The instantaneous velocity destination (overflow or underflow stream) of a particle
of a particle is given by of given size and density is completely determined by a
normally distributed random process associated with
dh the relative velocity of the particle given by (vs
vl). A
¼ vs
vl þ Vr ð11Þ convenient expression for settling velocity of solid
dt
particles is given by Johnson et al. (1996)
where vs, vl and Vr are the settling velocity of the
particle, drift velocity due to flow of the fluid or gd c ðq
qp Þ
vs ¼ 0 < cV2 ð17Þ
medium and random velocity in the separator, respec- 18l
448 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453

where g is acceleration due to gravity, qp is the
medium density and l is medium viscosity. Substi-
tuting Eq. (17) in Eq. (16) and lumping variance and
the other constants into the terms A and B yields the
following equation for partition surface expressed as
a percentage
Y ¼ 50½1
erf ðAd c ðq
qp Þ
BÞ
where
g
A¼ pffiffiffi
18 2lr
and
vl
B ¼ pffiffiffi
r 2
A, B, c and qp are the parameters of the size – density
partition surface. The parameters A and c together
account for the following effects: (i) viscosity of the
medium; (ii) turbulence in the system; (iii) hindered
settling; and (iv) particle shape. A three-dimensional
plot of the size – density partition surface obtained
using the stochastic model given by Eq. (18) is shown
in Fig. 1.
4. Model validation
The validity of the model was tested on 16 sets of
ð18Þ published experimental data by Palowitch and Deur-
brouck (1979), Collins et al. (1983), King and Juckes
(1984), Ferrara and Schena (1987), Restarick and
Krnic (1991) and Scott and Napier-Munn (1992).
ð19Þ Table 1 gives best-fit parameters for each of the
experimental data sets. It should be noted that these
data were obtained from different types of gravity/
centrifugal separators, which are indicated in the table.
The data sets 14 – 16 in Table 1, taken from the work
ð20Þ of Ferrara and Schena (1987), are for the separation of
media particles only, separated into magnetic and non-
magnetic fractions. The Levenberg– Marquardt least-
squares minimization technique was used to obtain
the best fits of the parameters from the partition data
and the sum of squared errors (SSE). The flow
parameter c, which is indicative of the flow condi-
tions prevailing within the separation zone of the

Table 1
Summary of partition surface parameters of the stochastic model and sum of squared errors (SSE) for gravity/centrifugal separator data taken
from the literature
S. No. Separator typea Stochastic model Reference Remark

3
B qp A  10 c SSE
1 DSMC
0.630 1497
23.373 1.611 0.285 Scott and Napier-Munn (1992) Survey 1.1
2 DSMC
0.200 1454
8.774 1.159 0.393 Scott and Napier-Munn (1992) Survey 1.2
3 DSMC 0.183 1431
7.432 1.022 0.332 Scott and Napier-Munn (1992) Survey 1.3
4 DSMC
0.540 1563
4.188 1.117 0.282 Scott and Napier-Munn (1992) Survey 2.1
5 DSMC
0.312 1554
4.694 0.970 0.245 Scott and Napier-Munn (1992) Survey 2.2
6 DSMC 0.081 1551
3.817 1.062 0.168 Scott and Napier-Munn (1992) Survey 2.3
7 DSMC
0.325 1336
1.098 1.474 0.282 Scott and Napier-Munn (1992) Survey 3.1
8 DSMC
0.367 1403
20.908 0.596 0.055 King and Juckes (1984)
9 VORSYL
0.652 2758
2.663 0.459 0.116 Collins et al. (1983) Fig. 9
10 DSMC
0.057 1219
32.087 0.773 0.043 Restarick and Krnic (1991)
11 DSMC
0.887 3009
2.596 1.067 0.171 Lynch and Napier-Munn (1986)
12 CCS
0.897 1329
1.899 0.781 0.029 Palowitch and Deurbrouck (1979)
13 DSMC
0.605 1311
2.049 0.688 0.061 Palowitch and Deurbrouck (1979)
14 TRI FLO 0.114 2462
14.370 1.631 0.052 Ferrara and Schena (1987) Fig. 8
15 TRI FLO 0.117 2572
4.587 1.117 0.064 Ferrara and Schena (1987) Fig. 9
16 MDC
0.595 3817
8.520 0.796 0.020 Ferrara and Schena (1987) Fig. 10
Pivot partition number Yp is expressed as a fraction, particle size d is in millimeters and density qp is in kg/m3.
a
DSMC, dense-medium cyclone; VORSYL, Vorsyl separator; TRI FLO, tri-flow separator; MDC, media densifying cyclone; CCS, chance
cone separator.
 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453
separator, varies from a low of 0.46 to a high of
about 1.63. It should be noted that the flow parameter
is expected to be close to 2 for laminar flow
conditions and decreases as the flow undergoes a
transition to the turbulent flow regime (Johnson et
al., 1996). For a better appreciation of the fit
obtained, Fig. 4 shows three representative model
simulations for low, medium and high values of
SSE.
5. Discussion
The partition surface represented by Eq. (18) is
the cumulative form of a standard normal distribu-
tion in A(q
qp)d c
B. This means that a plot of
A(q
qp)d c
B versus Y results in a standard
normal distribution curve N(0, 1) with all experi-
mental points collapsing onto this curve. The mean
of this curve occurs at a partition number of 50%,
where the particle-settling velocity A(q
qp)d c is
balanced by fluid drift B as discussed later in this
section. This validates the assumption of taking zero
mean in the derivation of the stochastic model. At
steady state, owing to the properties of the normal
distribution, a plot of the partition number Y versus
A(q
qp)d c or (qUqp)d c will result in all the
experimental points (from a single experiment)
collapsing onto a single curve. Typically in the
former case, the partition curve shifts by B units
either to the left or right of the standard normal
distribution curve N(0,1) based on the value of B
being negative or positive, respectively.
It will be seen that the model Eq. (18) for the
partition surface has been obtained without incorpo-
rating the pivot phenomenon as a constraint. In fact,
the pivot partition number Yp can be readily obtained
from Eq. (18) for an idealized homogeneous and
Newtonian medium and a given feed medium density
qf = qp
Yp ¼ 50½1 þ erf ðBÞ ð21Þ
This relation suggests that the pivot partition num-
ber Yp is dependent on parameter B, which incorpo-
rates the particle drift due to fluid velocity. The drift
velocity B takes negative (positive) values when
Yp < 50% (>50%).
449
At the cut size d50 for a given particle density, or
equivalently at the cut density q50, for a given particle
size, the partition number is 50%. This implies that the
settling velocity of particle vs is equal to the drift
velocity of the fluid vl (Eq. (18)). Hence
!ð 1c Þ
B
d50 ¼ ð22Þ
Aðq
qp Þ
and
B
q50 ¼ qp þ ð23Þ
Ad c
Eq. (23) is of the same form as Eq. (10), which has
been derived using the empirical correlations pro-
posed by Scott and Napier-Munn (1992), as well as
the following empirical relation first proposed by
Collins et al. (1983)
q50 ¼ qs þ sd
w ð24Þ
where qs, s and w are constant parameters. These latter
authors determined the separation density qs, defined
as the separation density achieved at infinitely large
particle size, from the asymptote of curve of q50
versus particle size d. Clearly, in view of Eq. (23),
qs corresponds to the pivot density qp for very large
particle sizes.
Comparison with hydrocyclone performance (size
attribute only) indicates that the parameter Yp in a
dense-medium separator (size– density attributes) is
the by-pass fraction of particles of neutral buoyancy
and particles of almost zero size recovered at the
underflow. In an ideal situation, by-pass fraction Yp
should have a value equal to the media recovery in
underflow Rm (Ferrara and Schena, 1987). However,
Yp < Rm because of crowding effects (Scott and
Napier-Munn, 1992). The correlation between the
pivot partition number Yp and the percentage of
medium pulp reporting to underflow Rm is shown
in Fig. 5. Yp is expected to be close to Rm when the
viscosity of the medium is high. For low viscosity
systems, in general, Yp is less than Rm due to
crowding effects near the apex (Scott and Napier-
Munn, 1992).
It has been observed that there exists a density
differential between overflow and underflow media
450 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453

in part be attributed to the errors inherent in the

experimentation process.
Another important indicator of sharpness of sepa-
ration in dense-medium units is the steepness of the
partition surface, which is traditionally defined in
terms of the ecart probable Ep. Using the definition
given in Eq. (4), the ecart probable Ep for a given
particle size can be obtained from Eq. (18)

0:477
logð3Þ
Ep ¼
c ð25aÞ
Ad c Ad c

This equation is similar to the empirical power law

in Eq. (7) proposed by Scott and Napier-Munn (1992).
The observed and predicted relationship between Ep
and d, based on three sets of data from Collins et al.
(1983), Restarick and Krnic (1991) and Scott and
Napier-Munn (1992), is shown in Fig. 8. The param-
Fig. 5. Correlation between the computed pivot partition number Yp eter c in Eq. (25a) represents the slope of the Ep
and medium pulp to underflow Rm. The data have been taken from versus d curve. The slope of these curves varied from
the works of Collins et al. (1983), Restarick and Krnic (1991) and a low of about 0.46 to a high of about 1.63, thus
Scott and Napier-Munn (1992).
indicating the prevalence of both laminar and turbu-
lent particle flow regime in the dense-medium unit.
suspensions owing to the segregation of media par- Although Ep in Eq. (25a) appears to be indepen-
ticles (Collins et al., 1983; Restarick and Krnic, 1991; dent of the parameters qp and B (and hence of the
Scott and Napier-Munn, 1992). In spite of the density fluid drift velocity vl), this is actually not the case as
differential, Fig. 6 shows a linear relationship between can be seen by using the relationship given in Eqs.
the predicted pivot density qp and the feed medium
density qf.
A pivot density close to the desired separation
density and a low bypass of the feed material are
characteristics of good performance of a dense-medi-
um separation unit. A small by-pass (low Yp) implies a
negative value of B (Eq. (A3)). Negative B indicates
that the fluid is drifting in a direction opposite to the
direction of settling particles, i.e., the fluid offers
greater resistance to the settling of particles. In other
words, for reducing the by-pass, there should a greater
resistance to the settling of particles by the fluid
moving up.
Fig. 7 shows the relationship between the observed
and predicted cut density q50 for data taken from
Collins et al. (1983), Restarick and Krnic (1991) and
Scott and Napier-Munn (1992). It can be seen that the
predictions of the stochastic model closely match the
observed values. It is clear that for small particle sizes,
the predicted cut densities tend to fall below the Fig. 6. Correlation between pivot density qp and feed medium
values obtained experimentally. This mismatch can density qf for the data mentioned in Fig. 7.
 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453 451

Fig. 8. (a, b and c) Comparison of the variation of actual and

Fig. 7. (a, b and c) Comparison of the variation of the actual and predicted ecart probable Ep with particle size d for the data
predicted cut density q50 with particle size d. mentioned in Fig. 7.
452 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453

(20) and (23) to eliminate the denominator in Eq. applied to simulate the partition surface of all types
(25a). This yields the following expression of dense-medium gravity/centrifugal separators.

pffiffiffi
0:477 2 Acknowledgements
Ep ¼ rðqp
q50 Þ ð25bÞ
vl
We acknowledge Prof. Mathai Joseph, Executive
Since, in real systems, r p 0, q50 does not coincide Director, Tata Research Development and Design
with qp. Further, there is a finite upper bound on vl. It Centre (TRDDC) for his encouragement and for
therefore follows that Ep does not tend to be zero, providing management support.
even for very large particle sizes.
Experimental evidence suggests that Ep increases
with an increase in viscosity (Ferrara and Schena, Appendix A
1987; Scott and Napier-Munn, 1992). This is espe-
cially true for finer particles and therefore implies that The Scott and Napier-Munn model is derived from
an increase in viscosity should result in a flatter the stochastic model from Eqs. (7) and (10), the ecart
partition surface. Examination of the stochastic model probable can be written as
shows that this is indeed the case. The parameters A
and c in Eq. (18) together determine the steepness of ðq50
qp Þ
the partition surface. An increase in the viscosity of Ep ¼ lnð3Þ ðA1Þ
lnðYp
1
1Þ
the suspension mainly leads to a pronounced decrease
in the magnitude of A (Eq. (19)). From Eq. (18), it can
be seen that a reduction in the magnitude of A has the Also, substituting the value of Ad c from Eq. (23)
undesirable effect of flattening the partition surface. into Eq. (25a) results in

ðq50
qp Þ ðq50
qp Þ
Ep ¼
0:477 c
logð3Þ
6. Conclusions B B
ðA2Þ
A stochastic model is proposed for representing the
particle size –density partition surface without invok- Further equating Eqs. (A1) and (A2) and simplify-
ing the existence of a pivot point. The model satis- ing yields
factorily predicts the observed relationships between
(i) the pivot partition number Yp and the medium pulp B ¼
logðYp
1
1Þ ðA3Þ
reporting to underflow Rm and (ii) the pivot density qp
and feed medium density qf. In addition, predictions Hence
of the phenomenological model are consistent with 1
key empirical relationships, such as the dependence of Yp ¼ ðA4Þ
1 þ 10
B
(i) ecart probable Ep on particle size d and (ii) cut
density q50 on particle size d. Moreover, the model Another expression for Yp is given by Eq. (21) of
parameters have physical relevance to the process of the stochastic model
particle separation. The model reveals ill effects of
increased viscosity on the particle separation through Yp ¼ 0:5½1 þ erf ðBÞ ð21Þ
parameter A by flattening the partition surface. The
value of parameter B, which incorporates the particle Eqs. (21) and (A4) can be used to obtain the
drift due to fluid velocity, determines the amount of following approximation to the error function
by-pass of particles in the concentrator. The value of
parameter c indicates the degree of turbulence in the 2
erf ðxÞ ¼
1 ðA5Þ
separator. The model is more generic and can be 1 þ 10
x
 B. Venkoba Rao et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 72 (2003) 443–453
The stochastic model given by Eq. (18) can be
written in fractional form as
Y ¼ 0:5½1 þ erf ðB
Ad c ðq
qp ÞÞ
Converting the above equation to logistic form
using Eq. (A5)
1 1
Y ¼ ðAd c ðq
qp Þ
BÞ
¼ lnð10ÞðAd c ðq
qp Þ
BÞ
1 þ 10 1þe
Equating Eqs. (7) and (25a)
logð3Þ
Ad c ¼

kd n
Substituting Eqs. (A3) and (A7) in Eq. (A6) results
in the Scott and Napier-Munn model given in Eq. (8).
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