Development and Evaluation the FLSmidth nextSTEP™

Mechanism
B. Dabrowski, D. Lelinski, D. Stevens, M. Walker, and A. Weber
FLSmidth Salt Lake City, USA.

ABSTRACT
FLSmidth introduces the patented nextSTEP™ flotation mechanism, the newest design for forced air
flotation technology with the lowest power consumption on the market.
Hydrodynamic and metallurgical response of the nextSTEP™ rotor/stator combination was evaluated in
laboratory, pilot plant and industrial scale. The nextSTEP™ technology has shown superior metallurgical
recovery as well as a significant increase in energy efficiency in all stages of testing. The increased
performance of the nextSTEP™ design is due to a change in the rotor profile, and a complimentary profile
for the stator.

INTRODUCTION
Flotation is known as the "essential separation step in the beneficiation of minerals and coal". Therefore,
due to its world-wide industrial use, several projects were undertaken by FLSmidth to better understand
flotation fundamentals, rotor/stator influence, scale-up procedure, energy efficiency, cell stability, and
other aspects. From these studies, FLSmidth developed a series of new products to improve its flotation
technology. The goal of this paper is to discuss the nextSTEP™ rotor and stator development and
evaluation.

nextSTEP™ DEVELOPMENT
Over the past few years, FLSmidth has carried out a process to explore the possibilities of improving
flotation efficiency by changing the design of the rotor and/or stator. The rotor/stator is responsible for
solids suspension, gas dispersion and bubble-particle attachment. The improvement of the rotor/stator
started with laboratory testing of two hundred different rotor/stator design combinations. From the
results of the lab test work, the best designs were tested in a pilot cell on an industrial feed. Pilot tests
were completed at an industrial Cu-Mo facility, using a slipstream feed to a 1.5 m³ cell. The current
standard rotor/stator was used as the baseline while evaluating eight new designs during the pilot study.
An initial scoping study was completed to determine the set points for tip speed, froth depth, residence
time, and airflow rate.
Industrial testing with 10 m³ machines was performed at a gold concentrator in Nevada. The nine
different rotor/stator designs were tested using two flotation feed streams consisting of both
hydrocyclone overflow and underflow. From the test results of the nine combinations, larger scale
assessments were then completed comparing two of the best performers. These campaigns were
completed with 160 m³ cells in a copper concentrator in Peru.
The final set of tests for the nextSTEP™ rotor and stator were conducted in the 660 m³ SuperCell™
machine. Hydrodynamic measurements very closely followed CFD predictions, metallurgical performance
was excellent.
At the industrial level, the 10 m³ nextSTEP™ product proved to deliver the best combination of
metallurgical performance and overall power consumption. The nextSTEP™ mechanism gave an average
decrease in absorbed power of 26% versus the standard rotor and stator. This result was expected and
provided further confirmation of the energy efficiency of the nextSTEP™ rotor and stator technology
based on previous lab and pilot trials. The nextSTEP™ product also showed a considerable improvement
in recovery when processing a coarse feed and slightly better recovery for a fine feed in these tests. The
nextSTEP™ rotor and stator combination showed improved recovery with a lower mass pull than the other
combinations tested, see Figure 1.

(i) (ii)

Figure 1: Mass recovery vs. gold recovery – (i) underflow feed (ii) overflow feed

The majority of the 660 m³ SuperCell™ testing was performed using the nextSTEP™ mechanism.
Measured total specific power (combined sum of cell motor power and blower power divided by the
volume of the cell), was as low as 0.35 kW/m³, see Figure 2. Cell motor specific power was lowered to
0.22 kW/m³ without a decrease in metallurgical performance. Extensive solid suspension studies were
performed showing no sanding issues at all measured power levels.
Figure 2: Surface response showing Total Specific Power of the 660 m³ SuperCell™ flotation cell as a
function of air flow and RPM

CONCLUSIONS
An extensive research and development program was conducted to improve the FLSmidth flotation
machine technology. From this series of projects, several novel technologies have been made available
and a wide breadth of knowledge acquired. The new nextSTEP™ rotor and stator mechanism can be
retrofitted into existing flotation cells which provides an opportunity to increase flotation performance in
concentrators. The nextSTEP™ mechanism has been shown to increase metallurgical recovery while
reducing power consumption. Measured power while testing with the nextSTEP™ mechanism in the
660 m³ SuperCell™ flotation cell reported specific power as low as 0.22 kW/m³ (cell motor) and
0.35 kW/m³ (cell motor and blower combined) with no sanding issues.
FLSmidth is dedicated to maintaining a leading edge in equipment manufacturing and supply through
continuous improvement of existing equipment as well as development of new technologies.