Stability improvement in a dense medium cyclone

Speaker

Professor Quentin Campbell

Abstract

The biggest challenge for dense medium cyclones at low cut points is the instability of the magnetite medium at low solids concentrations, especially for coal producers seeking to deliver cleaner and higher-value products to market. This presentation will cover an ACARP sponsored project to  investigate the effect of an applied magnetic field around the upper cone of a 165 mm dense medium cyclone on stability and key operational parameters, including cut point (D50), separation sharpness (Ep), and the density differential between overflow and underflow streams. The results showed that an optimum magnetic field strength between 3 and 6 mT reduced the density differential to within the recommended operating range of 0.2–0.5 g/cm³. Stability also improved markedly with applied fields in the 3–6 mT range. Partition curves generated from medium-only runs at various feed densities and magnetic field levels showed that field strength had a minor influence on the density cut point, but significantly improved the Ep values, probably due to the improvement in stability. The ability to stabilise dense medium cyclones through applied magnetic fields could enable operators to run circuits at lower feed densities to achieve low density cut points without resorting to alternative stabilisation methods such as clay addition.

Bio

Professor Quentin Campbell is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, and an Extraordinary Professor at North-West University. He is a registered Professional Engineer with a PhD in Chemical Engineering. With decades of experience across academia and industry, Professor Campbell specializes in minerals processing, and particularly in coal beneficiation. A C1-rated researcher by the South African National Research Foundation, Quentin has authored numerous publications, supervised dozens of postgraduate students, and received accolades.