Abstract:

Sebastian Maaß¹*, Frank Termeulen², Henning Springer⁴ and Robert Panckow^1,3

SOPAT GmbH, Berlin Germany, sebastian.maass@sopat.de, +4930398202002
AMS | IFGlobal, Aalsmeer, Netherlands, f.termeulen@ifglobal.nl
Department of Process Engineering, Berlin Institute of Technology, Germany, Prof. (head of institute of process engineering), matthias.kraume@tu-berlin.de
MECOSA (Pty) Ltd, Johannesburg, South Africa

ABSTRACT

The use of real time particle sizing systems in the mining industry does bring several monetary benefits, including: Improved process efficiency, increased recovery rates, better environmental performance and lower operating costs. Especially the low operating costs, including reduced energy consumption and optimized throughput can be nullified with complex and expensive measurements providing the information for the optimization.

Therefore, the demand for a robust, inline, low maintenance particle characterization system is high but this demand was not satisfied so far in the mining industry, an industry with very specific needs, when it comes to full process integration.

In this presentation a newly developed inline microscope will be presented, which has been used in field studies now for more than 36 months in mines in Australia, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine and China. This system uses advanced image analysis techniques to analyze the images of particles captured by its high-speed camera. The software can analyze both the size and shape of particles in real-time, and can differentiate between different types of particles. This also does allow a particle size monitoring and counting bubbles in pipes ore even flotation cells separately. This does add stability to the measurement signal, as bubbles will be tracked separately from the solids.

Next to the robust software, which was successfully applied to several ores (iron, copper, gold and platinum), the inline microscope is protected by ceramic and rubber lining and sealed with Sapphire windows, ensuring full protection against abrasion.

Through the direct implementation of the microscopic probe inside the process, the systems maintenance is extremely low.

The presentation will also consist of particle size as well as shape distribution from different ores in different downstream processes in the concentrator. With the help of the real time monitoring of the particle size, over and under milling are overcome and throughput was optimized.

*Corresponding author: Dr. Sebastian Maaß, SOPAT GmbH, CSO, Bergholzstraße 8, 12099 Berlin, Germany. Phone: +49 30 398202002. Email: sebastian.maass@sopat.de

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Sebastian Maass

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