Industries & Applications
Mining
Main challenges of the Mining Industry
- Mineral Liberation and extraction: efficient release of valuable minerals from the ore matrix and their recovery is a fundamental challenge. Factors such as ore composition, mineralogy, and particle size distribution can influence the release and recovery rates.
- Grinding and crushing: Achieving the desired particle size for the concentrate can be challenging. The balance of energy consumption, equipment wear, and the need for fine grinding to release minerals can affect the efficiency of the process.
- Energy consumption: the production of concentrate can be energy intensive, especially in the grinding and comminution process. Reducing energy consumption and finding more energy-efficient methods are constant challenges.
- Flotation: Froth flotation is a common process for producing ore concentrates. Challenges in flotation include maintaining the stability of the froth, controlling pH, controlling froth depth, and optimizing the use of reagents.
- Selection and Optimization of Reagents: In flotation and leaching processes, the selection of the right chemicals (reagents) is crucial for achieving high recovery rates and concentrate quality. This requires continuous testing and adjustments.
Applications
SOPAT has experience in 4 applications:
- Characterization of the raw ore (InView)
- Characterization of the particle size of the slurry in various locations in the concentrator plant.
- Determination of the bubble sizes in the flotation cells (Pa or Kr)
- Determination of the drop size distribution in the extraction plant (Sc)
Benefits of SOPAT in the Mining Industry:
Robust system despite abrasion
Maintenance costs reduced by 80%
The system distinguishes between particles and bubbles
Accurate particle measurement to avoid over-milling.
The solution
The SOPAT MiningScope is an inline particle measurement solution in mining applications
- Inline measurement despite abrasive environment. The system is absolutely robust and has been adapted to the specific conditions in the mining industry.
- Accurate measurement of particle size to avoid over-milling: over-milling leads to slime formation, reduced throughput, and high milling costs. With SOPAT, the milling process is optimized -inline and automated.
- Lower maintenance costs. Compared to other particle size process solutions, maintenance costs are reduced by 80%.
- Robust measurement of particle size to ensure efficient separation in the flotation cells. Measurement before the particles enter the flotation cells will ensure the correct size distribution before problems occur in the flotation cell. The SOPAT solution distinguishes between particles and bubbles and measures both separately.
- Easy implementation and low manpower requirements. No moving parts, 24/7 installation, direct insertion of the probe into the process and thus no more sampling and dilution. This makes the expensive infrastructure with its sampling and dilution equipment obsolete.
- In combination with our hardware, our software provides real-time analysis of particle size distribution. Distinguishing particles from bubbles is made possible with the photo-optical analysis. Connect the SOPAT equipment to your process control system, including long distances -up to 10 kms.
- With the integrated probe control, you have a powerful tool to generate live images using different control functions to manipulate the image quality. Acquire images directly from your process and store them on the hard disc drive of the reliable SOPAT Workstation for immediate image analysis and/or later use.
Probe Recommendations:
Particle Size Range 1 – 1,200 µm
Particle Size Range 50 – 50,000 µm (depending on used camera lens)