Hydrodynamic Characterization of Industrial Flotation Machines Using Radioisotopes

1.1 Objective and organization of chapter In order to study the hydrodynamic behaviour of large flotation machines, the radioactive tracer technique has been used to measure a number of internal characteristics such as: • Residence time distribution (RTD) of liquid, solid and gas, in industrial cells and columns. Actual mean residence time evaluation. • Mixing regime in single cells, banks of cells and pneumatic columns. • Froth mean residence time of liquid, floatable and non-floatable solids. • Mixing time and internal pulp circulation in large industrial self-aerated cells. • Gas holdup and gas residence time distribution in flotation machines. • Direct measurement of gangue entrainment. • Industrial flotation cell scanning with gamma ray. • Pulp flowrate distribution in parallel flotation banks. • Flotation rate distribution.