Contribution to the understanding of the three-product cyclone on the classification of a dual density platinum ore

The detrimental effects exhibited by the conventional hydrocyclone in classifying ores that contain different density components motivated the AMIRA P9 project to look into modifications to the conventional hydrocyclone that can improve separation by component density. In this project a cyclone termed the three-product cyclone has been developed and tested. The three-product cyclone is a modification of the conventional hydrocyclone with an additional vortex finder termed the inner vortex finder inserted concentric to the existing one, termed the outer vortex finder, resulting in three products from the same hydrocyclone. The three-product cyclone produces a finer overflow stream, an intermediate overflow stream comprising fine high density particles and medium sized light particles, and a coarse underflow stream. The work presented in this thesis involved designing an overflow arrangement which allowed interchangeable inner vortex finders to be tested, and a special rig for industrial scale experiments using a 600mm diameter hydrocyclone.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Mainza, Aubrey Njema

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Powell, Malcolm

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5513

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5513