How to improve the sedimentation effect of the thickener

Thickeners are commonly used equipment in concentrators and can be used for dehydration, drug removal, concentration and other operations. The principle of the thickener is to use the gravity of solid particles to divide the pulp into clarified liquid and high-concentration sediment. Doing the following 5 aspects can improve the working efficiency of the thickener.

Use flocculants to improve concentration.
The mineral particles in the pulp vary in size. The settling velocity of materials in water is related to their particle size. The finer the particle size, the slower the sedimentation rate, and some processes require a relatively fine grinding particle size to achieve a better selection index. Therefore, how to effectively settle fine-grained materials is the key to improving the sedimentation efficiency of the thickener. The use of flocculants can solve the problem of settling of fine materials. Flocculants can cause materials to collide with each other, forming flocculants, increasing the volume and increasing the settling speed.

The degassing tank will affect the concentration effect.
Before the pulp enters the concentrator, it should be degassed through a degassing tank to eliminate air bubbles in the pulp and prevent mineral particles from adhering to the air bubbles and affecting the settlement effect. A degassing tank typically expands and explodes the bubble volume by lifting the bubbles to the surface of the liquid, allowing the gas to escape. The design of the degassing tank should ensure a large degassing space to remove air bubbles as much as possible. When installing the degassing tank, try to keep the upper edge of the overflow baffle of the degassing tank as level as possible, so that the slurry can pass through the baffle evenly, so that the gas can escape.

The feeding part affects the concentration effect.
The pulp enters the settling zone through the center of the thickener. In the design of the feeding port, by moving the feeding port downward, the degassed ore slurry directly enters the liquid level of the tank body to prevent the gas from entering the ore slurry during the ore feeding process. At the same time, in order to ensure uniform and stable feeding, a feeding disc can be added to the feeding sleeve to prevent the feeding slurry from impacting the precipitated ore particles and avoiding the phenomenon of turning over.

Bottom structure will affect the concentration effect.
The bottom structure of the machine also affects the sedimentation efficiency. At present, the commonly used concentrators in mining plants are rake concentrators, which can be divided into central drive and peripheral drive. The main factor affecting the sedimentation efficiency of the machine is the inclination angle of the bottom of the machine.

In order to discharge the sedimented slurry in the center of the bottom of the pool, the bottom is designed to be tapered, and the rake scraper continuously scrapes to the drain in the center of the bottom of the pool. The large inclination angle of the bottom cone is beneficial to increase the height of the material compression zone, thereby increasing the drainage concentration of the material.

The automatic control system will affect the concentration effect.
The automatic control system of the thickener includes control devices such as dosing, rake, and underflow pump. Through the automatic control system, the change of the slurry layer in the thickener can be monitored, and the operation of the thickener can be controlled more accurately, thereby improving the sedimentation effect of the thickener.

The above discussions are some aspects of how to improve thickener concentration. I hope it helps all mine owners. In actual production, we can consult thickener manufacturers with rich technical experience according to production economic needs, and choose thickeners that meet the needs.