Dense-medium Separators

Manufactured media gravity separators are easiest to model. It is only necessary to establish the cutpoint and the shape of the partition curve. We will demonstrate the principles involved using a simple dense medium cyclone circuit. Exercise 4-1 uses a simple single stage dense medium cyclone circuit. Exercise 4-2 extends this to a two-stage circuit. These examples are based on some early work that was done at the Dutch State Mines Laboratory. This work forms an ideal exercise and shows just how effective a dense-medium cyclone circuit can be to achieve a desired result even for a difficult separation. These examples will also show that there are definite limitations to the separations that can be achieved using a dense-medium cyclone circuit. The DSM team's early enthusiasm for the dense-medium cyclone has, of course, been vindicated by many successful applications in the intervening years and these devices are now widely used. One can speculate that Dr Dreissen and his group would have appreciated a simulator like MODSIM and would have put it to good use.

Details of the models can be found in Sections 7.1, 7.2 and 7.4 in the textbook and in the Technical Notes 6 - Manufactured-Media Gravity Separators.