There are numerous types of flotation equipment available and that can widely be classified as mechanical and non-mechanical cells. Mechanical cells use impellers to circulate the pulp and keep the solid suspended in the solution and to draw adequate quantity of air to create bubble. These cells can be self-air drawing and supercharged. Non-mechanical cells don't have the impeller. This can be Pneumatic cells which rely on compressed air to agitate the pulp and Air precipitation cells in which bubbles of air precipitate from solution which can be achieved by decreasing pressure above the pulp.
Flotation technology is always evolving and new developments are made. Most of the results are based on the reagents developments. Also, the chemistry of reagents is been studied to check the effect and mechanism of actions. In the world of bubble generation, more micro bubbles are trying to been generated. Decreasing the bubble size increase the efficiency of flotation. For more complex mineralogy, better techniques are been developed. Also, research is going on to make the flotation in seawater for copper flotation in China.
There are numerous factors affecting flotation. Some important factors are listed below: particle size and density, pulp density, air bubble size, agitation intensity, conditioning time, residence time, and nature of particles, pH of slurry, type of reagent, amount of reagents and amount of Wash water.
In term of flotation equipment, the cell size is getting bigger. Our company has developed the mechanical cells of 300m³ to 350m³volume. And research is also going on the applicability of column flotation as rougher cells.
