Eriez Flotation says its StackCell line is designed to overcome engineering and design challenges commonly associated with existing flotation technology, including high energy consumption, large floor-space requirements and overall size.
Eriez Flotation has completed fabrication and water testing of the first StackCell SC-200 high-rate flotation machine at its facility in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. The SC-200 is the newest addition to the StackCell product line and is the highest capacity unit ever built at nearly 300 m3 of equivalent conventional flotation capacity within a 65-m3 flotation cell. This is the first of two StackCell SC-200 cells that will be delivered to a copper concentrator in late 2021 to provide additional rougher circuit capacity.
The StackCell, as described by Eriez, is a two-stage flotation machine that reduces flotation volumetric requirement and improves recovery of fine particles and slow-floating minerals. Its key feature is a high-shear contacting chamber that is isolated from a quiescent separation chamber, which allows for independent optimization of the particle collection process and the froth recovery process.
Eriez said the StackCell achieves a 75%-80% reduction in residence time requirement by increasing the flotation rate constant of minerals through introduction of air and particles directly into the contacting chamber with a multi-stage rotor-stator mechanism. This device has an extremely high specific energy input that is translated to turbulent kinetic energy through the rotor blade design and generates four to five times higher turbulent dissipation rates compared to conventional flotation machines.
