Experimental investigation on the separation capabilities and limitation of Falcon semi-batch concentrator

ABSTRACT

In the present study, an attempt was made to establish the separation capabilities and limitations of Falcon Semi-batch concentrator. Experiments were performed with quartz-magnetite and quartz-ferrosilicon binary feed system. Three different feed grades of 5, 10, and 15% magnetite by weight was used to understand the sensitivity of separation efficiency against the feed grade. It was found that separation efficiency is higher for lower feed grade material. Experimental results indicate that the falcon concentrator’s performance is poor below the concentration criterion ratio of 3. The Separation efficiency of Falcon concentrator was enhanced from 15.3% to 66.1%, only by increasing the concentration ratio from 2.4 to 3.

KEYWORDS:

• Separation efficiency
• enrichment ratio
• Falcon concentrator
• concentration ratio
• feed grade

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the help and cooperation of the scientists and staff of the Mineral Processing Division at CSIR-NML Jamshedpur, India, towards the research work.

Disclosure statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.