Full automation of Jameson flotation cell & coal enrichment application

Flotation is a physico-chemical complex process which occurs in the interfaces of solid, liquid and gas. The success of the process depends on operational parameters, automatic control of these parameters, and type of flotation device. One of the flotation devices is a Jameson cell was invented for fine particle flotation. The most important parameters which affects the Jameson cell recovery and concentrate grade are hold-up, bias factor and froth depth. These parameters should be stable during the operation. In this study hold-up, superficial bias velocity and froth depth have been automatically controlled in Jameson cell by the use of PID closed loop control system. As a result much more stable operation with less error has been obtained by automatic control. According to instantaneous data obtained froth depth decreases with both the increase of washing water rate and the bias velocity decrease.