Morphology Study of Particle Breakage Mechanisms in a Horizontal Stirred Mill: Automated and Manual Point Counting Approaches

High-speed stirred mills are utilized to grind particles below 10mm. Grinding sulphide minerals to as low as 10mm achieve adequate mineral liberation for successful downstream mineral processing operations, such as flotation and leaching. Particle breakage mechanism such as fracture or abrasion, determines the morphological surface features of the product particles. It is anticipated that particles, which break along grain boundaries (intergranular) produce rough surfaces, whereas particles that break across the grain boundaries (transgranular) possess smoother surfaces. In this study, particles are ground in a stirred mill and their morphological features were analyzed using automated and manual detection methods. Literature and conventional belief are that high-speed stirred mills break particles by attrition. This paper showed that fracture is also an important breakage mechanism along with attrition. Breakage mechanism is a factor of input stress intensity, in the form of the mill agitator speed, and type of mineral. It is observed that at higher agitator speed galena fractures along the grain boundaries, whereas quartz, abrade across the grain boundaries.

An innovative flake graphite upgrading process based on HPGR,stirred grinding mill, and nanobubble column flotation

Physical upgrading of graphite is typically achieved with many stages of grinding and flotation to produce a concentrate with approximately 95% carbon grade.An innovative grinding and column flotation process has been developed for efficient graphite upgrading to substantially simplify the process flowsheet and reduce operating costs.In this process,a high-pressure grinding roller(HPGR) and a stirred mill were employed as primary comminution techniques and a nanobubble flotation column as a key separation process.The results obtained with a crystalline flake graphite sample with a carbon grade of 11.15% show that the novel process can produce a concentrate with 94.82% carbon grade and 97.89% recovery from an open circuit of one rougher and two cleaner flotation stages.Scanning electron microscope(SEM)microphotographs indicate that HPGR offers the advantage of more effective protection of graphite flakes during crushing.Grinding test results show that stirred mill could not only protect graphite flakes but also promote the efficient liberation of graphite.Compared with the traditional flotation process,nanobubble flotation can effectively recover ultrafine graphite.The new process possesses a number of important advantages over the traditional method,including substantially higher graphite recovery,greatly simplified process flowsheet,better protection of flake size,reduced reagent consumption and process costs,etc.

Ultra fine grinding of silver plant tailings of refractory ore using vertical stirred media mill

Ultra fine grinding of the plant tailings of a refractory silver ore was studied using a laboratory type vertical stirred media mill. Preliminary tests confirmed that ultra fine grinding substantially improves the extraction of silver from the tailings in cyanide leaching （i.e. 36% Ag extraction rate from the as-received tailings with d80 of 100 μm, c.f. 84% extraction rate after ultra fine grinding of the tailings with ds0 of 1.2 pro）. In the ultra fine grinding tests, the effects of ball diameter （2-4.5 mm）, stirring speed （200-800 r/m/n） and ball charge ratio （50%-80%） on the fineness of grind （ds0, ~tm） were investigated through a Box-Behnken design. Increasing stirrer speed and ball charge ratio decreased fineness of grind while larger balls resulted in the coarser products. The tests demonstrated that a fineness of grind less than 5 μm can be achieved under suitable conditions. Analysis of stress intensity indicated an optimum range of stress intensity of （0.8-2）× 10^- 3 μm for all power inputs.

PRODUCTION OF PIGMENT NANOPARTICLES USING A WET STIRRED MILL WITH POLYMERIC MEDIA

Pigment nanoparticles with a size range of 10~100 nm were produced from large agglomerates via a stirred media mill operating in the wet-batch mode and using polymeric media. The effects of several operating variables such as the surfactant concentration, polystyrene media loading, and media size on the pigment size distribution of the product were studied. The process dynamics was also investigated. Dynamic light scattering and electron microscopy were used as the characterization techniques. The polymeric grinding media are found to be effective for the production of pigment nanoparticles. The experimental results suggest the existence of an optimum media size and surfactant concentration. A population balance model of the process reveals a transition from first-order breakage kinetics for rela-tively coarse particles to non-first-order kinetics, with a delay period, for the smaller particles. The model implies that large agglomerates split in a first-order fashion whereas the breakage of individual nanoparticles may depend on induced fatigue of the particles.

Effect of aspect ratio of elliptical stirred vessel on mixing time and flow field characteristics in the absence of baffles

Elliptical tanks were used as an alternative to circular tanks in order to improve mixing efficiency and reduce mixing time in unbaffled stirred tanks(USTs). Five different aspect ratios of elliptical vessels were designed to compare their mixing time and flow field. Computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulations were performed using the k–ε model to calculate the mixing time and simulate turbulent flow field features, such as streamline shape, velocity distribution, vortex core region distribution, and turbulent kinetic energy(TKE) transfer. Visualization was also carried out to track the tinctorial evolution of the liquid phase. Results reveal that elliptical stirred tanks can significantly improve mixing performance in USTs. Specifically, the mixing time at an aspect ratio of 2.00 is only 45.3% of the one of a circular stirred tank. Furthermore, the secondary flow is strengthened and the vortex core region increases with the increase of aspect ratio. The axial velocity is more sensitive to the aspect ratio than the circumferential and radial velocity. Additionally, the TKE transfer in elliptical vessels is altered. These findings suggest that elliptical vessels offer a promising alternative to circular vessels for enhancing mixing performance in USTs.

Application of the CatBoost Model for Stirred Reactor State Monitoring Based on Vibration Signals

Stirred reactors are key equipment in production,and unpredictable failures will result in significant economic losses and safety issues.Therefore,it is necessary to monitor its health state.To achieve this goal,in this study,five states of the stirred reactor were firstly preset:normal,shaft bending,blade eccentricity,bearing wear,and bolt looseness.Vibration signals along x,y and z axes were collected and analyzed in both the time domain and frequency domain.Secondly,93 statistical features were extracted and evaluated by ReliefF,Maximal Information Coefficient(MIC)and XGBoost.The above evaluation results were then fused by D-S evidence theory to extract the final 16 features that are most relevant to the state of the stirred reactor.Finally,the CatBoost algorithm was introduced to establish the stirred reactor health monitoring model.The validation results showed that the model achieves 100%accuracy in detecting the fault/normal state of the stirred reactor and 98%accuracy in diagnosing the type of fault.

Effect of Butternut Squash (Cucurbita moschata) Seed Powder on the Chemical and Rheological Properties of Stirred Cultured Camel Milk and Yoghurt

Research shows that producing fermented camel milk is hard because of the milk’s inability to form a firm coagulum, attributed to low levels of κ-casein and ꞵ-lactoglobulin and the large casein micelle size, leading to a weak network of casein formation. In an effort to address this issue, researchers turned to corn starch as a thickening agent, discovering that a concentration of 2.0% effectively improved the viscosity and significantly reduced syneresis in stirred camel milk yoghurt and cultured camel milk. This study explores alternatives to corn starch, focusing on butternut squash seeds as a promising substitute due to their hydrocolloid composition. By incorporating butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata) seed powder (BSSP) as a thickening agent, this study aimed at enhancing the chemical and rheological properties of stirred camel milk yoghurt and cultured camel milk. Fermented camel milk was prepared using 4 litres of camel milk, 2% starter cultures (thermophilic culture for yoghurt and mesophilic aromatic culture for stirred cultured camel milk) and BSSP 0.0% (negative control), 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.2%, 1.6%, 2.0% mixed with 0.4% gelatin. 2.0% corn starch mixed with 0.4% gelatin was used as a standard for comparison. Results showed that increasing the BSSP level significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the moisture content while increasing the total solid content of stirred fermented camel milk products. There was an increase in ash content with an increase in BSSP levels. There was a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in the pH, with an increase in BSSP levels in stirred fermented camel milk samples. Increasing the concentration of BSSP from 0.4% to 2.0% resulted in a significant (p < 0.05) increase in viscosity and a reduction in syneresis of stirred camel milk yoghurt and stirred cultured camel milk samples. This study demonstrated that BSSP effectively enhances the viscosity, reduces syneresis and increases acidity in stirred fermented camel milk products during storage.

Experimental and CFD studies of solid-liquid slurry tank stirred with an improved Intermig impeller

The improved Intermig impeller has been used in the seed precipitation tank in China, which could enhance the mixing and suspension of Al(OH)3 particles and the power consumption declined largely. The flow field, solids hold-up, cloud height, just off-bottom speed and power consumptions were investigated in solid-liquid mixing system with this new type of impeller by CFD and water experiment methods. Compared with the standard Intermig impeller, the improved one coupled with specially sloped baffles could promote the fluid circulation, create better solids suspension and consume less power. Besides lower impeller off-bottom clearance is good for solid suspension and distribution. The just-off-bottom speed was also determined by a power number criterion. Meanwhile, the predicted results were in good agreement with the experimental data.

Ultrafine milling for the processing of gold-bearing sulphides

Ultrafine Milling technology is used to treat gold-bearingsulphides and to investigate the effects of minerals size, millingtime, liquid/solid ratio, NaCN consumption and leaching aid onleaching rate of gold. The results indicate that shorter treatingtime, decrease of NaCN consumption of 60/100 and increase of goldleaching rate of 15/100 can be ob- tained by the ultrafine millingtechnology compared with traditional cyanide leaching. Potentialexists for the new pro- cess to form the basis for an economicallyprocess for treatment of gold-bearing sulphides.

Study on Honey Stirred Yoghurt

[Objective] In this study, the aim was to study the optimal formula and technique of honey stirred yoghurt. [Method] The optimum formula and production technique of the honey stirred yoghurt were confirmed by studying the effects of the additive amount of honey, the adding time of honey, thermal death point, the ho- mogenization pressure and stability test on the sensory quality of stirred yoghurt. [Result] The experiment showed that the fermentation temperature of the honey stirred yoghurt should not be too high, and it should be close to that of common yoghurt. In addition, the fermentation time should not be too long, because along with the extension of fermentation time, there would be abnormal smell in the yo- gurt. The optimum formula and production technique were as follows： the additive amount of honey, sugarcane and fermentation agent was respectively 3%; two-sec- tion homogeneous pressures of the fresh milk were I ： 70 MPa, I1：30 MPa; the thermal death point was 85 ℃ and the time was 10 min; the fermentation occurred at 42℃, and the fermentation of the products was stopped when the ultimate acidity was among 0.70%-0.75%. [Conclusion] The study could provide some refer- ences for the production and processing of honey stirred yoghurt.

Numerical Simulation of Gas-Liquid Flow in a Stirred Tank with a Rushton Impeller

The gas-liquid flow field in a stirred tank with a Rushton diskturbine, including the impeller region, was numerically simulatedusing the improved inner-outer iterative procedure. Thecharacteristic features of the stirred tank, such as gas cavity andaccumulation of gas at the two sides of wall baffles, can be capturedby the simulation. The simulated results agree well with availableexperimental data. Since the improved inner-outer iterative algorithmdemands on empirical formula and experimental data for the impellerregion, and the approach seems generally applicable for simulatinggas-liquid stirred tanks.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach to the Effect of Mixing and Draft Tube on the Precipitation of Barium Sulfate in a Continuous Stirred Tank

The effect of mixing on the precipitation of barium sulfate in a continuous stirred tank is simulated numerically with different feeding location, feed concentration, impeller speed and residence time through solving the standard momentum and mass transport equations in combination with the moment equations for crystal population balance. The numerical method was validated with the literature data. The simulation results including the distribution of the local supersaturation ratio distribution in the precipitator, mean crystal size and coefficient of variation under different operating conditions compared well with experimental data in the literature. The effect of the presence of a draft tube on precipitation were also investigated, and it is suggested that the installation of a draft tube increased the mean crystal size, in general agreement with experimental work in the literature.

Simulation of Solid Suspension in a Stirred Tank Using CFD-DEM Coupled Approach＊

Computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method(CFD-DEM) coupled approach was employed to simulate the solid suspension behavior in a Rushton stirred tank with consideration of transitional and rotational motions of millions of particles with complex interactions with liquid and the rotating impeller. The simulations were satisfactorily validated with experimental data in literature in terms of measured particle velocities in the tank.Influences of operating conditions and physical properties of particles(i.e., particle diameter and density) on the two-phase flow field in the stirred tank involving particle distribution, particle velocity and vortex were studied.The wide distribution of particle angular velocity ranging from 0 to 105r·min 1is revealed. The Magnus force is comparable to the drag force during the particle movement in the tank. The strong particle rotation will generate extra shear force on the particles so that the particle morphology may be affected, especially in the bio-/polymer-product related processes. It can be concluded that the CFD-DEM coupled approach provides a theoretical way to understand the physics of particle movement in micro- to macro-scales in the solid suspension of a stirred tank.

Drawdown mechanism of light particles in baffled stirred tank for the KR desulphurization process

To improve the efficiency of the desulfurization process, the drawdown mechanism of light particles in stirred tank is studied in this paper. For both up and down pumping modes, the just drawdown speeds(Njd) of floating particles in transformative Kanbara Reactor(KR) are measured in one and four baffled stirred tanks experimentally. Then numerical simulations with standard k-ε model coupled with volume of fluid model(VOF) and discrete phase model(DPM) are conducted to analyze the flow field at the just drawdown speed Njd. The torques on the impeller obtained from experiments and simulations agree well with each other, which indicates the validity of our numerical simulations. Based on the simulations, three main drawdown mechanisms for floating particles, the axial circulation, turbulent fluctuation and largescale eddies, are analyzed. It's found that the axial circulation dominates the drawdown process at small submergence(S = 1/4 T and 1/3 T) and the large-scale eddies play a major role at large submergence(S = 2/3 T and 3/4 T). Besides, the turbulent fluctuation affects the drawdown process significantly for up pumping mode at small submergence(S = 1/4 T and 1/3 T) and for down pumping mode at large submergence(S = 2/3 T and 3/4 T). This paper helps to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the KR desulphurizer drawdown process in the baffled stirred tank.

Numerical Study of Solid-Liquid Two-Phase Flow in StirredTanks with Rushton Impeller(Ⅱ) Prediction of Critical Impeller Speed

Three-dimensional solid-liquid flow is mathematically formulated by means of the 'two-fluid' approach and the two-phase k-ε-AP turbulence model. The turbulent fluctuation correlations appearing in the Reynolds time averaged governing equations are fully incorporated. The solid-liquid flow field and solid concentration distribution in baffled stirred tanks with a standard Rushton impeller are numerically simulated using an improved 'inner-outer'iterative procedure. The flow pattern is identified via the velocity vector plots and a recirculation loop with higher solid concentration is observed in the central vicinity beneath the impeller. Comparison of the simulation with experimental data on the mean velocities and the turbulence quantities of the solid phase is made and quite reasonable agreement is obtained except for the impeller swept volume. The counterpart of liquid phase is presented as well.The predicted solid concentration distribution for three experimental cases with the average solid concentration up to 20% is also found to agree reasonably with the experimental results published in the literature.

Large Eddy Simulation of Liquid Flow in a Stirred Tank with Improved Inner-Outer Iterative Algorithm

In this study, the large eddy simulation technique was applied on the flow in a baffled stirred tank driven by a Rushton turbine at Re=29000. The interaction between the rotating impeller and the static baffles was accounted for by means of the improved inner-outer iterative algorithm. The sub-grid scale model was a conventional Smagorinsky model. The numerical solution of the governing equations was conducted in a cylindrical staggered grid. The momentum and the continuity equations were discretized using the finite difference method, with a third-order QUICK scheme used for convective terms. The phase-resolved predictions were compared with the experimental data of Wu and Patterson and good agreement was observed for both the mean and the turbulence quantities. They were much better than the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes model including the Reynolds Stress Model for simulating the turbulence. The study also suggests the feasibility of LES in combination with the improved inner-outer iterative algorithm for the simulation of turbulent flow in stirred tanks.

Effect of Temperature on Gas Hold-up in Aerated Stirred Tanks

Gas holdups in ambient gassed and hot sparged systems with multiple modern impellers and the effect of temperature on gas holdup are reported. The operating temperature has a great impact on gas holdup though the gas dispersion regime in the hot sparged system is similar to the ambient gassed condition. The gas holdup under the elevated temperature and the ambient gassed operation is successfully correlated. With the same total gas flow rate and power input, the gas holdup in the hot sparged system (say near the boiling point) is only about half of that in the ambient system. The results imply that almost all existing hot sparged reactors have been designed on the basis of incorrect estimates of the gas holdup during operation.

Flow Field Around Rushton Turbine in Stirred Tank by Particle Image Velocimetry Measurement

In this paper, particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the mean and root meansquare(RMS) velocity in the stirred tank with six-flat blade Rushton turbine and with no baffles. Two typesof motion patterns were studied. One was that the impeller runs at constant speed, the other was that the impellerruns at time-dependent speed and in a periodic way. The emphasis of the paper was on the comparison of meanand RMS velocity vector maps and profiles between these two types of motion patterns, and especial attention waspaid to the comparison of the mean velocity, time-averaged RMS velocity, phase averaged RMS velocity betweenthe constant 3 RPS (revolution per second) and time-dependent operation. The Reynolds number was between 763and 1527. The study explained the mechanism that time-dependent RPS is more efficient for mixing than that ofconstant RPS.

Numerical Study of Solid-Liquid Two-Phase Flow in Stirred Tanks with Rushton Impeller (Ⅰ) Formulation and Simulation of Flow Field

The critical impeller speed, N_(JS), for complete suspension of solidparticles in the agitated solid-liquid two-phase system in baffled stirred tanks with a standardRushton impeller is predicted using the computational procedure proposed in Part Ⅰ. Three differentnumerical criteria are tested for determining the critical solid suspension. The predicted N_(JS)is compared with those obtained from several empirical correlations. It is suggested the mostreasonable criterion for determining the complete suspension of solid particles is the positive signof simulated axial velocity of solid phase at the location where the solid particles are mostdifficult to be suspended.

Numerical Simulation of Gas Holdup Distribution in a Standard Rushton Stirred Tank Using Discrete Particle Method

The discrete particle method was used to simulate the distribution of gas holdup in a gas-liquid standard Rushton stirred tank. The gas phase was treated as a large number of bubbles and their trajectories were tracked with the results of motion equations. The two-way approach was performed to couple the interphase momentum exchange. The turbulent dispersion of bubbles with a size distribution was modeled using a stochastic tracking model, and the added mass force was involved to account for the effect of bubble acceleration on the surrounding fluid. The predicted gas holdup distribution showed that this method could give reasonable prediction comparable to the reported experimental data when the effect of turbulence was took into account in modification for drag coefficient.