Flow of gas-liquid-solid system and its application in packed flotation column

A packed flotation column, which is packed with multiple board ripple packings, was described. Based on comprehensive steady state models, chemical reactor developed previously in chemical engineering subjects, have been extended to packed flotation column for mineral separation. The experimental results verify that tanks in series model is better than axially dispersed plug flow model to describe flow pattern in the collection zone of column by RTD (residence time distribution), and the error of experimental data and calculated data of both models are 0.07% ～ 0.1% and 0.18% ～ 0.45% respectively. And, RTD of gas phase was also considered, results also show that gas in the whole column appears plug flow. The cleaning process through adding wash water in froth zone of column was described, and the effect of superficial air velocity and superficial wash water velocity on the cleaning action of froth zone were discussed. Flotation experiment for single column was conducted for phosphate ores. The recovery for P 2O 5 was 85.8%, and the grade was 26.8%.