The Gravity Separation of Speiss and Limestone Granules Using Vibrating Zirconia Ball Bed

Abstract

In the present study, gravity separation of speiss (6.74 g/cm3) and limestone (2.7 g/cm3) was investigated using a vibrating 1 mm-zirconia ball (5.6 g/cm3) bed as a medium. The floating ratio and separation efficiency with increasing the number of spiess and limestone granules were examined by changing the vibration frequency from 18 Hz to 26 Hz. During the vibration, the zirconia balls circulate inside the vessel, and the spiess granules sink with the zirconia balls, but limestone granules remain on the surface of the zirconia ball bed. As the number of particles of spiess and limestone granules increased, it was observed that the granules were congested in the path of the granule sinking, so the rate of particle sinking decreased, and that limestone granules overlapping with the spiess granule also sunk. Therefore, the separation efficiency decreases with increasing the number of granules, but when the vibrational frequency increases, there is no more congestion and the separation efficiency increases. When each of the three particles was added, a separation efficiency of 100% was acheived at 22 Hz, which indicates that a dry gravity separation process that does not require a drying process is possible.