Experimental study of quartz classification in the enhanced gravity field using Falcon concentrator

The classification and separation of minerals happen in the traditional gravity separation simultaneously. This paper focuses on the classification performance of quartz particles in the enhanced gravity field. The classification efficiency of single quartz particles decreased then increased with the increase of rotational angular velocity, while it decreased with the increase of backwash water pressure. The classification efficiency of -0.5 +0.25mm, -0.25 +0.125mm, -0.125 +0.074mm, -0.074 +0.045mm and -0.045mm quartz was higher than the corresponding narrow size of -0.5mm quartz in general. The “fish-hook” phenomenon appeared in the partition curve of -0.5mm quartz under small/large rotational angular velocity and small backwash water pressure, and the dip point could be found in fine particles region, which indicated that the “fish-hook” was closely related with operating parameters and particle size. A medium rotational angular velocity and larger backwash water pressure could be helpful to avoid the appearance of “fish-hook” in fine particles region and achieve a better classification performance. This investigation is beneficial to understand the regularity of particle migration in the enhanced gravity field.