What Types Of Cyclones in Mining?

Cyclone Principle

The cyclone is a common separation and classification equipment that usually uses the centrifugal sedimentation principle. When the two-phase mixed liquid to be separated enters the cyclone tangentially from the periphery of the cyclone at a certain pressure, a strong three-dimensional elliptical strong rotational shear turbulent motion is generated. Due to the difference in particle size between coarse and fine particles, they are subjected to different centrifugal forces, centripetal buoyancy, fluid drag, etc. Under the action of centrifugal sedimentation, most of the coarse particles are discharged through the bottom flow port of the cyclone, and most of the fine particles are discharged from the overflow pipe, thereby achieving the purpose of separation and classification.

Cyclone Main Types

• According to the construction section, it is divided into one-stage classification cyclones and two-stage classification cyclones.
• According to the function, it is divided into classification cyclones, dehydration cyclones, desliming cyclones, deslagging cyclones, concentrating cyclones, and tailings dry discharge cyclones.

One-stage grading cyclone

One-stage grading cyclone is widely used in various metal and non-metallic ore dressing plants with a single series daily processing capacity of more than 500 tons, and forms a closed-circuit grinding and grading cycle with a one-stage ball mill. The cyclone can be arranged as a single unit or in groups according to different processing capacities. Under the condition of higher feed concentration, it has higher classification efficiency and finer overflow fineness, and the overflow product is uniform. The classification efficiency is 5-10% higher than that of the commonly used spiral classifier, which is conducive to improving the mill utilization factor.

(1) Large cone angle cyclone

The cone angle of the cyclone is large, up to 180 degrees (also known as a flat cyclone), which is suitable for processing high concentration, heavy mineral specific gravity, and overflow fineness requirements of less than 60% of -200 mesh, especially ideal for the first stage grinding of iron ore in the stage grinding process. This type of cyclone has a series of advantages, such as uniform overflow particle size, the slight over-grinding phenomenon of overflow products, and the underflow rate can be greatly adjusted without affecting the normal operation of the cyclone. Compared with the same type of cyclone, it can increase the first-stage grinding capacity by 10-25%.

(2) One-stage high-fineness classification cyclone

It is suitable for occasions where the first-stage grinding requires a grinding fineness of more than 80% of -200 mesh. Due to the fine classification particle size, even if the ordinary structure cyclone reaches the required classification particle size, the classification efficiency will be greatly reduced, the return sand volume will increase, and the new feed volume of the mill will be low. The first-stage high-fineness classification cyclone reduces the overflow coarseness and underflow fineness through structural changes and maintains a high classification efficiency while obtaining a higher overflow fineness.

Two-stage classification cyclone

The two-stage classification cyclone is widely used in the second-stage inspection and control classification of various metal and non-metallic ores. The specifications of the cyclone range from 75mm to 660mm, which can be applied to beneficiation plants with different processing capacities and different requirements for grinding fineness. The cyclone adopts a unique structural design, which allows the overflow fineness of the two-stage cyclone to be arbitrarily selected and adjusted from -200 mesh 75% to 95%.

Dehydration cyclone

Dehydration cyclone is mainly used for the dehydration of various mineral slurries. According to different material characteristics and different production and installation environments, different structural designs are adopted, which have the advantages of low-pressure drop, large processing capacity, and high dehydration efficiency. Applied in a tailings re-selection pulping dehydration operation, when the feed concentration is 5-12% and the -200 mesh content is 75%, the average overflow concentration of the cyclone is controlled below 1.5%, and the loss of useful minerals is avoided while achieving the purpose of effective dehydration. In a silica sand dehydration operation application, the overflow concentration of the dehydration cyclone reached below 0.5%, and the overflow was almost unqualified fine mud, achieving the dual effects of dehydration and desludging. The overflow water of the cyclone is reused after sedimentation, saving costs.

Desliming cyclone

The high-efficiency desliming cyclone is mainly used for desliming operations of various metal ores and non-metallic slurries. Based on the absorption of excellent foreign achievements, after several years of practice, the high-efficiency desliming cyclone has determined the proportion and coordination of the main components of the high-efficiency desliming cyclone. The designed and produced high-efficiency desliming cyclone has the advantages of high desliming efficiency, less loss of useful minerals, saving user costs, and improving production efficiency. Case: The tailings discarded by a silica sand mine accounted for 12.7% of muddy minerals, and the fineness of -325 mesh accounted for 39.3%. Almost all muddy minerals were stored in the -325 mesh level.

Deslagging cyclone

Deslagging cyclone is used in power plant wet desulfurization, lime pulping, crude oil deslagging, tap water desanding, sewage treatment, and other operations. It can effectively remove coarse sand, metal, and other particulate impurities in the slurry. It has the advantages of high slag removal efficiency and less useful slurry loss.

Concentrating cyclone

High-efficiency concentrating cyclone is often used in conjunction with thickener, filter, etc., It is used for concentration before various mineral filtration, mineral fine grinding flotation, gold slurry cyanidation, and other preparatory operations, as well as high-concentration transportation of tailings, to achieve slurry concentration.

High-efficiency concentrating cyclone is rarely used alone and is often used in combination with other equipment. The concentrating cyclone can be adjusted in structure and installation according to customer requirements and the specific conditions of upstream and downstream operations to achieve the optimization of the use effect. At the same time, the cyclone uses a unique internal structure design to produce a higher underflow concentration under the premise of a lower overflow concentration, improve production efficiency, reduce expenditure, and save costs.

Tailings dry discharge cyclone

Technical features

• Tailings are discharged in a dam-building manner and discharged in a soil dump, eliminating the tailings pond and reservoir water, avoiding dam breach, dam overflow, dam collapse, and other accidents, and improving safety.
• High economic efficiency, reducing investment costs, saving land acquisition costs, shortening construction cycles, and low maintenance and operation costs.
• Achieve zero discharge of wastewater, saving a lot of water resources for society and a lot of money for enterprises.
• Tailings dry pile treatment technology solutions can be used for cofferdams, land reclamation, and tree planting, as well as backfilling mines and subsidence areas, achieving a double harvest of resource development and environmental protection.
• Simple management, easy operation, wide application, suitable for concentrated dry discharge of tailings of various particle sizes and concentrations.