Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 55–58

This article is also available online at:

www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng
Technical Note

Optimizing the design of flotation circuits: an economic approach

M.H. Abu-Ali, S.A. Abdel Sabour *

Mining and Metallurgical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut 71516, Egypt
Received 3 April 2002; accepted 7 November 2002

Abstract
Economic optimization of a flotation circuit is necessary to ensure that the circuit is performing at its maximum economical
potential. This paper deals with the economic optimization of flotation circuits. A model for estimating the optimum number of cells
in a bank, to give a definite target recovery, as well as the volume of each cell is developed. A hypothetical copper project is provided
to explain the applicability of this investigation.

2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Modelling; Flotation machines; Mineral processing; Mineral economics

1. Introduction mance (recovery and concentrate grade). The optimi-

Froth flotation is an important minerals separation
process. There are many factors to consider before
specifying equipment for a flotation circuit. Among
these factors are metallurgical performance (recovery
and grade), power consumption and capital and oper-
ating cost of the flotation circuit (Dorenfeld, 1962; King,
2001). The total cost of the circuit consists of capital and
operating costs. The capital cost of a flotation circuit is
the total amount of money required to purchase and
install plant equipment, while the operating cost consists
mainly of power, labors, materials and supplies and
maintenance cost (Pascoe, 1992).
Optimizing the design of mineral processing plants
cannot be based only on technical considerations. When
designing a flotation circuit to treat a certain ore, the
mineral recovery, the cell volume and the number of
cells in the circuit should be optimized on the basis of
both technical and economic considerations. There are
many combinations of cell volume and cell numbers that
give the same recovery. Accordingly, the selection of the
optimum cell volume as well as the optimum number of
cells should be based on economic considerations.
This study provides a method to estimate the opti-
mum number of flotation cells in a bank and the volume
of each cell to achieve a definite metallurgical perfor-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +20-88-411216; fax: +20-88-332553.
E-mail address: sabrysabour@yahoo.com (S.A. Abdel Sabour).
0892-6875/03/$ - see front matter
2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 8 9 2 - 6 8 7 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 1 3 - 8
zation process is carried out assuming that
• the optimization process in the present case concerns
only with the transaction between the number of cells
and the volume of each cell when all other parameters
are held constant;
• the feed rate to the bank, feed grade, and the required
concentrate grade are known;
• the mean residence time is constant down the bank.
2. Optimization models
2.1. The optimum number of cells to achieve a target
recovery
The recovery, R, of flotation cells, N , in series may be
expressed as a first order rate equation as in the fol-
lowing form (Williams and Meloy, 1983; Gochin and
Smith, 1987):
!
1
R¼ 1 N R1 ð1Þ
ð1 þ KsÞ
where K is the industrial flotation rate constant, and s is
the mean residence time in a single cell. Eq. (1) can
provide useful information for the analysis, design
and optimization of complex flotation networks. This
model is frequently criticized for being simplistic but, to
date, no workable alternative has been suggested, and
56 M.H. Abu-Ali, S.A. Abdel Sabour / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 55–58

Nomenclature

A constant in Eq. (5) n number of working days/year

AOC annual operating cost Oh hourly operating cost of unit volume of cell
B constant in Eq. (5) per m3
CC capital cost Pc power consumption per m3 of cell volume
dCC increase of capital cost due to the marginal PVTAOC present value of the total annual operating
increase of the number of cells costs
D ratio of the geometric volume to the pulp R recovery of valuable mineral
volume in the cell R1 theoretical ultimate recovery
d PVOC decrease of the present value of the total op- T project life in years
erating cost due to the marginal increase of TAOC total annual operating cost
the number of cells TCC total capital cost
F feed flow rate V geometric volume of cell
H constant in Eq. (9)
Greek letters
h constant in Eq. (9)
s average residence time in a cell unit
i discount rate
t pulp volume
K first order rate constant [time1 ]
N number of cells

procedures for designing flotation plants are still very where D is the ratio of the geometric volume of the cell
empirical (Schena et al., 1996). to the pulp volume in the cell. The total capital cost of N
The volume (t) of the pulp in a cell is cells in series is as follows:
t ¼ sF ð2Þ ( " 1=N #)B
F 1
TCC ¼ NA D  1 ð7Þ
where F is the feed rate in m3 /min. K 1r
Substituting for s from Eq. (2) into Eq. (1) results
in The annual operating cost of a cell is expressed such as
1 AOC ¼ 24Oh nV ð8Þ
R=R1 ¼ 1    ð3Þ
t N where Oh is the hourly operating cost per m3 of the cell
1þKF
volume, $/h m3 , and n is the number of working days per
Rearranging Eq. (3) to determine the pulp volume in a year.
cell and substituting for R=R1 ¼ r, then The hourly operating cost per m3 of cell volume is
( 1=N ) estimated as a function of the power cost assuming that
F 1
t¼ 1 ð4Þ the power cost represents 40% of the total operating
K 1r cost. The power cost per m3 of cell volume is the product
Eq. (4) gives the volume of each cell in a circuit of N cells of the power consumption (KW h) and the energy cost
that produces a definite recovery, R. ($/KW h). The power consumption (Pc ) is a function of
The capital cost required to purchase and install a the cell volume and can be represented as follows:
flotation cell can be expressed as (Mular, 1980; Schena Pc ¼ HV h ð9Þ
et al., 1996)
where H and h are constants for the same type of flo-
CC ¼ AV B ð5Þ tation machines. As the cell volume increases, the power
where A and B are constants, and V is the geometric consumption per m3 of cell volume decreases, and hence
volume of the cell. The geometric volume of the cell both the power cost and the hourly operating cost per
varies between 1.3 and 1.6 times its effective pulp volume m3 of cell volume decreases. The published data by
(t) (Jain, 1987). Young (1982) for Sala type flotation machines are used
Substituting for the value of t from Eq. (4) into Eq. to find the parameters of Eq. (9). It is found that the
(5) gives values of H and h are 2.4 and 0.04 respectively. Then the
annual operating cost of a cell becomes
( " 1=N #)B
F 1 AOC ¼ QV 1h ð10Þ
CC ¼ A D  1 ð6Þ
K 1r
where Q ¼ ½24  Energy cost  n  H =0:4.
 M.H. Abu-Ali, S.A. Abdel Sabour / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 55–58 57

The total annual operating cost of N cells is The optimum number of cells is the one that satisfies
TAOC ¼ AOC N ð11Þ the following condition:
The present value of the total annual operating costs is dCC þ d PVOC ¼ 0 ð17Þ
Z T
PVTAOC ¼ AOC N eit dt ð12Þ Eq. (17) can be solved numerically to calculate the op-
0 timum number of flotation cells in the bank to achieve a
Then definite recovery.
AOC N
PVTAOC ¼ ð1  eiT Þ ð13Þ
i 3. Application example
where i is the discount rate and T is the project lifetime
in years. Substituting for V and AOC from Eqs. (4) and To illustrate the applicability of the models developed
(10), respectively, yields the following equation: in this study, consider a hypothetical low-grade copper
( " 1=N #)1h
DF 1 ð1  eiT Þ ore project of a 20 000 ton per day mining rate and 30
PVTAOC ¼ QN 1 years lifetime. The percentage of copper in the feed to
K 1r i
the milling plant is assumed to be 0.35% and that in the
ð14Þ concentrate produced is 22%. The theoretical ultimate
Eq. (14) gives the present value of the operating costs of recovery (R1 ) is assumed to be 95%.
N cells incurred throughout the project life.
As the number of cells, arranged in series to achieve a 3.1. Estimation of the optimum number of cells to achieve
definite recovery, increases, the cell volume decreases, a definite recovery
the capital cost of the circuit increases, and the present
value of the operating costs decreases. To optimize the Both the marginal capital and operating costs depend
number of cells, the effect of the marginal cell on both on the number of cells in the circuit. As shown in Fig. 1,
the capital costs and the present value of the operating as the number of cells increases both the marginal
costs should be analyzed. The summation of these effects capital cost and the absolute value of the marginal
of the marginal cell is termed the cost of the marginal operating cost decrease. The optimization is based on
cell. If the cost of marginal cell is negative, then in- comparing the marginal capital cost with the absolute
creasing the number of cells marginally is economical. If value of marginal operating cost at a given number of
the cost of the marginal cell is positive, then increasing cells. If the marginal capital cost is less than the absolute
the number of cells marginally will add to the total costs value of marginal operating cost, then increasing the
of the circuit and hence it is uneconomical. given number of cells marginally will result in a negative
The optimum number of cells is the one at which the value of the marginal cost and hence reduces the total
cost of the marginal cell is zero. This means that the cost of the circuit. This procedure continues until
increase of the capital costs of the circuit due to in- reaching the number of cells at which the marginal
creasing the number of cells marginally equals the de- capital cost equals the absolute value of the marginal
crease of the present value of the total operating costs. operating cost. At this number, the marginal cost equals
This optimum number can be calculated as follows. 0. Beyond that number, the marginal capital cost
The increase of capital costs due to the increase of the becomes greater than the absolute value of marginal
number of cells marginally can be expressed such as
 B ( " 1=ðN þ1Þ #B
DF 1 50000
dCC ¼ A ðN þ 1Þ 1
K 1r
" 1=N #B ) 0
1 4 8 12 16 20
N 1 ð15Þ
1r
-50000

The decrease of the present value of total operating costs

is expressed as in the following equation: -100000 Marginal capital cost
Marginal operating cost
8 " #1h
 1h < 1=ðN þ1Þ Marginal total cost
DF 1
d PVOC ¼ Q dr ðN þ 1Þ 1 -150000
K : 1r
" 1=N #1h 9
1 = -200000
N 1 ð16Þ
1r ;
Fig. 1. The relationship between the marginal costs and the number of
where dr ¼ ð1  eiT Þ=i. cells.
58 M.H. Abu-Ali, S.A. Abdel Sabour / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 55–58

30000 60 cell required to give a target recovery. The model is

10000 based on comparing the effects of the marginal cell on
-10000 8 50 both the capital and the present value of operating costs.
12 16 20
Based on the data of the hypothetical project, the opti-
-30000
mum number of cells required to give a target recovery
Marginal total cost 40
-50000
Cell volume
of 80% has been found to be 16 cells and the volume of
-70000 each cell is 24.0 m3 .
30
-90000

-110000
20
References
-130000

-150000
Fig. 2. The optimum number of cells and the cell volume for a 80%
recovery.
operating cost. This will result in a positive marginal
total cost and hence increases the total cost of the cir-
cuit. Accordingly, the optimum number of cells is the
one at which the marginal cost equals 0, as shown in Fig.
2. Looking at this figure, the optimum number of cells to
give a recovery of 80% is 16 and the volume of each cell
is 24.0 m3 . This result can be obtained directly by
solving Eq. (17) numerically.
4. Conclusions
A model is developed to find the optimum number of
cells in a flotation bank, as well as the volume of each
10 Dorenfeld, A.C., 1962. Flotation circuit design. In: Froth Flota-
tion 50th Anniversary Volume. AIME, New York, pp. 365–
381.
Gochin, R.J., Smith, M.R., 1987. The methodology of froth flotation
testwork. In: Yarar, B., Dojan, Z.M. (Eds.), Mineral Processing
Design. In: NATO ASI Series, pp. 166–201.
Jain, S.K., 1987. Ore Processing. Balkema.
King, R.P., 2001. Modeling and Simulation of Mineral Processing
System. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Mular, A.L., 1980. The estimation of preliminary capital costs. In:
Mular, A.L., Bhappu, R.B. (Eds.), Mineral Processing Plant
Design. AIME, pp. 52–70.
Pascoe, R.D., 1992. Capital and operating costs of minerals engineer-
ing plant––A review of simple estimation techniques. Minerals Eng.
5 (8), 883–893.
Schena, G., Villeneuve, J., Noel, Y., 1996. A method for a financially
efficient design of cell-based flotation circuits. Int. J. Mineral
Processing 46 (1–2), 1–20.
Williams, M.C., Meloy, T.P., 1983. Dynamic model of flotation
cell banks-circuit analysis. Int. J. Mineral Processing 10, 141–160.
Young, P., 1982. Flotation machines. Mining Magazine (January), 35–
59.