Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 1448–1453

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Effect of slurry rheology on gas dispersion in a pilot-scale mechanical flotation cell

N.Z.P. Shabalala a, M. Harris a, L.S. Leal Filho b, D.A. Deglon a,⇑
a
Centre for Minerals Research, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, Private Bag Rondebosch, Cape Town 7700, South Africa
b
Department of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper investigates the effect of slurry rheology on gas dispersion in a 100 l pilot-scale Batequip
Received 16 March 2011 mechanical flotation cell. The study is conducted using Kaolin, Bindura nickel and Platreef slurries. All
Accepted 6 July 2011 three ores display typical non-Newtonian rheological behaviour. The slurry yield stress and viscosity
Available online 8 September 2011
increase exponentially with solids concentration. Bubble size and gas hold-up vary from 0.60 to
1.10 mm and 2% to 15%, respectively. At low/moderate solids concentrations, bubble size and gas holdup
Keywords: display characteristic trends, as noted in numerous literature studies. At high solids concentrations, both
Froth flotation
bubble size and gas holdup decrease significantly, which is an unexpected finding. This is attributed to
Flotation machines
Flotation bubbles
the formation of a ‘cavern’ of slurry around the impeller, due to the very high slurry yield stresses. This
Rheology ‘cavern’ results in the generation of small bubbles in the impeller zone, but poor dispersion of these bub-
bles throughout the cell, resulting in low gas hold-ups.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Froth flotation is a separation method used for the beneficiation
of a considerable portion of the world’s mineral ores. The majority
of flotation occurs in mechanical flotation cells, where effective gas
dispersion is a primary requirement for particle–bubble contact-
ing. Mining operations, such as lead–zinc and platinum, are
increasingly having to grind ores to ever finer particle sizes in order
to liberate the valuable minerals. Ultrafine grinding technologies,
such as Isamills, are able to produce particles with a P80 as fine
as 10 lm (Pease et al., 2006). In addition, operations tend to run
flotation circuits at fairly high solids concentrations in order to
maximise residence time, accommodate higher tonnages and limit
water consumption. Mineral slurries containing fine particles at
higher solids concentrations exhibit non-Newtonian rheological
behaviour (Muster and Prestidge, 1995; Shi and Napier-Munn,
1996; Prestidge, 1997; Blakey and James, 2003; He et al., 2006;
Duarte and Grano, 2007; Alejo and Barrientos, 2009; Das et al.,
2011). This behaviour is exacerbated when processing ores con-
taining minerals known to adversely affect rheology, such as cer-
tain phyllosilicates (Ndlovu et al., 2010). For these reasons, it is
anticipated that slurry rheology will increasingly affect the perfor-
mance of mechanical flotation cells, as it impacts significantly on
cell hydrodynamics.
Cell hydrodynamics refers to fluid flow in the flotation cell and
is largely driven by the action of the impeller. Slurry leaves the
impeller/stator system in predominantly radial jets which carry
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 216502980; fax: +27 216505501.
E-mail address: David.Deglon@uct.ac.za (D.A. Deglon).
kinetic energy, in the form of fluid flow, into the bulk cell where
they ultimately decay into turbulence and circulate back to the
impeller. Hydrodynamics is governed by vessel characteristics,
such as size and shape; impeller properties, such as geometry
and rotational speed; and slurry properties, such as density and
rheology. Slurries with high densities result in proportionately
higher power inputs. Very little research has been conducted on
the effect of rheology on flotation cell hydrodynamics. Most re-
search in this area has been in the general chemical engineering
field, studying non-Newtonian fluids in stirred tanks (Moore
et al., 1995; Fangary et al., 2000; Wilkens et al., 2005; Arratia
et al., 2006). However, in the area of flotation, Schubert (1999)
found that slurries containing fine particles tended to cause turbu-
lence damping, presumably through an increase in the slurry vis-
cosity. More recently, Bakker et al. (2009, 2010) found that
slurries characterised by rheologies with a high yield stress may
result in the formation of a yielded ‘cavern’ of slurry around the
impeller, with slurry in the bulk cell remaining unyielded, and
therefore stagnant.
Gas dispersion refers to the generation of small bubbles in the
impeller/stator region and their dispersion throughout the flota-
tion cell by bulk fluid flow. Gas dispersion is largely controlled
by cell hydrodynamics and defines the efficiency of the flotation
process once the chemistry has been established (Gomez et al.,
2003). Gas dispersion is typically characterised by the measure-
ment of bubble size, gas hold-up, superficial gas velocity and bub-
ble surface area flux. Gas dispersion in mechanical flotation cells
has been studied extensively (Gorain et al., 1995a,b; Deglon
et al., 2000; Finch et al., 2000; Grau and Heiskanen, 2003, 2005;
Nesset et al., 2006; Schwarz and Alexander, 2006). However, the

0892-6875/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2011.07.004
 N.Z.P. Shabalala et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 1448–1453
effect of rheology on gas dispersion in flotation cells has received
little attention. Some research has been conducted on the effect
of solids concentration on gas dispersion. Here, the bubble size
has been found to increase at higher solids concentrations (Tucker
et al., 1994; Grau and Heiskanen, 2005).
The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of slurry
rheology on gas dispersion in a mechanical flotation cell. The study
is conducted using Kaolin, Bindura nickel and Platreef slurries in a
pilot-scale mechanical flotation cell, as used by Van der Westhuizen
and Deglon (2007, 2008) and Bakker et al. (2009, 2010).
2. Experimental
2.1. Mechanical flotation cell
The study was conducted on a 100 l pilot-scale Batequip
mechanical flotation cell with tank diameter (T = 0.54 m) and li-
quid depth (Z = 0.80, T = 0.44 m). The cell was agitated by a six-
bladed Bateman impeller with (D = 0.15 m, W = 0.10 m) and impel-
ler clearance (Cb = 0.15, T = 0.083 m). The impeller clearance re-
sulted in radial circulation patterns back to the eye of the
impeller above and below the impeller i.e. a double-figure-of-eight
circulation pattern. Impeller speed was adjusted using a variable
speed drive and measured by an electromagnetic sensor. Power
draw was measured using a three-phase Wattmeter. Air flow rate
was adjusted using a needle valve and measured by an air rotame-
ter. A schematic of the flotation cell is shown in Fig. 1.
2.2. Slurry rheology
Tests were carried out using Kaolin, Bindura nickel and Platreef
ores. Ores were obtained from the Serina Kaolin mine (Cape Town),
Trojan nickel deposit (Harare) and northern limb Bushveld Com-
plex (Mokopane), respectively. These ores were chosen as they
are known to cause slurries that exhibit non-Newtonian rheologi-
cal properties, due to the presence of phyllosilicate minerals (Kao-
lin – kaolinite; Bindura nickel – serpentine, talc; Platreef – talc).
Representative samples of each ore were prepared by milling, fol-
lowed by blending and splitting in a rotary splitter. Particle size
was determined using a Malvern Particle Size Analyzer. Mean par-
ticle sizes (d50) were 5 lm for Kaolin, 20 lm for Bindura nickel and
9 lm for Platreef. Ore specific gravities were 2.60 for Kaolin, 3.00
for Bindura nickel and 3.02 for Platreef.
Fig. 1. Pilot-scale flotation cell.
1449
Rheological measurements were carried out using a MCR
300 rheometer with a cup and bob geometry. Shear rates of be-
tween 0.1 and 1000 s 1 were used. This straddles the shear rate
range of between 100 and 800 s 1 in the mechanical flotation cell,
estimated using the equations of Sanchez Perez et al. (2006). Syn-
thetic plant water was used in all tests in order to simulate indus-
trial conditions (Wiese et al., 2010). The rheological behaviour of
the slurry was manipulated by varying the solids concentration
for each ore type. Kaolin was varied from 15% to 40% while both
Bindura nickel and Platreef were varied from 20% to 60%. The slurry
yield stress and viscosity were determined by fitting the Bingham
rheology model to the rheogram data, as used by Ndlovu et al.
(2010).
2.3. Gas dispersion
Tests were carried out at impeller speeds of between 300 and
650 RPM. This resulted in a range of power intensities (P/V) of
approximately 0.50–8.50 kW/m3, depending on the ore type and
solids concentration. This straddles and exceeds the range of
power intensities found in industrial mechanical flotation cells
(Deglon, 2005). Air flow rate was kept constant at 206 l/min,
resulting in a superficial gas velocity (Jg = 1.5 cm/s). Frother dosage
(MIBC) was maintained at 20 ppm (liquid basis) in order to limit
bubble coalescence. Bubble size (mean, d10) was measured photo-
graphically using the Anglo Platinum Bubble Size Analyser (Naik
and van Drunick, 2007). Measurements were taken at a point
approximately 10 cm below the pulp and equidistant between
the impeller tip and cell wall. Gas hold-up (global) was measured
by recording the change in height of the aerated and unaerated
pulp. This simple, yet reliable method of global gas hold-up mea-
surement proved robust. Repeatability was determined from repli-
cates measurements of bubble size and gas holdup for the entire
data set. The average standard error for bubble size and gas
hold-up were 0.02 mm and 0.45%, respectively.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Slurry rheology
Fig. 2 shows the effect of solids concentration on the yield stress
for the three ores. There is a clear exponential relationship with
solids concentration, as observed in numerous studies in the liter-
ature e.g. sulphide slurries (Muster and Prestidge, 1995); alumina
and zirconia suspensions (Pradip and Malghan, 1998); quartz par-
70
60
Kaolin
50
Yield Stress (Pa)
Bindura
Platreef
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Solids Concentration (%)
Fig. 2. Graph of yield stress (Pa) versus solids concentration (%).
1450 N.Z.P. Shabalala et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 1448–1453

ticles (Yue and Klein, 2004). A similar relationship was observed 1.20
for viscosity, with the plastic viscosity increasing exponentially
to maximum values of between 0.03 and 0.08 Pa.s. Kaolin increases
at lower solids concentrations due its mineralogy and finer particle 1.00
sizes. These results demonstrate that, as expected, the ores display

Bubble Size (mm)

typical non-Newtonian rheological behaviour. This is particularly
0.80
severe at the highest solids concentrations, where all three ores
have yield stresses in excess of 20 Pa. It should be noted that all re-
sults in this paper are given in terms of weight percent solids as 0.60
this is commonly used in flotation which is the subject of this
Kaolin
study. However, volume percent solids is more relevant to slurry
rheology. Here, the maximum solids concentration of 40% for Kao- Bindura
0.40
lin and 60% for Bindura nickel and Platreef ores corresponds to Platreef

approximately 20 and 33 (vol%) solids, respectively. It should also

be noted that all results are plotted versus solids concentration 0.20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
rather than rheological parameters such as slurry yield stress and
viscosity. This is because solids concentration is the driving force Solids Concentration (%)
for changes in rheology and has an equivalent effect on both of
Fig. 4. Graph of bubble size (mm) versus solids concentration (%) at N = 440 RPM.
these rheological parameters i.e. an exponential increase.

1.20
3.2. Bubble size

Figs. 3–5 show the effect of solids concentration on bubble size 1.00
for the three ores at 300, 440 and 650 RPM, respectively. The range
Bubble Size (mm)

of bubble size varies from 0.60 to 1.10 mm, which is towards the
lower end of the range observed in mechanical flotation cells (Gor- 0.80
ain et al., 1995a; Burgess, 1997; Power and Franzidis, 2000; Deglon
et al., 2000; Chen et al., 2001; Yianatos et al., 2001; Grau and
Heiskanen, 2005; Nesset et al., 2006; Schwarz and Alexander, 0.60
2006). However, this range is typical of small flotation cells operat- Kaolin
ing at higher power intensities. At 300 RPM, the bubble size is ini- Bindura
tially 1.0 mm, remains relatively constant over a broad range of 0.40
Platreef
solids concentrations, and then decreases for all three ores at the
highest solids concentrations. At 650 RPM, the bubble size is ini-
0.20
tially 0.80 mm, increases with increasing solids concentration, 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
and then decreases at the highest solids concentrations. The bubble Solids Concentration (%)
size data for 440 RPM is intermediate between that for the lower
and higher impeller speeds, initially at 0.90 mm and then going Fig. 5. Graph of bubble size (mm) versus solids concentration (%) at N = 650 RPM.
through a more gradual increase followed by a decrease.
The trends for the change in bubble size with increasing solids
concentration have characteristics that are both expected and 1.20
unexpected. For the low solids concentrations, the decrease in the
bubble size with increasing impeller speed is expected, as noted
1.00
by Grau and Heiskanen (2005). For the higher impeller speeds,
Bubble Size (mm)

the increase in bubble size with increasing solids concentration is

0.80

1.20

0.60

1.00
Bubble Size (mm)

0.40

0.80

0.20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
0.60
Kaolin Solids Concentration (%)
Bindura
Fig. 6. Graph of bubble size (mm) versus solids concentration (%) for all tests
0.40 Platreef
conditions.

0.20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 expected, as observed by Tucker et al. (1994) and Grau and Heiska-
Solids Concentration (%) nen (2005). However, the decrease in bubble size at the highest sol-
ids concentrations is unexpected. Fig. 6 shows the bubble size
Fig. 3. Graph of bubble size (mm) versus solids concentration (%) at N = 300 RPM. versus solids concentration data for the entire study, plotted on a
 N.Z.P. Shabalala et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 1448–1453 1451

single graph (63 data points). There is obviously considerable scat- 15.0
ter in the data as it is for three different ores at three impeller
speeds. However, the overall trend is for a decrease in bubble size 300 RPM
with increasing solids concentration, which was not anticipated 12.0
440 RPM
at the outset of the study.

Gas Holdup (%)

650 RPM

9.0
3.3. Gas hold-up

Figs. 7–9 show the effect of solids concentration on gas hold-up 6.0
for three impeller speeds and for Kaolin, Bindura nickel and
Platreef, respectively. The range of gas hold-up varies from 2%
to 15%, which is towards the lower end of the range observed in 3.0
mechanical flotation cells (Deglon et al., 2000; Grau and Heiskanen,
2003; Schwarz and Alexander, 2006). The gas-holdup increases
0.0
with increasing impeller speed at the low/moderate solids concen- 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
trations, which has been observed in numerous studies in the flota- Solids Concentration (%)
tion literature (Gorain et al., 1995b; Grau and Heiskanen, 2003). The
trends for the change in gas hold-up with increasing solids concen- Fig. 8. Graph of gas hold-up (%) versus solids concentration (%) for Bindura nickel
tration for the three ores differ in terms of the overall magnitude of ore.
gas hold-up and region at which this begins to decrease. However,
for all three ores it is clear that there is a dramatic decrease in gas
hold-up at the highest solids concentrations. Here, the range of 15.0
gas hold-up varies from 2% to 4%, which is very low for mechanical
flotation cells. These large decreases in gas hold-up coincide with
the highest solids concentrations, where slurry rheology is dis- 12.0
tinctly non-Newtonian for all three ores. It should be noted that
Gas Holdup (%)

at these extreme conditions occasional (but infrequent) bursting/

9.0
geysering of very large bubbles/slugs around the standpipe was
observed.
There is considerable research on the effect of parameters such 6.0
as impeller speed and air flow rate on gas hold-up in the flotation 300 RPM
literature. However, to the authors’ knowledge, there is no pub- 440 RPM
lished literature on the effect of either solids concentration or slur- 3.0 650 RPM
ry rheology on gas hold-up in mechanical flotation cells. There is
some literature on this topic in the area of agitated/stirred tanks,
although this is limited to a few isolated publications. Machon 0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
et al. (1980) and Vlaev et al. (2002) investigated the effect of
Solids Concentration (%)
non-Newtonian, pseudoplastic CMC/Guar solutions on gas disper-
sion. Machon et al. found the gas hold-up to decrease with increas- Fig. 9. Graph of gas hold-up (%) versus solids concentration (%) for Platreef ore.
ing pseudoplasticity, which was attributed to the formation of
larger bubbles. Vlaev et al. (2002) found the overall gas hold-up
increasing solids concentration, which was attributed to the dis-
to remain constant with increasing pseudoplasticity, but to in-
placement of small bubbles by solids in the slurry. A mechanism
crease in the impeller region and decrease correspondingly in the
for the large decrease in gas hold-up, coupled with the unexpected
bulk tank. Cooke et al. (2008) investigated the effect of increasing
decrease in bubble size observed in this study, will be pro-
solids concentration of glass ballotini on gas hold-up and mass
posed/argued in Section 3.4.
transfer. Cooke et al. found a general decrease in gas hold-up with

3.4. Effect of rheology on gas dispersion

15.0

This section presents/proposes an explanation for the gas dis-

12.0 300 RPM persion results in terms of the effect of solids on slurry rheology,
440 RPM and the subsequent effect on cell hydrodynamics. Increasing solids
Gas Holdup (%)

650 RPM
concentration also leads to an increase in slurry density, resulting
9.0 in proportionately higher power intensities (P/V). However, the
specific power input (P/qV), which is the driving force for subpro-
cesses such as bubble break-up (Schubert, 1999), remains constant.
6.0 The presence of solid particles also affects subprocesses such as
bubble coalescence and the drag force on bubbles. For example,
naturally hydrophobic minerals such as talc in the ores may attach
3.0
to bubbles, resulting in increased drag forces and higher gas hold-
ups. Consequently, the presence of solid particles of different type
(mineralogy, shape, size, etc.) may well affect gas dispersion, be-
0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 yond just the influence on slurry rheology. However, the authors’
Solids Concentration (%) are of the opinion that the trends in the gas dispersion data be-
tween the three ore types are sufficiently consistent/robust that
Fig. 7. Graph of gas hold-up (%) versus solids concentration (%) for Kaolin ore. they can largely be attributed to slurry rheology.
1452 N.Z.P. Shabalala et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 1448–1453
Slurry rheology is characterised by a viscosity and/or a yield
stress, both of which increase exponentially with solids concentra-
tion. High viscosities result in turbulence damping which inhibits
bubble break-up, resulting in larger bubbles and correspondingly
lower gas hold-ups. However, high viscosities also result in in-
creased drag forces on bubbles, leading to higher gas hold-ups. High
yield stresses may result in the formation of a ‘cavern’ of mixed slur-
ry around the impeller, with slurry in the bulk cell remaining stag-
nant (Bakker et al., 2009, 2010). This leads to an intensification of
local power intensities around the impeller which enhances bubble
break-up, resulting in smaller bubbles. However, this also leads to
poor dispersion of bubbles throughout the cell, resulting in lower
gas hold-ups. The formation of the cavern itself is dependent on
the yield stress of the slurry and the impeller speed. Caverns tend
to form at high yield stresses and low impeller speeds. However,
as the impeller speed increases the cavern increases in size and
eventually disappears. Consequently, the bubble size and the gas
hold-up in the flotation cell are dependent on a combination of
(sometimes) conflicting mechanisms, and whether a cavern is
formed at the conditions in the cell or not.
For the low solids concentrations, the bubble size and gas
hold-up results are in an appropriate range of values and display
consistent trends with increasing impeller speed, as noted in the
numerous literature studies referred to in this paper. For the mod-
erate solids concentrations, the bubble size either remains constant
or increases with increasing solids concentration, as observed by
Tucker et al. (1994) and Grau and Heiskanen (2005). Here, the gas
hold-up remains relatively constant, with some variation between
the three ores. These results suggest that slurry rheology is causing
turbulence damping, resulting in slightly larger bubbles, but with
minimal impact on gas hold-up due to the corresponding increase
in drag forces on the bubbles. For the high solids concentrations,
the bubble size and gas hold-up results appear contradictory, as
small bubbles and low gas hold-ups are obtained. Here, the low
gas hold-ups could simply be attributed to poor gas dispersion in
the impeller, as occasional bursting/geysering of very large bubbles
around the standpipe was observed. However, these bubbles/slugs
were too infrequent to be the major cause of the low gas holdups
and do not explain the reduction in bubble size. The low gas hold-
ups could also be attributed to phenomena such as the ‘displace-
ment’ mechanism proposed by Cooke et al. (2008). However, this
also does not explain the reduction in bubble size as the ‘small bub-
bles’ are meant to be ‘displaced’ by solids. In the authors’ opinion,
these results suggest that a ‘cavern’ is forming around the impeller,
due to the high slurry yield stresses. This leads to an intensification
of local power intensities around the impeller which enhances bub-
ble break-up, resulting in smaller bubbles. However, this also leads
to poor dispersion of bubbles throughout the cell, resulting in lower
gas hold-ups. Here, the small bubbles rise directly to the surface of
the cell from the cavern and are not distributed throughout the cell.
Bakker et al. (2009, 2010) clearly noted the formation of a cavern at
the highest solids concentrations for Kaolin and Bindura nickel,
using the same flotation cell as this study.
4. Conclusions
This paper investigated the effect of slurry rheology on gas dis-
persion in a 100 l pilot-scale Batequip mechanical flotation cell.
The study was conducted using Kaolin, Bindura nickel and Platreef
slurries. From this study one may conclude:
 Slurry rheology: All three ores displayed typical non-New-
tonian rheological behaviour. The slurry yield stress and
viscosity increased exponentially with increasing solids
concentration.
 Gas dispersion: Bubble size and gas hold-up varied from
0.60 to 1.10 mm and 2% to 15%, respectively. This is
towards the lower end of the range observed in mechani-
cal flotation cells. At low/moderate solids concentrations,
bubble size and gas holdup displayed characteristic/pre-
dictable trends, as noted in other literature studies. How-
ever, both bubble size and gas holdup were found to
decrease significantly at the highest solids concentrations,
which is an unexpected finding.
 Rheology and gas dispersion: The unexpected decrease in
bubble size and gas holdup is attributed to slurry rheology.
At high solids concentrations, slurries for all three ores
have significant yield stresses, resulting in the formation
of a ‘cavern’ of slurry around the impeller. This leads to
the generation of small bubbles in the impeller zone, but
poor dispersion of these bubbles throughout the cell,
resulting in low gas hold-ups.
It should be noted that the mineral ores, fine particle sizes and
high solids concentrations used in this study were chosen to create
extreme conditions for slurry rheology (in flotation cells). The con-
ditions at which slurry rheology has a significant effect on gas dis-
persion are unlikely to be encountered in most industrial flotation
cells. However, the findings in this paper are relevant to research-
ers/engineers considering the flotation of ultrafine particles and/or
ores containing minerals known to adversely affect rheology, such
as certain phyllosilicates.
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