Froth flotation has been one of the most important and widely used methods to concentrate minerals since its introduction over a hundred years ago. Over the last few decades, in order to process more mineral while reducing capital costs, flotation equipment has become exponentially larger. The increase in tank volume, however, has brought new challenges in the operation and design of industrial flotation tanks. This review analyses the literature on flotation tank scale-up for the first time, contrasting several techniques and approaches used in both historical and state-of-the-art research. The study of flotation scale-up is crucial for the optimisation of industrial plant performance and the maximisation of laboratory-scale research impact. While important advances in our understanding of flotation have been achieved, large flotation tank design and scale-up has, to a large extent, remained in-house know-how of manufacturing companies. This review of the literature relevant to flotation tank scale-up has resulted in a new classification, dividing the scale-up literature into two main areas of study, namely “Kinetic scale-up” and “Machine design scale-up”. This review indicates that current scale-up rules governing the design of flotation tanks focus mainly on pulp zone kinetic parameters and neglect the effects on the froth zone, despite the importance of froth stability and mobility in determining flotation performance. Froth stability and mobility are closely linked to the distance the froth needs to travel, which increases with tank diameter. Although including internal elements, such as launders and crowders, has been the industrial solution for enhancing froth transport and recovery in larger tanks, the design and scale-up of these elements have not been thoroughly studied. Gaps in our knowledge of flotation are discussed in the context of addressing the scale-up problem, considering froth transport and froth stability. Addressing these gaps will pave the way for the design and operation of large flotation tanks of enhanced performance.

自从一百多年前问世以来，泡沫浮选一直是最重要和广泛使用的矿物浓缩方法之​​一。在过去的几十年中，为了处理更多的矿物同时降低资本成本，浮选设备已成倍增长。然而，水箱容积的增加给工业浮选水箱的操作和设计带来了新的挑战。这篇评论首次分析了浮选罐放大的文献，对比了历史和最新研究中使用的几种技术和方法。浮选规模的研究对于优化工厂性能和最大化实验室规模的研究影响至关重要。尽管我们对浮选的理解取得了重要的进步，大型浮选罐的设计和放大在很大程度上仍是制造公司的专有技术。对浮选罐放大相关文献的回顾导致了新的分类，将放大文献分为两个主要研究领域，即“动力学放大”和“机器设计放大”。该评论表明，尽管泡沫稳定性和流动性对确定浮选性能很重要，但目前控制浮选槽设计的放大规则主要集中在纸浆区动力学参数上，而忽略了对泡沫区的影响。泡沫的稳定性和流动性与泡沫需要传播的距离紧密相关，泡沫的传播距离随储罐直径的增加而增加。尽管包括洗钱和拥挤者等内部要素，作为增强大型罐中泡沫运输和回收的工业解决方案，尚未对这些元件的设计和放大进行深入研究。考虑到泡沫的运输和泡沫的稳定性，我们在解决规模化问题的背景下讨论了我们浮选知识的空白。解决这些差距将为性能增强的大型浮选罐的设计和运行铺平道路。