Abstract This paper presents a new approach for modelling and simulation of flotation circuits, which addresses the potential to increase metallurgical performance, selecting the best choice of cell size, number of cells per bank, cell design and operating conditions. For this purpose, a flotation simulator was built and calibrated using data from industrial sampling campaigns carried out in Chilean concentrators, using modern and large mechanical flotation cells. The simulator allowed for evaluating and comparing the metallurgical performance of different flotation circuits. For this purpose, alternative scenarios were analysed for a selected industrial circuit, where different cells arrangement (number and size of cells), launder designs (represented by the mean froth transport distance) and operating conditions (pulp residence time and froth depth) were evaluated. This new approach showed to be a useful and practical tool to evaluate metallurgical performance in large industrial flotation banks, being able to show the effect of different flotation process characteristics such as froth transport distances and operating conditions.

中文翻译：

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使用新方法评估浮选电路设计

摘要 本文提出了一种新的浮选回路建模和仿真方法，它解决了提高冶金性能的潜力，选择了最佳的电解槽尺寸、每组电解槽数量、电解槽设计和操作条件。为此，使用现代和大型机械浮选池，使用智利选矿厂进行的工业采样活动的数据构建和校准浮选模拟器。模拟器允许评估和比较不同浮选回路的冶金性能。为此，针对选定的工业电路分析了替代方案，其中不同的单元排列（单元的数量和大小），对流槽设计（由平均泡沫输送距离表示）和操作条件（纸浆停留时间和泡沫深度）进行了评估。这种新方法被证明是一种有用且实用的工具，可用于评估大型工业浮选库的冶金性能，能够显示不同浮选工艺特性（如泡沫运输距离和操作条件）的影响。