Scale-Up of Decanter Centrifuges for the Particle Separation and Mechanical Dewatering in the Minerals Processing Industry by Means of a Numerical Process Model

• Published in: Minerals (Basel) 2021-02, Vol.11 (2), p.229
• Main Authors: Menesklou, Philipp, Sinn, Tabea, Nirschl, Hermann, Gleiss, Marco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Calcium; Calcium carbonate; Calcium carbonates; Carbonates; Centrifuges; Control algorithms; Decantation; Dewatering; Laboratory tests; Mathematical models; Mineral processing; Minerals; Mining industry; Numerical models; Processing industry; Sediment transport; Simulation; Thickening
• ISSN: 2075-163X; 2075-163X
• DOI: 10.3390/min11020229

Decanter centrifuges are frequently used for thickening, dewatering, classification, or degritting in the mining industry and various other sectors. Their use in an industrial process chain requires a sufficiently accurate prediction of the product and the machine behaviour. For this purpose, experiments on a smaller pilot-scale are carried out for scale-up of a decanter centrifuge, which is usually a major challenge. Predicting the process behaviour of decanter centrifuges from laboratory tests is rather difficult. Basically, there are two common ways of scale-up: First, via analytical methods and the law of similarity, which often requires an enormous experimental effort. Second, using numerical models, which demands a mathematically and physically precise description of the multiple processes running simultaneously in such machines. This article provides an overview of both methods for scale-up of a decanter centrifuge. The concept of a previous developed numerical approach is introduced. Pros and cons of both scale-up methods are compared and further discussed. Experiments on lab-scale, pilot-scale, and industrial-scale decanter centrifuges with two different finely dispersed calcium carbonate water suspensions were carried out and simulations were done to investigate and prove the scale-up capability and transferability of the numerical approach.