GAS holdup and RTD measurement in an industrial flotation cell

In this work, the measurement of the axial gas holdup profile and gas residence time distribution (RTD), in a 130 m3 self-aerated flotation cell, is presented. For this purpose, a radioactive tracer gas was activated in the Nuclear Reactor of the Chilean Commission of Nuclear Energy.The gas tracer, Freon 13B1, was injected as an impulse signal at the gas (air) inlet point, located at the top of the cell, from which the gas tracer circulates first through the rotor, where the bubble dispersion occurs, and then the gas becomes well distributed over the whole cross-sectional area before leaving the cell.The axial gas holdup profile was estimated from the transient gas concentration measurement at different depths inside the cell. From these experiments it was found that the air entering the cell was preferentially distributed in the upper half of the cell, while the gas entrainment into tailings was negligible. The mean gas holdup was 8.8%, and consequently the effective pulp volume of collection zone was 91.2%.The gas concentration on top of froth was recorded for RTD measurement of the gas leaving the cell. It was found that the mean gas residence time was around 42 s and the mixing condition for gas and pulp was similar.