NARMER-ENGSIM'S AERATED CYCLONIC EXTRACTOR
-ACE-
(Fast Flotation technology for minerals processing and wastewater/water treatment)
ACE's TECHNOLOGY
In the ACE Hydrocyclone, feed slurry swirls at high velocity and creates a pressure gradient in the radial direction (centrifugal flow field). This flow field creates high pressure on the wall of the hydrocyclone and low pressure near the core. Air is injected through the microbubble generation mechanism on the wall of hydrocyclone. This air-injection mechanism has been developed to prevent particles accumulation and/or deposition on the wall of hydrocyclone, which means no clogging. The high shear due to the swirling slurry at the wall of hydrocyclone breaks up the injected air into microbubbles (~100-200 microns). This phenomenon allows for low power consumption and a simple process.
Designed by Dr. Hassan Fayed
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS
During the motion of air bubbles through the swirling slurry, fine and medium hydrophobic particles (water-resistant) collide and attach to air bubbles. The particle bubbles move to the interface of the air core and form a rotating froth layer. The air that flows towards the overflow pipe transports the froth layer with separated particles to the overflow-froth tank.
The particles and bubbles in this fast-froth separation device have a residence time of a fraction of a second, compared to a flotation tank's residence time of 5 minutes. Because of the small residence time, the recovery rate of our ACE hydrocyclone is nearly 70 times that of a conventional flotation cell. This high rate reduces the required power-input per unit volume, footprint area and infrastructure work.
LOW COSTS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Due to our groundbreaking technology, the ACE consumes an estimated 30% less power during its operations. The use of an air blower instead of a compressor and the absence of a static mixer is what gives our process a low cost of operation and a small footprint.
A FRACTION OF THE COST
The advantages of ACE are numerous, from our lack of clogging issues to the low amount of infrastructure. An advantage that may be overlooked is the low cost of a single unit. If many hydrocyclones are purchased to match the output of a single tank, there no longer has to worry about stopping a full days operation due to a single mechanical failure. Our price point enables the customer to have hydrocyclones on standby so that if an issue were to occur, the user would simply hook up the standby hydrocyclone to the feed line and continue operations as a quick repair takes place on the retired hydrocyclone. The simplicity of our system and lack of massive infrastructure will make problems easy to identify and quick to repair while keeping your operation moving at full speed.
