Excited to share with you, our new research article titled “Particle shape characterization of shaking table streams in a Turkish chromite concentration plant by using dynamic imaging and microscopical techniques” from recently supervised MSc thesis, has been published online in Particulate Science and Technology.

 

The purpose of this study is fourfold: 

1-to quantify particle shape of all products in the shaking table circuits of a Turkish chromite beneficiation plant by DIA in terms of different aspect ratio (AR) parameters as well as visual techniques, namely scanning electron microscope (SEM) and stereo-microscopy, 
2-to prove the significancy of the mean AR values of each stream by analysis of variance (ANOVA) whether they are the same or different.
3-to reveal what kind of particles (round or elongated) are dominant in the concentrate and tailing products, 
4- to understand how these particles behave on the flowing film concentration by shaking table. Thus, a proper mill could be used to generate suitable grain-shaped feed material to achieve a better table separation performance.

Abstract
Dynamic image analysis (DIA) as well as visual inspection by SEM and stereomicroscopy were used for the representative samples of plant. Analysis revealed that particle shapes of concentrate products are mostly equant or round while the most elongated particles were observed in tailing products at 95% confidence level. This is highly linked to the rolling and sliding movement of round and elongated particles, respectively on the deck. This implies that particle shape is one of the parameters affecting on the gravity separation. Using shape data with tonnages of the circuits in mass balance equations indicates that shape distributions of products in table circuits are consistent. This study gives insight as better separation recovery could be obtained when proper mill is used for producing feed particles, which have targeted shape to shaking tables, since any improvements in recovery will have big effect on the concentrate income. 







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