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Efficiency improvements are always the
aim of opttmizing the balance between
gained
f rom water recovery
By Simon Wallter, European Editor
Filtration and thickening are areas of min-
eral recovery technology that are often
overlooked. Nonetheless, they represent
an important component of the entire
process, since without dewatering, t
would be hard to produce concentrates to
transport specif ications wh ile water recy-
cling from tailings streams is becoming
increasingly important as energy costs for
pumprng steadily increase. In addition,
the benefits of dry taillngs disposal are
becoming increasingly apprecated from
both environmental and social responsibil-
ity perspectives.
This review looks at some of the major
players in the supply of both filtration and
thickener equipment, companies that over
the years have developed and improved
upon the technologies and concepts
tnvolved. As with other areas of mineral
processing technology, eff iciency improve-
ments are always the goal, wrth the arm of
equipment class, wth the
cr,ntents and the benefits
th is vita l
moisture
optimizing the balance between residual
moisture contents and the benef its to be
won from water recovery.
The Benefits of a
Joined-up Approach
U.S.-based Mclanahan Corp. has recently
been doing a lot of work installing its deep-
cone thickeners and filter presses together
for several different mineral-processing
customers, Mclanahan's director of pro-
cess engineering for mineral processing,
Scott O'Brien, explained the rationale for
using this approach to dewatering.
0'Brien said while using a thickener on
its own will enable an operator to recover
80%-90% of the water in a slurry, the
underflow will still contain enough water to
make it difficult to handle. Normally, he
said, this would go to a pond for further
consolidation of the solids, and perhaps to
recover some reusable water.
"However," he went on, "getting a per-
mit for the pond might not be feasible or
may just
be very difficult. That's when a fil-
ter press can be extremely useful.
"The thickener underf low can go through
a filter press to become a cake that can be
picked up with a loader and transported.
Since filter-press cakes contain such a high
proportion of solids, they also stop water
dripping all over the road during transport,
which officials don't take kindly t0."
O'Brien went on to point out that pro-
ducers who do not have a thickener, but do
have a filter press, end up putting a dilute
feed into the press. This greatly increases
the cycle times because more water is going
through the press. ln addition, he said,
longer cycle times of high-velocity water
can cause faster wear on the filter cloths.
The benefits of using a thickener and
filter press combination can include better
water recovery, the removal of permitting
issues, lower operating costs since a tail-
ings pond may not be needed, and better
compliance with environmental require-
ments, 0'Brien suggested.
H igher water-recovery rates mean that
operations can cut their fresh-water
demand, wh ile stacked dry ta ilings are less
likely to have dam-failure issues.
McLanahan stated that interest in this
type of combined dewatering system is
increasing, with the concept becoming
more accepted. lt also points out that most
mineral-processing plants already have
some type of thickener, and with changes
in regulations or plant-processing needs, a
f ilter press can easily be added to treat the
thickener underflow. The company added
that it will be installing a number of press-
es with existing thickeners in the U.S. and
Russia over the next few months.
Colossal Flter Recovers
More Water
FLSmidth reported that its paste thicken-
ing equ ipment is used to nrax.rm ize water
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WesTech Engineerrng's EvenFlo feedurell provides better feed distnbution into a thickener, according to the c0mpany.
.16
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recovery and reduce the amount of water
lost during tailings disposal. Paste thicken-
ers increase the underflow solids concen-
tration and reduce the final water content
of matenal sent to the tailings pond. The
company stated that its EIMCO deep cone
paste thickeners accommodate up to 20
times the solids mass flow and 10 times
the hydraulic loading of conventional thick-
eners, which is achieved by optimizing the
solids concentration for feed dilution,
chemical addition and floc formation while
minimizing f loc degradation
FlSmidth Iold E&MJ that it recenily
designed a new feed system, incorporating
its E-duc feed-dilution technology and
Evolute feedwell. This has been designed
to maximize the critical parameters
of
"best practice" feedwell performance,
the
company said, and incorporates all of the
benefits of both closed- and open-bottorn
feedwells without any of their drawbacks.
The new feedwell has been designed for
easy installation, with an upgrade available
for retrofitting onto existing thickening
equipment structures.
E-Duc feed dilution and flocculation
ahead of the feedwell allows for excellent
mixing conditions for contact of f locculant,
the company added, Followed by the low
turbulence and further flocculation in the
Evolute feedwell, this provides
the optimal
environment for flocculation and aggregate
growth, minimizing flocculant usage and
increasing settling raies.
For more effective tarilngs management,
pressure filters installed after the tailings
thickeners increase the efficiency of mois-
ture removal to create a filter cake general-
ly containing less than 15% moisture. Cake
stacking in multiple lifts can take up less
than half of the area of a comparable tail-
ings pond, with dry stacking proven to be
safer and more sustainable for both a mine
and its neighboring communities.
With FLSmidth's AFPIV minerals pres-
sure filters used for process-water recovery,
the company's newly designed Colossal fil-
ter press has been engrneered to be twice
as wide as previous models to give even
better performance. The Colossal includes
a patent-pending filter plate design, while
2-m-wide cloths are used on each side of
each plate, making the cloth easy to han-
dle. These filters not only provide high
throughput and efficient solids capture,
but they also operate continuously, auto-
matically, in harsh environments, and can
handle abrasive or conosive slurries. the
company stated.
www.e-tnl.c0rll
New Orders for
Tenova Delkor
Earlier this year, Tenova Delkor reported on
three recently awarded contracts for rts
tliickener technologv from operations in
Madagascar, Liberia and S terra Leone. The
order from an existing client, Dynatec
Madagascar SA
(D|r4SA),
was for an addi-
tional 80-m diameter ore thickener mech-
anrsm for the Arbatovy joint venture, and
follov'rs inrtial orders for thickener equip-
ment dating back to 2007
Tenova Delkor said the thickener offers
a number of advantages specif ic to the con-
ditions at Ambatovy, such as a feed dilution
system that enhances the thickening of the
feed, using a forced dilution technology,
Ihe order was signed last November with
the thickener mechanism due for deliverv
in the middle of this year. Tenova Delkor's
scope of rryork covers design, supply and
delivery, together with supervision of the
installation and commissioning.
Meanwhile the company received its
f irst order f rom an operation in Liberia in
December last year, with delivery due in
the third quarter of 2014 Placed by BEA
Mountain Mining Corp., part of Aureus
M in ing I nc.
,
the order covers one ZI-m-
diameter high-rate thickener, two belt lin-
ear screens (9
m2 and 6 m2) and a f loccu-
lant plant with auto dilution for increased
steady-state conditions. The equipment is
destined for the New Liberty gold mine,
where the f irst gold pour is expected at the
end of the f irst
quarter
in 2015.
Lastly, Tenova Delkor reported that it
recently delivered a 22-m-diameter ore
tailings th ickener to London M in ing's
Marampa iron-ore project in Sierra Leone.
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The company noted that this was its third
order for Maranipa, wrth the two prevtous
contracts coverrng tlre desrgn, supply and
deliverv of B5-m2 belt f rlters. The f irst of
these was Installed in 2011, and the sec-
oncJ last year. All three nrachines were
designed by Tenova Delkor in Australia,
with the f irst belt f ilter berng rranufactured
in Australia, and the other eclutpment pro-
duced in South Africa.
Fully Automated
Filter Presses
Tlie Japanese conlpany, lshigakr Co Ltcl ,
rs the developer and worldwide supplier of
the Lasta MC f ilter press f or dewaterinq
mrneral concentrates and tailings, The
company claimed that the Lasta MC has
the largest capacity of anV c0m parable f il-
ter press, the fastest cvcle time and has
the best reliabilitv, while allowing highly
ef fective cake wash and achieving low cake
moisture contents that can reduce or elim-
inate drying requirements. Ivprcal target
performance includes tarlings dewaterrng
to 14% moisture and concentrates to 8o,.
The company noted that many of the
more than 100 Lasta MC nrachines now in
use have been operating efficiently for
upward of 20 years. lshigaki offers three
models, with plate sizes of 1.5 m x 2 rl,
2.1 m x 2.i m and 2.1 m x 2.9 rl.
In 201 1, the company's U.S. drstnbu-
tor, Micronrcs Inc., recerved a
$14
rlillion
order f rom a domestic gold prod ucer f or
Lasta MC presses. With an initial through-
put of 10,000 tons per day
(Vd),
and the
capability of rncreasing this three-fcld, the
presses are Lrerng used for dewaterrng, with
the removal of cvanide and 99oio recoverv of
%
McLanahan Corp is actively promotrng the concept of combrnrng thrckener and f rlter-press technology; as shorvn
in the inset, the resulting cake is much easier to handle
47 MARCH 2O}4
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any residual gold f rom the f ilter cake before
tailings disposal, Micronics reported.
Filternq and Thclteninq
Technolgy Worldwide
r
Part of the Rustria-domiciled Andritz group,
Andritz Separation offers equipment such
as filter presses, belt filters, hyperbaric and
vacuum disc f ilters, and vacuum drum f il-
ters for mineral-sector applications. lts
range of thickener products includes con-
ventional units as well as CCD thickener
circuits and f locculation plants.
The company reported that for coal-
washery applications, its belt presses are
used for dewatering fine and ultra-fine coal
and tailings, and for recovering process
water, wh ile hyperbaric f ilters f ind appl ica-
tions in dewatering ultra-f ine coal. ln-
stallations in this sector have included belt
presses
supplied to the Russian steel pro-
ducer, Severstal, and hyperbaric filters to
the Czech coal industry for handling flota-
tion concentrates.
For the iron-ore industry, Andritz
Separation has supplied vacuum filter tech-
nolory mainly to magnetite producers, while
hematite operations in the U.S., lndia and
Russia use hyperbaric disc filters. These
have more than four-times the throughput of
vacuum disc filters, the company said,
while reducing the moisture content by an
additional 4oA-6oA. Six I20-m2 hyperbaric
filter units installed at a Jindal Steel plant
in India have the highest throughput of any
worldwide, the company stated.
ln non-ferrous mineral processing,
Andritz has supplied thickeners for CCD cir-
cuits to Nkana in Zambia
(six
20-m diame-
ter units), Langer Heinrich rn Namibia
(four
at 35-m diameter) and Glencore's Mumi
operation in the DRC
(six
35-m-diameter).
Nchanga in Zambia uses 26, 8O-m2 hori-
zontal vacuum belt filters for copper recov-
48 ti !*.1
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f\,4ARCfl 2014
ery, while Mumi has two l22-mz units for
contaminant removal, Andritz f ilter presses
are in use in various gold and base metals
operations in Russia and Kazakhstan, and
also for water clarification in underground
dewaterrng plants in a number of gold and
platinum mines in South Africa.
According to Steve Myers, Andritz
Separation's manager for mining and min-
erals for North America, recent supply con-
tracts won by the company have included
six hyperbaric disc filters for iron-ore con-
centrate in the U.S. and lndia
,
14 thicken-
ers for a major potash plant in Russla and
10 f ilter presses for a large cement pro-
ducer in Germany, as well as 12 cen-
trifuges for a Canadian potash plant.
H i g her-efficie ncy Feedwell
Design
U.S.-based WesTech Engineering provides
liquid/solids separation solutions for miner-
al and industrial applications world-wide.
Its product range includes ceramic disc fil-
ters, horizontal belt f ilters, various types of
drum filter and tower press filters. In thick-
ening technology, it can supply conven-
tional as well as h igh-density and h igh-f low
units to suit specific dewatering and paste
production reqLlirements.
One of the company's recent technolo-
gy developments has been the EvenFlo
feedwell. This, WesTech said, induces con-
sistent energy dissipation, controlling and
equalizing the feed distribution into the
thickener, providing enhanced flocculation
and optimal mixing. The EvenFlo design
consists of a two-part feedwell system, with
an inner chamber that converts the feed
energy into a concentric radial flow. The
main feedwell chamber then evenly dis-
tributes the feed into the sedimentation
zone of the thickener, minimizing short-cir-
cuiting and eliminating uneven coarse-
fraction deposits. The EvenFlo is ideal for
new thickeners or as an upgrade to existing
equipment, WesTech added.
ln February, Weslech launched its
tower press f ilter to the industrial and min-
erals markets The company said the f ilter
delivers optimum production performance
and availability for maximum dewatering in
a wide range of industrial and minerals
applications, including fine iron-ore con-
centrates, leach residues, metallurgical
precipitates and more.Other key benefits
include low maintenance and operational
costs, as well as f u lly automatic operation.
"This
technologr extends WesTech's abil-
ity to directly provide full systems solutions to
Flocculant njecton points
Top, FLSmidth's Colossal f ilter press. Below, The company's E-volute feedwell is the result of years of development work.
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An Andritz fast-opening mrning filter press for iron-0re c0ncentrate in lndia.
its customers," said Philp Lake, the compa-
ny's international business untt leader.
"WesTech is now poised to provtde spare
parls and seruice to existing tower press f ilter
operators around the world, at a service level
and price tnat will be extremely competitive."
The tower press filter has a five-stage
operating cycle, encompassing feed, filtra-
tion, washing, air-drying and cake-dis-
charge stages.
Metso Thiclteners Gut
LI(AB's Pump Costs
While the use of thickener technology is
often associated with the back end of min-
eral processing plants, there are other
applrcations, as Metso Minerals points out.
A recent paper by product manager
Pejman Oghazi and some colleagues looks
at the ways in which mine water can be
treated underground, the aim being to save
wear-and-tear on pumping systems by han-
dling raw water that would need to be treat-
ed on surface in any case
The authors explained that Metso has a
system solution to treat mine water, by sepa-
rating out the solids before it is pumped to
suriace. This system, they said, reduces
pump erosion and can save on maintenance
in the long term. lt can be divided into three
steps: a spiral dewaterer to remove coarse
solid particles; a lamella thickener to remove
most of the solids; then a tube press to han-
dle the sludge from the thickener undedlow.
The concept is based on a project that
the company undertook for the Swed rsh
iron-ore producer, LKAB, involving the
rnstallatron of equipment at a dewatering
station, 1,368 m b'elow surface, The spiral
dewaterer is basically an open trough with
arrangements to transport settled solids in
a continuous operatron, and replaces a tra-
ditional settling process in an open pond
or su m p. Metso prod uces these u n its in
sizes to cover a hydraulic flow of up to
2,000 m3/h. The settling area is dimen-
sioned to allow solids to settle in relation
to the feed f low and solids cut-point.
Metso's inclined plate settler consists of
two main components: an upper tank con-
taining the lamella plates inclined at 55'
and a lower conical or cylindrical sludge
tank. The feed enters through vertical cham-
bers on either side of the lamella packs, with
clarification taking place above the suspen-
sion inlet so there is no mixing of the clari-
f ied f luid with the incoming feed. The solids
hit the lamella plates and slide down to the
sludge tank where they are thickened f urther
and compressed using a raking system.
C oal-industry Standard
Flters
Wth its headquarters near Salt Lake City,
Utah, Peterson Filter Corp, reported that
the first of its "Coal Type" vacuum disc fll-
ters were installed in the eastern U.S. in
the late 1950s; since then, these units
have become an industry standard in the
coal preparation industry, with more than
400 in service They are used in f ine-coal
preparation circuits for filtering clean coal
and refuse slurries, the company stated,
Peterson noted that since flocculation
of the fine coal filter feed slurry is often
needed in order to obtain acceptable f iltra-
tion rates, together with low cake moisture,
it has developed a highly eff icient f loccula-
tor that can be used to condition both
thickener and filter feed slurries. lt added
that as refuse slurries often have a high ash
content and hence lower filter rates and
higher cake moisture, proper f locculent
feed slurry conditioning is essential for
acceptable f ilter operation.
The company offers a complete line of
drsc filters, ranging from 1B-in.-diameter
laboratory-size units to f ull-size 12 ft.6-in.-
diameter production units with 15 discs. In
addition to its coal-type filters, it has a sim-
ilar line of equipment for filtering concen-
trates and tailings slurries in metallurgical
mining, as well as drum-type filters that
can be customized for specific mining-sec-
tor applicatrons.
Blfinger Boasts Largest
Filter Press
Bilfinger Water Technologies
(formerly
known as Diemme) has designed and sup-
plied c0mplete f iltration plants for the min-
erals sector. Process areas covered in these
projects have included the use of filter
presses for concentrate dewatering, filter-
ing lixivants in hydrometallurgical
plants,
dewatering slurries from off-gas treatment
in pyrometallurgy, and the recovery of met-
als through electrolysis.
Among the B ilf inger f ilter presses for
the minerals sector, the GHT 4 x 4 is
designed for high productivity. The filter
plates are hung from an upper beam and
are moved automatically, with the shifting
mechanism equipped with a carousel sys-
tem that reduces the filter press opening
and closing sequence to the minimum.
Effectively guarded moving parts and the
use of state-of-the-art electronic interlock
systems mean that the press conforms to
the highest operator health and safety reg-
ulations, the company said. ln addition,
routine maintenance is simple, with easy
access to the filter plates for both inspec-
tion and filter-cloth replacement.
In 2010, Bilfinger supplied what it
claims is the world's largest filter press, the
GHT 2500, to a steelworks in India, for
dewatering iron-ore concentrate, The unit
also uses up-to-date technology to reduce
the filtration cycle of cake blowing, drying
and squeezing to a minimum. Capable of
being expanded, it can handle up to 200
mVh of product to a residual cake moisture
content of between 5% and 9%, according
to Bilfinger.
The year before, the company had sup-
plied a silver producer in Mexico with three
GHT 2000 f ilter presses that could dewa-
50 MARCT-r 20]4
ter up to 4,0C0 mt/h of dry solids ir a
sludge dewatering plant that was designed
to maximize process water recoverv from
the tailings stream. The presses produced
cake with a residual moisture content of
less than 20%, while achieving up to 84%
water recovery and helping to eliminate the
need for tailings ponds.
The m ine had previouslr bought four
Autonrat 1500 f ilter presses from Bilf nger
for use in its Merrill Crowe olant.
Gaudfrin Wins
Repeat Business
The French company, Gaudfrin, special-
izes in the design of equipment for the f il-
tration, thickenrng, clarification, dewater-
ing and washing of solid-liquid separa-
tions. lt has a worldwide patent on the
Diastar static-pressLrre vertical-leaf filter,
which, it said, provides a sirnple, safe and
economic solution to many f iltration
requirements, with more than 300 units
now working in more thari 25 countries.
The Diastar filter has no moving parts,
works on short cycles, has an automatlc
washtttg systern, and requires very little
intervention f rom the operator.
WesTech Engineering recently launched its tower press f ilter for minerals-sector applrcatrons
Gaudfrin also supp'lies horizontal vacu-
um belt filters, pressure 0r vacuum rotary
disc filters, dvnamic pressure and vacuum
vertit:al-leaf " Universal" f rlters, and the
"Dynapress"
dynamic belt-press.
The company said the matn applica-
tions for the Diastar filter are the thicken-
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ing or clarification of slurries, as well as
cake washing and/or cake dewaterng. lts
Univeral filters are used for filtering slurries
with poor f rlterabilttv, and for cake wash-
ing, plus cake dewatering. Drsc f tlters are
used on concentrate slurries and fc,r cake
dewaterrng, rvhile its belt f rlters f inrJ applr-
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51 www. e- nr j
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IUARCH 2014
FNLTE[TS AilID ThI IC[(EI\I IE[RS
Metso Minerals has desrgned its inclrned-plate settler to mrnrmize the size and cost of gravity-settlirrg equipment.
cations for filtering slurries wrth good fil-
terability and for cake washing.
Last year, Gaudf rin commissioned a
fourth 90-m2 belt filter at one of Foskor's
fertrlizer plants in South Africa. The three
original units had been in operation in
the phosphoric ac id plant since 2002,
and had proved so successful that when
Foskor decided to renovate an older section
of the plant, it opted for another Gaudfin
f ilter instead of replacing the existing pan
f ilters there.
ln another application, Pacific Alumi-
nium's Gove alumina refinery in Queens-
land uses Gaudfrirr filters to remove fine
bauxite residue particles from the turbid
digestion lrquor.
Thckeners for the
World Market
For nearly 30 years, Canada-based Westpro
Machinery has been supplying a range of
equipment to the mrneral-processing
industry around the world. lts equipment,
including thickeners and clarifiers, is now
in use in Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Guyana,
Mexico, Russia, Canada, the U.S. and in
some parts of Africa.
Westpro noted that it supplies its equip-
ment manufactured to the hiqhest Canadian
standards in components that require little
or no on-site assembly, As an example, its
high-capacity thickeners are made with
diameters of up to 38 m
(125
ft), yet the
bridges are made to f it f ully assembled into
sea containers, with the drive, power unit,
control panel and handrails all ready to use
"f rom the box, "
Both hydraulic and electric drive units
are available, with benefits including high-
torque characteristics, reversibility and vari-
able speed capability, the company stated.
The units are also light and compact, with
low maintenance requirements, it added.
The rake assembly features an efficient de-
sign that provides higher raking power with
less torque, as well as an adjustable slope for
on-site customization, white the high-capac-
ity tank is generally delivered in formed
pieces for field welding, with the individual
sections designed to fit into contarners.
H i gh-efficiency Thickening
Phoen ix Process Equ ipment supplies dewa-
tering equipment to the aggregate and min-
ing industries, For example, its HiFlo thick-
ener clarifies the water while it thickens the
slurry from a wash plant to 40%-45%
solids, greatly reducing the volume going to
the slurry pond. For complete elimination of
the slurry pond, the company said, a belt f il-
ter press can be added to dewater the thick-
ened slurry, either initially or as an upgrade,
The company claims that separation is
often more than 20 times as effective as
conventional thickeners. The plant a(ea is
greatly reduced, such that indoor installa-
tion may become practical. ln addition, the
design provides for deaeration of the feed
ahead of the feedwell, with the feedwell de-
signed to enhance the separation. The floc-
culation level can be carefully controlled,
Phoenix said, with the use of bed-level inter-
face sensors for optimum performance,
Benef its of this type of equ ipment
include its minimum space requirement
and good thickening performance, Phoenix
added, with overflow water being clarif ied
for use in the wash plant or as belt wash
water for a belt f ilter press. Using a HiFlo
thickener can greatly reduce the volume
reporting to a slurry pond, the company
stated, or properly condition the slurry for
press dewatering to a stackable, solid-
phase discharge cake.
Other Phoenix products include re-
cessed-chamber and membrane filter press-
es and piston-membrane pumps which, it
notedr can provide alternatives to its core
belt f ilter-press dewatering technology.
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5? lvlARCH 2014 !vv/vt,.e-rltj.c0lll