«GORMASHEXPORT» (Novosibirsk, Russia):

Bauman A. V., Deputy Director for Science, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, aleksei_bauman@mail.ru
Stepanenko A. I., Тechnical Supervisor, goraexport@mail.ru
Baranova A. A., Process Engineer, goraexport@mail.ru

The statistics accumulated in process audits of over 150 processing plants at the stages of operation and commissioning demonstrates that, in two thirds of the cases, plant commissioning problems are due to miscalculations in the design and organization of thickening and water circulation systems. The article discusses the design parameters and operating principles for radial and thin-layer thickeners, the current state of the theory and specific features of the thickening process, providing the necessary background for designing and selecting the devices. The paper also presents a methodology for assessing the manufacturability of radial thickeners when designing thickening and water circulation systems using reagents. Problems are considered and respective laboratory process modeling and scaling methods are proposed. The conditions are set out for solving the problem with the supply of advanced Russian thickeners. Selection criteria for this type of equipment are analyzed. The difficulties that arise when selecting radial thickeners for a particular process are described, associated both with the abundance of titles and uncertainty of the terminology used and the lack of specific manufacturability assessment methods. A methodology is proposed for obtaining sedimentation stability data for suspensions at the stage of preliminary studies of the thickening process. Attention is paid to the specific process expertise required in the design of thickening and water circulation systems, as well as to the preliminary performance assessment of radial and thin-layer thickeners. Any process-related and design decisions shall be made with due account of the latest achievements of fundamental science and on the basis of a statistical performance analysis of the existing concentrators.

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