Improvement of the filtration characteristics of calcite slurry by hydrocyclone classification

Abstract Hydrocyclones are used in the classification of solids for instance in the mining and minerals processing industries for modifying the particle size distribution of solids, as well as for ore concentration purposes. Improvement in the filtration properties of the slurry is usually achieved as a result of the classification process when only the underflow is evaluated, owing to the coarse and narrow particle size distribution. However, overall comparisons of the filtration properties incorporating filtration of both the underflow and overflow streams have not been discussed a lot in the literature. The objective of this study is to investigate hydrocyclone classification of a calcite slurry, to evaluate the resulting pressure filtration properties of the underflow and overflow streams, and to compare the required total filtration areas for a constant solids production capacity. The results show that the average specific cake resistance depended primarily on the fine particle content of the slurry, and therefore the Kozeny-Carman equation was not suitable for the prediction of the specific cake resistance. The specific resistances of feed and underflow filter cakes were underestimated consistently. Wide particle size distribution was one of the most apparent factors reducing cake porosity. The main outcome of the comparison of the required filtration areas was that a low specific cake resistance and high solids concentration of the underflow caused the total area requirement to decrease almost in all cases, compared to the area required for the filtration of the feed slurry. Moreover, as high as 99% reduction in the total filtration area, compared to the feed slurry, could be achieved by filtering only the underflow streams, omitting the dewatering of the overflow streams. In the light of the promising results of the study, the incorporation of a classification step prior to filtration should be investigated further, e.g. in tailings treatment applications.