Criteria of Engineering Efficiency of Thickening Flowcharts

Abstract

Thickening and water circulation are important processes in coal beneficiation cycles. Rather frequently reasonable arrangement of these processes influences not only on plant production rate and quality of final product but on its overall operating capability as well. As demonstrated in practice, only some beneficiation plants erected or retrofitted recently in Russia were commissioned in due time and reached rated performances. Statistical analysis of engineering audits of more than a hundred of existing and green beneficiation plants in the last fifteen years demonstrated that in two thirds of all situations the problems are related with incorrect arrangements of thickening and water circulation flowcharts of the plants. The main reasons of failures in designing and subsequent inoperability of plants are as follows: disagreement between actual and rated properties of feedstock, mistakes in designing, wrong selected equipment for thickening and water circulation flowcharts. An important issue in designing and estimation of thickening operability is meeting of criteria of process applicability. Sometimes initially wrong process variables of water and slurry flowchart makes it impossible to operate any apparatus. The article discusses main criteria of operability estimation of thickening.