Liquid purification or separation – Filter – Movable medium
Patent
1994-07-21
1996-08-20
Lithgow, Thomas M.
Liquid purification or separation
Filter
Movable medium
210107, 210108, 2103331, 210393, 210406, 210412, 210427, 2105101, 134 1, B01D 2968, B01D 2972, B01D 3348, B01D 3354
Patent
active
055475744
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This invention relates generally to apparatus for filtering fine particles from a liquid carrier and more specifically relates to an improved apparatus for dewatering aqueous slurries of very fine particle size minerals, including industrial minerals such as kaolin clays, calcium carbonates, and the like, as well as slurries of fine particle size coal, metalliferous ores, and the like.
In the course of processing numerous minerals, a step of dewatering by filtration is commonly utilized. Such a requirement may be exemplified by considering the processing of crude industrial minerals such as kaolin clays and ground calcium carbonates, where the crude materials are commonly subjected to a series of steps intended to remove undesired impurities such as discolorants, so as to ultimately provide a refined product which is susceptible to the particular use for which it is intended. In the instance, for example, of kaolins, such beneficiation may in some instances be accomplished by dry processing techniques, as for example by air flotation. More commonly, however, especially where the impurities or contaminants to be removed are in some manner chemically combined or intimately associated with the mineral, wet processes of various types are employed. These include such well-known processes as froth flotation, reductive and oxidative bleaching, and high intensity magnetic separation. This is in addition to wet classification, which can also be regarded as a beneficiation step achieving some of the aforementioned objectives.
Thus, in a typical procedure wherein the initial starting material is a crude sedimentary kaolin clay, including from about 1-2% titania, the said crude may be subjected to a separation process to reduce the titania content to below 0.8% by weight. More generally, the titania will be reduced to the range of from about 0.2 to 0.8. Where a froth flotation process is used for such purposes, the clay may be initially blunged and conditioned by forming an aqueous alkaline dispersion of the clay (pH adjusted to about 7-10 with ammonium hydroxide). The dispersion may include as a deflocculating agent various compounds known to be useful for such purposes, such as sodium silicate. Other useful agents include a water-soluble salt of a polyacrylic acid or polymethacrylic acid preferably having an average molecular weight in the range of from about 500-10,000. Oleic acid or other collector agent is added during the conditioning process. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,067 for further details of flotation procedures which may be utilized. Further aspects of flotation treatment of the aforementioned type can be found in numerous places in the prior art, including in Cundy, U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,257, and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,990,958 and 3,138,550.
The purpose of the froth flotation in the foregoing sequence is to remove titania; and accordingly other techniques can be utilized in place of or to supplement flotation, including by passing the slurry in relatively dilute form and while the clay is dispersed (typically at about 30% solids) through a high intensity magnetic field, e.g. via a magnetic separator of the type disclosed in Marston, U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,678. Such device comprises a canister packed with stainless steel wool at which enveloping magnets are capable of providing a high intensity field of 12 kilogauss or higher. Froth flotation may be combined with magnetic separation to achieve additional effects, see for example Nott, U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,067.
A further commonly used method for improving the brightness and whiteness of kaolin clays involves chemical bleaching. In this connection, it is noted that one of the principal sources of discoloring contaminants in the crude clay takes the form of insoluble oxides of iron. Thus, a common bleaching technique for removing the said contaminants, involves forming the clay into an aqueous slurry, acidifying the slurry to a pH of the order of 3.0 to 4.0 and adding a slurry soluble salt of hydrosulfurous acid. The general o
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INDUSTRIAL FILTRATION by A. Wright, M.E., "The Modern Library of Chemical Engineering", vol. I, The Chemical Catalog Company, Inc., 1923, pp. 123-136.
FILTRATION by George D. Dickey, Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1961, pp. 16-23.
Broxton Lawrence E.
Cobb Gary L.
Ginn Michael W.
McNeely Kelly R.
ECC International Inc.
Lithgow Thomas M.
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