Análise numérica do processo de separação de partículas minerais em hidrociclone via CFD.

Abstract

Mining is a relevant economic activity in many countries. In the treatment of ores, water is an indispensable input. For the classification of ores, the mineral industry has used the hydrocyclone process, where water is used as the medium for transporting dispersed ore particles, which are separated from the liquid by centrifugal force inside the so-called hydrocyclone equipment. The constant advance of the processing power of the computers together with the evolution in the techniques and numerical methods has allowed to simulate with great precision complex problems of fluidodynamics like the flow in hydrocyclones. In this sense, this work aims to study the process of separation of ore particles in hydrocyclones using Ansys Fluent software. For the fluid dynamics simulation, a mathematical model based on an Eulerian-Lagrangian analysis was used. Results of pressure, velocity, and volumetric fraction phases, efficiency of the separation process under various operational conditions are presented and evaluated. From the results it has been found that increasing the flow velocity at the inlet of the equipment tends to increase the performance of the hydrocyclone in the separation efficiency to a certain extent.