Increasing the Efficiency of Vacuum Belt Filter in Gol-E-Gohar Mining Industrial Company Using Process-Based Parameters

In Lines 5 and 6 of Gol Gohar Mineral and Industrial Complex the special surface of concentrate (Blain) is increased by the high pressure grinding rolls equipment (HPGR). At present, due to changes in the input feed of the plant, the magnetite concentrate moisture has increased. Increasing the moisture content of the material will reduce the HPGR operational gap, thereby reducing the feed rate and the effective pressure on the particles. As a result, Blain Concentrate will not be desirable. After checking of the process, it was determined that the parameters of vacuum pump pressure, filtration time, solid particle size and solid pulp percentage were effective on the filtering process. For this purpose, filtration experiments were carried out at different levels of each of the above parameters. In this research, four types of surfactants SDS, PEG, CTAB and SLES were used to study their effect on moisture reduction and filtration process. The results showed that the optimal conditions of the process parameters to achieve the minimum moisture content is 60 Kpa operating pressure, optimum dewatering time was 120 seconds, particle size 105 microns, proportional to the separation of Hydrocyclones and 60% solids content of pulp proportional to transfer equipment. Surfactant experiments showed that by adding 100 g/t anionic surfactant SDS to the pulp, the filter cake moisture content was reduced by 2%. The SDS increased filtration efficiency by decreasing the time of forming the filter cake and increasing the filtrate volume, especially at the time of forming the cake. The use of SDS improves filtration performance by increasing the ratio of throughput to moisture. At a concentration of 100 g/ton SDS and SLES, the lowest moisture of filter cake and the highest throughput was achieved. The ratio of throughput to moisture content for SDS was highest compared to other surfactants. SLES was selected with the same results as SDS at a concentration of 75 g/t, and because of its cost-effectiveness and availability, it was chosen as the final filter aid.