Zinc Concentrate Dewatering Pressure Filtration

Abstract

Zinc concentrate dewatering is crucial in zinc production, as it allows for the efficient removal of water content from the concentrate before metallurgical processing. It's important for each mining companies to tailor their dewatering processes to the specific requirements of their ore and production facilities. Erma Reka Concentrator processes lead-zinc ores by flotation and produces lead and zinc concentrates. After thickening and filtration the zinc concentrate moisture is 10.5%. This study aims to answer the following research question: how to reduce the moisture content of zinc concentrate to 7%? Dewatering experiments with a laboratory vertical plate airblow (VPA filter) have been conducted in the Process Equipment Test Center of Metso Sweden in Sala, with zinc concentrate sample from Erma Reka Concentrator, (Gorubso Zlatograd), Bulgaria. The aim of the laboratory test work was to evaluate the possibility of zinc concentrate dewatering and to collect data for equipment sizing of VPA filter for 6 metric tph dry solids achieving 7 % w/w filter cake rest moisture. It was found that the zinc concentrate dewatered well and is suitable for VPA filtration. This research offers significant insight to possibilities for zinc concentrate dewatering by pressure filtration. Finally, conclusions and summaries are presented.

Keywords

• Pressure filtration
• Zinc concentrate
• Dewatering

References

1. Petrov, M., Yankova, T., Dimitrov, L. & Grigorova, I. (2024). Zinc concentrate dewatering pressure filtration. The Eurasia Proceedings of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (EPSTEM), 29, 46-54.