The flotation column is an inflatable flotation machine that inflates and stirs the pulp by passing compressed air through a porous medium (aerator). There are microbubble countercurrent flotation columns and microbubble jet flotation columns.
The cross-sectional shape of the plate flotation column is round, square or round above and below. The pulp is fed from the upper feeding pipe and flows into the flotation column evenly. Compressed air is charged into the column through the air chamber at the lower end of the column through the vertical air pipe. A large number of fine bubbles formed are evenly distributed on the entire section, the pulp slowly descends under the action of gravity, the bubbles slowly rise from bottom to top, and meet the useful minerals to be selected in the pulp continuously in the column. In the convective movement, due to the action of the agent, the minerals to be selected adhere to the surface of the rising bubbles, and a mineralized foam layer is formed on the upper part of the cylinder, which is scraped into the concentrate tank by the scraper or overflows into the concentrate tank, and the remaining minerals ( Usually gangue or non-selective minerals) are discharged from the tailings pipe at the bottom of the cylinder.
Compared with the flotation machine, the flotation column has its own advantages: simple structure, small footprint; no mechanical moving parts, safety and energy saving; stable flotation kinetics, relatively small bubbles, more uniform distribution, bubble-particle flotation