FILTRATION & THICKENING
in use, it is likely that plant throughput has upgrade scoping process. A new feed increased and there may have been duty system can be quite an economic option, changes, or the particle size has become however there are occasions – particularly finer and more difficult to thicken. Installing with legacy third-party equipment – where high performing feed technology is a key a full upgrade including the bridge, drive, feature in any upgrade. Beyond that, just like raking mechanism and Reactorwell™ greenfield projects we will do test work on technology can present more value the material, understand what the customer compared to the complexity of integrating an needs and the project requirements. Is the upgrade around old mechanisms.” diameter of the existing thickener sufficient Can you factor in upgrades over the life for the current thickening needs? If the of a thickener in a planned maintenance throughput has increased considerably, cycle?“ I think after seven or so years you’ d you might not be able to work with the generally start considering an overhaul existing thickener. But quite often you can by or upgrade; it depends how quickly the installing a new Reactorwell™ feed system.” throughput ramps up, of course. There’ s
McIntosh added that these feed a lot of planning involved with shutdowns upgrades are carried out both for Metso and and taking a piece of equipment offline, third-party equipment.“ Maybe the bridge so upgrades often get pushed out to and rake mechanism are quite old and between 10 and 20 years. There are cases maybe not in good condition- or the whole where the mechanical drive system is machine might not have enough torque only lightly loaded, and if process needs for the required duty. In cases like this we have not changed the unit may be able to may replace the bridge and mechanism operate for 20 years plus with only general including a new Reactorwell™ feed system, maintenance and spares required. But in and it may extend to a full upgrade covering many cases, the thickener has been heavily also site specific requirements like access loaded and there will be a need to replace and guarding- to update the system in line slewing bearings and other components a with modern safety standards including an lot earlier. With Metso Life Cycle Services, update of the control and instrumentation.” we can offer guaranteed performance and He adds:“ Every case becomes quite requirements to maintain performance bespoke by the time you start, as each over the life of the equipment rather than a thickener and customer has specific needs, typical process guarantee which applies to but Diemme we manage Filtration this _ April25 with a systemised
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has been installed. An LCS will often include annual process audits as well as planned optimisation upgrades. These audits can really help where the material changes – such as finer grind sizes, more oxidised material or colloidal material in the system.”
Both said that the most significant component launch for Metso thickeners in recent years has been the Reactorwell™, which maximises thickener performance while minimising flocculant consumption which brings significant cost efficiencies to mining operations.
The Reactorwell™ is easy to maintain due to its intelligent design and modularity. It consistently achieves high unit area throughput and the improved Autodil™ performance minimises the need for pumped dilution, leading to lower total cost of ownership. It was launched in 2021 with a retrofit upgrade option released in 2023. Courtenay said:“ Reactorwell™ has now become our default feedwell supplied on all thickeners, instead of the previous vane feedwell which was launched in 2007. The Reactorwell™ is a real step change in technology. The design was based on thorough computational fluid dynamics( CFD) to understand the characteristics of flocculated slurry mixing and dispersion to achieve uniform exit symmetry and shear rates around the perimeter of the Reactorwell™.”
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International Mining | OCTOBER 2025 47