FLOTATION
Concorde Cell prepares for take-off
Metso ’ s Concorde Cell is starting to make its mark in the industry in fine particle flotation . In a Concorde Cell , a plunging jet of pulp mixed with pressurised air travels at the speed of sound before reverting to sub-sonic conditions when exiting the Blast Tube , generating a sonic shockwave . The jet impinges against a bowl where vortex rings form , allowing particles multiple passes through the high-shear collection zone before the slurry is radially dispersed throughout the cell area .
As such , the Concorde Cell is a technology which produces fine air bubbles with high carrying capacity , thereby allowing increased capacity per unit ; smaller footprint and a greater recovery of valuable fine particles which can be lost in other flotation cells . In addition , with a smaller number of flotation stages or less recycle required to achieve the desired recoveries , operational expenditures like power , water and reagents can be reduced . IM spoke to Antti Rinne , Metso VP , Flotation , to get an update on the technology .
Q Concorde Cell has now been out in the market since late 2021 , almost three years . Can you comment on what progress has been made in the market in that time , and can you expand on any examples of applications ? A Indeed , the Concorde Cell has been on the market for almost three years and we have certainly not been idle ! Earlier this year , Concorde Cell journey has been summarised in a peer-reviewed article titled ‘ Fine and ultrafine flotation with the Concorde CellTM – a journey ’ published in a special issue of Elsevier ’ s Minerals Engineering in Honour of Professor Graeme Jameson , who first developed the cell technology which was further advanced by Metso . In the article , the potential of the Concorde Cell technology is explored through six cases , from base metals to metallurgical coal . The examples of a metallurgical coal washing plant in Australia and of a copper plant in Zambia prove the capacity of the Concorde Cell to better recover the fines and ultrafine while providing high selectivity . In the two case studies , the Concorde Cell outperformed the previous technology specifically on the finest fractions of the processed streams . Concorde technology has been deployed for various greenfield , brownfield and plant optimisation projects worldwide . We have expanded our
capabilities with containerised pilot rigs for onsite testing available across the globe . Once the technology is selected for a given flowsheet , we utilise our delivery model for TankCell technology which is well proven and very well
Pilot scale containerised Metso Concorde Cell for customer test programs
established . One example is that in Q1 2024 Concorde was launched in Africa at Betterect , one of our manufacturing partners in South Africa . Metso regional manufacturing capabilities are aligned with the mining industry targets of minimising carbon footprint . The Concorde cells in this case are to be delivered to First Quantum ’ s Kansanshi copper operation in Zambia so there is a significant reduction in environmental footprint of our logistics .
Q Has the fundamental design changed or been tweaked since introduction based on learnings from different projects and has the approach differed by commodity ? A We are of course learning much with every new project . After years of technology and product development , Concorde reached technology readiness level - TRL 9 - back in 2020 when the first units in commercial production started up . Since then , we have learned the metallurgical performance of technology and how it responds to process variability but also regarding operational , maintenance and wear life of core components aspects . From experience we now know
Concorde wear life follows the replacement cycle of wear components of a TankCell flotation cell . The design of the Concorde has not fundamentally changed but we are investigating using different material types for the core components and developing larger capacity cells to accommodate high throughput rougher circuits .
Q Last year you mentioned the TankCell plus Concorde flowsheet concept - does this represent the main market upside for the technology today ? A We have been busy with technology trade-offs for greenfield / brownfield flowsheet development aiming to find the right place the Concorde technology . We could say that majority of the large greenfield projects are studying the inclusion of Concorde technology within flowsheets . Barrick ’ s Reko Diq in Pakistan is a prime example . After three years of experience with the Concorde Cell , we can confidently say that it works best as a scalper , capturing fast and efficiently the well-liberated highly hydrophobic particles , aiming at producing final concentrate grade as early as possible in the flotation circuit , even as early as the rougher feed . TankCells provide the required support to the circuit , capturing much slower floating particles , adapting the reagent conditioning , buffering the possible abrupt changes in the comminution stage or in mineralogy . As such , it is still our deep conviction that TankCell plus Concorde flowsheet concept remains the main market upside for the technology .
Q Previously we talked about Metso having a technology solution for the other end of the scale - coarse particles - which was well advanced towards market release - what is the status of this project today ? A Extensive laboratory scale test campaigns have continued since last year and given us further confidence of our coarse particle flotation technology ’ s viability . Metso ’ s CPF device is on par or above in terms of metallurgical performance when compared to technologies from competitors . We have presented test work results for the first time publicly at the recent Procemin Geomet in Chile and our technology received great attention from major players in the industry . We showed Cu recoveries above 95 % at 300 μm d80 feed size with a throw-away tails in gangue rejection application . We expect to publish papers in peer-reviewed journals and present results in conferences around the world during the rest of the year . In addition to the dissemination and laboratory test work efforts , demonstration plant development has continued . The demonstration plant has a capacity of processing up to 30 tons per hour dry solids and is fully automated . Water commissioning has been successfully completed in the first half of the year . The next step is to test the demo plant in practical application and prove our highly water efficient , novel and planet positive Coarse Particle Flotation technology at a larger scale . The market release will follow the demonstration testing .
Metso Concorde Cells fabricated in South Africa bound for FQM Kansanshi in Zambia
OCTOBER 2024 | International Mining