Study and application of intelligent flotation reagent dosing system at Panji Coal Preparation Plant

In order to stabilize working condition of flotation system, improve flotation efficiency and meet the requirement for making efficient and accurate control of products, an intelligent flotation agent dosing system capable of performing the following of functions is applied at Panji Plant: real-time online monitoring of density and flow of pulp using densimeter and flowmeter fitted on feed pulp pipe; automation calculation of mass of dry coal in flotation feed; automation detection of ash contents of both concentrate and tailing products using concentrate ash monitor and tailings image identification instrument; effecting efficient and accurate dosing of reagent using metering pump as actuating mechanism; and execution of feedforward control based on mass of dry coal and closed-loop control based on ash contents of concentrate and tailing products. Field application shows that compared to the manual dosing mode, the use of the intelligent system can lead to reduction consumption of reagent by over 10%, an increase of qualification rate of concentrate from 60% to a level even exceeding 95%, a rise of yield of concentrate product by 0.2 percentage points, a save of operating costs by 875,5000 yuan a year, enhancement of intelligent level of flotation process, improvement of flotation efficiency and concentrate quality, reduction of labor costs, and improvement of health of operators.