100 years of Flotation technology

Outotec celebrates 100 years experience of Flotation technology and proudly presents 500 m³ TankCell®

Outotec Flotation experience traces back 100 years to 1912, when flotation technique was started to be used in Outokumpu’s Orijärvi mine. In the beginning of 1900’s the process operations expanded constantly with latest technology available. Outokumpu (now Outotec) had to rely on foreign process knowhow, and part of the equipment was purchased abroad.

In the beginning various types of techniques were tested and used, including Fagergren, Denver, and Agitair machines. Along with the development Outokumpu started to use pneumatic Forrester flotation machines, where flotation was done without the rotating mixing units. At the end of the 1930’s the direction was taken to more selective flotation, and the individual flotation cell technique was established, where each ore grade had its own flotation circuit.

Based on evaluation of different cell types and designs, and due to the fact that Outokumpu mine copper grade was declining, development of flotation technology was essential.

Outokumpu started to develop the current flotation technology used. Small capacity, and low recoveries, with high costs of operation and maintaining the small cells encouraged to development.

At the late 1960’s the Flotation cell technology development was taken further and the OK Flotation Cells were established and the individual cell size was increased. Before 1969 the largest cell size was 3 m3.

flotation@outotec.comwww.outotec.comCopyright © 2012 Outotec Oyj. All rights reserved.

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The conventional Outotec OK flotation cells were developed till the late 1980’s after which new flotation cell design TankCell® was introduced in the mid 1990’s. The TankCell had better froth surface stability thanks to symmetrical tank and the tank has more cost effective construction. From the beginning, TankCell had good selectivity because of increased depth between the mechanism and froth.

Development of Outotec Flotation technologies, resulting as a market leader of large scale flotation cell provider with TankCell® 300 in 2007.

In 2007 Outotec launched the larger scale flotation unit - the TankCell 300 m³ to meet the demands for increased unit capacity of concentrators. The year’s of development of flotation cell hydrodynamics resulted as Outotec FloatForce® mixing unit, which was launch along with TankCell 300. Not only FloatForce improves metallurgical performance of a flotation cell it also significantly increases the efficiency of slurry pumping and gas dispersion capacity, as well as the life time and reliability of the mechanism.

Today Outotec has over 10 000 flotation units installed worldwide. Outotec TankCell flotation machines meet all the requirements set for superior flotation performance – proven metallurgy, easy operation and maintenance, and low power consumption. The cylindrical TankCell flotation machines excel in performance in all duties in rougher, scavenger, and cleaner circuits. Flexible design of TankCell product family enables tailoring of the equipment for all applications.

Also the Flotation Automation technology has been developed along with the TankCell technology, making the flotation usability, maintainability, sampling, control and training efficient, safe and user friendly.

A big addition to Outotec TankCell® Flotation portfolio

Outotec is proud to introduce the TankCell e500 - The TankCell family offers the widest flotation size range on the market from 5 m³ to 500 m³ and the symmetrical design allows a flexible layout. The new large TankCell e500 has been scaled up from smaller TankCells by using the same rules that made the previous world’s largest flotation machine TankCell e300 an immediate success.

Start of Flotation at Outokumpu

3m3 is the largest cell size

16m3 60m3 100m3 300m3 500m3

1912 1960 1969 1972 1982 1995 2007 2012

OK Flotation development

Market leader

TankCell e500

OK Cells TankCellTankCell 300

Outotec Flotation Technology development