Eriez® Completes Fabrication and Testing of Largest StackCell® SC-200 High-Rate Flotation Machine with 300 m3 Equivalent Conventional Flotation Capacity

Eriez® Flotation has completed fabrication and water testing of the first StackCell® SC-200 high-rate flotation machine at Eriez World Headquarters in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. The SC-200 is the newest addition to the StackCell product line and is the highest capacity unit ever built at nearly 300 m3 of equivalent conventional flotation capacity within a 65 m3 flotation cell. This is the first of two StackCell SC-200 cells that will be delivered to a copper concentrator in Q4 2021 to provide additional rougher circuit capacity. Speaking of this achievement, Eriez’ Vice President of Global Flotation Business Eric Wasmund noted, “The StackCell is a breakthrough technology that provides a unique solution to many environmental and sustainability challenges for the mining and metals sector. Our company has worked diligently to develop and commercialize the StackCell technology, and this milestone brings us one step closer to achieving this goal.” The StackCell is a two-stage flotation machine that reduces flotation volumetric requirement and improves recovery of fine particles and slow floating minerals. The key feature of the StackCell is a high shear contacting chamber that is isolated from a quiescent separation chamber, which allows for independent optimization of the particle collection process and the froth recovery process. The StackCell achieves a 75 to 80% reduction in residence time requirement by increasing the flotation rate constant of minerals through introduction of air and particles directly into a high-shear contacting chamber with a multi-stage rotor-stator mechanism. This device has an extremely high specific energy input that is translated to turbulent kinetic energy through the rotor blade design and generates four to five times higher turbulent dissipation rates compared to conventional flotation machines.