Wet low-intensity magnetic separators
A wet low-intensity magnetic separator consists of a drum, which in itself is not possible to magnetise (often made from stainless steel or reinforced plastics). The drum rotates fairly slowly, sunken into a tray, where a pulp with magnetic particles is pumped up from below. Inside the drum there is an adjustable array of permanent magnets.
Objectives
The project is a pre-project that was run during 2008/2009.
Wet low-intensity magnetic separators are simple machines that has "always" worked, but now with demands for increased capacity and cleaner concentrates, has started to show its limitations.
The objectives are twofold; to clarify what is written in the literature about modern development of wet magnetic separators. Furthermore, to investigate whether fluid mechanic computation methods may be used to study magnetic separators.

CFD simulation of separator tank. 1: Stagnant flow, 2: Hindered non-optimal flow, 3: Flow without a well defined direction.
Results
One of the findings from Computational Fluid Mechanics (CFD) is that the flow velocity in certain parts of tank is very high, and changes direction in unexpected ways. Also, that the retention time in a full-scale separator is only a few seconds.
Further work
On of the conclusions of the project is that very little is actually known about the conditions inside the separator tank. Therefore, a proposed continuation project will study methods for non-invasive measurement of density and flow profiles inside the tank.
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