Determination of separator efficiency curve from areal measurements on polished sections

A method of determining the efficiency curves-i.e. partition number versus particle volumetric grade-for two-product separators is presented. Areal gr ade measurements are made on polished sections of the feed, the concentrate and the tailings of the separator and a kernel-based inversion technique i s then used to obtain the volumetric grade distribution of the three assemb lages of particles. The inversion is constrained by mass-balance equations. A plain kernel (by number of occurrences) and a weighted kernel (each occu rrence counted with its area) are used for the solution. The weighted dampe d least-squares solution minimizes balance error and provides the partition curves of the separator. The method is tested on synthetic data from computer-generated areal grade measurements. Comparison of the derived volumetric distributions and partit ion curves with the original (simulated) liberation spectra of the feed and products of the separators allows the efficiency of the method as a means of evaluating the performance of a separator to be judged. It is concluded that the method offers a valid alternative to the tedious conventional proc edure of conducting experiments with heavy liquids.