Prediction of pressure filtration characteristics of CaCO3 suspensions ground in a vertical stirred media mill

Abstract

Cake filtration is an important unit operation in the processing of minerals and pigments. The filtration characteristics are strongly dependent on the upstream processing of the ore, such as grinding parameters. This study aims at empirical investigation of the influence of key stirred media milling variables on the pressure filtration characteristics of calcium carbonate. Various regression models are presented and evaluated with respect to their statistical significance. The results show that all the grinding variables have a statistically significant influence on the average specific cake resistance, but the predictability of the models is not very good unless combined and polynomial terms are considered.