Component Recovery Separation
Summary
Component Recovery Separation is an empirical two-product separator. It assigns one recovery-to-concentrate value to each feed component and applies that recovery uniformly across all particle-size classes.
DPSIM model key: DPSIM.Concentration.ComponentRecoverySeparator
Category: Concentration
Subcategory: Separators
Display name: Component Recovery Separation
Streams
| Port | Role |
|---|---|
| Feed | Combined solids and water entering the separator. |
| Concentrate | Product stream receiving the specified component recoveries. |
| Tail | Complementary stream receiving unrecovered solids and remaining water. |
Parameters
| Parameter | Range | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Water to concentrate stream (%) | 0-100 | Current interface label for the concentrate water-setting parameter. In the implemented calculation, a positive value is used as the target concentrate solids percentage. |
| Component recover (%) | 0-100 | Fraction of each component reporting to concentrate, applied equally to every size class. |
Model Calculation
For component c and size class i, the component mass in the feed class is:
mF,c,i = zF,c,i mF,i
The solids split is calculated from the component recovery Rc:
mC,c,i = Rc mF,c,i
mT,c,i = (1 - Rc) mF,c,i
where C denotes concentrate and T denotes tail. The output particle-size distributions and component grades are reconstructed from the resulting component-by-size mass matrices. The reported mass recovery is the concentrate solids flow divided by feed solids flow.
Water split
For a positive setting XC, interpreted by the calculation as concentrate solids fraction, the requested concentrate water flow is:
WC,req = MS,C(1 - XC) / XC
The assigned concentrate water cannot exceed feed water. Tail receives the remainder. At a setting of zero, the current implementation sends all feed water to concentrate.
Application and Limitations
Use this model when survey data, testwork or an engineering assumption provides component recoveries but no size-dependent separation curve. It is suitable for preliminary mass-balance studies and calibrated representations of concentration stages.
The model does not predict recovery from equipment geometry, operating conditions, mineral liberation or kinetics. Because recovery is constant across size, it cannot reproduce preferential recovery or losses associated with fine or coarse particles.
References
King, R. P. (2001). Modeling and Simulation of Mineral Processing Systems. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Wills, B. A., and Finch, J. A. (2016). Wills' Mineral Processing Technology, 8th ed. Butterworth-Heinemann.