THE FLOWSHEET OF THE FUTURE

The collaboration between STM, Anglo American, Weir Minerals, and Eriez to develop the Flowsheet of the Future concept is a significant initiative aimed at optimizing mineral processing operations for enhanced sustainability and efficiency. By combining established technologies with innovative approaches, this concept seeks to revolutionize comminution flowsheets and achieve substantial reductions in energy consumption and operating costs.

Some key components of the Flowsheet of the Future concept include:

High-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR): These are utilized as an alternative to semi-autogenous grinding mills, offering potential energy savings and improved particle liberation compared to conventional grinding technologies.

Vertical stirred mills: These are employed in open circuit configurations as an alternative to ball milling. Stirred mills are known for their superior energy efficiency and precise particle size control, making them an attractive option for mineral processing applications.

Coarse-particle flotation technology: This technology, such as the Eriez Flotation HydroFloat system, is integrated into the flowsheet to enable the efficient recovery of coarse particles, thereby improving overall flotation performance and reducing the load on downstream processing circuits.

By incorporating Weir's Enduron® HPGR, Swiss Tower Mills Minerals AG's vertical stirred mills, and Eriez Flotation HydroFloat coarse particle flotation into both greenfield and brownfield circuits, the Flowsheet of the Future aims to achieve significant reductions in energy consumption compared to conventional comminution flowsheets. Additionally, the adoption of these technologies is expected to contribute to lower operating costs and a reduced carbon footprint, aligning with broader sustainability goals within the mining industry.

https://www.engineerlive.com/content/flowsheets-change-everything

https://www.stmminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/S08P1_152_Sherman-et-al-The-Flowsheet-of-the-Future-HPGR-Vertical-Stirre.pdf