Fluid Mechanics Fundamentals of Hydrocyclones and Its Applications in the Mining Industry

This book covers topics on engineering science, technology and applications of the classification of particles in liquids suspensions in hydrocyclones. It is divided into 12 chapters starting with the introduction of the hydrocyclone to the mining industry and its several applications of classification, followed by the  fundamentals of classification. A special chapter on the fundamentals of sedimentation as the mechanism of the hydrocyclone classification is given. The authors also cover the fundamentals hydrodynamics of solid-fluid interaction with application to the fluids and suspensions flow of in circular pipelines and discusses the flow pattern in hydrocyclones from a fluid dynamics point of view. The physical design, the empirical, phenomenological and numerical hydrocyclone models are presented. The two last chapters deal with the applications of hydrocyclones system design and instrumentation study cases of application in hydrocyclones to the mining industry. Several parts of this book are the result of the work of their research and professional groups from the university and industry.

JORGE FERNANDO CONCHA ARCIL earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Concepción in 1962 and a Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1968. During his 60 years of academic life, he has trained more than 1000 Engineers, 12 M.Sc. and 14 D.Sc. in the area of Metallurgical Engineering. The experience gained in the area of mineral processing allowed him to advise the national mining industry for long years and to create in 2003 the private consulting Mineral Technology Center Cettem Ltd. Academic experience showed him the obsolescence of laboratory instrumentation in the field of Mineral Processing, so he created Cettem Instruments Ltd. in 2007 for the design, construction and commercialization of innovative laboratory and online instrumentation for the mining industry. He is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Concepción and General Manager of the Mineral Technology Center Cettem and Cettem Instruments Ltd. In 2013, he founded the Water Research Center for Agriculture and Mining CRHIAM at the University of Concepción and was Director of the center from 2014 to 2018. Presently, he is PI of the Center.