Classification, because a cyclone is not a screen

A hydrocyclone splitting a mineral slurry on the Plitt corrected cut size, with the bypass a real cyclone actually has.

Plitt (1976) corrected cut size, not a sharp screen•Log-normal PSD carried through the split•Bypass to underflow modelled, as it is in a real cyclone

Ore solids

Water

Hydrocyclone

Coarse underflow

Fine overflow

The actual dark-mode canvas: an ore slurry fed to a hydrocyclone that sends coarse particles to the underflow for regrinding and fine particles to the overflow as product.

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A classifier is not a screen

A hydrocyclone does not cut cleanly at a size — it has a corrected cut size, a sharpness, and a bypass fraction that sends fines to the underflow regardless of size. Modelling it as a sharp split would flatter the circuit's efficiency; the Plitt correlation used here gives the real grade-efficiency curve, and the circulating load that follows from it is what limits mill throughput.

d_{50c} = f\!\left(D_c, D_i, D_o, D_u, \mu, \rho_s, Q\right) \quad \text{(Plitt 1976)}

E_{oa}(d) = R_f + (1-R_f)\left[1 - \exp\!\left(-0.693\,(d/d_{50c})^m\right)\right]

\text{circulating load} = \frac{\text{underflow}}{\text{fresh feed}} \quad \text{(what actually sets mill throughput)}

Unit ops shipped for this vertical

Hydrocyclone classifier

Plitt corrected-cut-size classification — the unit that closes every closed-circuit grinding loop.

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Live plant integration

Stream cyclone feed pressure, density and overflow sizing from the plant's OPC-UA server into this flowsheet's twin comparison — a worn apex changes the cut size and the circulating load with it, which the solved classification exposes.

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