Patent ID: 8210359

Claim:
A flotation vessel of the type wherein mixed particles are separated into hydrophobic particles generally discharged from the vessel in a froth layer in the form of bubbles with attached particles, and hydrophilic panicles generally discharged as tails, the vessel including a mixer arranged to mix gas with a feed slurry carrying the mixed particles and form a bubbly mixture, and a separation vessel arranged to allow the bubbly mixture to separate into a froth bearing the hydrophobic particles for discharge from he upper part of the vessel, and a liquid containing he hydrophilic particles for discharge from the lower part of the vessel as tails, the mixer and the separation vessel being arranged such that the bubbly mixture enters the separation vessel in a generally upward direction and the separation vessel is provided with an upwardly inclined surface above the point of entry of the bubbly mixture such that the bubbly mixture follows the underside of this surface separating into a froth layer at the top of the separation vessel and liquid in the lower part of the separation vessel, with the result that the bubbles with attached hydrophobic particles continue to move upwardly into the froth layer in the vessel without a significant change in direction of movement; wherein the lower part of the separation vessel is provided with a surface sloping downwardly away from the entry point of the bubbly mixture into the separation vessel, and having a lower edge terminating in a tails outlet; and wherein the vessel has a side opposite the entry point of the bubbly mixture which has an upper part inclined inwardly into the vessel from an upper edge adjacent the discharge point to a nose portion substantially opposite said entry point, and a lower part inclined outwardly from the nose portion to a lower edge adjacent the tails outlet.