ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals

Selective flocculation-flotation of fine spodumene with anionic polyacrylamide flocculant and calcium activator

D Luo, WS Ng, GV Franks

2026-10-01

Fine spodumene particles are typically lost to tailings during desliming in conventional flotation circuits. This study presents t..

Fractal analysis of mineral aggregates via in-situ imaging: Bridging flocculation under high shear conditions

WS Ng, RBD de Medeiros, JC Eardley, GV Franks

2026-09-01

The key challenge in selective flocculation is the presence of gangue particles in the aggregate product, due to imperfect chemica..

Flotation of copper mineral fines and aggregates using novel bio-inspired Vitamin E xanthate collectors

RBD de Medeiros, WS Ng, T Hsia, SH Thang, GV Franks

2026-05-01

This paper investigates the use of novel bio-based collectors D-α-tocopherol polyethylene glycol 400 succinate xanthate (TPGS-X) a..

High pressure dewatering rolls: Effect of process variables on cake solids concentration and throughput

S Hassan, R Cavalida, PJ Scales, RJ Batterham, AD Stickland

2026-04-15

The High Pressure Dewatering Rolls (HPDR) is a novel solid–liquid separation technology that combines compression, vacuum, and she..

A pH-responsive flavylium surfactant as a recyclable hydrophobic modifier for selective aggregation and flotation of kaolinite

WSA Fernando, PW McDonald, WS Ng, GV Franks, SH Thang, C Ritchie

2026-03-01

Amidst increasing environmental concerns and the limitations associated with conventional synthetic reagents, the advancement of s..

Separation of cohesive particulate suspensions under stagnant conditions in horizontal pipes

T Das, D Lester, A Stickland, N Eshtiaghi

2026-03-01

Separation of cohesive particulate suspensions in horizontal pipes can lead to formation, growth and consolidation of a solid-like..

Chalcopyrite–quartz mineral surfaces: controlled wetting and spreading by xanthate-tallow diamine emulsions

AG Aregbe, WS Ng, T Hsia, A Blencowe, A Allahyari, M Krasowska, SH Thang, GV Franks

2026-01-01

This study investigated emulsions formulated with water-soluble xanthates, including potassium amyl xanthate (PAX) and a novel α-t..

Identifying opportunities for the selective flocculation-flotation of fine valuable minerals: A techno-economic analysis

WS Ng, CA Thomas, E Forbes, I Verster, GV Franks

2026-01-01

Selective flocculation-flotation represents a potential approach for overcoming some of the challenges associated with fine partic..

Improved suspension dewaterability using a novel pelleting flocculation device

Y Luo, NIK Ekanayake, N Amini, EM Moon, PJ Scales, AD Stickland

2026-01-01

The decline in ore grades and increasing clay content in ore bodies present significant dewatering challenges for the mining indus..

Novel emulsion collectors for coarse composite particle flotation of chalcopyrite-quartz ore in a mechanical flotation cell

AG Aregbe, WS Ng, T Hsia, SH Thang, GV Franks

2026-01-01

We present kerosene-in-water emulsions stabilized with potassium amyl xanthate (PAX) or α-tocopherol polyethylene glycol 400 succi..

Quantifying entrapment in selective flocculation-flotation: Model and measurement method

JC Eardley, WS Ng, GV Franks

2026-01-01

Selective flocculation-flotation enhances ultrafine particle recovery but is limited by gangue entrapment, reducing grade. This st..

A novel vitamin E-based xanthate collector for chalcopyrite-quartz mineral flotation

AG Aregbe, WS Ng, T Hsia, SH Thang, GV Franks

2025-12-22

In this study, a novel vitamin E-based xanthate, α-tocopherol polyethylene glycol 400 succinate xanthate (TPGS-X) was compared wit..

Implementation of a Yukawa force model in polymer-induced bridging flocculation of hematite particles using CFD-DEM

L Zeng, JC Eardley, GV Franks, E Goudeli

2025-12-01

Polymer-induced bridging flocculation of hematite particles under laminar shear flow is simulated using a coupled Computational Fl..

Flotation separation of vanadium-bearing clays, kerogen, and calcite in the Julia Creek oil shales

WS Ng, E Forbes

2025-11-01

The Julia Creek oil shales in Queensland, Australia, is one of the largest carboniferous vanadium deposits in the world, with infe..

Formation and breakage of chalcopyrite aggregates produced by anionic polyacrylamides: Influence of polymer molecular weight and shear conditions

RBD de Medeiros, CA Thomas, WS Ng, GV Franks

2025-09-01

Flocculation-flotation is an important process for the treatment and recovery of fine particles. This study investigates the influ..

Flocculation-flotation of ultrafine hematite from quartz using anionic polyacrylamide as a selective flocculant

JC Eardley, WS Ng, E Forbes, GV Franks

2025-07-15

Conventional flotation cells are widely used for concentrating iron ores, yet one major challenge remains – the low recovery rate ..

Quantifying the platy morphology of gangue minerals with X-ray diffraction: A talc case study

D Dodoo, NAS Webster, M Glenn, N Owen, L Forbes, SP Usher, JR Black, PJ Scales, AD Stickland

2025-07-15

Understanding the platy morphology of gangue minerals like talc is crucial for improving flotation operation efficiency, which is ..

Selective Aggregation of Fine Spodumene from Quartz with Anionic Polyacrylamide Flocculant and Calcium Activator

D Luo, WS Ng, GV Franks

2025-06-01

Fine spodumene particles are challenging to treat by froth flotation and are often discarded. An approach to recover the lithium-b..

Quantifying the effect of ultra-fine particles on dewatering performance in bimodal suspensions

S Hassan, NIK Ekanayake, PJ Scales, RJ Batterham, AD Stickland

2025-05-31

A systematic approach was employed to evaluate and quantify the impact of ultra-fine particles on dewatering processes. Model susp..

Bioinspired Flavylium Surfactants for Hydrophobic Agglomeration of Fine Kaolinite Particles

WS Fernando, PW McDonald, N Amini, GV Franks, SH Thang, C Ritchie

2025-05-26

With increasing environmental concerns and the drawbacks associated with the synthetic materials currently used in industry, there..

Novel reagent addition method for improved copper recovery

L Forbes, C Brill, I Verster, GV Franks

2025-05-01

The development, implementation, and optimization of novel minerals processing technologies are of paramount importance in enablin..

Modeling capillary-driven particle agglomeration under shear in immiscible fluids using discrete multiphysics

Y Qian, SP Usher, PJ Scales, AD Stickland, A Alexiadis

2025-03-01

In this study, we introduce a discrete multiphysics (DMP) model designed to simulate particulate systems where solid particles are..

Dynamic segregation behavior and its impact on dry beneficiation of fine coal in a gas-solid fluidized bed

J Oshitani, K Teramoto, M Yoshida, GV Franks

2025-01-01

This study investigates the dynamic segregation behavior of fine raw coal in a gas-solid fluidized bed and its impact on dry benef..

High pressure dewatering rolls Mark-II: A novel dewatering technology for mineral tailings

S Hassan, R Cavalida, NIK Ekanayake, PJ Scales, RJ Batterham, AD Stickland

2025-01-01

High Pressure Dewatering Rolls (HPDR) is a continuous, high pressure, cloth-less filter designed to improve solid–liquid separatio..

Development of bioflocculants for mineral processing

MJ Orchard, G Yang, GB Webber, GV Franks, CX Zhao

2024-12-01

Mining and minerals processing are essential to modern society, and the demand for metals and minerals is increasing due to the ra..

Numerical simulation of particle consolidation under compression and shear based on the Discrete Element method

Y Qian, SP Usher, PJ Scales, AD Stickland, A Alexiadis

2024-12-01

This study introduces a three-dimensional (3D) Discrete Element Method (DEM) model designed to simulate particle consolidation und..

Yielding and Flow in Aggregated Particulate Suspensions

PJ Scales, SP Usher, MB Larsen, AD Stickland, HE Teo, RG de Kretser, R Buscall

2024-12-01

The flow and consolidation of strongly flocculated particulate suspensions in water are common to a range of processing scenarios ..

Stability and characteristics of kerosene-in-water emulsions with xanthate surfactants: Influence of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance and molecular weight

AG Aregbe, T Hsia, M Krasowska, SH Thang, GV Franks

2024-11-05

The understanding of emulsion stability is important for several industrial applications including foods, pharmaceuticals, petrole..

Selective aggregation of hematite from quartz using charged polyacrylamides: In-situ sizing

JC Eardley, CA Thomas, GV Franks

2024-10-01

Recovering fine valuable material has been a significant challenge in minerals processing. This primarily stems from insufficient ..

Selective aggregation of fine copper minerals using charged polyacrylamides

RBD de Medeiros, CA Thomas, GV Franks

2024-09-20

Selective aggregation can be used to improve the collection of fine valuable mineral particles often lost in industrial separation..

Dual-responsive nanoparticles constructed using light- and redox-responsive linkages

Yufu Wang, Changhe Zhang, Manjiri Choudhari, Sarah S Kermaniyan, Chris Ritchie, Georgina K Such

2024-09-18

Stimuli-responsive nanoparticles have garnered significant interest for advanced materials design and development in areas such as..

Quantifying the effects of clays on mineral tailings filtration

Y Luo, NIK Ekanayake, N Amini, E Moon, K Hapgood, PJ Scales, AD Stickland

2024-09-15

Aluminosilicate clays like kaolin are commonly found in mineral ore bodies. The presence of clay negatively impacts most mineral b..

Aggregation and breakage dynamics of alumina particles under shear by coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics – Discrete Element Method

L Zeng, GV Franks, E Goudeli

2024-05-01

Hypothesis: Shear affects simultaneous aggregation and fragmentation of fine particles. Understanding the effect of shear on the d..

Effect of Aerosol Collector Dosing on Flotation of a Complex Ore

C Brill, I Verster, L Forbes, GV Franks

2024-01-01

Hydrophobic surfaces in mineral flotation: The effect of (physical and chemical) heterogeneity on wettability and wetting film stability

Amalie Møller, Amir Beheshti, William Skinner, George Franks, David Beattie, Marta Krasowska

2024-01-01

The determination of the hydrophobicity of minerals is a central activity in research into the physical chemistry of mineral flota..

Improving Chalcopyrite Recovery from Coarse Copper-Gold Ore with Kerosene

A Aregbe, WS Ng, G Franks

2024-01-01

Impact of volatile solids destruction on the shear and solid-liquid separation behaviour of anaerobic digested sludge.

Tanmoy Das, Shane P Usher, Damien J Batstone, Maazuza Othman, Catherine A Rees, Anthony D Stickland, Nicky Eshtiaghi

2023-10-10

Systematic and comprehensive characterisation of shear and solid-liquid separation properties of sludge across a wide range of sol..

Influence of air velocity and powder bed height on local density and float–sink of spheres in a gas–solid fluidized bed

J Oshitani, S Kato, T Tsuji, K Washino, S Harada, H Kajiwara, K Matsuoka, GV Franks

2023-09-01

Depending on their density, large objects will either float or sink in a gas–solid fluidized bed due to the liquid–like properties..

Improved copper-based catalysts for alcohol-assisted CO2 hydrogenation: A comparative study between novel nano-stabilized and deposition-precipitation method

L Ye, P Xiao, P Scales, P Webley, R Singh, GK Li

2023-08-01

A growing awareness of the need to control CO2 concentration in atmosphere spurs the demand for novel technologies to convert CO2 ..

Aerosol Collector Addition in Coarse Particle Flotation–A Review

C Brill, I Verster, GV Franks, L Forbes

2023-01-01

The ability to successfully recover coarse particles by flotation has long been seen as the area where significant step-change imp..

High Pressure Dewatering Rolls Mk-II: A Novel Dewatering Technology for Mineral Tailings

Sajid Hassan, Nilanka Ekanayake, Peter Scales, Robin Batterham, Anthony Stickland

2023-01-01

The mining industry produces a large amount of mineral tailings with the potential to cause significant environmental and social i..

A photo-switchable molecular capsule: sequential photoinduced processes

M Choudhari, J Xu, AI McKay, C Guerrin, C Forsyth, HZ Ma, L Goerigk, RAJ O'Hair, A Bonnefont, L Ruhlmann, S Aloise, C Ritchie

2022-10-24

The metastable trilacunary heteropolyoxomolybdate [PMo<inf>9</inf>O<inf>31</inf>(py)<inf>3</inf>]³⁻ - {PMo9}; py = pyri..

Characterising sedimentation velocity of primary waste water solids and effluents

K Abood, T Das, DR Lester, SP Usher, AD Stickland, C Rees, N Eshtiaghi, DJ Batstone

2022-07-01

Sedimentation in waste water is a heavily studied topic, but mainly focused on hindered and compression settling in secondary slud..

Agglomeration Regimes of Particles under a Linear Laminar Flow: A Numerical Study

Y Qian, S Usher, P Scales, A Stickland, A Alexiadis

2022-06-01

In this work, a combined smoothed particle hydrodynamics and discrete element method (SPH-DEM) model was proposed to model particl..

Conversion air velocity at which reverse density segregation converts to normal density segregation in a vibrated fluidized bed of binary particulate mixtures

J Oshitani, M Hino, S Oshiro, Y Mawatari, T Tsuji, Z Jiang, GV Franks

2022-05-01

It is well known, when binary mixtures of different-density particles of the same size are vertically vibrated or fluidized by air..