Five reasons to choose the MHC™ Series Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom

Metso is first to market with a new Curved Bottom hydrocyclone design with significant sustainability impact: the . As Metso’s latest advancement in hydrocyclone classification, it is engineered for superior particle separation, promising unparalleled efficiency and performance in your operations.

Within the minerals processing industry, customers can often face challenges such as overgrinding, which can hinder the recovery of valuable minerals in subsequent processes. The MHC™ Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom addresses these issues with its optimized design.

Building on the proven success of the MHC™ Hydrocyclone, the new, patented curved bottom design represents a significant breakthrough in classification processes. It offers increased unit capacity and coarser cut sizes while minimizing fines bypass, thus significantly enhancing overall efficiency.

So, what sets the MHC™ Series Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom apart from the standard MHC™ Series Hydrocyclone?

The standard MHC Hydrocyclone features a splined conical section design. It is optimized for high-efficiency classification of fine particles. However, the MHC Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom incorporates a wider conical section and an accelerated closing diameter to achieve the final apex discharge opening. It mimics flat bottom hydrocyclone designs without the sharp angles and dead spaces inherent in those designs.

Ensuring such a high level of performance and efficiency makes it a valuable addition to mineral processing operations. Read more on the top 5 benefits below, and how this innovative design may be the key to enhanced capacity for your production.

Benefit #1: Increased capacity & minimized downtime

The MHC™ Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom (MHC-CB) is made to significantly improve classification and separation efficiency. Not only does its patented design lead to better performance, but it also has the capability for easy retrofitting into existing hydrocyclone clusters without any operational issues.

The MHC inlet head design already minimizes turbulence, resulting in smoother material flow and higher throughputs. The increased internal volume from the new conical section and curved bottom apex design has proven to further   increase capacity by approximately 10% compared to the standard MHC Hydrocyclone, which is beneficial for grinding circuits aiming to boost production and profitability.

Additionally, the combination of simple design, wear-resistant lining and ease of maintenance further minimizes downtime. Inevitably, this results in more production time for your operations.

Benefit #2: Coarser cut size potential

Another challenge minerals processing operations can face is having the right particle size distribution. When producing material with the right particle size distribution during grinding, this optimizes grade and recovery in subsequent processes, such as Coarse Particle Flotation (CPF).

For the benefit of performance and recovery, the MHC™ Series Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom offers coarser cut size potential. It has the proven ability to produce a coarser cut (D50c) compared to the standard MHC Hydrocyclone, making it ideal for grinding circuits requiring a coarser overflow product or preparing material for coarse particle flotation circuits.

Benefit #3: Improved recovery due to reduced fines bypass

One of the standout features of the MHC™ Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom is its ability to reduce fines bypass. This reduction is beneficial in grinding circuits as it minimizes power consumption on already liberated particles and in downstream flotation circuits by reducing ultrafine particles.

The MHC-CB has shown a significant reduction in fines bypass (5-25%), leading to less overgrinding and, consequently, increased recovery.

By minimizing unwanted fines and water in the underflow, the MHC-CB enhances energy efficiency and recovery rates.

Benefit #4: Versatile applications

The MHC™ Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom is versatile and ideal for various applications requiring a coarse cut, where a larger diameter cyclone would traditionally be required. It excels in coarse particle flotation circuits, producing coarser products with sharp cuts.

As a multi-purpose solution, the variety of applications it seamlessly works with include coarse grinding, coarse particle flotation feed preparation, duties where coarse cuts are required of smaller cyclones, desliming, duties requiring a higher mass split to overflow and even applications bottlenecked by the capacity of existing hydrocyclones.

In desliming duties and applications where the fines recovery to underflow must be minimized, the MHC Curved Bottom shines due to its abilities of minimizing fines bypass.

Applications include:

• Grinding circuit classification
• Ranges from primary to fine grinding
• Full range of mineral types
• Dewatering and desliming

Benefit #5: Energy efficiency: Metso’s Planet Positive portfolio

The MHC™ Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom is part of Metso’s Planet Positive portfolio, a list of equipment that emphasizes enhanced energy efficiency and sustainability. This is due to several benefits, such as:

• The design improvements to the MHC-CB lead to a 10% increase in capacity and separation efficiency
• The coarser cut achieved by the MHC-CB results in less energy usage for comminution and easier dewatering and disposal of tailings
• By reducing fines and water bypass, the MHC-CB minimizes unwanted fines and water in the underflow
• This energy-efficient and environmentally friendly solution reduces CO2 emissions and energy consumption compared to similar wet classification technologies
• The simple design, wear-resistant lining and ease of maintenance ensure maximum uptime, further contributing to energy savings

Altogether, MHC™ Series Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom offers significant advantages in capacity, efficiency, versatility and sustainability. Its innovative design and superior performance make it the ideal choice for enhancing mineral processing operations. At Metso, it is our core expertise to help our customers transform the industry. That’s why, together, we are the partner for positive change.