Continuously expanding and advancing the physical separation frontier, Outotec develops and designs separation systems to meet the needs of material processors worldwide in a range of markets and applications.
Industrial minerals
Industrial minerals are used in a variety of products such as fillers and pigments, refractories, glass, fiber optics and wafers for semiconductors, porcelain, tiles, glazes, abrasives, insulation materials and more. Industry requirements are often stringent, so advanced technologies backed by processing expertise are required to produce consistent high-quality products.
Outotec has a full line of gravity, magnetic and electrostatic separation technologies well suited for the concentration and purification of industrial minerals. With a global staff of experts in processing and plant design, Outotec fuses these technologies into cost effective operations designed to serve customer's unique needs.
Silica sand and frac sand
Outotec offers solutions to meet the strict iron, chromite and titanium level requirements of glass sands specification, and the strict API specifications for frac sands. Our rare-earth roll and drum magnetic separators are ideal for purification, i.e. removing the small quantities of contaminate minerals found in silica sands and feldspar. In addition, a full range of gravity and classification devices including, Outotec spirals and the Floatex® Density Separator, are useful for pre-concentration and ultimate sizing of the sands to meet product requirements.
Frac sand processing plant capabilities (pdf)
Kaolin, calcium carbonate and talc
The very exacting specification of the white minerals industry, particularly for coating(s) and filler(s), means that producers must meet and maintain high product standards. Outotec provides a range of products to assist in this task. Of particular application interest is the Outotec Cryofilter® High Gradient Magnetic Separation (HGMS) technology, which is capable of trapping even the finest magnetic particles at high capacities. With a processing field-strength of up to 5 Tesla, this superconducting magnetic separator is the key component for increasing purity and ultimate brightness of final products. The T-Stat Triboelectrostatic separator has achieved much success in separating quartz and other impurities from calcium carbonates. Outotec rare-earth magnetic roll and drum separators are used to effectively remove silicates and other contaminants, in some cases to ultra-high purity levels.
Heavy mineral sands and hard-rock titanium ores
Outotec's roots are based in mineral sands processing - the first separators our company created in the 1950's were designed specifically for mineral sands, and a large portion of our staff and expertise comes from this industry. Mineral sands processing is a classic textbook example of the application of combined physical separation processes: gravity, magnetic and electrostatic. The processes are used to isolate three to five final products from naturally occurring deposits containing up to twenty or more different minerals species.
Additionally, Outotec is the only integrated technology supplier to the mineral sands industry. Our mine to metals offerings cover more than just minerals concentration and processing technologies. We also offer ilmenite upgrading through preheating, roasting and charring, as well as synthetic rutile and titania slag know-how. For more information see our Ferrous technology pages.
Minerals sands and hard-rock titanium ores processing plant capabilities (pdf)
Refractory raw materials
The first industrial use of a rare-earth magnetic separator was for recovery of andalusite from a waste material in 1982. Since then, all known andalusite and some sillimanite and kyanite operations have implemented the use of this technology. Other refractory materials, such as cryptocrystalline magnesite ores, calcined and deadburned magnesite, are also upgraded with either roll or drum rare-earth magnetic separators, pioneered by the Outotec staff.
Abrasives (including diamond ores)
There are many successful garnet operations across the globe using Outotec's gravity and magnetic separators. Likewise, our line of rare-earth drum and roll separators is extensively used to produce high-quality garnet products.
On diamond ores, the Outotec drum and roll separators have several uses. Removal of "ironstone" and major portions of kimberlitic components are the most common. There are also applications in the final sorting of natural diamonds and even separation of synthetic diamonds from industrial grade natural diamonds. The laboratory roll separator unit is used at the exploration stage to recover well-defined and large quantity tracer minerals, and for pre-concentration of bulk samples.
Iron ore
Meeting iron ore grade and recovery requirements can be readily and cost-effectively achieved through a combination of physical separation devices. From wet processing, using Outotec spirals and the Floatex® Density Separator, to various magnetic and electrostatic separators for the removal of contaminants and waste, we provide high-capacity separation techniques for iron ore processing. Outotec has recently developed new flowsheets that combined the Floatex® Density Separator with spirals for more efficient processing. Outotec dry rare-earth drum and roll separators are used for pre-concentration of iron ore, and the SLon® Wet High-Intensity magnetic separators are key for recovering fine particles previously lost to tailings.
Base and precious metals
Base and precious metals processors have been looking to us for decades to provide a range of separation solutions including gravity concentrators and electrostatic separators. Able to offer coarse and fine particle recovery, high upgrade ratios, reliability and simplicity, Outotec systems are serving plants worldwide. For gold, silver, and various platinum group metals, Outotec is able to offer cost effective and efficient solutions to separation problems.
Coal
We offer a full range of gravity separation devices to meet the coal industry's requirement for cost effective and efficient classification/separation. From spirals to the Floatex® Density separator (Floatex® is a trademark of Floatex Separations Ltd, UK), we offer solutions for fine coal cleaning.
Recycling
Many of Outotec's newest developments were designed for use in the recycling arena. High-tension electrostatic, triboelectrostatic, and magnetic separators developed, designed, and sold by Outotec offer a range of separation alternatives to recyclers of batteries, chopped wire, glass cullet, PVC/PET, various other plastics, and other co-mixed, liberated materials. Our expertise in raw material purification has provided the experience and technology necessary for customizing solutions and developing specific separation processes for a range of new recycling industry needs.