The development history and technological progress of photoelectric mineral processing equipment are important components of modern mining technology. It not only marks a key step in the transformation from traditional mineral processing methods to intelligent and automated methods, but also plays an important role in improving ore sorting efficiency, reducing costs and protecting the environment. The following is a detailed interpretation of the development of photoelectric mineral processing equipment:

Development history

The origin of photoelectric mineral processing technology can be traced back to the early 20th century, when Austrians began to study the use of material surface color differences for sorting and invented the photoelectric sorting method. However, the early technology was limited by the requirements of sorting speed and product quality, and its development was subject to certain restrictions. It was not until the late 1980s to the early 21st century that, with the advancement of sensor technology and computer science, foreign countries made remarkable achievements in sensor-based sorting technology and developed a variety of types of sorting machines.

In China, the research on photoelectric sorting technology began in the 1960s, and the first photoelectric mineral processing workshop was established in 1969. In the early 1980s, China had developed dozens of types of sorting machines. However, due to the low level of technology at the time, these devices were difficult to adapt to the harsh working environment of mines, which limited their scope of application.

Technological progress

In recent years, photoelectric mineral processing equipment has gradually become an important tool for mining sorting operations due to its high efficiency, energy saving and environmental protection. Specifically:

High efficiency: Photoelectric sorting technology can quickly remove a large amount of useless gangue, reduce the pressure of subsequent mineral processing links, and improve sorting efficiency.

Low cost: Compared with traditional physical or chemical mineral processing methods, photoelectric mineral processing only consumes electricity, and the cost of mineral processing per ton is about 1 yuan, which is much lower than the cost of traditional methods.

Green and environmental protection: Photoelectric mineral processing does not use chemical agents, avoids environmental pollution problems, and meets the current social requirements for environmental protection.

Strong adaptability: By introducing advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analysis, the intelligence level and adaptability of the photoelectric sorting system have been greatly improved, and more types of ores can be processed.

Technological innovation: my country is in a leading position in the research and development of core components in the intelligent photoelectric mineral processing equipment manufacturing industry, which means that my country's photoelectric mineral processing technology has strong international competitiveness.

In addition, photoelectric mineral processing equipment also has good safety and resource recovery capabilities, which can fully recover low-grade mineral resources that were originally difficult to develop and utilize economically and efficiently while ensuring safe production.

Application Examples

In practical applications, photoelectric beneficiation equipment has demonstrated its unique technical advantages for different types of ores, especially for ores with obvious differences in optical properties. The following are several typical ores and their practical applications in photoelectric beneficiation:

Non-metallic ores

Non-metallic ores include but are not limited to quartz, feldspar, phosphate rock, wollastonite, talc, fluorite, calcite, calcium carbonate, magnesite, bauxite, etc. When there are obvious differences in color, texture, luster, shape, gloss, etc. between these minerals and other impurities, the corresponding photoelectric beneficiation equipment can be selected for impurity separation. Especially in the treatment of low-grade phosphate resources, photoelectric separation technology has shown significant advantages. It can quickly remove a large amount of useless gangue, reduce the pressure of subsequent beneficiation links, and make full use of phosphate resources that were originally difficult to develop and utilize economically and efficiently.

Difficult-to-sort minerals with complex surface features

For some minerals with complex surface features that are difficult to be effectively sorted by traditional methods, such as pebbles, silica, wollastonite, silicon slag, gold ore, talc, coal-series kaolinite, etc., artificial intelligence sorting machines are ideal choices because they can break the original color sorting material limitation problem. This equipment uses AI photoelectric sorting technology, combined with artificial intelligence, deep learning, big data and image visual enhancement technology to identify and sort ore, greatly expanding the sorting application scenarios.

Ore with significant density differences

X-ray intelligent sorting machines are particularly suitable for metal ores that cannot be manually sorted due to surface features, such as coal gangue, lead-zinc, tin, antimony, tungsten, copper, manganese, titanium, fluorite and other metal and non-metallic ores. This type of equipment uses X-rays to detect the characteristic values of ore size, thickness, density and the differences in the response of elements and atomic sequences of related components to X-rays, thereby achieving efficient separation of mine waste. For example, when processing copper, vanadium, nickel, tin, lead and zinc ores, if there is a density difference between the ores, they can be accurately identified and sorted by X-ray intelligent sorting machines.

Environmental protection, energy saving and sustainable development

Photoelectric beneficiation produces almost no pollutants such as wastewater and waste residue during the process, which is a more environmentally friendly way of beneficiation. This is of great significance for protecting the natural environment and meeting the requirements of sustainable development.

Future Outlook

It is estimated that by 2025, China's color sorter market will reach nearly US$5 billion, showing a strong growth momentum. At the same time, with the application of emerging information technologies such as the Internet of Things and cloud computing, future photoelectric beneficiation equipment will pay more attention to remote monitoring and service support functions to further improve user experience and service quality. For example, MINGDER has implemented AI deep convolutional neural network (CNN) image analysis and processing technology in its products, solving the problem that traditional color sorters can only be sorted based on simple criteria, and meeting the diversified and personalized needs of users.

In summary, photoelectric beneficiation equipment has shown broad application prospects in the mining field with its unique advantages. With the continuous innovation and improvement of technology, it is believed that such equipment will play an increasingly important role in the future mineral processing process.