ABSTRACT
Dense medium separation is a gravity separation based on the floating and sinking of objects in a separation medium. Generally, a wet dense medium separation is utilized in many industries, in which a heavy liquid is used as the separation medium. The density of a fluidized bed is an important parameter for the dry dense medium separation. The dry dense medium separation has been applied to various mixtures. Floaters and sinkers in the gas–solid fluidized bed have to be continuously recovered for practical use of the dry dense medium separation. Vertical shaking of the fluidized bed surface, which is a measure of the fluidization intensity, becomes intense by increasing the bed height and the size of the fluidized powder, which results in the unstable float-sink characteristics. The hydrophobic powder can be prepared by surface modification using silicon or silane coupling agent.
