Nehézközeg

Nehézközeg is a Hungarian term that translates to "heavy medium" or "dense medium" in English. It refers to a suspension of finely ground dense solids in a liquid, typically water. The primary purpose of a nehézközeg is to achieve separation of materials based on their specific gravity.

In a nehézközeg process, the mixture of materials is introduced into a bath of the dense medium. Materials with a specific gravity lower than that of the nehézközeg will float, while those with a higher specific gravity will sink. This allows for the effective separation of valuable minerals from waste rock, or the sorting of different types of materials in various industrial applications.

Commonly used dense solids for creating nehézközeg include magnetite, ferrosilicon, or baryte. The concentration of these solids is carefully controlled to achieve the desired specific gravity for the separation task. After separation, the dense solids can be recovered from both the floating and sinking fractions, typically through magnetic separation or screening, allowing for their recycling and reuse in the process.

Nehézközeg separation is widely employed in the mining industry, particularly for the beneficiation of coal, iron ore, and other minerals. It is also used in recycling applications, such as the separation of plastics or metals. The effectiveness of the process relies on the precise control of the medium's density and viscosity, as well as the appropriate particle size distribution of the solids.