Cheaper gold from smaller bubbles/The CSIRO has developed a gas liquid nozzle that delivers more effective sparging

摘要

A CSIRO-designed gas liquid nozzle is making gold production more efficient by reducing the amount of oxygen wasted in processing. Trials at Victoria's Stawell gold mine have shown the nozzle can cut oxygen use by up to 25 percent compared with previous methods. CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology research team leader Dr Jie Wu says the nozzle technology came about because of problems with sparging gases into liquids: forcibly blowing gases such as oxygen or nitrogen into a liquid, where some of the gas dissolves. Wu says sparging is a common but not very efficient technique for dissolving gas into liquids within many industries, including gold production and mineral sands processing.