An innovative self-designed medium was packed in a bench-scale flotation column to study its influence on the flotation recovery of bauxite. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was conducted to reveal the impact of the packing medium on the turbulent characteristics of collection zone in the column. Simulation results show that multilayer packing of the medium divides the collection zone into small units having different turbulent intensities, which is more suitable for flotation separation. The packing medium decreases the turbulence kinetic energy (from 1.08 × 10⁻² m²/s² to 2.1 × 10⁻³ m²/s²), turbulence eddy dissipation (from 3.71 × 10⁻² m²/s³ to 9.8 × 10⁻³ m²/s³) and axial fluid velocity of fluid in the column. With three layers of packing, the recovery of Al₂O₃ increased by 2.11% and the aluminum to silicon content ratio of the concentrate improved from 5.16 to 9.72.

In this investigation, the fine-grained bauxite ore flotation was conducted in a plate-packed flotation column. This paper evaluated the effects of packing-plates on recovering fine bauxite particles and revealed the fundamental mechanisms. Bubble coalescence and break-up behaviors in the packed and unpacked flotation columns were characterized by combining Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Population Balance Model (PBM) techniques. Flotation experiments showed that packing-plates in the collection zone of a column can improve bauxite flotation performance and increase the smaller bauxite particles recovery. Using packing-plates, the recovery of Al₂O₃ increased by 2.11%, and the grade of Al₂O₃ increased by 1.85%. The fraction of −20 μm mineral particles in concentrate increased from 47.31% to 54.79%. CFD simulation results indicated that the packing-plates optimized the bubble distribution characteristics and increased the proportion of microbubbles in the flotation column, which contributed to improving the capture probability of fine bauxite particles.