Flotation cell

A flotation cell for treating particles suspended in slurry and for separating the slurry into underflow and overflow, the flotation cell comprising

• a fluidized bed formed by fluid feed configured to supply a fluid to the flotation cell, and by a flotation gas feed configured to supply flotation gas, in which fluidized bed flotation gas bubbles adsorb to hydrophobic particles to form bubble-particle agglomerates that rise towards the top of the flotation cell;
• a recovery zone at an upper part of the flotation cell, configured to collect the bubble-particle agglomerates rising in the fluidized bed;
• a launder lip and a recovery launder arranged at the top of the flotation cell, and arranged to remove particles collected in the recovery zone from the flotation cell as overflow;
• and
• a tailings outlet arranged below the recovery launder and arranged to remove non-collected particles descending from the recovery zone as underflow;
• wherein the flotation cell has a height measured from the bottom of the flotation cell to the launder lip, wherein
• a primary slurry feed comprising fresh slurry is arranged to be fed into the flotation cell by a first feed inlet at a first position within an upper 50% of the flotation cell height and higher than the tailings outlet;
• and in that
• a secondary slurry feed comprising at least slurry recirculated from a flotation cell is arranged to be fed into the fluidized bed by a second feed inlet at a second position below the first position, so as to contribute to the formation of the fluidized bed, the slurry recirculated from the flotation cell obtained at a third position between the recovery launder and the tailings outlet.