Apparatus and method for analysis of a moving slurry

A method for analysis of a moving slurry of solid particles in a liquid medium, said method comprising:

• causing the slurry to flow with fully developed turbulence in a vertical pipe such that the flowing slurry fills the entire cross-section of the pipe;
• providing a transparent window in a wall of the pipe, said window being flush with an inside of the pipe;
• emitting light from a light source through the window, onto the flowing slurry inside the pipe in an examination zone;
• collecting light returned from the examination zone in a lens assembly;
• directing the light to a spectrometer with digital output;
• analysing the light in the spectrometer to determine a material composition of an individual particle in the examination zone;
• and
• collating the material compositions determined in the spectrometer of a statistically significant number of the individual particles to provide a characteristic material composition of the flowing slurry, as a whole.

Apparatus for analysis of a moving slurry of solid particles in a liquid medium, said apparatus comprising:

• a transparent window that is flush with an inside of a wall of a vertical pipe
• a light source that is configured to emit light from an outside of the window, through the window, onto a slurry flowing inside the pipe in an examination zone;
• a spectrometer disposed on the same side of the moving slurry as the light source, said spectrometer being configured for determining a material composition of a plurality of individual solid particles in the flowing slurry by collecting analysing light returned from the individual solid particles in the examination zone;
• and
• a processor configured for collating the material compositions determined in the spectrometer of a statistically significant number of the individual particles to provide a characteristic material composition of the flowing slurry, as a whole.

A method for analysis of a moving slurry of solid particles in a liquid medium, said method comprising:

• causing the slurry to flow with fully developed turbulence in a vertical pipe such that the flowing slurry fills the entire cross-section of the pipe;
• providing a transparent window in a wall of the pipe, said window being flush with an inside of the pipe;
• emitting light from a light source through the window, onto the flowing slurry inside the pipe in an examination zone;
• taking a plurality of individual measurements of individual solid particles in the flowing slurry by collecting light returned from the examination zone;
• and
• collating the results of a statistically significant number of the individual measurements to provide a characteristic of the flowing slurry, as a whole
• said method including obtaining a multi-spectral image and determining the spectral intensities of the light source from the specular reflectance off bubbles, to serve as reference spectral intensities and calculating relative diffuse spectral reflectance for individual particles.