Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Application of dielectrophoresis for the separation of minerals

G.R. Ballantyne *, P.N. Holtham
The University of Queensland, Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Comminution is an energy intensive process, accounting for approximately 29% of total mining energy
Received 29 July 2009 (Tromans, 2008). Better liberation at coarser size ranges (0.52 mm) has been identied by the minerals
Accepted 3 September 2009 industry as an opportunity for energy conservation. In order to capitalise on future developments in com-
Available online 9 October 2009
minution, an effective coarse particle separation method is required for liberated particles which are too
coarse for otation. This paper reviews the application of dielectrophoresis as a potential technique for
Keywords: the removal of coarse liberated gangue, thereby signicantly reducing the volume of ore continuing onto
Sulphide ores
ne grinding. Dielectrophoresis is the translational motion of neutral matter caused by polarisation
Electrostatic separation
Sorting methods
effects in a non-uniform electric eld.
Mineral processing A simple apparatus has been constructed, in which the deection of a particle in a non-uniform elec-
trical eld is used to quantitatively measure the dielectrophoretic force on quartz and galena particles of
various sizes. The results show that the force increases as a function of voltage squared and particle
radius cubed. This technique can potentially be used to measure the effective permittivity of single min-
eral particles and quantify the effect of particle composition on separation.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction thereby reducing energy in ne grinding. Dielectrophoresis is a

The current energy environment has resulted in efforts to de-
crease the amount of energy that is consumed by comminution.
A study by the National Materials Advisory Board of America
(1981) estimated that comminution constitutes approximately
1215% of Australian and 34% of worldwide energy usage. A more
recent study revised this gure to approximately 1.8% of Australias
national energy (Tromans, 2008). Tromans study used data from
the Department of Energy, which estimated that beneciation uses
39% of the total energy used in mining and minerals processing, of
which 75% is accounted for by comminution DOE. Therefore, com-
minution accounts for approximately 29% of the total mining en-
ergy in the USA (Tromans, 2008).
Size reduction from 1 mm to 75 lm uses about 75% of the total
comminution energy input. Therefore, separating out and remov-
ing 50% of waste at any size above 1 mm offers a 37% energy saving
(Powell, 2008). Since conventional otation utilises surface proper-
ties, coarse particle (above about 0.5 mm) otation of metal sulp-
hides is not currently possible, therefore an alternative coarse
separation process is required that utilises a bulk, volumetric
property.
It is possible that dielectrophoresis can efciently remove
coarse (between 0.5 mm and 2 mm) liberated gangue particles
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: g.ballantyne@uq.edu.au (G.R. Ballantyne).
separation technique that uses non-uniform electrical elds to sep-
arate particles of differing permittivity. The permittivity (or dielec-
tric constant) of a material is a bulk, volumetric property that
determines its polarizability in an electric eld. Since the surface
area to volume ratio decreases as the particle gets larger, dielectro-
phoresis should be more efcient for larger particles than the sur-
face forces used in processes such as otation and electrostatic
separation. Applying a stress by a force eld is also one of the most
efcient separation techniques (Andres, 1980). In some cases, per-
mittivity may be less useful as a separation property than density,
magnetic susceptibility, wettability, etc.; however, it adds another
useful dimension to the art of separation (Pohl, 1978).
Thales of Miletus was the rst to record the effects of dielectro-
phoresis, in about 600BC (Pohl, 1978). His experiment involved the
rubbing of amber to charge it and attract insulated (dust and uff)
particles. Hateld (1924a) was the rst to apply dielectrophoresis
to minerals processing. The basic principle involved using a liquid
with a permittivity between the two components in order to push
the low permittivity elements towards the weaker region of an
electrical eld, while at the same time attracting the high permit-
tivity elements towards the stronger region of the eld. Although
many changes have since been made in the design of dielectric sep-
arators, the fundamental principles of dielectrophoresis have re-
mained constant since Hatelds early experiments.
The design of the dielectric separator has gone through many
phases from precipitation-type, to isomotive, to screen-type and
most recently the travelling-wave separators. Contemporary

0892-6875/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2009.09.001
 G.R. Ballantyne, P.N. Holtham / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358
dielectric separation may be enhanced by the adjustment of the
frequency, temperature or the electrical conductivity of the liquid
dielectric (Andres, 1996). However, the major issue standing in
the way of dielectrophoresis is the absence of a suitable medium
with a variable permittivity, low conductivity and a high break-
down threshold which is also safe and environmentally friendly.
2. Theory
2.1. Permittivity
Before discussing the theory of dielectrophoresis, an under-
standing of the underlying physical property, permittivity, is re-
quired. The permittivity of a substance is an electrical property
that determines its polarizability in an electrical eld. It can also
be referred to as the dielectric constant, dielectric permeability,
electric susceptibility or electrical polarizability, but for consis-
tency, permittivity will be used throughout this paper. Dielectro-
phoresis uses differences in permittivity in order to separate
particles.
The main factors that determine the permittivity of a material
are the density and ease of charge displacement which in turn de-
pend on the atomic weight, coordination number, etc. There is,
therefore, a relationship between mineralogy and permittivity
(see Fig. 1). Sulphide minerals in general have much higher permit-
tivities (5230) than all other mineral groups due to the combina-
tion of the sulphur anion with a highly polarisable cation
(Parkhomenko, 1967). Oxides have intermediate permittivities,
with a few exceptions such as rutile. All the other mineral group
tend to have permittivity in the low to very low range, averaging
between 6 and 9. Textural factors (i.e. matrix vs. mixture) are very
important in determining both the permittivity and resistivity of
rock samples (Parkhomenko, 1967).
Permittivity is difcult to measure, especially for sulphides, be-
cause it depends not only on the chemical makeup, but also the fre-
quency and temperature at which the measurement is made, as
well as the crystallographic direction. Low frequency permittivity
measurements compiled from the literature are given in Tables 1
and 2.
When two miscible liquids are combined, the permittivity of
the mixture is a simple weighted average of the two liquids per-
mittivities. Solid mixtures, however, are more complex and show
a non-linear relationship. This is due to interfacial and space-
charge polarisation which causes large-scale eld distortions
Permittivity as a function of mineral group
250
Permittivity measurements
200
150
100
50
-
carbonate element
Fig. 1. Box plot of permittivity as a function of mineral group (Berg, 1936; Church et al., 1988; Cumbane et al., 2008; Goossens and Van Biesen, 1989; Keller, 1981;
Parkhomenko, 1967; Salsman, 1991; Tarjan, 1986; Tickell, 1931; Young and Frederikse, 1973; Jordan and Sullivan, 1985).
351
through build up of space charges in the volume or of surface
charges at the interfaces (Von Hippel, 1954).
There are many different equations that can be used to describe
how the permittivity of a solid mixture changes with the volume
fraction and permittivity of each phase (see Table 3). The Lichte-
necker, Looyenga (LandauLifchitz) and Brown equations can all
be used to model binary mixtures of minerals in a particle. Sharif
(1995) used the Looyenga equation to predict the permittivity of
dust with various compositions. Zheng et al. (2005) used the Lich-
teneckers mixture formula to calculate the permittivity of mineral
powders in a polythene matrix. Briggs (1992) modelled the permit-
tivity of mixtures of mineral sands using the Looyenga and Brown
models and found that the Looyenga equation tted the data bet-
ter. Fig. 2 shows a comparison between the Lichtenecker, Looyenga
and Brown mixing equations applied to the composition of galena
(permittivity 190) in a quartz (permittivity 4) matrix. The Looy-
enga and Lichtenecker mixing models show a gradual increase in
permittivity as the galena ratio increases. This gradual increase
means that a large volume of high permittivity material is required
to change mixture permittivity signicantly. The Looyenga model
has a relationship that is closest to linearity. The Brown model is
able to t mixtures with smaller permittivity differences, however,
for galena and quartz the mixture permittivity is negative for com-
positions of less than 20% galena. Further research is required to
investigate which of these models best describes the permittivity
of semi-liberated mineral particles.
In order to understand the effect of composition on dielectroph-
oretic force, the ClausiusMossotti function (Eq. (3)) was evaluated
as a function of medium permittivity (Fig. 3). It can be seen theo-
retically that particles of different galena to quartz ratio can be
separated from each other simply by altering the medium permit-
tivity. It also shows that as the medium permittivity is increased,
the dielectrophoretic force increases until a maximum is reached,
at which point it decreases, intercepting the x-axis when the med-
ium permittivity equals the particle permittivity. Experimental
work is currently investigating whether these theoretical results
can be reproduced in practice.
2.2. Dielectrophoresis
Dielectrophoresis can be dened as the translational motion of
neutral matter caused by polarisation effects in a non-uniform
electric eld. When a neutral particle is polarised by a non-uniform
electric eld, the two charges on the body are equal, but the elds
operating on the two regions are unequal creating a force impelling
halide hydroxide oxide phosphate silicate sulfate sulfide
352 G.R. Ballantyne, P.N. Holtham / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358

Table 1
Compilation of mineral permittivity measurements from literature.

Mineral Group Berg Tickell Parkhomenko Young and Jordan and Church Salsman Cumbane
(1936) (1931) (1967) Frederikse Sullivan (1985) et al. (1991) et al. (2008)
(1973) (1988)
Apatite Phosphate 3.54 10.5 4.2 8.859.97
Arsenopyrite (FeAsS) Sulde >81 5075
Barite Sulfate 3.54 12.2 6.27.9 9.149.69 58
Calcite Carbonate 33.5 7.8 7.58.7 8.09.15 8.3 8.669.16
Chalcocite Sulde >81 210275 818
Chalcopyrite Sulde >81 30100 35
Diamond Element 5.5 5.5 0.3
Dolomite Carbonate 3.54 8 6.3-8.2 7.227.62
Fluorite Halide 3.54 6.8 6.2-8.5 6.768.7 6.416.59
Galena Sulde >81 190 100225 68
Gypsum Sulfate 45 11.6 7.96.3
Halite Halide 3.54 6.2 5.66.4 5.455.92 4.815.06
Hematite Oxide 25 12.0 (a), 4.5 (c)
Llmenite Oxide >33.7 <81
Magnetite Oxide >33.7 <81 20
Orthoclase (feldspar) Silicate 3.54 4.56.2 4.344.56
Pyrite Sulde >33.7 <81 720
Quartz Silicate 33.5 5 4.414.6 4.3 3.854.00
Rutile Oxide 170 89173 115
Sphalerite Sulde 56 17 7.8 8.08.7 720
Zircon Oxide 12 3.65.2 12.5 11.8

Table 2
Compilation of liquid permittivities from literature and safety rating (Berg, 1936, and Chemwatch).

Liquids Permittivity Flammability Toxicity Body contact Reactivity Chronic

1propanol 20.44 3 2 3 0 2
Acetic acid 6.4 0 0 0 0 0
Amyl alcohol 15.8 2 2 2 0 2
Benzene 2.3 3 2 2 1 4
Ercnoform 4.5 0 3 2 0 2
Carbon tetrachloride 2.2 0 3 2 1 2
Chlorobenzene 5.62 2 2 2 2 0
Chloroform 5.2 0 3 2 1 3
Di-n-butyl phthalate 6.1 1 2 1 0 3
Dioxane 2.2 3 2 2 2 2
Ethyl alcohol 25.7 3 2 2 1 2
Furfural 42.0 3 4 2 2 2
Kerosene 2.0 2 2 2 1 2
Methyl alcohol 33.7 3 3 2 1 2
Nitrobenzene 36.0 1 3 1 2 2
Water 80.0 0 0 0 0 0

Table 3
Compilation of mixing equations from literature.

Name Function Application Reference

P
Lichtenecker  log emix n v i log ei Mineral assemblages Von Hippel (1954); Zheng et al. (2005)
Looyenga or Landau Pn Mineral assemblages Sharif (1995); Briggs (1992); Goossens
emix i1 v i e1=3
1=3
i
Lifchitz et al. (1992)
Brown  0 2  2
 0 3 Mineral assemblages Briggs (1992)
Power series: ee0 1  13 pq de0  13 p2 q 19 pq2 pck de0   
  2 
e.g. emix pe1 qe2 1  13 pq pee11 e2
qe2

Pn
i1 v i ei orientated parallel (k = +1) or perpendicular
Lichtenecker and ekmix k Laminated mineral grains Raju (2003); Parkhomenko (1967)
Rother (k = 1) to the applied eld in rock

the neutral body towards the region of stronger eld (Pohl, 1978).
Fig. 4 shows the difference between dielectrophoresis of neutral
matter and electrophoresis of charged particles. Fig. 4 also shows
that forces found in dielectrophoresis are independent of the direc-
tion of the electric eld, and only requires a highly divergent eld
(Pohl, 1950). It is therefore possible to use an AC eld with
dielectrophoresis.
Dielectrophoresis produces both attractive (positive) and repul-
sive (negative) forces when a liquid medium is used with interme-
diate permittivity (see Fig. 5). Positive dielectrophoresis occurs
when the polarizability (permittivity) of the particle is greater than
the medium. The asymmetric eld forces accelerate the particle
more than the medium, concentrating it in the highest eld. On
the other hand, negative dielectrophoresis occurs when the parti-
cle permittivity is less than the medium. The low permittivity par-
ticles are pushed toward the region of weakest eld strength in a
way that is analogous to the buoyancy of low density materials
in higher density liquids.
 G.R. Ballantyne, P.N. Holtham / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358 353

Comparison of mixing equation

200

Permittivity of mixture
150

100

50 Brown

Looyenga
-
Lichtenecker

-50
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Percentage liberation of galena in quartz

Fig. 2. Comparison of mixing equations for galena/quartz binary mixtures.

Effect of galena composition on Clausius-Mossotti function using Lichtenecker mixing

equation 100 % galena 0%
quartz
1.E-10 90 % galena 10%
quartz
Clausius-Mossotti function

8.E-11 80 % galena 20%

quartz
70 % galena 30%
6.E-11 quartz
60 % galena 40%
quartz
4.E-11 50 % galena 50%
quartz
40 % galena 60%
2.E-11 quartz
30 % galena 70%
quartz
0.E+00
20 % galena 80%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 quartz
-2.E-11 10 % galena 90%
quartz
0 % galena 100%
-4.E-11 quartz
Medium permittivity

Fig. 3. Effect of galena composition on ClausiusMossotti function using Lichtenecker mixing equation.

Fig. 4. Neutral and charged particles in uniform and non-uniform elds and the effect of electrode polarity on dielectrophoresis (after Pohl, 1978).

Pohl (1958) derived an expression for the translational force (F) where a is the radius of spherical particle, eo is the permittivity of
on a dipole in a non-uniform eld (E): free space (8.854  1012 C/V m) and Km and Kp are the relative per-
  mittivities of the medium and particles, respectively.
~ Kp  Km
F e 4pa3   E  rE eo K m 1 Pohls dielectrophoretic force equation can be simplied to the
K p 2K m
  product of the spherical volume, electric eld strength, electric
Kp  Km eld gradient and degree of polarisation (Jordan and Sullivan,
or ~
F e 2pa3  eo K m  rE2 2
K p 2K m 1985). Unlike otation, the dielectrophoretic force is proportional
354 G.R. Ballantyne, P.N. Holtham / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358
Fig. 5. Comparison between isomotive and cylindrical electrode congurations.
to the volume of the particle, not the surface area; it is therefore
more suited to coarse mineral separation when the surface area
to volume ratio is smaller. Calculating the electric eld gradient
is made extremely difcult, if not impossible, except for simple
eld distributions, because of the eld distortions created by the
particles themselves (Abdel-Salam, 1993). Increasing the opera-
tional space and displacement of low permittivity particles de-
mands much higher potentials and electrical elds (Andres, 1980).
The degree of polarisation is the most important factor in the
force equation and is given by the ClausiusMossotti relation:
Kp  Km ep  em
eo K m or em
K p 2K m ep 2em
The ClausiusMossotti relation is important because it determines
whether the force will be positive or negative as well as the magni-
tude of the force. From the equation it can be seen that the force in-
creases with the medium permittivity and the difference between
the particle and medium permittivity. Fig. 6 shows the theoretical
dielectrophoretic and gravitational forces on a 1 mm galena
(e = 190) particle as a function of the medium permittivity from
Eq. (1). The dielectrophoretic force is greater than the gravitational
force with medium permittivities above about 5 and a maximum
force is reached at a medium permittivity of approximately 70.
Fig. 7 shows how the force varies with the particle permittivity with
water as the medium.
The major difculty in the application of dielectrophoresis is the
absence of a suitable medium with a variable permittivity and high
breakdown threshold (Plaksin and Olonsky, 1966; Andres, 1979).
The choice of medium is a very important one in dielectrophoresis
because it not only determines the cut-point but also the magni-
Medium permittivity variation
1.4E-03
1.2E-03
1.0E-03
Force (N)
8.0E-04
6.0E-04
4.0E-04
2.0E-04
0.0E+00
0 15
Fig. 6. Force variation with medium permittivity.
tude of the force. Water and air are the most appropriate mediums
from an economic and safety point of view, however, water has a
permittivity that is too high (see Table 2) and dissolved ions create
a conductivity problem. Air has a permittivity that is too low and
spark-over is an issue. In past experiments, the permittivity of
the liquid was altered by changing the conductivity or by changing
the ratio of low permittivity and high permittivity liquids. It may
be possible to use a slurry of low permittivity ne particles in
water, however, no tests have been conducted as yet (Andres,
1979). Separating the particles in a medium which has a permittiv-
ity higher or lower than all the constituent particles is another pos-
sible solution to the problem (Aldaeus et al., 2006; Andres, 1982).
3. Pertinent past work
The design of dielectric separators has evolved from precipita-
tion-type, to isomotive, to screen-type and now travelling-wave.
The rst batch, precipitation-type designs were patented by Hat-
eld (1924b) and were also the only separators ever tested on a
plant-scale. Pohl (1950) designed the rst dielectric separator
which used an isomotive electrode design. Both (Verschure &
Ijlsts, 1966) dielectric sieve and Jordans (1980) rotating-drum
dielectric separation used parallel plate electrodes and dielectric
chaining to improve efciencies. More recently, travelling-wave
separators have been used for the separation of colloidal particles
and in nanouidics (Hughes et al., 1996; Wang et al., 1997).
Although the design of the dielectric separators is an important re-
search question for future applications, this paper will concentrate
on the measurement of the dielectrophoretic force.
3
In order to validate Eq. (1), quantitative measurements of the
actual dielectrophoretic force on a real particle are required. These
force calculations can also be used to back-calculate the permittiv-
ity of a solid of some arbitrary shape (Pohl and Pethig, 1976). Hawk
(1966) investigated the effect of medium conductivity in dielectro-
phoresis with the aim of separating biological cells. The relative
forces involved were calculated by observing the deection per
unit voltage for particles of lead hafnate (PbHfO3), silicon dioxide,
lead, silicon and rutile particles in a non-uniform eld. Small
amounts of tap water were added to decrease the resistivity of
the low conductivity water. The resistivity of the water was varied
and the crossover between the attractive force to repulsive force
was determined both theoretically and practically by using the
equation:
jK 01  i=p1 xeo j jK 02  i=p2 xeo j 4
Feeley (1969) investigated the effect of the applied eld frequency
as well as the medium permittivity. He altered the resistivity of
Dielectrophoretic force
Gravitational force
30 45 60 75 90
Medium permittivity
 G.R. Ballantyne, P.N. Holtham / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358 355

the medium with the addition of the salt tetra-iso-pentyl-ammo- Connected to AC voltage
nium nitrate, and varied the permittivity with different ratios of
dioxane and water. Six materials were studied: silicon, silicon diox-
ide, tin, stannic (tin) oxide, rutile and lead hafnate. The addition of
salt made most of the particles act as though they were in a liquid of
higher permittivity, however, lead hafnate and rutile acted errati-
cally and the force trend for silicon was opposite of what was ex-
pected theoretically. The response of the silicon and lead hafnate
particles deviated from theoretical expectations when the medium
permittivity was altered, a result attributed to ionic double layer
interactions for the silicon particles.
Chen investigated the electrical double layer assumption used Plate electrode Pin electrode
by Hawk and Feeley to explain their observed anomalies (Chen,
1969). His results showed that introducing cations of differing
valencies did affect dielectrophoresis and therefore, the anomalies
may be able to be explained by electrical double layer assump-
Teflon supports
tions. The effects were more striking with lead hafnate and quartz,
but only at high frequencies (Chen, 1969). The size of the crystal,
smoothness of the surface and attachment of the glass bre were
all major sources of error. Particle glued to
glass fibre

4. Experimental work and results

A simple initial experiment was carried out, which was similar

to that conducted by Hateld (1924a), using two stainless steel
needles to create an electrical eld in distilled water. The needles
were held 1 mm apart and a 50 Hz electrical eld of 124 kV/m
was created between the needles. One millimetre galena particles
demonstrated positive dielectrophoresis, being attracted to the
highest point in the eld, while quartz was repelled due to nega-
tive dielectrophoresis. Positive dielectrophoresis was also observed
for pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena, and negative dielectrophoresis
for quartz, plagioclase and sphalerite. Magnetite and hematite
showed inconclusive results most likely due to magnetite becom-
ing magnetically attracted to the electrodes even when the electri-
cal eld was removed, and the hematite being in the form of long
thin bres. This simple experiment demonstrated that dielectro-
phoresis can be used to separate sulphide minerals from siliceous
gangue on the basis of permittivity. With the exception of pyrite,
the results agreed with what would be expected based on permit-
tivity values from the literature. Theoretically, pyrite should have
shown negative dielectrophoresis because both of the permittivity
values given by literature were less than that of water (see Table
1). However, the literature values for permittivity are not compre-
hensive and vary quite substantially, so this might be an indication
Fig. 8. Single particle test cell schematic including glass beaker with optically at
viewing rectangle.
that pyrite has a much higher permittivity than the reported liter-
ature values.
In order to quantify the dielectrophoretic force acting on a sin-
gle particle, a test tube separator was built, based on apparatus
used in the work by Pohl, Hawk, Chen and Feeley (see Fig. 7).
The deection of an approximately 1 mm particle glued to the
end of a ne glass bre hanging in a non-uniform electrical eld
was measured. The eld was created by a pin and a plate electrode
separated by 3 mm (see Fig. 8). Ethanol was used as the dielectric
medium as it is safe and stable and has a permittivity of 25.7 (see
Table 2). The dielectrophoretic force was found by increasing the
voltage in steps from 0 to 300 and measuring the subsequent
deection of the particle using a handheld digital microscope with
200 magnication. The measurement of deection was calibrated
to a force by tilting the apparatus and measuring the deection per
degree of tilt. This had the added effect of removing the inuence
of the elasticity or stiffness of the glass bre from the measure-
ments. A variable frequency, alternating electrical eld was created

Particle permittivity variation

1.5E-03
1.0E-03
5.0E-04
Force (N)

0.0E+00
-5.0E-04
-1.0E-03 Dielectrophoretic force
-1.5E-03 Gravitational force
-2.0E-03
-2.5E-03
0 50 100 150 200
Particle permittivity

Fig. 7. Force variation with particle permittivity.

356 G.R. Ballantyne, P.N. Holtham / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358

using a signal generator connected to an audio amplier. The low
voltage output of the audio amplier was transformed up to a
maximum output of 2000 V.
Figs. 9 and 10 show the forces recorded for ve sizes of galena
and ve sizes of quartz in ethanol as a function of voltage. Each test
was repeated three times, trend lines were then tted to the three
sets of data by minimizing the sum of squared errors at each point.
For each particle size, the force was seen to be proportional to the
voltage squared, a result which aligns with the theoretical force
equation (Eq. (2)). The force also increased with particle size.
The theoretical force equation (Eq. (2)) suggests that the in-
crease in the force should be proportional to the particle size cubed
(volume). Fig. 11 uses the tting coefcients from the various sizes
in Figs. 9 and 10 in order to verify the relationship between force
and particle size. Although, the results from galena t this relation-
ship well, the results from quartz are more varied. This may be due
to quartz having an irregular particle shape created from crushing,
while galena has a very regular cubic crystalline structure.
The coefcient from the line t in Fig. 11 can be used to deter-
mine the ClausiusMossotti function from Eq. (2) and therefore the
particle permittivity. In order to calculate this more accurately a
more precise and robust measurement technique is required for
the particle size and particle position in the electrical eld. The
particle radius used in this analysis was the average of the height
and width measurements.
In order to verify the measurements taken by the single particle
test cell, the theoretical force was calculated, however, problems
were encountered with modelling the electrical eld. If the eld
created by the pin-plate electrode conguration is assumed to be
similar to a cylindrical, coaxial electrode conguration then the fol-
lowing equation for the eld gradient can be used, in conjunction
with Eq. (2), to calculate the force (Pohl, 1960, 1978):
2r o V 21
rjEcyl j2 2
5
r 3 lnr 1 =r 2 

Positive Dielectrophoresis Galena in Ethanol

1.4E-06
-11 2
Fg5 = 5.81x10 V
Particle Radius
1.2E-06
1.17mm
Dielectrophoretic force (N)

1.0E-06 0.90mm
0.65mm
-11 2
0.52mm Fg4 = 2.32x10 V
8.0E-07
0.47mm
6.0E-07

4.0E-07 -11 2
Fg3 = 7.84x10 V
-12 2
Fg2 = 7.12x10 V
2.0E-07
-12 2
Fg1 = 5.84x10 V
0.0E+00
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Applied voltage (V)

Fig. 9. Positive dielectrophoresis: galena in ethanol.

Negative Dielectrophoresis Quartz in Ethanol

Applied voltage (V)
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

-1.0E-07

-3.0E-07
Dielectrophoretic force (N)

-12 2
Fg1 = -2.74 x10 V

-5.0E-07 Fg3 = -7.36 x10

-12
V
2

-7.0E-07 Particle Radius

0.73mm
-11 2
-9.0E-07 0.92mm Fg2 = -1.01 x10 V
1.14mm
-1.1E-06 1.17mm
1.38mm
-11 2
-1.3E-06 Fg3 = -1.15 x10 V

-1.5E-06 -11 2
Fg5 = -3.13 x10 V

Fig. 10. Negative dielectrophoresis: quartz in ethanol.

 G.R. Ballantyne, P.N. Holtham / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358 357

Fig. 11. Force calibration with particle size.

is strongly dependant on the position of the particle from the cen-

tral pin, varying inversely as the third power of the radial position
(see Fig. 13). This creates problems in measuring the force as the
particle occupies a large volume in the eld and the position cannot
be dened by a point. Either a theoretical mathematical model or an
empirical model tted experimentally is necessary to be able to
determine the eld gradient term (rE) in the force equation more
precisely.

5. Conclusion

Dielectrophoresis has the potential to separate mineral particles

Fig. 12. (a) View of electric eld lines created by a polarisable particle suspended
within a pin-plate electrode system (Hughes, 1999) and (b) picture of quartz
particle suspended by glass bre between the pin-plate electrodes of the single
particle test cell.
Fig. 12 shows the electrode conguration and denes the values of
r1, r2 and r. Eq. (5) shows that the electric eld gradient, and there-
fore the dielectrophoretic force in a coaxial electrode conguration
of different permittivities; however, there are still issues that have
to be overcome before it can be employed at plant-scale. The major
technological issue is the absence of a suitable medium with a var-
iable permittivity, low conductivity and high electrical breakdown
threshold which is also low cost, is safe and environmentally
friendly.
One of the major technological issues for dielectrophoresis is
the availability of an appropriate medium for the separation. Obvi-
ously, water would be an ideal liquid medium for environmental
and economic reasons. However, the permittivity is very high, ions
dissolved in the water increase the conductivity and therefore the

Particle position variation

1.4E-03

1.2E-03 Dielectrophoretic force

1.0E-03
Gravitational force
Force (N)

8.0E-04

6.0E-04

4.0E-04

2.0E-04

0.0E+00
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
particle position from inner electrode (mm)

Fig. 13. Force variation as a function of distance between particle and pin electrode.
358 G.R. Ballantyne, P.N. Holtham / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 350358
power draw, electrolysis can create turbulence and it is immiscible
with most hydrocarbons that can be used to lower the permittivity.
The best way to alter the mediums permittivity is to mix propor-
tions of polar alcohols with non-polar hydrocarbons. However, it is
important to choose chemicals that are safe and environmentally
friendly.
The minerals industry is facing increased comminution costs, as
a result of decreasing ore grades and increasing energy costs.
Coarse liberation and removal of gangue has the potential to re-
duce the quantity of rock proceeding to ne grinding, thereby,
greatly reducing the energy requirements for comminution. Pres-
ently, otation of sulphides is generally not effective for particles
larger than approximately 150 microns. Therefore, a new technol-
ogy is required to remove the liberated gangue particles between
0.52 mm. Flotation is not effective at coarser size ranges because
it relies on surface forces and as particle size increases, the surface
area to volume ratio decreases. A force that acts not only on the
surface, but on the particle as a whole is therefore required in order
to separate particles at these coarse size ranges. Dielectrophoresis
is a good example of a volumetric force and therefore may be an
appropriate technology that can be used in coarse removal of gan-
gue. However, it is imperative that the recovery of the valuable
component to ne grinding is not reduced; therefore, the effect
of composition on dielectrophoresis must also be quantied.
The results of this study show the potential of dielectrophoresis
for coarse mineral separation. However, they also highlight the
ability to use dielectrophoresis as a measurement tool. If the mea-
surement of the dielectrophoretic force on a single particle can be
calibrated to the theoretical force equation (Eq. (2)), the permittiv-
ity of a single particle can be measured. This technique can poten-
tially be used to quantify single particle composition and
liberation. To achieve this, a better understanding of the particle
size and electrical eld gradient measurements is required.
Acknowledgements
The nancial support of the Australian Research Council Link-
age Scheme, AMIRA International, and State Governments of South
Australia and Victoria, is gratefully acknowledged.
Financial support was also provided as a Student Scholarship by
the Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing, which is estab-
lished and supported under the Australian Governments Coopera-
tive Research Centres Program.
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