Design and Construction of a Laboratory Scale Cyclone Tribocharger

Details of the design and construction of a laboratory scale copper cyclone tribocharger and a preliminary study on the triboelectric properties of sulfide minerals are presented. The charge attained by galena, chalcopyrite and silica sand was noted to increase with increasing applied air flowrate. This occurred irrespective of particle size or density for the limited samples in the preliminary study and may indicate better mechanical contact of particles with the cyclone wall at higher air flow rates.