Abstract Summary (Max 250 words)
In high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) autoclaves employed in the mineral processing industry, agitators play a critical role in ensuring rapid and homogeneous mixing of the ore slurry with sulfuric acid. This prevents localized acid concentration gradients and supports high leaching kinetics. Additionally, effective agitation maintains solid particles in suspension, enabling reliable slurry transport between compartments. Despite advanced designs such as the state of the art EPAL impeller, deposit formation on impellers and autoclave walls remains a persistent operational challenge. To address this, a novel energy efficient impeller, the EPAL 3, with a specifically engineered geometry has been developed to reduce scaling. The design was optimized using advanced numerical simulations and laboratory testing, validated across multiple scales, and is now ready for industrial scale deployment.
