Our equipment and processes reduce waste, energy consumption, and environmental impact. EPD and HS technologies are patent-protected and built for a new generation of “green” laboratories.
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Electric-pulse disaggregation (EPD) is a mineral separation technique that liberates all mineral grains from any rock irrespective of its lithology or grain-size distribution. Normal mechanical crushing of whole-rock samples is replaced by the rending effect of an explosion, which is produced by applying an electric current from a high-voltage power source. A voltage greater than the 100 kV necessary for the electrical breakdown of rock samples is achieved by using capacitors that are charged in parallel but discharged in series. The sample sits in a water bath and the rapid distribution of electric pulses through the sample leads to explosions, which occur preferentially along grain boundaries (zones of weakness). As a result, individual, undamaged mineral grains can be recovered in their original shape and form regardless of grain size.
Contamination-free processing: The EPD process can be done inside a disposable plastic bag, eliminating contamination.
Legacy: The Spark-2 has been in use since at least 1991, and thousands of geological samples have been processed using it and its successors, like the Spark-3. It has been utilized by mineralogical laboratories worldwide.
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Commercially available hydroseparators of HS series were invented to process solid water-insoluble powdered samples to produce representative heavy-mineral HS concentrates of particles that follow Stokes’ law when settling in a carefully computer controlled upward pulsating water stream. Ideally, to be applicable for HS, powdered particles should have densities of 3 to 20 g/cc and grain sizes of <0.3 mm, including industrial flotation size fractions (-45 pm) for which there is no commercial alternative. The concentration by hydroseparation is done with practically no loss of mineral grains. In different tests, mineral concentrates had 100 to 10,000 times the original proportions of the desired minerals. The technique has been applied successfully to samples having as low as 0.1-1.0 ppm of the phase forming elements of the desired minerals. Learn more >
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MinEye is our state-of-the-art AI solution for digital mineral analysis. It uses convolutional neural networks and computer vision to identify, classify, and quantify minerals directly from images of processed samples—no X-ray or SEM required.
Real-time mineral grain identification
Grain size, shape, and morphology prediction
Tailored neural networks with YOLOv8 object detection
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CNT-Instruments is aligned with ESG principles and circular economy goals. Our equipment and processes reduce waste, energy consumption, and environmental impact. EPD and HS technologies are patent-protected and built for a new generation of “green” laboratories.
Dr Vladimir N. Rudashevsky (vlad.rudashevsky@gmail.com)