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Index

John Thixton

Anyone wishing to contact

me about this site can do so
by emailing me at
thixton.john@gmail.com

Index

John Thixton
Brief Career Highlights

The Supaflo high rate thickener was

invented in March 1983 by John Thixton. This
website has been created to tell the true story
about how the concept came into being. The
first commercial unit was commissioned in
August 1984 at Rum Jungle in the Northern
Territory, Australia. The Supaflo is now
marketed by Outokumpu OY of Finland. Over
1000 units have been installed in 50 countries
world-wide. Total value of units sold may
exceed $100 million.

The Lessons of New Zealand Stee

Correct Feedwell Design &

Download the PDF file

"Thickeners and Clarifiers brochure - English"

Counter Current Decantation

Lebong Tandai - Indonesia

To quote from the brochure "The revolutionary

SUPAFLO high rate thickener has pioneered
and redefined thickening and clarifyiing
methods around the world". As with many
inventions others have benefited from the
SUPAFLO financially far more than its
inventor.

Concept Development
as related by John Thixton
Sale of First
Commercial Unit
Commissioning of the
First Commercial Unit at
Rum Jungle
My thoughts at that stage
A Setback - Sunila, Finland

Flocculation

Counter Current Decantation

Olympic Dam - Australia
Olympic Dam
Hydromet Flow Diagram
Athens Mine, Zimbabwe
The Choice of the Name "Supaflo"
The Worst Day of My Life.
The South African Conspiracy
The Ensuing Years

Concept Development
as Related By John Thixton

Neil Jagger

In a conventional settling thickener pulp is introduced into a large tank.

Solids settle to the bottom and clear liquid overflows from the top. The
concept of introducing pre-flocculated pulp below the liquid surface into
the settling pulp bed was probably first pioneered by the Australian
Sugar Research Institute in the 1960's. It was demonstrated that
significantly higher throughputs could be achieved using the principle.
Enviro-Clear Inc. was the first company to market a commercial unit
incorporating the principle. Between 1978 and 1983 I had been involved
in marketing and commissioning Enviro-Clear thickeners. Whilst
throughputs of up to 10 times that achieved in conventional settlers

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could be achieved, high flocculant consumption was a drawback. The

units were also expensive, requiring a separate external deaerator tank
and suffered from a lack of process control. Sudden increases in
underflow density often resulted in the rake mechanism tripping out
which usually meant the unit had to be emptied, hosed out and restarted
from scratch.
Whilst on a flight from Tasmania to Sydney in March 1983 I did a sketch
in my diary of an Enviro-Clear thickener then superimposed my high
rate thickener concept on it with an inbuilt open deaerator/feedwell
flared at the bottom and an inverted cone deflector fixed to the thickener
rakes to deflect the pulp downwards at an angle of 30 to 45 degrees
from the horizontal. The idea was to produce a larger "reaction zone".
See reproduction of the diary page below.

The sketch that launched 1,000 Supaflos

The diagram below from the current Outokumpu brochure shows the
open internal deaerator/feedwell and cone deflector as drawn in the
diary sketch. It is these features that have enabled the Supaflo to
outperform other high rate thickener designs.

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In order to test the principle I borrowed a 3.5 inch Enviro-Clear

laboratory test unit from the flocculant company, Catoleum and modified
it by removing the horizontal deflector plate and replacing it with an
inverted cone.
This test showed that the concept did
work. I then had a 100mm unit
fabricated from clear shinkolite tubing,
purchased variable speed Masterflex
pumps and did further testwork to
establish parameters. This design has
obviously stood the test of time
because the laboratory test unit
illustrated in Outokumpu's current
brochure is identical to the one I built in

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100mm Lab Test Unit

1983!

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Sale of First Commercial Unit.

The Rum Jungle uranium mine was shut down in 1971 leaving behind a
major environmental problem. It was decided that rehabilitation of the
site was necessary to stop dumped tailings washing into the nearby
river. The full story can be read at:
http://www.sea-us.org.au/oldmines/rumjungle.html
Samples of the tailings were laboratory tested in the 100mm unit and a
quotation submitted for the supply of a 5.5 metre diameter Supaflo
thickener. In September 1983 a firm order was obtained from the project
engineers Mining & Process Engineering Services and a draughtsman
was engaged to prepare detailed fabrication drawings of the unit. These
were completed and checked in December 1983.
The unit was fabricated in Sydney and shipped to the Rum Jungle site,
65 km south of Darwin in early 1984 in a road/rail container. The unit
was erected and ready for commissioning by July 1984.
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Commissioning of the First Commercial Unit

at Rum Jungle
I flew to Darwin on Sunday 29th July 1984 to commission the unit. The
following description is taken from a report I wrote subsequently: "It
became apparent that no plant start up was likely before Tuesday or
Wednesday so I decided to make a modification to the unit which I had
considered as a result of experiments with the 100mm unit.
The deflection cone had been fabricated with a diameter of 700mm
whereas the downpipe was 1000mm and the flared section 1400mm. I
removed the two halves of the cone and took them to an engineering
company in Darwin. I had intended to have them enlarged to 1400mm
but the boot of my hire car would only accept them at 1200mm so I
compromised on this.
In order to obtain an injection velocity of around 3m per minute the gap
between the cone and the flared section was set at 180mm. Feed to the
unit commenced on Thursday 2nd August 1984. When the unit filled it
was apparent that the sealing between the adjustable weir plates and
the shell was unsatisfactory. I drove into Darwin and bought 4 tubes of
silicone sealant (the shops entire stock!) then climbed around the

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overflow launder filling the gaps. After further delays the plant was
restarted at 5.00pm on 3rd and was then run continuously until 4am on
Saturday 4th August during which time a bed was established in the unit
and clear overflow obtained. Initially the feed to the unit contained 9%
solids (design figure 3%) but with continuous operation it was down to 5
to 6% and at this level operation improved considerably. It could be
seen that the there was a sharp interface between the bed and clear
overflow and the bed was being subjected to a very gentle rollingfluidised movement which is what is required to achieve good
flocculation of the incoming feed.
It was also apparent that there was no air entrainment in the feed which
is a very common fault in Enviro-Clear units. Thus the combined
deaeration tank/feedwell worked very effectively.
Due to problems in other parts of the plant a shutdown was necessary
at 4am. It would be hard to put into words the joy (and relief!) I felt as I
drove back to Darwin in the early hours of Saturday morning. My
concept worked!! I sang all the way. Since a lengthy shutdown seemed
likely I flew back to Sydney. In a subsequent phone conversation with
site personnel they advised that the unit was operating very well with
very clear overflow. They commented "at least we seem to be on a
winner there"
The plant operated until 1986 when the project to remove heavy metals
from and neutralise the tailings was complete. The pictures below show
the effect of the rehabilitation

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My thoughts at that stage

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At the end of my report on the successful commissioning of the first

commercial Supaflo unit I made the following comments: "The thought
occurs that we might possibly get a patent for a design whereby the
pulp is injected downwards at an angle of 30-45 degrees into the pulp
bed. The argument would be that in a pulp bed a gradual increase in
pulp density occurs from top to bottom which causes an upflow of liquid.
When incoming pulp is injected horizontally into this pulp bed the rising
liquid stream tends to force very fine particles straight out of the surface
of the bed. They then rise and pass out of the unit causing dirty
overflows. However when the pulp stream is injected downwards at an
angle, fine particles get pushed deeper into the bed and have a better
chance of flocculating and not escaping from the bed."
I never did apply for that patent. What a pity in the light of subsequent
events!
I must confess the Rum Jungle unit was a huge gamble and the relief
felt when it was successfully commissioned was enormous. Little did I
imagine back then that 23 years later over 1000 Supaflo units would be
in operation world wide.
It makes me very proud that I pioneered the concept.
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A Setback - Sunila, Finland.

At that time we were associated in business with Larox OY of Finland
and they were given a licence to sell the Supaflo in areas where they
had representation. They chose to market it as the FB (for filter bed)
thickener. In late 1984 they sold a unit to Sunila in Finland. In April 1985
they attempted to commission it without success. When the SOS came
for help I was away from the office so Neil Jagger got on the first
available flight to Finland. After spending 2 weeks at the site he failed to
get it working. The unit was shut down pending further on site
inspections and tests.
In September 1985, I visited the site and it was immediately
obvious to me why the unit had failed to operate. I wrote a lengthy
report at the time the salient points of which were:
1. Larox had attempted to convert a conventional thickener
to a high rate unit. The thickener had only radial launders
in the form of a central square. This area inside this
square represented only 16% of the total surface area of
the tank. Thus the liquid rise rate inside this square was

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much too high. The effect was to drastically reduce the

effective diameter of the unit. They were advised to
remove the radial launders and fit a peripheral one.
2. No pulp bed level detector had been fitted making pulp
bed level control impossible.
3. They were also advised to lengthen the downpipe.
I do not know if these modifications were ever carried out.
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The Lessons of New Zealand Steel

Correct Feedwell Design & Flocculation
I first tested samples of ironsands from New Zealand Steel in November
1984. On the basis of the tests I tendered for the supply of a 9.5m dia.
Supaflo and after flying to Auckland in March 1985 returned with the
order.
Commissioning was delayed due to problems in other parts of the plant
but eventually start up began on 11/2/86. My 2 weeks at the site proved
a nightmare. This was, without doubt, the most difficult commissioning
job I have ever done. I probably averaged 16 hours a day at the site,
only driving back to my hotel in Auckland for a sleep when my body just
couldn't keep going.
Problem were numerous but probably the biggest stemmed from the
fact that the original sample as tested was not truly representative of the
actual feed, it had been made up synthetically. Also our new engineer
had the not so clever idea of introducing feed tangentially into the
feedwell which proved disastrous - the entire thickener contents swirled!
Various sizes of temporary wooden baffles were tried before a suitable
steel one was welded into place to stop the swirling. A further problem
was the presence of coarse heavy material which accumulated on the
deflector cone closing off the plate gap. These could only be removed
by emptying the unit and hosing them out of the feedwell. Plant
modifications were necessary to remove the coarse material from the
feed pulp.
The 2 weeks proved invaluable for subsequent Supaflo design. The
need for multiple flocculant injection points and the use of adjustable
length sparge pipes helped solve flocculant dosing problems. The
problem was finally diagnosed by cylinder flocculation tests which
demonstrated the fragility of the flocs. Hence flocculant needed to be
added as late as possible before the feed entered the pulp bed.

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It was at NZ Steel that one of the major advantages of the open, internal
de-aerator/feedwell design was first noted. Due to their different S.G.'s
the level of clear overflow outside the feedwell was always higher than
inside it. This facilitated gravity dilution of the incoming pulp using
adjustable weirs for flocculation purposes. I note that Outokumpu claim
"the world's first systems to auto dilute feed". This was done at NZ Steel
20 years ago!
I have copious notes on the commissioning but sufficient to say when I
left the site on Saturday 21/2/86 the thickener was working satisfactorily.
The present 'floc-miser' feedwell owes its origins to the New Zealand
Steel experience.
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Counter Current Decantation

1. Lebong Tandai - Indonesia
My greatest wish in the early years was to secure an order for a CCD
circuit. Successful pilot testwork was done in December 1984 at Roxby
Downs (see below) where the 1 metre unit was incorporated into a CCD
circuit so I was confident it could be done. In May 1986 I attended the
Institute of Mining & Metallurgy Conference in Singapore. There I made
contact with metallurgists from the Indonesian company PT Lusang who
were re-developing a gold mine at Lebong Tandai in Sumatra. It had
been worked by the Dutch years before but they had left behind gold
bearing tailings which presented an ideal CCD leaching situation.
However, as I was to find out on my site visits, the mine location was
unique being in a river gorge with steeply sloping sides. There was
insufficient level ground to accommodate large diameter conventional
thickeners. Their preferred treatment method when I made contact was
a horizontal belt filter with counter current washing. I managed to
convince them Supaflo thickeners could do the job and would require
much less level ground than conventionals.
I returned to Sydney on 17/5/86 and took the first available flight to
Jakarta on 25/5/86 taking with me the 100mm test unit. The journey to
Lebong Tandai is an all day adventure. First a flight, then a drive over
very rough road followed by a 2 hour ride up river in a canoe with an
outboard motor before a final hour on a narrow gauge railway. The tests
were successful and I returned via the same lengthy route and back
home on 31/5/86.

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100mm test unit being loaded aboard river canoe

After a lengthy meeting with PT Lusang personnel I finally convinced
them and got an order for 4 x 5.5m Supaflos. However supply had to be
on the basis of local tank fabrication to our drawings with rakes,
feedwells and drives supplied from Australia. Whilst I didn't like this
scenario it was necessary to get around Indonesian local content rules
for steel imports.
They were in a big hurry to get the plant operating and supply had to be
quick. The units were erected and ready to go by November 1986. I
spent 3 weeks at Lebong Tandai from 18/11/86 to 6/12/86 supervising
final erection details and commissioning the units. We had also
supplied, for the first time, closed loop control systems whereby
underflow withdrawal rates were controlled by the rake torque and floc
dosing rates by the bed level detector.

Placating the Gods.

An
interesting
sideline
occurred
prior
to
the
commencement
of
commissioning.
The
local
people insisted that the plant
would not work unless the
Gods were placated. To do
this they slaughtered a steer
and buried its head in the
middle of the site. It must have
worked
because
the

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commissioning went very well thereafter.

I should also mention they roasted its body on a spit and had a grand
barbecue. During the following months the operators were able to
considerably increase throughput. Mine personnel were delighted with
the success of the installation.

Supaflo CCD Circuit at Lebong Tandai

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2. Olympic Dam - Australia

When Rio and Fluor were building the first pilot plant at Olympic Dam in
South Australia I got permission in June 1984 to take the 100mm test
unit to the Olympic Dam site which was pretty rough at that stage.
Accommodation was in pre-fabricated "Dongas".
Olympic Dam Hydromet Process Flow Diagram
Rio personnel were able to witness the successful operation of the test
unit in their site laboratory. At that stage a 1 meter diameter pilot unit
was under construction and the Rio people said they would like it at
Olympic Dam as soon as it was available.
In December 1984 I returned to site and commissioned the 1m unit. It
was then operated by Rio personnel so successfully that they phoned
me on 13/12/84 to say that after I left they had achieved up to 10 times
the throughput of their conventional thickeners.

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The 1m unit was returned to site again in

January 1985 and again for a 4 month
period commencing in July 1985. During
this period they were able to put the unit in
series with 3m conventional thickeners in a
CCD circuit, taking the full flow from these
units - great news.

Im dia skid mounted

Supaflo Pilot Unit
used at Olympic Dam

In June 1986 a tender was submitted for

the supply of 5 x 14.5 metre Supaflos for
Olympic Dam and in August 1986 the
order for these units was obtained. A 6th
unit was ordered a couple of months later.

It would seem from the Google Earth picture below that when the plant
capacity was increased conventional thickeners were selected rather
than Supaflos. I find this surprising and can only assume this was a
result of poor customer liaison.

Olympic Dam - Google Earth

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Athens Mine - Zimbabwe

I made 2 visits to Zimbabwe in connection with a Larox OY bid to supply
3 units to the mine. On the second visit in August 1986 the units were
successfully commissioned.

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The Choice of the Name 'Supaflo'

When the concept was licensed to Larox Oy they called it the FB (for
Filter Bed) thickener. I didn't like the name but unfortunately they went
ahead and printed brochures using it. In October 1987 I decided it was
time for a change. Several options were considered including Maxout,
Ultraflo, Maxithick, KrisKlear and Supaflo. I conducted a ballot amongst
all the staff and they agreed Supaflo was the best. Unfortunately a man
in Perth held the rights to it but I managed to locate him and he agreed
to release it. By mid 1988 over 50 Supaflo thickeners had been sold
world-wide.
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The Worst Day of My Life.

The South African Conspiracy
Monday 29th August 1988 was, by far, the worst day of my life.
On that day fellow director Neil Jagger, supported by 3 employees,
David Taylor, Ian Arbuthnot and Jonathon Trope confronted me with an
ultimatum. Either I sold my half share of Supaflo Pty Ltd to him or all
senior staff would resign and take most of the junior staff with them to
form a new company making high rate thickeners. I was shocked and
disbelieving that these 4 young men who had every reason to be
extremely grateful to me for the friendship and career opportunities I
had given them should turn on me in this fashion.
Briefly: Jagger - see separate box.
Taylor I had known for over 10 years, both workwise and socially. He
was out of work when I offered him a job in about 1981. It is interesting
that a few weeks earlier Jagger had wanted to sack Taylor for
incompetence! Arbuthnot and Trope, I interviewed in South Africa in
September 1985 and subsequently offered them jobs in Australia, going
to great trouble with the Department of Immigration to expedite their
applications for residence permits.
I was given no time to consider my options but rushed off to the office of
the company's accountant and plied with alcohol. Unfortunately in my
confused state I drank too much. In an inebriated state and without the
benefit of legal advice I was pressed into signing a document which
gave away everything I had worked for including all my rights to
royalties from future Supaflo sales. I was paid only for my shares in

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Supaflo P/L but received nothing for the ongoing rights to manufacture
Supaflo thickeners.
It was a foolish mistake but I was confused and deeply hurt. In the
months and years that followed I came to bitterly regret signing. I did
learn that Jagger got the support of the others by promising them
shares in the 'new' Supaflo P/L. I also learned that the threat to take all
of the junior staff was a bluff - they were never consulted.
In all my working years I still consider the action by Jagger as the worst
act of treachery I have ever encountered.
The real tragedy is that these men allowed the manufacturing rights of
this Australian invention to fall into the hands of a foreign company. I
would never have let that happen.
Jagger is now a President of Outokumpu Technologies and is
presumably a very wealthy man.
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The Ensuing Years

After the unfolding of these events I went through a few very bad years.
Initially I found myself walking around in a daze wondering how this
could have happened to me after all the personal sacrifice I had made
particularly at Rum Jungle and New Zealand Steel. I had spent many
weeks away from home getting orders and commissioning units. It all
seemed like a bad dream from which I would eventually wake up. I
hated and despised Jagger for what he had done and thought of ways
to get back at him. Such ways existed but I couldn't bring myself to use
them.
I suffered a chronic depression, my marriage broke up and I was really
in the pits.
Fortunately I met my present wife who is a Psychotherapist. She got me
over my anger and into a new life.
I discovered I had other talents besides inventing thickeners. We now
live in a beautiful house overlooking Balmoral Beach and spend 3
months every summer travelling or at our house in the South of France.
I suppose I could dwell on all the lost royalties I should have got from
the 1000 Supaflos Outokumpu have sold but at least I have a clear
conscience about the way I have dealt with my fellow men throughout
my entire life. Others may have trouble with their consciences and
problems sleeping at night! I hope so.
Now in my 75th year I am a keen cyclist, doing about 100km each

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week, work out in our gym, play

tennis and kayak. I have 8
beautiful grandchildren who are
a delight to be with.
Life is good!
If anyone would like to join John
& friends on safe organised bike
rides either during the week or
at week-ends visit
http://groups.google.com.au
/group/manmosbug
To see John's online photo
albums click on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos
/jthixton/
The reader might ask why I
have chosen to do this website
John on the
after all these years. It came to
New South Wales Big Ride 2006.
my notice recently that Jagger
got an award in 2002 from the Australian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy
for "revolutionising of the development and implementation of new
thickener technology". I haven't seen the citation but if it was for
inventing the Supaflo he should give the award back. His contribution to
its development was minimal!
All of the events described on this web site are documented in my
diaries from the 80's.
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