High gradient magnetic separation for weakly magnetized fine particles [for geothermal water treatment]

We measured the removal efficiency of hematite (Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/) and iron (III) hydroxide (Fe(OH)/sub 3/) fine particles suspended in water in a high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) system. Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and Fe(OH)/sub 3/ have relatively small magnetic relative susceptibilities (MKS) near 10/sup -3/ and average particle diameters near 1 /spl mu/m. We demonstrated that HGMS is able to effectively separate weakly magnetized particles.