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Compressive Yield Stress of Flocculated Kaolin Suspensions in Seawater

The mining industry has resorted to using seawater while trying to find a solution to the water shortage, which is severe in some regions. Today, the industry looks to tailings dams to recover more water and, thus, increase recirculation. The migration of interstitial water due to the consolidation...

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Autores principales: Nieto, Steven, Piceros, Eder, Toledo, Pedro G., Robles, Pedro, Jeldres, Ricardo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9919725/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36771831
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15030530
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author Nieto, Steven
Piceros, Eder
Toledo, Pedro G.
Robles, Pedro
Jeldres, Ricardo
author_facet Nieto, Steven
Piceros, Eder
Toledo, Pedro G.
Robles, Pedro
Jeldres, Ricardo
author_sort Nieto, Steven
collection PubMed
description The mining industry has resorted to using seawater while trying to find a solution to the water shortage, which is severe in some regions. Today, the industry looks to tailings dams to recover more water and, thus, increase recirculation. The migration of interstitial water due to the consolidation of particle networks can give rise to large water mirrors in different dam areas. These pools can contain enough water to be recovered and recirculated if the external stress caused by the weight of the pulp exceeds the compressive yield stress. The density and rheological properties of the discarded pulps determine the feasibility of water expulsion during tailings consolidation. As these conditions are largely established in the thickening stage, it is necessary to revisit operations, looking at the dam as a water source. Thus, a thorough understanding of the compressive properties that determine the level of consolidation of typical pulps and their relationships to aggregate properties, such as size and fractal dimension, is crucial. Here, the effect of two types of water, industrial water and synthetic seawater, on kaolin flocculation, sedimentation rate, yield stress, and compressive yield stress were studied. In addition, the relationship of these properties with the flocculant dose and the resulting aggregate size and fractal dimension was examined. One promising finding to practitioners was that salt and small doses of high molecular weight flocculant improved the consolidation of kaolin slurries under compression. These conditions generated low compressive yield stress compared to fresh water and water with low salt content, favoring the consolidation of the pulps and the release of water.
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spelling pubmed-99197252023-02-12 Compressive Yield Stress of Flocculated Kaolin Suspensions in Seawater Nieto, Steven Piceros, Eder Toledo, Pedro G. Robles, Pedro Jeldres, Ricardo Polymers (Basel) Article The mining industry has resorted to using seawater while trying to find a solution to the water shortage, which is severe in some regions. Today, the industry looks to tailings dams to recover more water and, thus, increase recirculation. The migration of interstitial water due to the consolidation of particle networks can give rise to large water mirrors in different dam areas. These pools can contain enough water to be recovered and recirculated if the external stress caused by the weight of the pulp exceeds the compressive yield stress. The density and rheological properties of the discarded pulps determine the feasibility of water expulsion during tailings consolidation. As these conditions are largely established in the thickening stage, it is necessary to revisit operations, looking at the dam as a water source. Thus, a thorough understanding of the compressive properties that determine the level of consolidation of typical pulps and their relationships to aggregate properties, such as size and fractal dimension, is crucial. Here, the effect of two types of water, industrial water and synthetic seawater, on kaolin flocculation, sedimentation rate, yield stress, and compressive yield stress were studied. In addition, the relationship of these properties with the flocculant dose and the resulting aggregate size and fractal dimension was examined. One promising finding to practitioners was that salt and small doses of high molecular weight flocculant improved the consolidation of kaolin slurries under compression. These conditions generated low compressive yield stress compared to fresh water and water with low salt content, favoring the consolidation of the pulps and the release of water. MDPI 2023-01-19 /pmc/articles/PMC9919725/ /pubmed/36771831 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15030530 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Nieto, Steven
Piceros, Eder
Toledo, Pedro G.
Robles, Pedro
Jeldres, Ricardo
Compressive Yield Stress of Flocculated Kaolin Suspensions in Seawater
title Compressive Yield Stress of Flocculated Kaolin Suspensions in Seawater
title_full Compressive Yield Stress of Flocculated Kaolin Suspensions in Seawater
title_fullStr Compressive Yield Stress of Flocculated Kaolin Suspensions in Seawater
title_full_unstemmed Compressive Yield Stress of Flocculated Kaolin Suspensions in Seawater
title_short Compressive Yield Stress of Flocculated Kaolin Suspensions in Seawater
title_sort compressive yield stress of flocculated kaolin suspensions in seawater
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9919725/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36771831
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15030530
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