ABSTRACT High stability and low settling rate of phosphate fines in water suspensions encountered the dry area-located mines with serious environmental and technical challenges. The best suggestion for these mines is paste thickener installation for dewatering. In this research, the novel procedure has been proposed for evaluating the potential of paste thickeners in dewatering mining tailings. The case study is Esfordi phosphate complex (Iran). Initially, the selection criteria of a proper flocculant (environmental effects, price, particle settling rate, turbidity of overflow water, and underflow water content) were evaluated for current consuming flocculant (A-27) and 12 other ionic and nonionic flocculants. Then, flocculation performance was ranked based on the type and concentration, applying multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques of ORESTE, MAPPAC, and ELECTRE. Subsequently, the pilot-scale tests were performed for the selected flocculants and the operational conditions were evaluated for the maximum underflow solid content of 70 wt.%. The results of the present research showed that installation and application of this type of thickener could be effective for the case study.

中文翻译：

---

糊状增稠剂性能评估的新程序

摘要 水悬浮液中磷酸盐细粉的高稳定性和低沉降率给位于干燥地区的矿山带来了严峻的环境和技术挑战。对于这些矿山，最好的建议是安装糊状浓缩机进行脱水。在这项研究中，提出了一种评估糊状增稠剂在尾矿脱水中的潜力的新程序。案例研究是 Esfordi 磷酸盐复合物（伊朗）。最初，对电流消耗型絮凝剂 (A-27) 和 12 种其他离子和非离子絮凝剂的合适絮凝剂的选择标准（环境影响、价格、颗粒沉降率、溢流水浊度和底流水含量）进行了评估。然后，根据类型和浓度对絮凝性能进行排序，应用 ORESTE、MAPPAC 和 ELECRE 的多标准决策 (MCDM) 技术。随后，对选定的絮凝剂进行了中试测试，并评估了最大底流固体含量为 70 wt.% 的操作条件。目前的研究结果表明，这种类型的增稠剂的安装和应用对于案例研究是有效的。