Conventional tailings slurry contains a significant amount of water, and water management is key to ensuring the stability of a tailings storage facility (TSF). Simply reducing the water content in the slurry before discharging it from the mill could be an effective way to improve TSF water management. This study investigated the potential for using an environmentally friendly polymer as a new drag reduction agent (DRA) to reduce frictional pressure loss and also conserve water. It entailed conducting pipe loop tests to assess the polymer’s effect on pressure loss in tailings flow and then applying the test results to validate a numerical model using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The model was also used to determine the polymer’s optimal concentrations at given solid concentrations and flow rates, its effect on energy efficiency for tailings transportation, and its potential for saving water. A case study for a mid-sized, hard-rock mine with a throughput of 50,000 t/day found that the solid concentration could be increased from 30 to 45% with no pressure loss by applying 1996 m3 of the polymer per day. Adding the polymer also resulted in water savings of 57,552 m3/day. The results of this study demonstrated the potential for using the new DRA not only to improve TSF stability but also to save water.

中文翻译：

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使用环保聚合物降低尾矿浆中的水含量

传统的尾矿浆含有大量的水，而水管理是确保尾矿储存设施 (TSF) 稳定性的关键。在将浆液从磨机排出之前，简单地降低浆液中的水含量可能是改善 TSF 水管理的有效方法。本研究调查了使用环保聚合物作为新型减阻剂 (DRA) 以减少摩擦压力损失并节约用水的潜力。它需要进行管道回路测试以评估聚合物对尾矿流中压力损失的影响，然后应用测试结果来验证使用计算流体动力学 (CFD) 的数值模型。该模型还用于确定给定固体浓度和流速下聚合物的最佳浓度，它对尾矿运输的能源效率的影响，以及它的节水潜力。对一个吞吐量为 50,000 吨/天的中型硬岩矿山的案例研究发现，通过每天使用 1996 立方米的聚合物，固体浓度可以从 30% 增加到 45%，而不会产生压力损失。添加聚合物还导致每天节水 57,552 立方米。这项研究的结果表明，使用新的 DRA 不仅可以提高 TSF 的稳定性，还可以节约用水。