Recently, polymeric nanofibres have been considered for the rapid flocculation and dewatering of oil sands tailings. Apparently due to their fast initial interaction with the suspended fine particles, polymer nanofibres performed better than their parent water‐soluble polymer solutions. To further understand this mechanism, a model study was conducted using kaolin suspensions and poly(acrylamide‐co‐diallyl dimethylammonium chloride) nanofibres and powders. The initial settling rate, supernatant turbidity, water recovery, capillary suction time, and solids content were measured to determine the effect of using nanofibres on solid‐liquid separation. Nanofibres performed similarly to, or better than, equivalent polymer solutions in terms of initial settling rate and supernatant clarity at higher dosages and kaolin loadings. The kaolin studies showed that polymer nanofibres could absorb onto clay particles faster, and produce bigger flocs more rapidly, supposedly due to their high surface area to volume ratio. Our results indicate that polymer nanofibres, as well as polymer powders, may be successfully used to treat mature fine tailings produced from oil sands.

中文翻译：

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用不同形式的聚（丙烯酰胺-二烯丙基二甲基氯化铵）对高岭土悬浮液进行絮凝和脱水

近来，已经考虑将聚合物纳米纤维用于油砂尾矿的快速絮凝和脱水。显然，由于它们与悬浮微粒的快速初始相互作用，聚合物纳米纤维的性能要好于其母体水溶性聚合物溶液。为了进一步了解这种机理，使用高岭土悬浮液和聚（丙烯酰胺-二烯丙基二甲基二甲基氯化铵）纳米纤维和粉末进行了模型研究。测量初始沉降速率，上清液浊度，水回收率，毛细管抽吸时间和固体含量，以确定使用纳米纤维对固液分离的影响。就初始沉降速率和较高剂量和高岭土负载量的上清液澄清度而言，纳米纤维的性能类似于或优于同等聚合物溶液。高岭土研究表明，聚合物纳米纤维可以更快地吸收到粘土颗粒上，并更快地产生更大的絮凝物，这可能是由于它们的高表面积与体积之比。我们的结果表明，聚合物纳米纤维以及聚合物粉末可成功用于处理由油砂产生的成熟细尾矿。