The extraction of bitumen from oil sands produces fluid fine tailings (FFT) consisting mainly of water, sands, clay, and residual bitumen. Generally, devices with radioactive sources are used to measure the variation of FFT density or solids concentration inline, but to date there is no suitable device for in situ monitoring in tailings storage facilities such as large tailings ponds. In this study, an alternative method using high-resolution spectrometry based on a low radiation intensity source and a cadmium telluride (CdTe) detector was used to measure the solids content in tailings samples based on X-ray attenuation. The radiation source used in the experiment was a 1 μCi ¹³³Ba. GEANT4, a Monte Carlo–based simulation code that calculates the transmission of radiation through matter, was used to simulate the results of this study and build calibration curves that can determine the solids content concentration based on measured sample composition. Experiments and simulations were performed on various concentrations of both actual FFT samples from tailings facilities and kaolin as a model material. Good agreement between the experimental and simulation results was observed, paving the way for a potential real-time solids content measurement system that could be deployed over large areas to measure the settling of FFT in tailings ponds.

中文翻译：

---

用于测量流体细尾矿中固体含量的 X 射线辐射监测仪

从油砂中提取沥青会产生流体细尾矿 (FFT)，主要由水、砂、粘土和残余沥青组成。通常，带有放射源的设备用于在线测量 FFT 密度或固体浓度的变化，但目前还没有合适的设备用于大型尾矿库等尾矿储存设施的原位监测。在本研究中，使用基于低辐射强度源和碲化镉 (CdTe) 检测器的高分辨率光谱法的替代方法用于基于 X 射线衰减测量尾矿样品中的固体含量。实验中使用的辐射源是 1 μCi ¹³³巴。GEANT4 是一种基于蒙特卡罗的模拟代码，用于计算辐射通过物质的传输，用于模拟本研究的结果并构建校准曲线，该曲线可以根据测量的样品组成确定固体含量浓度。对来自尾矿设施的实际 FFT 样品和作为模型材料的高岭土的不同浓度进行了实验和模拟。观察到实验和模拟结果之间的良好一致性，为潜在的实时固体含量测量系统铺平了道路，该系统可以在大面积部署以测量尾矿池中 FFT 的沉降。