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Minerals
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Dewatering of Fine Mineral Tailings
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Dewatering of Fine Mineral Tailings

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2018)

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ataollah (Ata) Nosrati

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University,Joondalup WA 6027, Australia
Interests: mineral processing; rheology; dewatering; interfacial chemistry; water purification; surface modification

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The voluminous amounts of ore and water that are processed everyday result in the production of equivalently large quantities of dilute waste tailings worldwide, posing economic challenges and environmental risks. Effective dewatering methods with high sedimentation rates, good supernatant clarity and compact consolidation are required to address this issue. However, the conventional dewatering methods are often inefficient and/or unable to achieve acceptable sediment consolidation, especially for tailings rich in fine mineral particles, even after several years of dam impoundment. Hence, new investigations are required to develop cost-effective methods that achieve compact pulp consolidation and enhanced process water recycling for fine mineral tailings. This Special Issue aims to bring together new and innovative studies in the area of dewatering of fine mineral slurries and tailings, to review the current state of knowledge and to develop improvements in current schemes. We welcome all studies relevant to this area.

Dr. Ataollah (Ata) Nosrati
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mineral processing
  • dewatering
  • mineral slurries
  • fine slurries
  • fine tailing
  • mine tailings
  • tailings disposal
  • particle interaction
  • rheology of mineral slurries
  • sedimentation
  • consolidation
  • process water recycle
  • clay mineral
  • environmental risk mitigation
  • flocculant-mediated dewatering
  • gravity sedimentation; thickening

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2695 KiB  
Article
A Study on the Flocculation and Sedimentation of Iron Tailings Slurry Based on the Regulating Behavior of Fe3+
by Tao Yue, Xiqing Wu, Xiao Chen and Tianyu Liu
Minerals 2018, 8(10), 421; https://doi.org/10.3390/min8100421 - 21 Sep 2018
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5319
Abstract
Based on the regulating behavior of Fe3+, flocculation and sedimentation tests of iron tailings slurry flocculated using 2 mg/L anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) were studied, including the tests of Fe3+ dosage, regulating time, and pH. Flocculation–sedimentation tests showed that: a recommended [...] Read more.
Based on the regulating behavior of Fe3+, flocculation and sedimentation tests of iron tailings slurry flocculated using 2 mg/L anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) were studied, including the tests of Fe3+ dosage, regulating time, and pH. Flocculation–sedimentation tests showed that: a recommended addition of 56 mg/L Fe3+ produced a surprisingly bad flocculation effect; sedimentation ability decreased with the increase of regulating time, however, the regulating ability during the first 1 min was low; Fe3+ displayed a high regulating effect at pH 6–7, and then decreased with the increase of slurry pH. Size analysis demonstrated that the regulating ability of Fe3+ was related to the change of floc size, which increased with the decrease of size. Zeta potential analysis and calculation showed that small concentrations of Fe3+ and certain hydroxyl complex ions (such as Fe(OH)2+ and Fe(OH)2+) adsorbed onto the APAM molecular chains, resulting in a decreased charge density of the APAM molecules, and this electrostatic adsorption was able to make the polymer curl more easily. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic (FTIR) indicated the APAM on the hematite was slightly degraded into a monomer-like short-chain polymer while adding certain concentration of Fe3+. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) imaging showed that the network structure of APAM molecules treated by Fe3+ collapsed, and the APAM adsorption amount on hematite was significantly reduced. Therefore, the effect of Fe3+ on the APAM could be recommended as a new method for desorption and degradation of the APAM contained in the tailings slurry or flocs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dewatering of Fine Mineral Tailings)
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16 pages, 7866 KiB  
Article
Impact of Clay Minerals on the Dewatering of Coal Slurry: An Experimental and Molecular-Simulation Study
by Xiaomin Ma, Yuping Fan, Xianshu Dong, Ruxia Chen, Hongliang Li, Dong Sun and Suling Yao
Minerals 2018, 8(9), 400; https://doi.org/10.3390/min8090400 - 11 Sep 2018
Cited by 45 | Viewed by 6151
Abstract
The cleaning process of coals is challenging due to the existence of clay minerals. The overall objective of this study is to investigate how the dewatering of coal slurry is impacted by the presence of clay minerals, i.e., kaolinite and montmorillonite. Filtration tests [...] Read more.
The cleaning process of coals is challenging due to the existence of clay minerals. The overall objective of this study is to investigate how the dewatering of coal slurry is impacted by the presence of clay minerals, i.e., kaolinite and montmorillonite. Filtration tests were first conducted to investigate the effect of kaolinite and montmorillonite on the dewatering efficiency of coal. Specifically, we measured the filtration velocity, moisture, average specific resistance, and porosity of filter cakes for six slurry samples, in which different amounts of kaolinite and montmorillonite were contained. Filtration tests show that a small amount of kaolinite and montmorillonite leads to a significant reduction in the filtration velocity and porosity, and a big increase in the average specific resistance and the moisture of the filter cake. We observe that most kaolinite existed in the top and middle layers of the filter cake, while most montmorillonite existed in the top layer; on the contrary, little montmorillonite is observed in the middle and bottom layers of the filter cake. Montmorillonite results in a much more deteriorative effect than kaolinite. Considering that the interactions between clay minerals and water may play a key role, we then further investigate the effect of such interactions using molecular simulations. Simulation results show that water molecules could hardly diffuse into kaolinite from the edge, while they could readily penetrate into the montmorillonite layers from the edge surface. This result can be explained by the hydrated cation in montmorillonite. The adsorption density of water on the octahedral surface of kaolinite is higher than that of water on the tetrahedral surface of kaolinite. Furthermore, the adsorption density of water on the double surfaces of kaolinite is higher than that of water on the montmorillonite surface. This research is expected to provide benefits or contributions to the dewatering of clay-rich coal tailings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dewatering of Fine Mineral Tailings)
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