Efficient thickening of tailings is a prerequisite for the metal mine tailings backfill and surface disposal operation. The effective col-lision of ultrafine tailings particles in suspension with flocculant molecules is essential for flocs aggregates formation and settling. Unreason-able feeding speed and flocculant adding method will lead to the failure of effective dispersion of flocculant and high particle content in thickener overflow. In this work, the effect of turbulence intensity and flocculant adding method on floc size, strength, and movement charac-teristics are analysed. Aiming to solve the turbidity increased, a pilot-scale continuous thickening test was carried out. Taking a single particle and multiple flocs of full tailings as the research object, the particle iterative settlement model of flocs was established. The influence of turbu-lence intensity on collision effect is studied by tracking and simulating particle trajectory. The results show that in the process of single particle settlement, chaos appears in the iterative process owing to particle adhesion which caused by micro action. When the turbulence intensity is 25.99％, the maximum particle size of tailings floc is 6.21 mm and the maximum sedimentation rate is 5.284 cm·s?1. The tailings floc presents a multi-scale structure of particle-force chain system when hindered settling, and the interweaving of strong and weak force chains constitutes the topological structure of particles. The results are applied to a thicker in plant, the flocculant addition mode and feed rate are optimized, and the flocs settling speed and overflow clarity are improved.

Huazhe Jiao;Weilin Chen;Aixiang Wu;Yang Yu;Zhuen Ruan;Rick Honaker;Xinming Chen;Jianxin Yu

School of Civil Engineering,Henan Polytechnic University,Jiaozuo 454003,China;School of Civil and Resource Engineering,University of Science and Technology Beijing,Beijing 100083,China;State Collaborative Innovation Center of Coal Work Safety and Clean-efficiency Utilization,Jiaozuo 454150,China;Mining Engineering Faculty,University of Kentucky,Lexington 40506,America;School of Surveying and Land Information Engineering,Henan Polytechnic University,Jiaozuo 454000,China;China Geological Environmental Monitoring Institute,Beijing 100081,China

矿物冶金与材料学报

[1]Huazhe Jiao;Weilin Chen;Aixiang Wu;Yang Yu;Zhuen Ruan;Rick Honaker;Xinming Chen;Jianxin Yu-.Flocculated unclassified tailings settling efficiency improvement by particle collision optimization in the feedwell)[J].矿物冶金与材料学报,2022(12):2126-2135

Flocculated,feedwell,lision,flocculant,Unreason,thickener,interweaving

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