METTLER TOLEDO
 

Oil Sands

Oil Sands

Optimize solids flocculation

 
Alberta, Canada is home to massive deposits of oil sands, estimated to contain over 300 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen. However, byproducts of the oil recovery are tailings which include a mixture of water, sand, silt, clay and residual bitumen. This tailings slurry is approximately 45 wt% water, and water recycle is a critical issue to ensure a zero-effluent discharge environmental policy.1
 
Optimized solids flocculation is critical to ensure efficient water recycle and tailings settling. By optimizing the solids flocculation one can speed water recover and increase the mature fine tailings (MFT) ratio.  

Successful water recycle requires flocculation and the capture of fine particles into larger sized structures that improve tailing settling rates. Ideally this is achieved by optimizing expensive flocculent dosage. Tracking the particle size and population of fine particles and particle aggregates is critical to optimize thickener efficiency and enable fast and complete water recycle. Attempts to measure these delicate particle structures with offline techniques often lead to compromised results. Inline measurements such as METTLER TOLEDO FBRM® and PVM® are critical to optimize tailings settling and water recycle while quickly and efficiently reducing the quantity and costs of the flocculent dosage. 

METTLER TOLEDO has extensive industrial experience maximizing solid flocculation efficiency inline with FBRM® and PVM® real time particle characterization tools. 
  • FBRM® for in-process particle and flocculation measurement tracking the rate and degree of change in the number, dimension, and shape of particles and particle structures
  • PVM® for real-time particle and droplet imaging and understanding
Flocculation performance was optimized using METTLER TOLEDO FBRM® and PVM® inline particle characterization technology. FBRM® is now a standard tool at CSIRO to improve the efficiency of flocculation and solids settling rate. FBRM® was critical to optimize the water recovery in gravity thickener tanks and pipe reactors. The ability of FBRM® and PVM®to track changes on both the fine and coarse ends of the particle distribution allowed evaluation of flocculation performance based on flocculent type, solution makeup, addition rate, solution age, and shear rate. The shape of each FBRM® distribution is a distinct indicator of the particle flocculation and aggregation state.

1 The Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility, Geotechnical News, Beier, N, Sego, D. June 2008 p72-77

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