Treatment of thick fine tailings including chemical immobilization, polymer flocculation and dewatering

• Main Authors: Goranson, Marc, Melanson, Alan, Revington, Adrian, Abulnaga, Baha Elsayed, Wells, Patrick Sean, Kone, Macoura, Omotoso, Oladipo, Diep, John, Derakhshandeh, Babak, Hockley, Daryl, Guest, Rodney, Prathap, Naveen, Moyls, Benito
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 12.11.2020
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; COMPOUNDS OF THE METALS BERYLLIUM, MAGNESIUM, ALUMINIUM,CALCIUM, STRONTIUM, BARIUM, RADIUM, THORIUM, OR OF THERARE-EARTH METALS; INORGANIC CHEMISTRY; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLIDMATERIALS OR FLUIDS; METALLURGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATICTABLES OR JIGS; SEPARATION; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS; SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATICTABLES OR JIGS; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE

A process for the treatment of thick fine tailings that include constituents of concern (CoCs) and suspended solids is provided. The process includes sub-jecting the thick fine tailings to treatments including chemical immobilization of the CoCs, polymer flocculation of the suspended solids, and dewatering. The chemical im-mobilization can include the addition of compounds en-abling the insolubilization of the CoCs. Subjecting the thick fine tailings to chemical immobilization and polymer flocculation can facilitate production of a reclama-tion-ready material, which can enable disposing of the ma-terial as part of a permanent aquatic storage structure (PASS).