Modelling of the deposition profile of in-line flocculated mature fine tailings in beach cells

Mauricio Pinheiro, John Sobkowicz, Jeremy Boswell

Dans les comptes rendus d’articles de la conférence: GeoManitoba 2012: 65th Canadian Geotechnical Conference

Session: M2B - Mine Tailings

ABSTRACT: The dewatering and consolidation of Oil Sands fine tailings is very slow, which creates operational challenges for Oil Sands operators. A dewatering process based on the in-line flocculation of mature fine tailings (MFT) using polyacrylamide flocculant, and subsequent deposition of the product in thin lifts has been developed to circumvent these difficulties (Wells and Riley, 2007). An essential element to this process and to the design of beach cells for deposition of treated MFT is the prediction of the thickness and run out distance of the treated MFT in each lift. In this paper, the authors present the results of a series of debris flow simulations using BING, a program that simulates the laminar flow of a non-Newtonian fluid along predefined slope geometries. A parametric study was completed to investigate the influence of viscosity and yield stress, and the slope geometry configuration. The modelling showed that the average thickness of MFT, while highly dependent on yield stress, is not sensitive to variations in viscosity. It was also found that a variable slope cell with a steeper slope at the head of the beach enabled more uniform beaching deposition than a single slope cell, and thus was a more efficient configuration for the dewatering process.

RÉSUMÉ: déposition en couches minces fondé sur la floculation des résidus fins matures a été conçu, et utilise un floculant à base de polyacrylamide (Wells et Riley, 2007). Ce procédé, ainsi que la conception des plages de déposition, requièrent la seur et de la distance parcourue par chaque couche de résidu traité. Les auteurs présentent les -Newtonien le long des pentpermettait une déposition plus uniforme comparé à une cellule à pente homogène, ce qui permet une configuration plus

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