| Download | - View accepted manuscript: Colloidal clay gelation: relevance to current oil sands operations (PDF, 1.5 MiB)
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| DOI | Resolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10916466.2010.495959 |
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| Author | Search for: Mercier, P.H.J.1; Search for: Ng, S.; Search for: Moran, K.; Search for: Sparks, B.D.; Search for: Kingston, D.1; Search for: Kotlyar, L.S.1; Search for: Kung, J.1; Search for: Woods, J.; Search for: Patarachao, B.; Search for: McCracken, T.1 |
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| Affiliation | - National Research Council of Canada. NRC Institute for Chemical Process and Environmental Technology
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| Format | Text, Article |
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| Subject | bitumen recovery; gelation; oil sands; slime coatings; sludging; tailings; ultrafines |
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| Abstract | Ultrafines are predominantly delaminated colloidal clays with dimensions <0.9um that exist naturally in oil sands and are released during conditioning of surface-mined ores. Critical concentrations of these ultrafines and the cations present in process water are capable of forming flocculated structures with a very high water holding capacity. During primary separation of bitumen these ultrafines are detrimental to recovery as a result of increased slurry viscosity as well as through slime coating of released bitumen. Disposition into tailings ponds eventually produces mature fine tailings (MFT) as a result of thixotropic gel formation that entraps coarser solids. The ultrafines concentration of ~3 wt% observed in MFT coincides with the critical gelation concentration determined for suspensions of ultrafines in salt solutions with cationic concentration representative of that in pond water. This observation accounts for 100% of the water holding capacity of MFT and also explains why virtually no water is released once an MFT gel state has been formed. Here, we review earlier research in this area and identify the harmful effects of ultrafines in some current problematic ores. |
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| Publication date | 2012-03-19 |
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| In | |
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| Language | English |
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| Peer reviewed | Yes |
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| NRC number | NRCC 52084 |
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| NPARC number | 19825804 |
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| Export citation | Export as RIS |
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| Report a correction | Report a correction (opens in a new tab) |
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| Record identifier | 2115f38d-0ef0-4380-8468-bfaca769a9e7 |
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| Record created | 2012-04-19 |
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| Record modified | 2020-04-21 |
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