Strengthening floc structure during filtration of flocculated tailings
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Mining Engineering, Keevil Institute of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Boldbaatar, Serdamba
issued: 2025-06-23T22:50:49Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Master of Applied Science - MASc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Efficiently removing water from oil sands tailings remains a persistent challenge for the oil sands industry. Although substantial research has focused on flocculating these tailings, a direct link between rapid settling rates and effective filtration has not been fully established. This thesis investigates how major cations and anions in industrial process water affect both flocculation and subsequent vacuum filtration of a model blend (75% quartz, 25% kaolinite) that simulates mature fine tailings (MFT). In addition, it explores the potential to enhance flocculated sediment structure during vacuum filtration by introducing coagulants (specifically calcium and aluminum) after flocculation. Experimental findings revealed that measuring settling rates and turbidity in suspensions exceeding 20-25 wt% solids was challenging due to extremely slow settling, even when higher polymer dosages and prolonged settling times were employed. Consequently, all flocculation tests were performed at 10–15 wt% solids. Zeta potential analyses demonstrated the key role of calcium in reducing the negative surface charge on quartz and kaolinite, thus promoting the flocculation of model blends. Although introducing calcium improved supernatant clarity, it also yielded smaller flocs. In contrast, conditions that promoted the formation of larger flocs resulted in higher filtrate volumes, underscoring the importance of floc size for filtration performance. Post-flocculation additions of calcium or aluminum improved filtration under low vacuum conditions; however, excess aluminum was found to hinder performance by causing polymer chain collapse and reducing floc size.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/91417
note: STRENGTHENING FLOC STRUCTURE DURING FILTRATION OF FLOCCULATED TAILINGS by Serdamba Boldbaatar B.Sc., Donetsk National Technical University, 2012 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Mining Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2025 © Serdamba Boldbaatar 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Strengthening Floc Structure During Filtration of Flocculated Tailings submitted by Serdamba Boldbaatar in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Mining Engineering Examining Committee: Dr. Marek Pawlik, Professor, Mining Engineering, UBC Supervisor Dr. Maria E. Holuszko, Associate Professor, Mining Engineering, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Scott Dunbar, Professor, Mining Engineering, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Efficiently removing water from oil sands tailings remains a persistent challenge for the oil sands industry. Although substantial research has focused on flocculating these tailings, a direct link between rapid settling rates and effective filtration has not been fully established. This thesis investigates how major cations and anions in industrial process water affect both flocculation and subsequent vacuum filtration of a model blend (75% quartz, 25% kaolinite) that simulates mature fine tailings (MFT). In addition, it explores the potential to enhance flocculated sediment structure during vacuum filtration by introducing coagulants (specifically calcium and aluminum) after flocculation. Experimental findings revealed that measuring settling rates and turbidity in suspensions exceeding 20-25 wt% solids was challenging due to extremely slow settling, even when higher polymer dosages and prolonged settling times were employed.…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0449179
language: eng
degree discipline: Mining Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Pawlik, Marek
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/91417