Effects of Operating Variables of Red Mud Deep Thickening

Abstract

<p>The effects of operating variables of red mud deep thickening have been examined. The independent (operating) variables studied were 1) The dosage of an anionic polymeric flocculant and 2) the solids throughput. The dependent variables were the concentration of underflow solids, underflow withdrawal rate, overflow rate, overflow quality and steady state solids concentration profile.</p> <p>The major effect of the flocculant dose was an increase in the separation efficiency (a measure of the degree of thickening) for an increase of flocculant dose.</p> <p>The solids concentration profiles obtained showed that the majority of the thickening of the mud occurred in the bottom fifth of the column. Therefore, for a given thickener and mud type, there exists a certain bed depth above which no substantial gain in separation efficiency is achieved.</p> <p>When all other variables are the same, the column diameter-to-length ratio and operational temperature had the most significant effect on the separation efficiency.</p>