Flocculants In Mining
ADDING the right chemicals to solids/liquid separation processes will help lower the total cost of operation.
With the right choice of chemical, the solid particles will flocculate: that is, bind together to make larger particles.
Adding chemicals to aid flocculation is a common practice in the resources industry, as those in the know realise that as the solid particle size gets bigger, both the capital and operating cost to separate it from the surrounding water decreases.
Choosing the best chemical to achieve flocculation is not easy.
There is a wide range of choice, from inorganic coagulants, to organic coagulants, to organic polymers.
Sometimes a combination of these chemical types will give the best results.
Knowing what best suits a specific process requires expertise and experience, and this is where support from Hydroflux will benefit the resources industry.
Reducing operating costs
The best flocculant chemistry reduces the total operating costs in a number of ways.
The added chemistry will speed up the solids/liquid separation process, and provide more concentrated solids, as well as producing a much cleaner water after separation.
When designing a new plant, a faster process means a lower plant footprint (i.e. lower capital spend), and a much higher throughput per unit time thus improving overall operational efficiency.
More concentrated solids means improved solids recovery and leads to lower footprint for downstream solids handling, whether for re-use, for further dewatering, or just a smaller tailings dam.
Cleaner water means less downstream processing before reuse or discharge.
Conversely, for existing plant and equipment, the best flocculant chemistry will increase throughput, decrease the volume of solids, and improve discharge water quality.
Separating a solid from a liquid can be considered as a two-step process.
Step one is where the flocculant is added to the process stream so that a distinct solid phase and a distinct liquid phase is created.
Step two is the separation phase where a unit process separates the two distinct phases into separate streams.
The most common separation methods are via sedimentation using a clarifier or thickener, via flotation using dissolved air flotation, or via filtration.
The key to success is two-fold. First, you need to add the right chemistry, in the right quantity, to the right part of the process stream.
Second, you need an appropriate piece of separation equipment designed to handle the type of water/solids mixture created in Step one.
Having a partner like Hydroflux – which offers end-to-end solutions ranging from design and build of separation plants to the supply of chemistry – to maximise plant efficiency helps guarantee success.
Coagulants and polymers
Knowing a little bit about Step one, the flocculant chemistry and how flocculants work, can be invaluable.
Flocculants are characterised in a number of different ways including via their molecular size (point charge, small chain, or extremely large chain of repeating units), via their specific chemical make-up (organic or inorganic), via the apparent charge on the flocculant molecule (cationic, non-ionic, anionic), or via the process with which flocculation takes place (charge destabilisation, chemical bridging due to adsorption, sweep flocculation).
If we look at molecular size as a starting point, flocculant molecules can range in size from the very small and individual almost point-like charges with a molecular weight as low as 24 atomic mass units (AMUs), right up to very large chains of repeating molecular units (polymers) of molecular weights up to 30m AMUs.
If we could stretch these two molecular structures out, the low AMU molecule would be about 0.0001 microns in length, compared to about 80 microns in length for the very high AMU molecule.
Thus, the largest flocculant molecule is about one million times longer than the smallest one.
Since all sized flocculant molecules can produce a floc, we reference the words coagulant and polymer to distinguish between them based on their size (or length).
Coagulants are flocculant molecules with an AMU of less than about 500,000.
Polymers are the very high molecular weight flocculant molecules of AMU greater than 500,000.
Even though a lot of molecules referred to as coagulants are made up of repeating units and strictly speaking are polymers as well, they are distinguished as coagulants to help us understand how the small and large molecular structures work.
For instance, coagulant molecules are always considered positive in charge, whilst the polymers can be positive (cationic), neutral (non-ionic) or negative (anionic) in charge.
Inorganic coagulants work via charge destabilisation and/or sweep flocculation, whereas organic coagulants work via charge destabilisation and/or chemical bridging.
Polymers on the other hand mainly work via chemical bridging.
Knowing how these different types of flocculants work and thus how they will affect a system helps experts in the field, like Hydroflux, hone in on the most suitable chemistry for your process.
Some selection examples
For heavy solids-laden waters, sedimentation is the most common separation mechanism.
In this case chemical bridging gives the best results by producing the largest particles and fastest settling rates.
Compared to coagulants, polymers are the best at bridging, and they tend to work better as their chain length gets longer and longer; that is, as their molecular weight goes up.
While both cationic and anionic polymers are good at bridging, anionic polymers generally have much longer chain lengths (higher molecular weights) so tend to work better, and the dose required is often lower.
In many mining slurries, anionic polymers are the polymer of choice.
For lighter solids-laden waters, and for polishing turbid waters, a combination of coagulant followed by a polymer is often used.
In these cases, it is difficult to predict which flocculation process will give the best result; sometimes charge destabilisation works best, and other times sweep flocculation is the only process that works.
The choice of polymer also becomes more difficult as the number of dose combinations of coagulant plus polymer starts to multiply.
This is where a partner such as Hydroflux can help.
Its field technicians have extensive experience across the resources industry, and they can visit site and perform jar testing to help determine the most suitable combination for your process.
Suitable flocculation chemistry can also improve filtration processes. Often just a small dose of coagulant helps to produce a shear resistant uniform porous floc structure on the filter surface.
Compared to a dense, compact structure, the porous structure created by a coagulant allows water to pass through without letting the solid particles through.
This in turn increases filter throughput and gives longer filter runs.
Due to their very long chain lengths, polymers are rarely if ever used on filtration processes as these tend to blind the filter and reduce throughput.
About Hydroflux
Hydroflux began operation in 2013 and has grown rapidly since its inception.
With a team of highly skilled and experienced process and chemical engineers, Hydroflux gives its clients the best opportunity to resolve any issues presented.
Hydroflux operates Australia wide and in the South Pacific and differentiates itself from other players in the resources industry by being able to offer end-to-end solutions from design and build of plant, to chemistry, to operations.
This unique holistic approach to water treatment gives Hydroflux and its clients the greatest of opportunity of success at the lowest possible cost.