Espessamento e transporte de pasta mineral

Abstract

The mineral paste can be defined as a colloidal system, which appears as a homogeneous fluid, in which no particle size segregation occurs, and be disposed the gentle deposition on stable surfaces, shows no significant drainage water. During the last decades, the technology for thickening the paste progressed to a widely accepted technology. The pressures to reduce the use of traditional tailings dams and global emphasis on water conservation have contributed to the advancement of this technology. With the evolution of the technology of mineral paste, increased the demand for more detailed studies of transportation and handling of paste, to make this technology more accessible and feasible. The present work used laboratory analysis and technical feasibility study (operational and capital) to compare the storage and transport of mixtures of iron ore (PFF - pellet feed fines) with the consistency of mineral paste. The study demonstrated that transporting the material thickened into a paste, it is extremely difficult for it has a high cost of implementation and operation, especially for long distances because it would require more intermediate pumping stations, which reduces the availability of the system. Apart from technical difficulties, this system has little operational flexibility and any changes in flow and concentration impact on the consistency of the material. It also has the difficulty of paste storaging, for it is not possible to store in tanks and is necessary to consider receiving boxes at each station for the material transfer, minimizing even further the availability of the system.