Colloidal clay gelation: relevance to current oil sands operations
- Mercier, P.H.J.
- Ng, S.
- Moran, K.
- Sparks, B.D.
- Kingston, D.
- Kotlyar, L.S.
- Kung, J.
- Woods, J.
- Patarachao, B.
- McCracken, T.
DOIAbstract
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 cri...
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