Dispersion and conditioning techniques for thick fine tailings dewatering operations

A system for treating thick fine tailings, comprising:

• a feed pipeline assembly for providing an in-line flow of the thick fine tailings;
• a pump for pumping the in-line flow of the thick fine tailings;
• an in-line addition assembly in fluid communication with the feed pipeline assembly for adding a flocculant into the in-line flow of the thick fine tailings to produce an in-line flow of flocculating tailings material;
• wherein the pump, the feed pipeline assembly and the in-line addition assembly are configured to ensure the thick fine tailings has a turbulent flow regime upon addition of the flocculant;
• a floc build-up pipeline assembly in fluid communication with the in-line addition assembly and configured to shear the in-line flow of the flocculating tailings material to increase a yield stress thereof and to produce a non-turbulent in-line flow of flocculated material;
• a shear conditioning pipeline assembly configured to shear condition the non-turbulent in-line flow of flocculated material to decrease the yield stress thereof and produce a conditioned flocculated tailings material that is within a water release zone wherein water separates from the conditioned flocculated tailings material;
• and
• a dewatering unit in fluid communication with the shear conditioning pipeline assembly for receiving and dewatering the conditioned flocculated tailings material.

A method of treating thick fine tailings, comprising:

• dispersing a flocculant into the thick fine tailings having a turbulent flow regime to produce a turbulent flocculating tailings material;
• subjecting the turbulent flocculating tailings material to shear to build-up flocs and increase a yield stress thereof, to produce a flocculated material having a non-turbulent flow regime;
• and
• shear conditioning the flocculated material to decrease the yield stress thereof and produce a conditioned flocculated tailings material that is within a water release zone wherein water separates from the conditioned flocculated tailings material;
• and
• dewatering the conditioned flocculated tailings material.

A method of treating thick fine tailings, comprising:

• providing a thick fine tailings flow in an upstream pipeline section;
• contacting the thick fine tailings flow with a flocculant to produce a flocculation tailings in a dispersion pipeline zone;
• transporting the flocculation tailings through a downstream pipeline section;
• and
• dewatering the flocculation tailings;
• wherein the upstream pipeline section and the dispersion pipeline zone are configured and the thick fine tailings flow is provided so as to have a turbulent flow regime in both the upstream pipeline section and the dispersion pipeline zone.

A method of treating thick fine tailings, comprising:

• dispersing a flocculant into the thick fine tailings to produce a flocculating tailings material;
• subjecting the flocculating tailings material to shear to build-up flocs and increase a yield stress thereof, to produce a non-turbulent in-line flow of flocculated material;
• shear conditioning the non-turbulent in-line flow of flocculated material to decrease the yield stress thereof and produce a conditioned flocculated tailings material that is within a water release zone wherein water separates from the conditioned flocculated tailings material,
• managing flow conditions to inhibit backpressure oscillations caused by increased yield stress of the flocculated tailings;
• and
• dewatering the conditioned flocculated tailings material.

A method of treating thick fine tailings, comprising:

• pumping the thick fine tailings to provide an in-line thick fine tailings flow;
• pumping a flocculant solution comprising a flocculant to provide an in-line flocculation solution flow,
• contacting the in-line thick fine tailings flow with the in-line flocculant solution flow to produce a flocculation tailings;
• shear conditioning the flocculation tailings to produce a conditioned flocculated tailings material;
• dewatering the conditioned flocculated tailings material;
• and
• implementing a flow control strategy comprising:
• setting a substantially constant flow rate for the in-line thick fine tailings flow;
• setting a substantially constant flocculant dosage of the in-line flocculant solution flow based on flow rate, density and/or clay content of the in-line thick fine tailings flow;
• and
• wherein the substantially constant flow rate of the in-line thick fine tailings flow is above a minimum threshold to provide sufficient turbulence to substantially attenuate oscillations in both the flow rate of the in-line flocculant solution flow and the in-line thick fine tailings flow.