Electrokinetic Process And Apparatus For Consolidation Of Oil Sands Tailings

a technology of electrokinetic process and oil sands tailings, which is applied in the direction of electrolysis components, waste water treatment from quaries, waste water treatment from gaseous effluents, etc., can solve the problem of virtually inability to release pore water pressure by conventional means, and achieve the effect of increasing the capacity of the tailings pond and freeing up the pond spa

Inactive Publication Date: 2012-10-11
ELECTRO KINETIC SOLUTIONS
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  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
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AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0029]In a still further aspect of the present invention the flocculation step and the subsequent consolidation step both involve the release of water from the thixotropic liquid. If this free water is removed from the tailings pond for further processing and clean-up, that frees up space in the pond for additional MFT to be added. As a result the present invention provides for a way to increase the capacity of the tailings pond to accept more MFT / FFT, by the separation and removal of water content from the MFT / FFT.

Problems solved by technology

MFT / FFT, in its original state being a thixotropic liquid cannot support a load, and given that the liquid is stored in large ponds, there is virtually no ability to release pore water pressure by conventional means, such as compressive loading.

Method used

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  • Electrokinetic Process And Apparatus For Consolidation Of Oil Sands Tailings
  • Electrokinetic Process And Apparatus For Consolidation Of Oil Sands Tailings
  • Electrokinetic Process And Apparatus For Consolidation Of Oil Sands Tailings

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Embodiment Construction

[0050]In this specification the terms MFT, or MFT / FFT or FFT shall mean the tailings that exist in tailings ponds that arise from the extraction of hydrocarbons, such as bitumen, from tar or oil sands, or fly ash tailings ponds. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the exact composition of MFT / FFT will vary, depending upon the composition of the ore being mined due to local variations in such ore. However, as used herein the term is intended to include compositions of material that include water, clays, silts, and residual hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon by-products among other things.

[0051]The application of an electrical field to a dielectric material results in certain electro-kinetic phenomena, including electro-osmosis, the movement of water from an anode to a cathode; electrophoresis, the movement of ions in the water to oppositely charged electrodes, and electrostriction, a result of the application of an electrical field that results in mechanical work which defo...

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Abstract

A method is provided of treating liquid tailings using electro-kinetics by creating a variable voltage between two electrodes in the tailings. Flocculation and water release from the tailings is induced by establishing an electrical field between the two electrodes. The electrodes are connected to an electrical power source having the variable voltage to create a cathode and an anode. Compacting the flocculation solids and removing further water released from the compacting solids allows for the creation of a compacted material having a desired load bearing capacity.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates generally to the broad field of pollution control. More particularly, this invention relates to methods and apparatus that can be used to mitigate the persistent nature of certain types of tailings ponds, such as tailings ponds filled with waste products from tar or oil sand recovery processes. Such mitigation allows land reclamation to occur.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Oil or tar sands are a source of bitumen, which can be reformed into a synthetic crude or syncrude. At present a large amount of hydrocarbon is recovered through surface mining. To obtain syncrude, the hydrocarbons must be first separated from the sand base in which it is found. This sand based material includes sands, clays, silts, minerals and other materials. The most common separation first step used on surface mined tar sands is the hot water separation process which uses hot water to separate out the hydrocarbons. However, the separation is not perfect and...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C02F1/463C25B15/00C25B11/03C02F11/125C02F11/15
CPCC02F1/52C02F11/006C02F2103/18C02F2103/10C02F11/125C02F11/15C02F1/463C02F2201/46135
Inventor SMITH, GREGORY J.BEATTIE, BRUCE S.PARROTT, ROBERT C.MICAK, JAMESGARCIA, PAULKIMZEY, DOUGKROLL, JR., THOMAS M.
Owner ELECTRO KINETIC SOLUTIONS
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