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International Society for Industrial Process Tomography

11th World Congress on Industrial Process Tomography

A Novel Method to Measure Bed Entrainment Rates in Slurry Flows Using a Gamma-Ray Tomography Unit

R.B. Spelay1*, S.A. Hashemi1, R.S. Sanders2, B.T. Hjertaker3, K. Reid4, A. Sadighian5

1Saskatchewan Research Council, Pipe Flow Technology CentreTM, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

2University of Alberta, Dept. Chemical and Materials Engineering, Edmonton, AB, Canada

3University of Bergen, Dept. Physics and Technology, Bergen, Norway

4Syncrude Canada Ltd., Edmonton, AB, Canada

5Suncor Energy Inc., Calgary, AB, Canada

*Email: ryan.spelay@src.sk.ca


ABSTRACT

The steady flow of settling slurries in pipelines is well understood, however, the transient flow of these slurries has received scant attention in the literature. In this study the Gamma-ray Tomography unit (GRT) at the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) Pipe Flow Technology CentreTM (PFTC) was used to measure the solids concentration distributions of analogue industrial settling slurries (sand, clay and water). Of interest was the behaviour of the pipeline when operating between conditions with a stationary bed (V < Vc) and conditions without a settled bed (V > Vc). A novel method was used to determine the settled bed height in the flow (h) from the reconstructed solids concentration distributions. The magnitudes of the bed entrainment rate (dh/dt) determined from the dynamic GRT measurements were previously unknown and provide insight into transient slurry flows with applications to startup, shutdown and distribution of settling slurry flows in tailings pipeline networks.

Keywords: Gamma-ray tomography, Slurry, Settled Bed, Entrainment

Industrial Application: Mining and Mineral Processing, Slurry Pipeline Research

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