International Society for Industrial Process Tomography

Comparison of Different Tomography Method Measurements on Clay Based Slurry Pipeline Systems

S. A. Hashemi^1*, R. B. Spelay¹, R.S. Sanders² , B. T. Hjertaker³

1 Saskatchewan Research Council, Pipe Flow Technology Centre^TM, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

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

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

^*Email: reza.hashemi@src.sk.ca

ABSTRACT

Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) is typically a robust technique for slurry flow measurements However, the presence of clays in mineral tailings makes it difficult to conduct measurements using ERT. To evaluate ERT performance under such conditions, measurements on pipeline flows of high density clay/water /sand mixtures were performed using ERT along with traversing gamma ray densitometry and gamma ray tomography (GRT) systems at the Saskatchewan Research Council’s Pipe Flow Technology Centre^TM. The results showed that the ERT performance is sensitive to clay concentration. The ERT performed best at lower clay and higher solids concentrations.

Keywords Electrical Resistance Tomography, Gamma-Ray Tomography, Slurry Flows, Clay

Industrial Application Mining and Minerals, Oil and Gas