Abstract
Abstract
The mining industry requires automated instrumentation to improve process efficiency, reduce costs and to achieve cleaner and greener operation. The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) has developed an automated spectroscopic method which correlates spectra absorbance of filtrates to the titrant volume for process parameter measurement. An automated and at-line platform is developed based on the automated spectroscopic method to replace the well-known Methylene Blue Index (MBI) method. It can measure active clay content from a mineral sample in about 40 minutes.
The platform is designed to measure challenging samples, such as dry or oily slurry samples with elevated levels of active clays. In addition, the filtrate automatically extracted from the conditioned sample can be connected to other instruments, for measuring pH and other analysis. This paper will present field validation results for the active clay analysis on oil sands tailings, along with active clay results from model clay mixtures and samples from potash and kimberlite industries. Preliminary water hardness results for liquid samples taken from oil sands SAGD process will also be presented.