金属矿尾砂浓密技术研究现状与展望

Research status and prospect of thickening technology for metal tailings

作为金属矿山膏体充填技术的首要环节,尾砂浓密技术能够显著提高尾砂脱水效率和尾砂利用率,是矿山绿色发展的重要组成部分.在概述了尾砂浓密脱水技术发展历程的基础上,将浓密机发展阶段分为普通浓密机阶段、高效浓密机阶段和膏体浓密机阶段,阐述了尾砂浓密工艺的应用现状和国内外几个典型的应用案例.介绍了对尾砂起捕捉作用的单一絮凝理论和多重絮凝理论,静态/动态压缩条件下的床层压缩理论与重力浓密理论,并阐述了各理论的最新研究进展.阐述了现阶段尾砂浓密静态沉降实验、小型浓密实验和半工业浓密实验等主要研究方法,介绍了聚焦光束反射测量技术、颗粒录影显微镜技术等先进的观测手段和尾砂浓密技术数值模拟研究现状.现阶段,尾砂浓密脱水技术仍处于发展阶段,存在尾砂浓密的关键参数不稳定、尾砂浓密的生产调控不及时和尾砂浓密的信息平台不健全等问题,尾砂浓密技术的发展仍面临诸多挑战.最后提出了尾砂浓密技术个性化、自动化和智能化的发展方向.

In recent years,paste technology has been rapidly promoted in domestic mines.It is a key technology for realizing green mining because it can effectively solve environmental and safety problems caused by mining.With the progress in science and technology,the research level of paste technology is constantly improving.Thickening technology of tailings is the primary procedure of paste backfill technology in metal mines,which can significantly improve the efficiency of tailings dewatering and utilization rate of tailings.Tailings thickening technology is an important part of the green development of mines.This paper presented a summary of the development process of tailings thickening and dewatering technology,dividing the development stage of the thickener into three:(1)ordinary thickener stage,(2)high-efficiency thickener stage,and(3)paste thickener stage.The application status of the thickening process of tailings and several typical application cases at home and abroad were also described.In addition,this paper explored different theories,including the single flocculation theory,multiple flocculation theory,bed compression theory under static/dynamic compression,and gravity thickening theory,along with the corresponding latest research progress of each theory.This paper also presented the main research methods of thickening of tailings,namely the static settlement experiment,small-scale thickening experiment,and semi-industrial thickening experiment.Advanced observational methods such as focused beam reflection measurement technology(FBRM)and particle video microscope technology(PVM)were also introduced.Moreover,the paper expounded on the research status of numerical simulation of tailings thickening technology and highlighted that the tailings thickening and dewatering technology is still in the development stage with some underlying problems,such as the instability of the key parameters of tailings thickening,the untimely production control of tailings thickening,and the imperfect information platform of tailings thickening.Overall,the development of tailings thickening technology is still facing numerous challenges.Finally,the direction of the development of tailing thickening technology is proposed in terms of personalization,automation,and intelligence.