Case Studies on Optimizing Industrial Slurry Systems

Moving and handling slurry in wastewater treatment, chemical processing, and mineral processing industries is often a difficult task. This is mainly because of the inherent rheological uncertainty and natural non-homogeneity of the slurry from the two or more mixtures. This chapter presents cases where slurry systems have complex behavior, looking at where the high-end modeling, monitoring and optimization techniques can help alleviate operational inefficiencies. Slurry mixtures are predominately made of solid form particles in a liquid, which is a non-Newtonian fluid, which can settle, wear in pipes down, and pump failure. All these events have the potential to increase energy demands, downtime in systems and maintenance. As solutions to these case studies, the chapter considers some of the well-known case studies, such as iron ore slurry pipeline transport in India, where computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling was performed to optimize pipe diameter and flow velocity, and the ash slurry disposal system at the NTPC Thermal Power Plants, where real time monitoring systems were put in place to prevent clogging. The chapter also discusses oil sands slurry transport in Alberta, Canada, where variable-density slurry was utilized to achieve efficiencies in the transport process. Morocco phosphate slurry handling likewise demonstrates a case study with intelligent sensors and controls to reduce erosion in pipes and provide reliability and assurance to slurry handling systems, as discussed in the chapter.