Suncor Energy Inc.

Cidra Corporate Services Inc.

Adrian Revington

Marvin Weiss

Trevor Bugg

Ana Cristina Sanchez

Patrick Sean Wells

Thomas C Hann

Oladipo Omotoso

Jamie Eastwood

Alex M Van Der Spek

Stephen Joseph Young

Hugues Robert O'Neill

Douglas H Loose

Benito Moyls

Babak Derakhshandeh

Marc Goranson

Macoura Kone

Daryl Hockley

Baha Elsayed Abulnaga

John Diep

Alan Melanson

Rodney Guest

Naveen Prathap

William Matthew Martin

James Patrick Macaulay

Various techniques are provided in relation to flocculation and/or dewatering of thick fine tailings, with shear conditioning of flocculated tailings material in accordance with a pre-determined shearing parameter, such as the Camp Number. One example method of treating thick fine tailings including dispersing a flocculant into the thick fine tailings to form a flocculating mixture; shearing the flocculating mixture to increase yield stress and produce a flocculated mixture; shear conditioning the flocculated mixture to decrease the yield stress and break down flocs, the shear conditioning being performed in accordance with the pre-determined shearing parameter to produce conditioned flocculated material within a water release zone where release water separates from the conditioned flocculated material. The conditioned flocculated material can then be subjected to dewatering, for example by depositing, thickening or filtering. The design, construction and/or operation of a flocculation pipeline assembly can be facilitated.

Achieving water release zone for dewatering thick fine tailings based on shearing parameter such as camp number

A process for the treatment of thick fine tailings that include constituents of concern (CoCs) and suspended solids is provided. The process includes subjecting the thick fine tailings to treatments including chemical immobilization of the CoCs, polymer flocculation of the suspended solids, and dewatering. The chemical immobilization can include the addition of compounds enabling the insolubilization of the CoCs. Subjecting the thick fine tailings to chemical immobilization and polymer flocculation can facilitate production of a reclamation-ready material, which can enable disposing of the material as part of a permanent aquatic storage structure (PASS).

Treatment of thick fine tailings including chemical immobilization, polymer flocculation and dewatering

The present invention provides a new method and apparatus for receiving signals containing information about a plurality of velocity profiles of a flow in a pipe and about a pressure gradient of the flow over a length of the pipe; and determining information about an injection of a chemical into the flow in the pipe based at least partly on the information contained in the signals.

Determining shear rate and/or shear stress from sonar based velocity profiles and differential pressure

A method and device for in-line injecting of flocculated agent into a fluid flow of mature fine tailings (MFT). The method includes the steps of: a) providing a fluid flow of mature fine tailings to be treated along a given channel fluidly connected to the pipeline; b) providing a source of flocculating agent; and c) introducing flocculating agent inside the fluid flow of mature fine tailings via a plurality of injection outlets for injecting the flocculating agent into the fluid flow in a dispersed manner so as to increase an exposed surface area of the injected flocculating agent and thus increase a corresponding reaction with the mature fine tailings, for an improved flocculation of said mature fine tailings, and/or other desired end results. Also disclosed is a kit with corresponding components for assembling the in-line injection device to be connected in-line with the pipeline carrying the mature fine tailings to be treated.

Method and device for in-line injection of flocculent agent into a fluid flow of mature fine tailings

Techniques for dewatering thick fine tailings may include one or more pre-treatment steps, such as pre-shearing to reduce the yield stress prior to flocculation, hydrocarbon removal below a threshold to improve flocculation and dewatering, flocculant dosing on a clay basis, and providing certain properties of the thick fine tailings related to coarse and fine particle sizes and/or chemistry such as divalent cation content. Various advantages may result from pre-treatments based on thick fine tailings properties, such as reduced flocculant dosage requirements, improved dispersion of flocculant into the thick fine tailings and/or enhanced dewatering, for example. One or more of the pre-treatments may be performed.

Enhanced techniques for dewatering thick fine tailings

A process for dewatering oil sand fine tailings is provided and comprises a dispersion and floc build-up stage comprising in-line addition of a flocculent solution comprising an effective amount of flocculation reagent into a flow of the oil sand fine tailings; a gel stage wherein flocculated oil sand fine tailings is transported in-line and subjected to shear conditioning; a floc breakdown and water release stage wherein the flocculated oil sand fine tailings releases water and decreases in yield shear stress, while avoiding an oversheared zone; depositing the flocculated oil sand fine tailings onto a deposition area to form a deposit and to enable the release water to flow away from the deposit, preferably done in a pipeline reactor and managing shear according to yield stress and CST information and achieves enhanced dewatering.

Process for flocculating and dewatering oil sand mature fine tailings

Apparatus is provided featuring a signal processor or processing module configured at least to: a signal processor configured to: receive signaling containing information about at least one rheological parameter related to a fluid containing Mature Fine Tailings (MFTs) flowing through a process pipe; and determine a dosing of a polymer to the fluid so as to cause a polymer induced agglomeration of the MFTs in the fluid, based at least partly on the signaling received. The signal processor may be configured to provide corresponding signaling to control the dosing of the polymer to cause the polymer induced fine agglomeration of the MFTs in the fluid.

Techniques for agglomerating mature fine tailing by injecting a polymer in a process flow

Techniques are described that relate to enhancing flocculation and dewatering of thick fine tailings, for example by reducing process oscillations. One example method includes dispersing a flocculant into thick fine tailings having a turbulent flow regime to produce turbulent flocculating tailings; subjecting the turbulent flocculating tailings to shear to build up flocs and increase yield stress, to produce a flocculated material having a non-turbulent flow regime; and shear conditioning the flocculated material to decrease the yield stress and produce conditioned flocculated tailings within a water release zone; and dewatering the conditioned flocculated tailings, for example by employing sub-aerial deposition. The thick fine tailings may have a Bingham Reynolds Number of at least 40,000 upon flocculant addition. Inhibiting process oscillations may include providing turbulent tailings feed, configuring a downstream pipeline assembly to reduce backpressure fluctuations and/or reducing air content in the flocculant solution, for example.

Dispersion and conditioning techniques for thick fine tailings dewatering operations

A process for drying fine tailings is provided. The process, which may use a pipeline reactor system, comprises providing an in-line flow of the fine tailings; continuously introducing a flocculent solution to cause dispersion and commence flocculation of the fine tailings and may comprise rapid turbulent mixing; subjecting the fine tailings to flocculation and water release conditioning in-line to cause formation and rearrangement of floes and increasing the yield shear stress to form flocculated fine tailings while avoiding over-shearing of the flocs; and depositing the fine tailings to allow the release of water, formation of a non-flowing fine tailings deposit and drying of the non-flowing fine tailings deposit. The process enables effective in-line dispersion, flocculation and water release, resulting in reliable deposition and drying of the fine tailings deposit.

Process for dying oil sand mature fine tailings

Methods for drying oil sand fine tailings treated to comprise flocculated fine tailings, by deposition and farming techniques, are provided. A deposition cell is provided with a sloped bottom surface and the flocculated fine tailings are deposited to undergo channelless advancement in the cell while allowing drainage of release water. When the deposit is uneven, the deposit may be plowed while wet for spreading and ensuring water release conditioning is imparted thereto, while avoiding over-shearing, and maintaining sufficient shear strength to allow standing. Once a dried upper crust forms, the deposit may be harrowed to break up the crust, expose wet regions there-beneath and create furrows in the standing deposit. The methods improve the dewatering and drying of mature fine tailings in oil sands.

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Fort McMurray, Canada

Adrian Revington