Process for flocculating and dewatering oil sand mature fine tailings

摘要

The process is for dewatering oil sand fine tailings and comprises (i) a dispersion and floe bluid-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; (ii) a gel stage wherein flocculated oil sand fine tailings is transported in-line and subjected to shear conditioning; (iii) a floe 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; (iv) 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.