4 - Transportation of slurries

Abstract

Transportation of slurries is the most important application of fluid flow techniques in the mineral processing industry. Whenever solid materials are in particulate form, transportation in the form of a slurry is possible. When the carrier fluid is water, the method is referred to as hydraulic transportation, and when the carrier fluid is air, it is referred to as pneumatic transportation. There are two broad classifications for hydraulic transportation depending on whether the particles in the slurry can settle under the influence of the gravitational field or whether they are held more or less permanently in the suspension because of the rheological properties of the slurry itself. Slurries in these two classes are referred to as settling or heterogeneous and nonsettling or homogeneous respectively. Nonsettling slurries usually exhibit non-Newtonian behavior, while settling slurries reflect the rheological properties of the pure carrier fluid.