Filtration and operational parameters determination of phosphogypsum sludge storage

Abstract

In phosphorus mineral fertilizer production, industrial waste is formed – phosphogypsum. As is well known, the issues of processing and utilization of phosphogypsum in an industrial scale remain unresolved. Consequently, the production waste generated at chemical plants is stored in various types of storage tanks. The currently used hydraulic storage method provides for the waste supply in the form of a slurry to the hydraulic dump plots one by one, their successive dehydration in the dump and the subsequent development of a part of the stored waste for the construction of the secondary dams. However, due to the low water-draining properties of phosphogypsum, it is not possible to ensure its dehydration to the required extent, in large volumes, and at the required time. This pattern is observed almost everywhere, especially in areas with high climate humidity. This circumstance significantly complicates the development of phosphogypsum in hydraulic dumps and in most cases leads to the impossibility of its implementation. Therefore, various designs of anti-filtration and drainage devices are provided in the sludge collectors to accelerate the process of dehydration of the phosphogypsum strata. This paper presents the results of a study of filtration processes in sludge collectors, and a method for calculating the filtration and dehydration of phosphogypsum at the initial stage of sludge collector operation with various designs of antifiltration and drainage devices.