Study the Process of Self Dilution in Thickeners by Computational Fluid Dynamics

Thickeners are the key units in the hydrometallurgical processing operations and used to separate solids from liquids. In this research, the pattern of mixture of the pulp and clear water phases in a mixing duct known as E-DUC was calculated through CFD, and the effect of flow rate changes and solids content of the input feed on dilution before the feed well was studied. Fluid dynamics were studied by modeling continuity and Navier-Stokes equations in Fluent version 14.5. The k-ε library function was used to apply turbulent flow conditions and the mixture model was used to study multiphase flows. The flow rate and solids content of the feed under the factory’s operational conditions were 605.45 m3/h and 25%, respectively. In this study, dilution of the feed flowing into the feed well was calculated to be 19.51 using simulations under operational conditions, which was an acceptable estimate of the existing dilution. Afterwards, by changing the flow rate of the feed, the effect of this parameter on dilution of the pulp input to the feed well was determined. By increasing the flow rate to 700 m3/h dilution levels rose to 28.5 respectively.