Rheology of Slurries and Environmental Impacts in The M

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David V. Boger
by University of California - San Diego on 06/21/13. For personal use only.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia;

email: david.boger@eng.monash.edu.au
Annu. Rev. Chem. Biomol. Eng. 2013. 4:239–57 Keywords

First published online as a Review in Advance on mineral industry, rheology, sustainability
March 27, 2013
The Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Abstract

Engineering is online at chembioeng.annualreviews.org
The world’s resource industries are the largest producers of waste. Much of
This article’s doi: this waste is produced as a fine particle slurry, which is pumped to a storage
10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-061312-103347
area, generally at a low concentration, where it behaves like a Newtonian
Copyright c 2013 by Annual Reviews. fluid. Simply removing, reusing, and recycling water from the slurry rep-
All rights reserved
resents a step toward a more sustainable practice in this industry. As the
concentration of such a slurry is increased as a result of dewatering, the
materials exhibit non-Newtonian behavior, which is characterized by shear
thinning, a yield stress, and in some instances thixotropic behavior. Such
high-concentration, nonideal (dirty) suspensions in the resource industries
have meant that new rheological methods and techniques have been needed
to measure and interpret the basic flow properties. Also, some older em-
pirical techniques have needed to be modified and interpreted in a more
fundamental way so that the results could be used in design. This article re-
views these techniques and illustrates how the industry itself has motivated
their development. Understanding and exploiting this rheology has resulted
in dramatic improvement in the waste-disposal strategy for some industries,
but many have failed to embrace the available technology. The reasons for
this are discussed. The article concludes that a greater positive change in
waste-management practice will occur in the future, motivated by several
factors, including public perception, tighter regulation, and perhaps even
commonsense life cycle accounting.
239
INTRODUCTION
My research has been in rheology and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics. My early and continuing
work has been in polymer rheology (i.e., viscoelastic fluid mechanics). Particle suspensions
(slurries)1 became a parallel interest in 1974 after an approach by Alcoa Inc., in Western Australia,
who introduced us to the waste slurry product of the alumina industry: bauxite residue, more com-
monly known as red mud. At the time, we thought that 15,000 tonnes per day of fine-particle (dry)
waste, pumped to disposal at a pH of 13 and at a low concentration (Newtonian fluid), was a huge
amount of waste. We were not aware that other miners at that time were producing as much as
100,000 tonnes per day (now, 240,000 tonnes per day) on a dry basis of fine-particle waste of a
Newtonian fluid slurry and were also pumping to a tailings dam or pond. We were not aware of the
considerable impact this slurry waste in the industry has had, and is having, on the environment.
Working with Alcoa, we learned that simply removing, reusing, and recycling water from the
waste slurry represents a step toward more sustainable practice in the industry. As the concentra-
tion of such a slurry is increased as a result of dewatering, non-Newtonian behavior is observed,
characterized by shear thinning, a yield stress, and in some instances, thixotropic behavior.
Such high-concentration, nonideal (dirty) suspensions in the resource industries have meant
that new, simple, and portable rheological methods and techniques have been needed for both
shear and compression rheology to measure and interpret the basic flow properties. Also, some
older empirical techniques have needed to be modified and interpreted in a more fundamental way
so the results could be used in design. Understanding and exploiting this rheology has resulted in
dramatic improvement in the waste-disposal strategy. This article reviews these techniques and
illustrates how industry itself has motivated their development.
THE MINING INDUSTRY

Almost everything used by human beings is either grown or mined. For humanity, mining is an
essential activity. The mining industry, for the purposes of this review, includes the alumina, beach
sands (e.g., zirconia, titanium dioxide), coal, copper, gold, lead/zinc, manganese, oil, platinum, rare
earth elements, silver, and uranium industries.
The process for extraction of a desired raw material involves three basic steps: size reduction,
separation processes, and materials handling. Materials handling includes the product and the
waste stream, as Figure 1 illustrates. This article is concerned with the tailings stream only.
The industry consumes approximately 3.5–5% of the world’s electricity (1), primarily in the size-
reduction step, and is the world’s largest producer of waste.
Based on 2010 production figures, the industry, excluding tar sands mining in Canada, produces
approximately 65 billion tonnes annually (G.E. Mudd, private communication). Of that, 51 bil-
lion tonnes is waste rock (mine overburden), and 14 billion tonnes2 is made up of fine-particle
tailings exiting the process, for which the particle size is generally less than 140 μm. The ratio
of waste rock (mine overburden) to fine-particle waste varies from operation to operation. As the
demand for energy and metals increases with the increasing population (estimated to increase from
seven billion in 2012 to nine billion in 2040), along with an increasing standard of living in the third
world and decreasing ore grades, the waste produced by the industry will increase exponentially
(G.E. Mudd, private communication), and issues associated with its disposal and management will
become even more important.
1
The terms “slurry” and “suspension” are used interchangeably.
2
Approximately two billion normal truck loads.
240 Boger
Process water
(from desalination plants,
lakes, boreholes, rivers,
or other sources)
Mining of ore Processing of ore

(underground or Mineral product
(crushing, grinding, flotation)
open-cut mining)
Waste rock Tailings to tailings dam

Figure 1
The extraction process.
The Environmental Record

Environmental issues and the record of the oil sands industry in Canada (2) are only the tip of
the iceberg if one considers the mining industry as a whole. Arguably, the industry is the world’s
largest producer of waste. The waste rock is placed in large heaps to (hopefully) minimize acid
mine drainage and to aid in eventual site closure and rehabilitation. Fine-particle tailings, which
is the waste product from the extraction process, exits the process as a low-concentration, fine-
particle suspension (slurry). With a few notable exceptions where the approved practice is to
discharge directly into rivers and the sea, the tailings is pumped to ponds. These are large,
engineered constructions built in the valley or with four sides, like the structure shown in
Figure 2a. On October 6, 2010, this small red mud tailings pond in Hungary failed
(Figure 2b). The tide of red mud released was 2 meters in height, the death toll was report-
edly 9, and 122 people were injured.3 Red mud is the fine-particle residue from the extraction
of alumina from bauxite. This is discharged at a pH of approximately 13. Large alumina plants
generate approximately 15,000 tonnes per day on a dry basis of fine-particle waste. This is small
in comparison with, for instance, the largest copper mine in the world, which produces approxi-
mately 230,000 tonnes per day. Figure 3 is a large tailings pond in Australia with successive lifting
of the dam wall, which is common practice to increase storage capacity.
The industry has a bad environmental record. Some would say that the record represents
its Achilles’ heel. Tailings spills, dam failures, seepage, unrehabilitated sites, and cases of dis-
charge in the waterway all contribute to this record. For example, in the United States alone, the
Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are approximately 500,000 abandoned
mine sites and that portions of 40% of the headwaters in the western United States are polluted
in some way (3). The cost of cleanup, which is estimated at tens of billions of dollars, is now in
the hands of the taxpayers.
In the past decade, there have been 21 documented tailings dam failures, and there were 22 in
the previous decade (4). In the past five years, at least 268 people have lost their lives as a result
of tailings dam failures, but these disasters are not on the public radar. Can the probability of
these accidents occurring be significantly reduced, or even eliminated? The answer, with today’s
3
OXFAM in Vietnam has produced a video on the failure.
www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 241

a
b
Figure 2
(a) The Hungarian bauxite residue (red mud) tailings dam that (b) failed in October 2010 (37).
Figure 3
A large tailings dam with successive lifting of the dam wall—a common practice to increase dam capacity.
(See http://www.orosur.ca/_resources/media/opex/Tailings-Dam.jpg.)
242 Boger
Table 1 Comparison of slurry, thickened, and paste tailings

Slurry Thickened Paste
Final density Low Medium/high High
Segregation High Slight None
Supernatant water High Some None
Postplacement shrinkage High Some Insignificant
Seepage High Some Insignificant
Rehabilitation Delayed Immediate Immediate
Permeability Medium/low Low Very low
Application Above ground Above ground Above and under ground
Footprint Medium High Low
Water consumption High Medium Low
Reagent recovery Low Medium High

science and technology, is simply, yes. The free water in the tailings dam is the major problem.
Elimination of this water, by moving to paste-tailings disposal, is one possible answer.
Thickened and Paste Tailings

Professor Eli Robinsky (5) invented the concept of thickened tailings and put it into practice at
Kibb Creek Mine in Ontario, Canada, in 1973, and it has been successfully operated there since
that time. The concept simply relies on removing water from the waste at the end of the process
before discharging to a disposal area. As the water is removed from the suspension (slurry), its
properties change from a Newtonian to a non-Newtonian fluid. As more water is removed, the
material moves from a thickened tailings to a paste. Thickened tailings and paste differ significantly
in their rheology. Table 1 is a comparison of their properties in the disposal area. This review
focuses on the advantages of moving to a paste (Figure 4), including the potential to
reclaim water,
reclaim process reagents,
reclaim energy (heat),
maximize density of tailings in tailings storage facilities,
minimize tailings storage facility footprints,
render waste suitable for mine backfill,
reduce potential for acid drainage, and
reduce risk of dam failure.
With our help on rheology, Alcoa in Western Australia was able to exploit the rheology of
red mud and move from wet to dry (paste) disposal—a more sustainable practice, which reduced
the volume of waste by approximately 50%, recycled water, and recovered caustic materials,
to a value of approximately $10 million per year (7). Paste stacking extends back to the 1980s
in the alumina industry. Alcoa commissioned the first superthickener (compression thickener)
in 1987, one in 1989, and another in 1991 (D.J. Cooling, private communication). Figure 5 is a
photograph of a superthickener being constructed, the first of its kind. It was 90 meters in diameter
with a 6-meter compression zone. Rio Tinto Alcan, also in the alumina industry, brought Deep
ConeTM thickening to the industry and was already dry stacking in Jamaica in 1986 and centrally
discharging a high–yield stress tailings in Quebec, Canada (8). A key for these operations was the
use of synthetic flocculants and the exploitation of rheology.

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Figure 4
An iron ore paste tailings (6). Notice the toothpaste-like consistency (see Paste Thick Associates website,
http://www.pastethic.co.za/).
The next defining moment in our involvement with the mining industry and its waste was in
1994 at the XVIIIth International Mineral Processing Conference held in Sydney, Australia. Here
it was obvious that, although the industry was very interested in mine stope materials (underground
fill), they had little interest in or were not aware of the alumina industry and its movement toward
Figure 5
Alcoa Western Australia paste thickener under construction (photograph courtesy of Alcoa West. Aust.).
244 Boger
dry stacking on the surface. The communication across industrial boundaries, (e.g., copper, coal,
alumina) was poor.
With the advent of paste and thickened tailings conferences, starting in 1999, these boundaries
have virtually been eliminated. The first of the annual series was a learning seminar in Edmonton,
Canada organized by Bruce Regensburg from Syncrude in November 1999. Interestingly, it was
the oil sands industry that hosted the first meeting. Richard Jewell, from the Australian Center
for Geomechanics, organized the next meeting in Perth, Australia, in 2000. It was originally con-
ceived by Jewell and Ted Lord from Syncrude. Jewell, Lord, and, somewhat later, Andy Fourie
formed the team that has been the major driving force in these annual meetings. The meetings
rotate around the world and have been held in Canada, Australia, Africa, Chile, and Europe. They
have had quite an impact, particularly on bringing rheology to the mining industry and on devel-
oping technology for paste and thickened tailings. In the opening remarks at the 2000 meeting,
Jewell (9) said, “It is the practical issues of producing (thickening) and transporting the high density
product that are addressed in greater detail in this seminar.” This object has now been achieved.
Understanding the rheology of fine-particle water slurries produced by the industry has been of
critical importance. Emanating from the Paste and Thickened Tailings meetings has been the
publication of a Paste and Thickened Tailings Guide, the first edition of which was published in
2002 and the second edition in 2006 (10).
RHEOLOGY OF MINERAL TAILINGS SLURRIES (11–13)

The rheology of mineral tailings varies within and among industries, dependent on particle size,
particle size distribution, concentration, and surface chemistry. In other words, each system is
different.
Basic Concepts
In terms of flow, slurries may be classified as either Newtonian or non-Newtonian fluids. Current
tailings-disposal practice in many cases deals with low-concentration Newtonian suspensions,
which are pumped in turbulent flow to the disposal pond. Paste and thickened tailings generally
exhibit non-Newtonian behavior.
The viscosity, η, of a fluid is defined as the ratio of the shear stress, τ , to the shear rate, γ̇ ,
such that
τ
η= . 1.
γ̇
Figure 6 is the textbook representation of inelastic non-Newtonian behavior (11, p. 7).
Viscoelastic effects are generally unimportant in mineral-suspension rheology.
Inelastic Newtonian fluids exhibit a linear relationship between the applied shear stress and the
shear rate, as shown in Curve A on Figure 6. Flow is initiated as soon as a shear stress is applied.
The linear relationship between the shear stress and the shear rate indicates a constant viscosity.
Concentrated mineral tailings display non-Newtonian behavior in that they possess a yield
stress. The yield stress, τ y , is the critical shear stress that must be exceeded before irreversible
deformation and flow can occur. The yield stress is an engineering reality, although the rheology
community debates its actual existence (12).
Curve B on Figure 6 shows a yield stress followed by a linear shear stress–shear rate relationship,
commonly known as Bingham behavior. Although not a true viscosity according to Equation 1,
the gradient of this line is referred to as the Bingham plastic viscosity. The form of Figure 7 was

D
B
sti c
m pla C
gha
Bin
τy A
Shear stress, τ (N m–2)

1
c n<
sti
pla
do
eu n
Ps n ia
to
w
Ne
1
n<
t
an
lat
Di
Shear rate, γ (s–1)

Figure 6
The shear stress–shear rate behavior of inelastic fluids.
proposed at the Second Paste and Thickened Tailings Seminar (10) in an attempt to define the
difference between a slurry, a paste, and a filter cake.
It has now been established that the measure of strength shown on the ordinate in Figure 7 is
the true rheological yield stress, and the concentration is generally reported in weight percent. The
question of what a paste is is almost redundant; a paste has a yield stress. So-called thickened tailings
represent the continuum, and a paste tailings can have a yield-stress variation from perhaps 10 to
almost 1,000 for mine stope fill material. The alumina industry handles a material with a yield stress
of approximately 40 Pa. There can be a great deal of variation in the yield-stress concentration
curve for a particular industry; Figure 8 illustrates that variation within Alcoa World Alumina (13).
Concentration is not the unique variable; the yield stress is. For the data shown in Figure 8, the
concentration varies from approximately 36%wt to 53%wt for the same yield stress of 20 Pa. This
Thickened tailings – a continuum
Paste Cake
Strength
Slurry
Concentration
Figure 7
A typical yield-stress concentration curve for a tailings suspension (10).
246 Boger
140
Kwinana
120 Point Comfort
Jamaica
100
Yield stress (Pa)
80
60
40
20
0
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Concentration (% w/w)
Figure 8
Yield stress as a function of concentration for bauxite residue (red mud) from different alumina samples (13).
variation occurs within the same industry and varies greatly from industry to industry, as illustrated
in Figure 9, which shows the yield stress as a function of concentration for eleven different mineral
tailings (13). Every material is different. All tailings exhibit an exponential rise in yield stress with
concentration, with the yield stress generally beginning to rise rapidly for yield stresses greater
than 200 Pa. At a yield stress of 200 Pa, the concentration varies from approximately 0.24 (mass
fraction) for a coal mine tailings, to approximately 0.68 for a copper tailings, to 0.8 for a mine
stope fill material.
In addition to yield-stress behavior, the viscosity of the material will vary with shear rate.
As the shear rate is increased, pseudoplastic or shear-thinning materials exhibit a decrease in
1,600
1,400 Coal clay tails

Clay tailings
Shear yield stress (Pa)
1,200
Sand clay tails 1
1,000 Sand clay tails 2
Manganese tails
800 Nickel tails 1
Nickel tails 2
600
Red mud tails 1
400 Red mud tails 2
Copper tailings
200 Paste fill
0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Solids mass fraction
Figure 9
A comparison of the yield-stress concentration behavior for the fine-particle waste from a variety of minerals
(13).

viscosity [Curve D (1,1), Figure 6]. Dilatant, or shear-thickening, materials exhibit an increase
in viscosity with increasing shear rate [Curve C (1,2), Figure 6]. Dilatant behavior, although
relatively rare, is sometimes observed in mineral suspensions at high concentrations. For the
different fluid categories, various empirical flow models are used to describe this flow behavior.
The most commonly used equations are the Oswald-De Waele model (power law) for shear
thickening of shear-thinning materials,
τ = K γ̇ n , 2.
and the Herschel-Bulkley model for yield stress, shear thinning or yield stress, shear thickening
materials,
τ = τ H B + K γ̇ n . 4.
The Bingham model is
τ = τ B = η B γ̇ . 3.
In these equations, K and n are experimentally determined constants from the basic shear stress–
shear rate data.

Data on mineral suspensions are often not available at low shear rates. A common practice is
to extrapolate the linear portion, say, of Curve D in Figure 6 to the y-axis and refer to this as
the yield stress. This is a Bingham yield stress that bears no relationship whatsoever to the true
yield stress of the material. The linear portion of the curve being fitted in this way is sometimes
appropriate for pipeline design, but a yield stress determined in this way is far from adequate for
the design of a thickener; more accurate yield-stress measurements can and should be made.
The most complicated non-Newtonian behavior, which can be observed in mineral, tar sand,
and associated industries, is time-dependent behavior. Here, the shear stress is a function of both
shear rate and time of shear. For such materials, the viscosity depends on both shear rate and time
of shear, and the yield stress also varies with time of shear. When such a material is encountered,
it is necessary to see how the yield stress varies with time and to measure the shear stress of
the material in a rheometer as a function of time at a particular shear rate. Alternatively, with a
constant-stress rheometer, one must fix the stress and watch how the shear rate varies with time.
Thixotropic behavior, in which the viscosity decreases with shear rate and time of shear, is the
most common. Rheopectic behavior, the time-dependent dilatant behavior analog, is observed
far less often, but when it does occur, it can present disastrous consequences. Here, the viscosity
increases with shear rate and time of shear. Such behavior is quite perplexing for the engineering
community, for whom the tendency is, when in doubt, put in more energy, or hit it harder with a
hammer. For example, in a mixing vessel, if the viscosity increases with shear rate and time, then
any effort to get better mixing by increasing the rotational rate of the impeller will, and can, result
in catastrophic consequences.
The most common geometry used for measurement of shear stress and shear rate is Couette
flow—a cup-and-bob rheometer (see Figure 13, below). This geometry has a distinct disadvantage
for tailings suspensions in that the gap between the two cylinders has to be large enough that the
particles themselves do not interfere with the measurement. When the gap is large, the analysis
of data becomes complex and often is not understood. Slip is a problem, and sedimentation can
also occur. Almost no one uses parallel-plate torsion flow for measurements of suspensions; again,
the problems are associated with sedimentation and slip as well as with analyzing the basic data.
Cone-and-plate torsion flow, although good for measuring the properties of polymers and polymer
solutions, suffers again because the gap in the instrument has to be very small for the analysis to
be correct. Hence, none of the above geometries, which form the basis of some very sophisticated
and expensive instruments, are readily suitable for the measurements of the basic viscosity and
248 Boger
yield stress of a broad-particle-size-distribution mineral-suspension (slurry) waste. Yield-stress

measurements with conventional rheometric equipment can be equally as problematic. Wall slip
is a generic problem often not recognized in dispersion rheology (14).
Yield Stress Measurement

Figure 6 illustrates typical shear stress–shear rate behavior that is observed for a yield-stress
material. There are very significant misconceptions associated with yielding. Much of the data
obtained for suspensions are not obtained at low enough shear rates to determine a true yield
stress by extrapolation. Often the data are extrapolated from a linear region of behavior at high
shear rates to the axis, to define what has been called the Bingham yield stress. The Bingham yield
stress is a model-fitting parameter and has no meaning whatsoever in terms of the true yielding of
the material. We have seen many consulting reports in which this yield stress has been used as a
basis for design. The yield stress is the value of the shear stress when the material initially flows, and
in principle it can be determined if the measurements of the shear stress as a function of shear rate
are made at low enough shear rates. However, there are difficulties in reaching such low shear rates;
slip invariably occurs in the concentric cylinder geometry at low shear rates. Thus, extrapolated
values of the shear stress–shear rate data are not easy to obtain and are often in significant error.
Figure 10 illustrates the potential errors associated with extrapolation, dependent upon the shear-
rate region in which data are available. The results in Figure 10 were obtained with a capillary
rheometer, a conventional Couette (concentric cylinder rheometer), and a vane-in-cup device
used to eliminate slip. For the capillary, the shear stress and shear rate were obtained from the
measured pressure drop, p, as a function of volumetric flow rate, Q, in a tube of length, L, and
diameter, D. As such,
Dp
τw = 5.
4L
and

3n + 1 8V
τw = , 6.
4n D
1,000
Vane
yield
Shear stress (Pa)
stress
100
Capillary results
Concentric-cylinder results
Vane-and-cup results
Vane yield stress
10
1 10 100 1,000 10,000
Shear rate (1/s)
Figure 10
Flow curve for a paste sample, yield stress = 250 Pa (13).

Speed Torque
Torsion
head
Vane
Dv Sample
Figure 11
Illustration of the vane device for yield-stress measurement.
where V is the average velocity in the tube,

Q
V = , 7.
π D2
4
where Q is the volumetric flow rate,and

d ln τw
n = , 8.
d ln 8V
D
which is the slope of a log-log plot of τ w versus 8V/D. Data obtained with the capillary and the
Couette rheometers should agree, as they do in Figure 11, at the higher shear rates. But at the
lower shear rates both deviate from the vane-and-cup results, which extrapolates to the correct
yield stress. Both the capillary and Couette data at shear rates of less than approximately 300 s−1
illustrate the dramatic influence of slip flow at a solid surface. At a shear rate of 10 s−1 , there is a
factor-of-four difference in the observed shear stress.
The Vane Method

The true yield stress for the mine stope fill material shown in Figure 10 was obtained with the
vane. The extrapolation of the high shear rate data obtained and reproduced with a capillary and
concentric cylinder device is 65 Pa, whereas the extrapolated value obtained from the lower shear
rate data is on the order of 18 Pa. The true yield stress was 250 Pa. The errors involved are
immense; thus, if the true yield stress is needed, which is the case for rake design in thickeners
and for pump restartup and design in a pipeline, then conventional rheometry generally should
not be used, and a device like the vane is appropriate.
250 Boger
Slump height
Figure 12
The cylindrical slump test.
The vane device and the principals involved are illustrated in Figure 11, and the basic equation
for analyzing the data is given as

π l 1
Tm = d 3 + τy . 9.
2 d 3
Basically, the vane is inserted into the suspension and rotated at a very low speed, where the torque
is observed as a function of time. The torque increases until reaching a maximum value, Tm , when
the material yields. The maximum torque is related to the yield stress by Equation 9, where d is
the diameter of the vane and l is its height. Equation 9 is valid if end effects are minimized, and
this is possible if using a large enough l/d vane. The great advantages of the vane are that the
material yields on itself, slip generally is not an issue, and the vane can be inserted into the fluid
in different regions. This technique is now used worldwide to measure yielding in all materials.
The development of the technique was motivated by a need generated by the alumina industry
(15–19).
The Slump Method

Another even simpler method for a single-point measurement of the yield stress is to exploit
slump. Basically, slump involves placing a paste-like material in a container open at both ends.
The container is then lifted, and the height of the material relative to the original container
height is measured. This is the slump height. The civil engineering community for many years
has used a large conical device for measuring the slump in backfill and concrete (20). The results
of such measurements were reported in inches or centimeters of slump and were not related to
any fundamental flow property. Following Christensen (21), Pashias, in his PhD thesis (22), took
the idea of the slump, simplified the geometry to a cylindrical geometry, and established a simple
equation for relating the slump to the yield stress. We believe that Chandler (23), working for
Alcan, was the first to use the circular cylinder geometry for slump measurement. Figure 12
illustrates how the slump is measured, and Equation 10 is a simple interpretation of the slump
measurement (24):
1 1√
τy = + S. 10.
2 2

Table 2 Matched slump heights for coal, gold, and lead-zinc tailings compared with the respective
yield stresses
Variable Coal tailings Gold tailings Lead-zinc tailings
Specific gravity (kg/m3 ) 1,450 2,800 4,100
Solids concentration (%w/w) 36 75 75
Slurry density (kg/m3 ) 1,120 1,930 2,310
Slurry height (mm) 203 203 203
Calculated yield stress (Pa) 160 275 330
Predicted pressure drop (kPa/m)a 5.07 8.13 9.60
a
Pressure drop prediction assumes: Bingham material; Bingham viscosity = 1 Pa.s; Horizontal pipeline; Pipeline internal
diameter = 200 mm; Pipeline velocity = 1 m/s.
τ y is a dimensionless slump (τ y = τ y /ρgH), and S is the dimensionless slump, which is the actual
slump divided by the height of the cylindrical slump vessel, H.

Numerous direct comparisons of the cylindrical slump measurement and the vane yield-stress
measurement are now available in the literature. One such comparison for different materials
from our own work is shown in Reference 13, which illustrates that the yield stresses determined
from the vane and the slump test are in agreement for engineering design purposes. The slump
measurement was again motivated by a need in the alumina industry. Thus, the alumina industry
and the basic properties of the red mud motivated the development of two methods for single-point
yield-stress measurement that are now used industry-wide and extend well beyond the industry
into the world as a whole.
Some users of the slump method persist in measuring the slump in a linear dimension,
centimeters of slump. This is an empirical measure and will vary from material to material de-
pending upon density. Table 2 illustrates the point that the slump measured in centimeters is not
a unique physical property. Here, a coal tailings, a gold tailings, and a lead-zinc tailings are all
concentrated to a stage where they produce the same slump. At first glance, they all appear to be
the same in terms of their flow characteristics. This is not so. The three materials are vastly dif-
ferent in that their slump yield stress calculated from Equation 10 varies from 160 Pa to 275 Pa to
330 Pa, respectively, for the coal, gold, and lead-zinc tailings. If we use the slump yield stress and a
Bingham model for the same Bingham viscosity of 1 Pa, the predicted pipeline pressure drops
will be vastly different, as shown. Based on experience gathered within the alumina industry and
within the minerals industry as a whole, it was obvious that a simple and perhaps even a more
effective method for determining the basic shear stress–shear rate data was needed.
Shear Stress–Shear Rate Measurements

The Couette viscometer (Figure 13) is the most commonly used for obtaining the shear stress–
shear rate data for many materials and in many industries. The torque, T, on the bob is observed as
a function of its rotational speed, . The basic equations used to analyze the data are Equation 11,
T
τ1 = L = ε2 τ2 , 11.
2π R2
for the shear stress at the two surfaces, and Equation 12,
τ1
f (τ )
= dτ, 12.
τ2 2τ
for the shear rate.
252 Boger
Torque
sensor
Bob
L
Air gap
Sample
R
εR
Figure 13
Illustration of a Couette rheometer.
In the equations, τ 1 and τ 2 are the shear stresses at the surfaces of the bob, and f(τ ) is the shear
rate, γ̇ . Note in Equation 12 that the shear rate is hidden inside an integral. That the shear rate
is not explicitly defined causes some considerable difficulties in analyzing the data. Integration of
Equation 12 depends on knowing a functional form between the shear stress and shear rate (i.e.,
substituting a fluid model like Equations 2–4). Such a model will not be available a priori; hence,
approximate techniques are needed to evaluate the shear rate in the cup-and-bob rheometer,
particularly when the gap is wide, which is necessary for the paste- or suspension-like materials
that are of interest here. Often a narrow gap assumption is made to define the shear rate simply
by Equation 13:
2
γ̇1 = f (τ1 ) = . 13.
(1 − ε2 )
This definition, often embedded in instrument software, is not valid for the wide gap required
when dealing with paste-like systems.
The Bucket Rheometer (25)

Equation 12 can be differentiated on both sides with respect to τ 1 if the outer radius of the cup
becomes very large (goes to ∞) (26). The result of this differentiation yields the simple result
given by Equations 14–16:
T
τ1 = , 14.
2π L R2
2
γ̇1 = , 15.
S1

1,000
Vane yield stress

Capillary
Cup and bob
Vane in infinite medium
Shear stress (Pa)

100 Start-up Thickening
Pipeline
transport
SLIP! Pumping
Floc Extrusion
formation
10
0.1 1 10 100 1,000 10,000

True shear rate (s –1)

Figure 14
Shear stress–shear rate data for a nickel-laterite slurry feed (25).
and
d ln T
S1 = . 16.
d ln
The shear stress and the shear rate on the inner bob surface, rotating in an infinite medium, are
now directly defined and not dependent on any particular model assumption. The procedure is as
follows: The torque is measured as a function of rotational speed and plotted on a log-log graph.
Generally, the slope of this graph will be a constant S1 . Once S1 is known, the shear rate is defined, as
is the shear stress, from the torque measurements. The idea of a bob in an infinite medium has been
relatively obscure (26). Combining this analysis with the idea of using the vane itself as a rotational
device results in a new rheometer, the bucket rheometer. The vane itself has a distinct advantage
in that slip is effectively eliminated. Using the vane as the rotating bob allows measurements to be
made in the absence of slip. The advantages of the vane rotating in an infinite medium (i.e., in a
bucket of fluid) are obvious. All that is required is a vane and a torque-measuring head, and hence,
the device is portable. Additionally the shear stress and the shear rate data are easily determined. It
should be noted that Equations 14–16 are also valid for yield-stress materials. Figure 14 illustrates
some data obtained for a nickel laterite slurry, which is the feed to the extraction process. The figure
illustrates the regions in which the data would be required and again also illustrates clearly the
slip problems associated with the cup-and-bob and capillary instruments. Also, the vane-and-cup
rotation device extrapolates to the vane–yield stress measurement. The vane rheometer generally
is not suitable for Newtonian (low-viscosity) fluids (27).
CONCLUSION
Significant advances in the past decade in thickener technology and performance (28) and in
pumping high-density slurries (29), coupled with the application of rheological principles and
using the new techniques to measure basic fluid properties for mineral slurries, have had and
are having a major impact on waste minimization and environmental performance of the mining
254 Boger
CH04CH11-Boger
Annu. Rev. Chem. Biomol. Eng. 2013.4:239-257. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org ARI 6 May 2013 14:33
Figure 15
A comparison of dry and wet disposal.
industry. The contrast between low-concentration Newtonian slurry discharge to a dam and a
non-Newtonian paste disposal is clearly illustrated in the photographs shown in Figure 15.
The technology has now matured to the extent that many tailings dams could be eliminated
and reclamation could occur concurrently by using paste technology. Such an application would
be consistent with the basic principles of sustainability: reduce, recycle, and reuse (30). In an article
entitled, “Making Tailings Disposal Sustainable: A Key Business Issue,” Tacey & Hart (31, p. 13)
state, “Implementation of paste and thickened tailings can result in reduced cost and financial risk,
based on full life cycle costs, improved environmental benefits and improved public perception
and safety.” The problem is that full life cycle accounting methods are generally not used or
imposed.
Incremental accounting methods are employed that allow the gradual accumulation of the costs
for closure and rehabilitation over the life of the mine as an expense (not real money). The total
liability is not recognized until the end of the operation, when cash flow will be at a minimum.
At this stage, companies often escape the liability, which is then left with the taxpayer—hence the
superfund in the United States (32). There is apparently no accounting standard tailored for the
mining industry that adequately addresses the long-term liability of remediation costs (31), not to
mention the cost of maintenance of the site after mediation. Perhaps the easiest analogy is that you
accumulate household waste in your backyard and do not deal with the cost of disposal until the
house is sold or the occupant is deceased. Then the liability becomes someone else’s responsibility.
Clearly, the mandatory introduction of life cycle accounting methods that recognize the entire
anticipated liability as soon as it occurs would drastically change the attitude of the industry toward
waste disposal. It would seem logical and ethical to adopt such methods.
To offset the accounting practice, up-front performance bonds and environmental sureties have
become a requirement in most countries around the world. However, they rarely cover the real
cost of rehabilitation and long-term maintenance. For instance, in the state of Western Australia
(one of the world’s major miners), the policy is improving, but the bonds still may be inadequate.
By January 2014, the minimum bond rate will be 50% of the actual closure costs, estimated by a
third party (33). The current rate for a tailings storage facility is $12,000, to increase to $18,000
per hectare from January 1, 2012, as a minimum rate. High-risk facilities (potential acid-mine
drainage) may attract a higher-than-minimum rate. As the Western Australian Department of
Mines and Petroleum (33) states, “The purpose of environmental performance funds is to ensure

that the State is not exposed to unacceptable cost should mine operations fail to meet real and
potential requirements on their tenements.”
The tide is turning. A social license to operate is becoming more difficult to obtain for the
mining industry, in part because of the environmental record of the industry. Major investors
have divested themselves of millions of dollars of shares in companies with a poor environmental
record (34). To use an analogy expressed by Jones in his unpublished opening remarks in the Paste
and Thickened Tailings Seminar in 2002 (35), “The rubbish end of our business still has far too
many things being spilt over our neighbours’ front gardens.” This observation was made ten years
ago and is still true today.
In paste and thickened tailings, we are not talking about rocket science, we are talking about
accounting practices that discourage protection of the environment and regulators who have not
had the political support to implement the latest technology. This is changing. The recent ERCB
Directive 074 by the Energy Resource Conservation Board, Alberta, Canada (36), requires that
a trafficable surface for tar-sands tailings has to be established within ten years for final closure.
This step forward in regulation will have an impact worldwide in a very positive way and will
encourage the use of paste tailings technology. Technology does not stand in the way of adopting
a more sustainable practice for waste management in the mining industry.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The author is not aware of any affiliations, memberships, funding, or financial holdings that might
be perceived as affecting the objectivity of this review.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author thanks the Australian Research Council for career-long support. He is particularly
grateful to the Alcoa Corporation (Western Australia) for their initial approach in 1974 and for
the help of the corporate champions Peter Colombera (deceased), Don Glenister, and David
Cooling. The students who completed their PhD theses in the area need special recognition: G.
Sarmiento, Q.D. Nguyen, N. Pashias, F. Sofra, D. Cooling, and B.C. Hart. Also, I would like to
thank Phoebe Nash, Masoud Khabazi, and Paul Nemits, fourth-year (senior) project students in
Chemical Engineering at Monash University, for a fresh look at the viability of paste tailings. Fi-
nally, I would like to thank my friend and colleague Christine Collis for the support in preparation
of this manuscript and many others.
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37. Boger DV. 2011. Back to basics. Chem. Eng. 834–5:28–29

CH04-FrontMatter ARI 6 May 2013 15:7
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Biomolecular
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A Conversation with Andreas Acrivos

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Progress in Reforming Chemical Engineering Education

Phillip C. Wankat p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p23
Conceptual Design of Distillation-Based Hybrid Separation Processes
Mirko Skiborowski, Andreas Harwardt, and Wolfgang Marquardt p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p45
Synthetic Biology: Advancing the Design of Diverse Genetic Systems
Yen-Hsiang Wang, Kathy Y. Wei, and Christina D. Smolke p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p69
CO2 Mineralization—Bridge Between Storage and Utilization of CO2
Hans Geerlings and Ron Zevenhoven p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 103
Equilibrium Theory–Based Analysis of Nonlinear Waves
in Separation Processes
Marco Mazzotti and Arvind Rajendran p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 119
Biodegradable Polyesters from Renewable Resources
Amy Tsui, Zachary C. Wright, and Curtis W. Frank p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 143
Biocidal Packaging for Pharmaceuticals, Foods, and Other Perishables
Alyssa M. Larson and Alexander M. Klibanov p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 171
Mixed Semiconductor Alloys for Optical Devices
Thomas F. Kuech, Luke J. Mawst, and April S. Brown p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 187
Metabolic Engineering with Plants for a Sustainable Biobased Economy
Jong Moon Yoon, Le Zhao, and Jacqueline V. Shanks p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 211
Rheology of Slurries and Environmental Impacts in the Mining Industry
David V. Boger p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 239
Metabolic Engineering: Past and Future
Benjamin M. Woolston, Steven Edgar, and Gregory Stephanopoulos p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 259
vii
CH04-FrontMatter ARI 6 May 2013 15:7
Thin-Film Growth and Patterning Techniques for Small Molecular

Organic Compounds Used in Optoelectronic Device Applications
Shaurjo Biswas, Olga Shalev, and Max Shtein p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 289
Indexes
Cumulative Index of Contributing Authors, Volumes 1–4 p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 319

Cumulative Index of Chapter Titles, Volumes 1–4 p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 321
Errata
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• Top cited articles

Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia;

Annu. Rev. Chem. Biomol. Eng. 2013. 4:239–57 Keywords

The Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Abstract

THE MINING INDUSTRY

Mining of ore Processing of ore

Waste rock Tailings to tailings dam

The Environmental Record

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 241

Table 1 Comparison of slurry, thickened, and paste tailings

Reagent recovery Low Medium High

Thickened and Paste Tailings

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 243

RHEOLOGY OF MINERAL TAILINGS SLURRIES (11–13)

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 245

Shear stress, τ (N m–2)

Shear rate, γ (s–1)

Thickened tailings – a continuum

1,400 Coal clay tails

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 247

shear rate data.

yield stress of a broad-particle-size-distribution mineral-suspension (slurry) waste. Yield-stress

Yield Stress Measurement

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 249

where V is the average velocity in the tube,

where Q is the volumetric ﬂow rate,and

The Vane Method

The cylindrical slump test.

The Slump Method

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 251

slump divided by the height of the cylindrical slump vessel, H.

Shear Stress–Shear Rate Measurements

The Bucket Rheometer (25)

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 253

Vane yield stress

Shear stress (Pa)

0.1 1 10 100 1,000 10,000

A comparison of dry and wet disposal.

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 255

www.annualreviews.org • Rheology of Slurries 257

Contents Volume 4, 2013

A Conversation with Andreas Acrivos

Progress in Reforming Chemical Engineering Education

Thin-Film Growth and Patterning Techniques for Small Molecular

Cumulative Index of Contributing Authors, Volumes 1–4 p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 319

An online log of corrections to Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

articles may be found at http://chembioeng.annualreviews.org/errata.shtml

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