Abstract:
Sand and liquid that are stored within a hopper are pulled together along a trough by a set of discs that are attached to and rotate about a shaft. The trough is configured to allow the liquid to flow downwards as the sand is compacted and elevated. The discs conform to a part of the surface of the trough with enough space to allow the liquid to flow around it. This allows dry sand to exit the trough and retains the liquid in the hopper. The discs are rotated on the shaft by a belt and motor.
Abstract:
Methods for drying oil sand fine tailings treated to comprise flocculated fine tailings, by deposition and farming techniques, are provided. A deposition cell is provided with a sloped bottom surface and the flocculated fine tailings are deposited to undergo channelless advancement in the cell while allowing drainage of release water. When the deposit is uneven, the deposit may be plowed while wet for spreading and ensuring water release conditioning is imparted thereto, while avoiding over-shearing, and maintaining sufficient shear strength to allow standing. Once a dried upper crust forms, the deposit may be harrowed to break up the crust, expose wet regions there-beneath and create furrows in the standing deposit. The methods improve the dewatering and drying of mature fine tailings in oil sands.
Abstract:
A moisture indicator in an air flow drying process where hot gas is circulated over and around a granular material having an undesirable amount of moisture includes a detector located in the path of the exhaust gas to determine exhaust flow temperature, a valve control device associated with the temperature detector to control the percentage of hydrocarbon gas in the hot gas intake and an indicator connected to the valve control device. A display is associated with the indicator to display the percentage of hydrocarbon gas in the gas intake which indicates the amount of moisture in the granular material. The percentage of hydrocarbon gas needed in the intake is inversely proportional to the amount of moisture in the granular material. The percentage signals the loader operator whether the granular material loaded has an acceptable amount of moisture for successful operation of the drying process.
Abstract:
A method for supplying dry sand for spreading on road surfaces in freezing temperatures in a condition in which the sand remains fluid in freezing temperatures without the addition of salt includes the steps of drying the sand by providing a naturally occurring bed of the sand having an upper surface of the bed exposed to sunlight; planting on the upper surface a covering crop of a type such as alfalfa having deep roots which extend through the whole bed up to thirty feet deep in search of a water table below the bed and growing the crop for a period of time sufficient to allow the roots to penetrate the bed and to extract moisture from the bed to dry the sand in the bed. The dry sand is extracted from the bed and stored temporarily in a closed storage which prevents the re-introduction of moisture for subsequent use on road surfaces without the necessity of salt to keep the sand fluid for spreading.
Abstract:
Pourable material is introduced into the upper end of a tank and moves downwardly about a centrally arranged feed pipe perforated along its length for introducing a gaseous medium into the material, and the material is removed from the bottom of the tank. Horizontally arranged, vertically spaced ring discs are located outwardly from the feed pipe and inwardly from the tank so that the downwardly moving pourable material enters between adjacent ring discs and forms a frusto-conically shaped layer of material. By varying the cross sectional size of the openings in the feed pipe and/or varying the size and/or spacing of the ring discs the treatment of the pourable material by the gaseous medium can be varied.