Abstract

PEREZ GARCIA, Liudmila; GARCELL PUYANS, Leonel R.  and  HERNANDEZ RAMIREZ, Gabriel. Relative viscosity model which describes the rheological behavior of lateritic suspensions. RTQ [online]. 2020, vol.40, n.2, pp. 356-375.  Epub Apr 30, 2020. ISSN 2224-6185.

ABSTRACT The raw pulp of lateritic ore, the main raw material in the Cuban nickel industry, has non-Newtonian characteristics due to their physicochemical properties and the solids content required for industrial processing; causing transportation problems and settling their high viscosity. Predicting their rheological behavior is a complex task, given the variability of the mineral fed to the process; strain rate, solids content, stability index number: For this reason, work a semi-empirical mathematical model to establish a quantitative relationship between the main factors that determine the rheological behavior of lateritic suspensions, such as obtained mineral and polydispersity coefficient (parameter obtained from an empirical mathematical model, also proposed in this paper, which describes the distribution of particle size in suspension). The relative viscosity model obtained, valid in the domain of the Pressure Acid Leaching process operation (LAP), provides predictive possibilities of the rheological characteristics of the limonitic pulps for different operating conditions.

Keywords : rheology; laterite suspensions; particle size distribution; relative viscosity model.

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