Optimization of a wastewater treatment system for the mining industry

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The project aims at optimizing a wastewater treatment system, named Mudwizard®, developed by Technosub. This technology is currently used as a pumping and dewatering solution for the mining industry, which prevents the pumping of large amount of mud to the surface. The system is composed of three main parts, the dissolver, the mixer and the settling tank, all designed on a trial and error basis. The dissolver is a sludge flocculation system containing pucks to accelerate the separation of solid particles and liquid water. The separation then continues in the mixer and dissolver resulting in the separation of about 500 gallons per minute of wastewater. A combined experimental and numerical approach is proposed here to optimize these three components for a wide range of operating conditions (temperature, pH, flowrate and type of puck). One experimental set-up will be developed at Université de Sherbrooke and the results compared to both numerical simulations and on-site measurements in LaRonde gold mine. This will lead to the optimization of both the process and the system in terms of geometry and operating conditions. The budget of this 3-year project is 240 k$ and will enable to recruit three full-time master students, one part-time research assistant and one bachelor intern. The success of this project will improve the economic potential and environmental impact of Technosub. More generally, it will reduce the environmental impact of the Canadian mining industry by more properly managing wastewater and so preventing water and soil pollution.