In back-fill mining, how to rapidly increase the concentration of tailings is an important problem facing mining engineers. In this paper, the effects of ultrasound frequency (17-25 kHz), power (50-100 W), duration (5-20 min) and start time (3-12 min) on the final underflow concentration (FUC) of unclassified tailings (UTs) were investigated. The flocculation-sedimentation and thickening of tailings were compared with and without ultrasound application. The response surface method was applied to analyze the primary and secondary relationships and interactive relationships between the various ultrasound operating parameters and the FUC, and the optimal conditions were determined. In addition, Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (E-SEM) was used to analyze the structural changes of underflow aggregates and clearly demonstrated a denser underflow after ultrasound treatment. The results indicated that ultrasound can significantly improve the underflow concentration of the UTs slurry. The frequency and power are the most important influencing factors. The best conditions for ultrasound application are a frequency of 20.4 kHz, power of 90 W, duration of 6.2 min and start time at 15.0 min. The FUC reached 71.75% after several minutes of sonication, which is 4.31% higher than the FUC of free flocculation. The results of E-SEM analysis showed significant differences among the microstructures of settled tailings (STs) after free flocculation and 17 and 20 kHz ultrasound treatment. Ultrasound at a frequency of 20 kHz has a more effective mechanical vibration and cavitation action and can therefore effectively break the polymer flocculant chains into shorter chains and promote the compaction of tailings and the release of water. The size distributions of the flocs before and after sonication also support this conclusion.
Keywords: Flocculant; Microstructure; Sedimentation; Thickening; Ultrasound; Unclassified tailings.
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