Cannington Paste Plant

Measuring Task

Density determination of a solids slurry.

• Pipe diameter: 254 mm (10 inches)
• Pipe Material: Steel
• Solids: 60wt%
• Density: 1000 – 1700 kg/m3

Challenge

South32 wants to know how much slurry is going to the storage tank, and measure and control the density for improving and optimizing this stage of the process on their Cannington paste plant.

Instrument used

Solution

The Rhosonics Slurry Density Meter is a great choice to determine the density of slurry going to the storage tank. Additionally, together with the output of a magnetic flowmeter the mass flow can be calculated. Furthermore, by using ultrasonic technology the operation can run without using radiation sources.

Results

After four years of using the Slurry Density Meter in a very abrasive slurry stream, it is currently operating well, and the sensor is still in a good condition. Although due to a small interference of scaling, South32 thought that the sensor had to be replaced. However, it was not needed because the sensor surface was cleaned with sandpaper, which instantly helped the SDM operate well again.

Staff at the Cannington paste plant experienced several advantages of using the SDM. Such as, they did not have to register a nucleonic device to do the same duty and it is a simple and cost-effective solution.

• No special licenses
• Good accuracy
• Non-nuclear
• No end-of-life disposal costs
• Sampling is not needed
• Real-time and reliable measurements
• No restricted area

The density meter was installed in a very abrasive slurry stream as a trial and it has performed very reliably for us for four years. We are using it in an application where it really picks up the difference between water and a slurry with 60% solids, and it shows good accuracy. We are interested in trialing elsewhere in the plant as potential replacements for nucleonic density meters to see if we can remove the risks

Kevin Pery, South32

You can read the whole story in the case study. Click on the image below to download it.

Get in touch with Rhosonics for further information about chemical concentration or density control. If you want to learn more about our applications, then please also check our client cases and webinars.

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