Computational fluid dynamics investigation of bitumen residues in oil sands tailings transport in an industrial horizontal pipe

Pipeline transport is commonly used in the oil sand industry to convey crushed ores and tailings. Bitumen residues tailings can be a threat environment that separating them from before disposal crucial. However, low bitumen concentration tailing slurry complex characteristics of four-phase mixture make process difficult. This study establishes an Eulerian–Eulerian (E–E) computational fluid dynamics model for industrial-scale pipeline. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis was conducted on selection carrier-solid solid-bitumen drag models. The combination small large particle sizes (i.e., 75 700 μm) droplet size 400 provided good agreement with field data velocity profiles pressure drop. validated subsequently extended investigate influence secondary phase droplets bubbles) flow investigation covered range (100–400 μm), fraction (0.0025–0.1), bubble (5–1000 (0.0025–0.3) their influences velocity, solids, distribution are revealed. For optimum 500 μm, maximum recovery 59% top 50% 83% 75% pipe cross section obtained. present demonstrates preferential provides valuable insight into