The mining sector uses large amounts of water for mining activities and needs to recover and reuse this water. This process is delicate and complex: during drilling, water comes into contact with soil, stone and mud, which gives it a very high density. The slurry reaches a density between 1.7 and 2 tons per cubic meter, requiring a specially designed vertical agitator to homogenize mud.
Our client, a major mining hub in Chile, presented us with another challenge: the drilling mud storage tank had a volume of 400m3, almost double the volume of a standard plant.
Large volumes combined with a high-density slurry: this challenge required all PRO-DO-MIX’s experience in vertical agitator design and sizing. Keeping such dense sludge and large volumes homogeneous isnt’easy. You have to start by selecting the most suitable impeller, defining the size, number of revolutions (rpm) and motor power. And finally, choose the most suitable materials.
We have created a vertical agitator of considerable power, capable of working under severe conditions. The drive unit has a 90kW motor and a parallel axis gearbox of the industrial series, capable of supporting the high loads generated by the impeller and able to work during the filling and emptying of the liquid inside the tank. The exceptional shaft length of 9.5 meters required careful sizing by our engineering department, using finite element analysis (F.E.M.) software to guarantee the effectiveness of the process and the strength of the machine itself.
The size of the shaft also forced the decision to split it into two parts, to facilitate transport, installation and maintenance operations.
Are you looking for a customized solution in the sector of water reclamation in mining, excavation, quarries and tunnels? You can count on the experience and success stories of PRO-DO-MIX.
