Mutual impact of temperature and voltage on electro-osmotic dewatering process of mine tailings – a numerical study.

AbstractTemperature and voltage are critical operational parameters that significantly influence the efficiency of the electro-osmosis dewatering process. Despite their importance, there is a lack of comprehensive research to evaluate their combined effects on enhancing electro-osmotic dewatering process efficiency. In this study, mutual effects of temperature and voltage on electro-osmotic dewatering of tailings were investigated using numerical simulation. To validate the model, output data were compared with experimental results on thermal electro-osmotic dewatering of red mud. The results indicated that increase in temperature from 25 °C to 35 °C and 25 °C to 45 °C resulted in a 12% and 27% increase in electric current, and 25% and 50% increase in fluid outflow velocity, respectively. Additionally, electric current and fluid outflow velocity increased by about 50% and 100% for all considered temperatures when voltage increased from 10.5 V to 15.75 and 10.5 V to 21 V, respectively. Furthermore, the results proved that increase in temperature was more effective than voltage in enhancing Joule’s heating-induced dewatering. The study also revealed that increase in distance between electrodes by more than 1 m decreases the efficiency of electro-osmotic dewatering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]