A Production Investigation into Mud Dryness using an On-Line Moisture Analyser, 2010 TAPPI/PAPTAC International Chemical Recovery Conference

Please Note: This document will be available in PDF format in the "My Electronic Documents" link on the home page once your order has been completed. Please make sure you have the latest version of Acrobat Reader. Click on the Acrobat Reader icon to check for the latest version, it’s FREE. To print a hardcopy of a PDF file correctly you must have a postscript printer. If you are not sure if your printer is a postscript printer please refer to your owner’s manual.

An investigation was conducted to determine the accuracy and relevance of manual operator led mud moisture testing on the mud filter supplying feed to a lime kiln at CHH Kinleith. The investigation found that routine sampling at 4 hourly intervals gave random results that did not reflect the true performance of the mud filter over the same time frame. A real-time mud moisture analyser was installed to monitor the variability of dry mud solids. It became apparent that the mud dry solids can change relatively quickly, sometimes within minutes. Trials using the analyser have identified factors that would both increase dry mud solids and reduce the variability. Over a period of 12 months, dry solids were raised from 71% to 75%. After 2 years of operation, no further feed end blockages have occurred since installation of the analyser. Using the analyser trend, it is possible to trouble-shoot and determine what factors are giving rise to poor dry mud solids including elevated mud circuit silica levels, low mud temperature and poor equipment performance