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MWS Equipment launches Hydropure thickener to boost water recovery

MWS Equipment has released the Hydropure thickener range, which the company says is designed to maximize water recovery while minimizing the use of tailing dams.

The primary goal of the Hydropure thickener is to recycle as much water as possible at the point of use ready for feeding back to the wash plant.

The MWS Equipment range of thickeners come in a variety of diameters of six, eight, 10 and 12 metres. They are designed to handle various flow rates from 180 to 650 m³/hour of slurry and process up to 40 tph of solids.

A well-designed thickener system can recycle up to 90 per cent of the original feedwater supplied to the plant, reducing the amount of “fresh” water required. This reduces the need for large surface area settling ponds.

Photo: MWS Equipment

How it works

The cyclone overflow (waste slurry) from the wash plant is directed to the Hydropure thickener where an anti-turbulence feed chamber adds a small amount of flocculant to the waste stream.

This flocculant, prepared in a dedicated make up station, is used to combine the small particles together into larger sizes. These larger size particles then sink to the bottom of the Hydropure Thickener, allowing the clean water to flow over the weir into the clarified water tank, for direct reuse within the wash plant.

The particles that settle in the tank are collected in a lower cone section where they can be pumped from the thickener. The Hydropure is fitted with a centrifugal pump, which is used to pump this waste sludge out of the thickener. This can either be to a settling pond or sludge holding tank for further processing by a filter press or similar.

The system is controlled from either a dedicated standalone PLC system or it can be combined into the controls of the MWS Equipment wash plant.