Utilization of temperature heat adsorption skin temperature as scale control reagent driver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017037493-A1
Application number	US-201615332795-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 24, 2016
Priority date	Jul 26, 2013
Publication date	Feb 9, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention provides methods, compositions, and apparatuses for preventing the formation of scale in heap leach process solution distribution systems comprised of piping, spray nozzels, or emitter tubes. Solution distribution system components often become fouled by scale because of local hot spots more prone to form scale than other locations along the systems length. Positioning sensors that detect periods of high temperature stress and adjusting scale control reagent dosage to send the right amount to inhibit hot spot deposition allows for the control of scale without using wasteful excessive amounts of scale control reagents. This can vastly improve scale control performance under high temperature stress conditions while minimizing scale control reagent waste under less severe stress conditions to reduce the total operating cost of running heap leach mining operations which depend upon well-functioning solution distribution systems

First claim

1 . A process solution distribution system comprising:
a pump disposed and adapted to distribute a scale control reagent to at least a portion of the process distribution system in response to a measured or calculated temperature; emitter tubing in fluid communication with the pump and exposed to weather and direct sunlight; optional piping in fluid communication with the pump and the emitter tubing; a section of tubing located within 1000 feet of the pump, the section of tubing comprising the same materials as the emitter tubing, the section of tubing characterized as not being in fluid communication with the pump or emitter tubing; a sensor affixed to the section of tubing, the sensor adapted to measure or calculate the measured or calculated temperature; and optionally at least one additional sensor.

2 . The process solution distribution system of claim 1 wherein the sensor is selected from the list consisting of: thermocouple, resistive temperature device, infrared detector, bimetallic device, liquid expansion device, and any combination thereof.

3 . The process solution distribution system of claim 1 wherein the sensor is an optical sensor constructed and arranged to measure sunlight intensity, further wherein the temperature is calculated to correspond to a temperature at one or more localized locations along the emitter tubing, the piping, or both.

4 . The process solution distribution system of claim 1 wherein the pump is adapted to automatically adjust the amount of scale control reagent distributed based on the measured or calculated temperature.

5 . The process solution distribution system of claim 1 further comprising one or more nozzles.

6 . The process solution distribution system of claim 1 further comprising a process solution contained within the emitter tubing, the piping, or both the emitter tubing and the piping.

7 . The process solution distribution system of claim 6 wherein the process solution is a barren solution or a lean pregnant solution.

8 . The process solution distribution system of claim 6 wherein the measured or calculated temperature is a temperature that exceeds the threshold for scale formation within the process solution distribution system.

9 . The process solution distribution system of claim 1 wherein the emitter tubes and optional piping define a plurality of discrete regions, wherein each discrete region is capable of having different surface temperatures; and wherein the pump is adapted to distribute scale control reagent to a selected discrete region.

10 . The process solution distribution system of claim 9 further comprising a process solution contained within the emitter tubing, the piping, or both the emitter tubing and the piping, wherein the selected discrete region comprises a surface temperature in excess of the threshold for scale formation within the process solution distribution system.

11 . A heap leach mining operation comprising:
a heap of mineral containing ore; the process solution distribution system of claim 1 positioned and adapted to distribute a process solution to the heap; and a process solution contained within the process distribution system.

12 . The heap leach mining operation of claim 11 wherein the process solution is a barren solution or a lean pregnant solution.

13 . The heap leach mining operation of claim 11 wherein the mineral containing ore comprises gold, silver, uranium, or a rare earth metal.

Assignees

• Ecolab Usa Inc

Inventors

• Coleman Kim R
• Arndt Rolf

Classifications

• C22B3/44

  by chemical processes (treatment or purification of solutions by liquid-liquid extraction C22B3/26, by ion-exchange extraction C22B3/42) · CPC title

• C22B3/20

  Treatment or purification of solutions, e.g. obtained by leaching (C22B3/18 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C22B60/0221 Primary

  by leaching · CPC title

• B05B9/04

  with pressurised or compressible container (aerosol containers B65D83/14); with pump · CPC title

• C22B3/04 Primary

  by leaching (C22B3/18 takes precedence) · CPC title