Rheological Characterization of a Concentrated Phosphate Slurry

Phosphate ore slurry is a suspension of insoluble particles of phosphate rock, the primary raw material for fertilizer and phosphoric acid, in a continuous phase of water. This suspension has a non-Newtonian flow behavior and exhibits yield stress as the shear rate tends toward zero. The suspended particles in the present study were assumed to be noncolloidal. Various grades and phosphate ore concentrations were chosen for this rheological investigation. We created some experimental protocols to determine the main characteristics of these complex fluids and established relevant rheological models with a view to simulate the numerical flow in a cylindrical pipeline. Rheograms of these slurries were obtained using a rotational rheometer and were accurately modeled with commonly used yield-pseudoplastic models. The results show that the concentration of solids in a solid–liquid mixture could be increased while maintaining a desired apparent viscosity. Finally, the design equations for the laminar pipe flow of yield pseudoplastics were investigated to highlight the role of rheological studies in this context.