Evaporation

Disposal of excess water after periods of heavy rain and liquid waste from operations can be an expensive process. Evaporation of the liquid can help to dewater pits to help get them up and running again, or reduce the weight and volume of the waste for disposal.

A common method for increasing evaporation rate is spraying the liquid into very fine droplets up into the air, dispersed over a large area to present the largest surface area, longest hang time and least saturated environment for the evaporation to take place.

If evaporation can be set up to occur over a dam or the water supply, floating evaporators or evaporation cannons can be set up to run as long as there is water in the dam. For dewatering applications, the water is often pumped through a pipeline, sometimes kilometres long, with a number of speciality atomising nozzles spaced along the pipe. In the image above, the waste water is also being used to assist with dust suppression on a conveyor and coal stockpile.

Application