A slurry composed of glass beads in silicone oil flowing down an inclined plane.

A slurry is a thin sloppy mud or cement or, in extended use, any fluid mixture of a pulverized solid with a liquid (usually water), often used as a convenient way of handling solids in bulk^[1]. Slurries behave in some ways like thick fluids, flowing under gravity and being capable of being pumped if not too thick.

Examples of slurries[link]

Examples of slurries include:

• Cement slurry, a mixture of cement, water, and assorted dry and liquid additives used in the petroleum and other industries^[2]
• Soil/cement slurry, also called Controlled Low-Strength Material (CLSM), flowable fill, controlled density fill, flowable mortar, plastic soil-cement, K-Krete, and other names^[3]
• A mixture of thickening agent, oxidizers, and water used to form a gel explosive^{[citation needed]}
• A mixture of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water produced in a volcanic eruption and known as a lahar
• A mixture of bentonite and water used to make slurry walls
• Coal slurry, a mixture of coal waste and water, or crushed coal and water^[4]
• A mixture of wood pulp and water used to make paper
• A mixture of animal waste, organic matter, and sometimes water known simply as "slurry" in agricultural use, used as fertilizer after ageing in a slurry pit
• Meat slurry, a mixture of finely ground meat and water, centrifugally dewatered and used as food
• An abrasive substance used in chemical-mechanical polishing
• Slurry ice, a mixture of ice crystals, freezing point depressant, and water
• A mixture of raw materials and water involved in the rawmill manufacture of Portland cement
• A mixture of minerals, water, and additives used in the manufacture of ceramics

Slurry calculations[link]

Determining solids fraction[link]

To determine the percent solids (or solids fraction) of a slurry from the density of the slurry, solids and liquid^[5]

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl}=\frac{\rho_{s}(\rho_{sl} - \rho_{l})}{\rho_{sl}(\rho_{s} - \rho_{l})}

where

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl}

is the solids fraction of the slurry

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \rho_{s}

 is the solids density

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \rho_{sl}

 is the slurry density

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \rho_{l}

 is the liquid density

In aqueous slurries, as is common in mineral processing, the specific gravity of the species is typically used, and since Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): SG_{water}

is taken to be 1, this relation is typically written:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl}=\frac{\rho_{s}(\rho_{sl} - 1)}{\rho_{sl}(\rho_{s} - 1)}

even though specific gravity with units tons/m^3 is used instead of the SI density unit, kg/m^3.

Liquid mass from mass fraction of solids[link]

To determine the mass of liquid in a sample given the mass of solids and the mass fraction: By definition

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl}=\frac{M_{s}}{M_{sl}}

• 100

therefore

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{sl}=\frac{M_{s}}{\phi_{sl}}

and

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{s}+M_{l}=\frac{M_{s}}{\phi_{sl}}

then

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{l}=\frac{M_{s}}{\phi_{sl}}-M_{s}

and therefore

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{l}=\frac{1-\phi_{sl}}{\phi_{sl}}M_{s}

where

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl}

is the solids fraction of the slurry

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{s}

is the mass or mass flow of solids in the sample or stream

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{sl}

is the mass or mass flow of slurry in the sample or stream

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{l}

is the mass or mass flow of liquid in the sample or stream

Volumetric fraction from mass fraction[link]

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,m}=\frac{M_{s}}{M_{sl}}

Equivalently

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,v}=\frac{V_{s}}{V_{sl}}

and in a minerals processing context where the specific gravity of the liquid (water) is taken to be one:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,v}=\frac{\frac{M_{s}}{SG_{s}}}{\frac{M_{s}}{SG_{s}}+\frac{M_{l}}{1}}

So

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,v}=\frac{M_{s}}{M_{s}+M_{l}SG_{s}}

and

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,v}=\frac{1}{1+\frac{M_{l}SG_{s}}{M_{s}}}

Then combining with the first equation:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,v}=\frac{1}{1+\frac{M_{l}SG_{s}}{\phi_{sl,m}M_{s}}\frac{M_{s}}{M_{s}+M_{l}}}

So

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,v}=\frac{1}{1+\frac{SG_{s}}{\phi_{sl,m}}\frac{M_{l}}{M_{s}+M_{l}}}

Then since

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,m}=\frac{M_{s}}{M_{s}+M_{l}}=1-\frac{M_{l}}{M_{s}+M_{l}}

we conclude that

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,v}=\frac{1}{1+SG_{s}(\frac{1}{\phi_{sl,m}}-1)}

where

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,v}

is the solids fraction of the slurry on a volumetric basis

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi_{sl,m}

is the solids fraction of the slurry on a mass basis

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{s}

is the mass or mass flow of solids in the sample or stream

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{sl}

is the mass or mass flow of slurry in the sample or stream

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M_{l}

is the mass or mass flow of liquid in the sample or stream

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): SG_{s}

is the bulk specific gravity of the solids

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Slurry

Look up slurry in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Slurry pipeline
• Slurry Transport

References[link]