Mine water treatment remains a long-term challenge due to high suspended solids, wide particle size distributions, and inflow variability, all of which stress solid–liquid separation systems. Hydrocyclones and filtration often fail not from insufficient capacity, but from the inability to handle dynamic influent behavior. This review integrates existing studies and reinterprets mine water treatment as a system performance issue, focusing on maintaining operability under fluctuating conditions. Evidence shows that high-solids mine water behaves as a concentrated multiphase flow, where particle interactions and flow changes lead to gradual shifts in separation behavior. For example, hydrocyclone efficiency ranges from 85 to 95%, and pressure drop increases by 0.5–5 kPa/h under continuous operation. Wear, clogging, and flow redistribution develop together, impacting the operational window of integrated treatment units. Key gaps remain in system performance under fluctuating loads and reliable performance under high-solids loading. The complexity of these interactions often leads to significant operational risk and performance variability in real-world conditions. Future research should focus on dynamic control strategies, multi-stage pre-separation, and advanced filtration designs to enhance system performance, long-term stability, and adaptability in real mining environments. Emerging technologies and new system configurations may further improve efficiency and reduce operational failure risks under extreme conditions.
Xiao et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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