SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G.

Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.1
Table 7-1. Four Stages of Solid Liquid Separations
PRETREATMENT To increase particle size, reduce viscosity.

CHEMICAL PHYSICAL
coagulation crystallization freezing/heating
flocculation aging filteraid admix
SOLIDS To reduce the volume of material to process.
CONCENTRATION
CLARIFICATION THICKENING
gravity sedimentation gravity sedimentation cyclones
cross flow filtration periodic pressure filters
SOLIDS To separate the solids from the liquid; to form cakes of dry solids or to produce
SEPARATION particulate free liquid.

CLARIFICATION FILTRATION CENTRIFUGATION

granular bed vacuum sedimenting centrifuge
precoat drum gravity filtering centrifuge
pressure cyclone
expression
POST TREATMENT To remove solubles, remove moisture, reduce cake porosity, or prepare material
for downstream processes.
PHYSICAL
washing repulping
drying deliquoring

Table 7-3. Pretreatment techniques.

Act Upon Treatment Technique Effect
Liquid Heating Reduce viscosity (reduce
resistance to flow, cake moisture)
Dilution with solvent Reduce viscosity

Degassing by chemical additive Prevents bubbles from forming

Solid particles Coagulation by chemical Destabilize colloidal suspensions,
additives allow particles to agglomerate.

Flocculation by shear forces Micro-flocs agglomerate into

Solids concentration
Solid-liquid interaction
larger flocs.
Ageing Size of crystals increase.
Increase concentration with a Rate of filtration increased,
thickener reduced load on filter
Classify to eliminate files Filtration rate increased and
reduced moister content.
Filter Aid body feed More porous cake, faster
filtration rate, but thicker cake
Heat treatment/pressure cooking Physical conditioning of sludge
Freeze/thaw to induce coagulation and
Ultrasonics flocculation.
Ionized radiation Reduce interfacial surface
Wetting agents tension, improve drainage and
decrease moisture content.

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SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G. Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.2

Table 7-2. Effect of concentrating a slurry on the volume.

Step Solids Volume Volume Volume % Liquid Volume of
Volume Solids Liquid Liquid Removed Mixture
% In Removed from Feed (After
Mixture Treatment)
Feed 1 1 99 0 0 100

Thickener 10 1 9 90 90/99 = 10
90.9
Filter 25 1 3 6 6/99 = 4
6.1
Deliquoring 50 1 1 2 2/99 = 2
2.0
Hence, you can see that even though the thickener only concentrated the solids from 1 to 10%, 91% of the
liquid was removed and the mixture yet to be treated was only 10% of the volume of the original feed.

Filter

Costs
Thickener

Size
Figure 7-1. Relative costs of filters and thickeners as related to size.

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SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G. Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.4
Table 7-3. Comparison of Forces Used in SLS.

Gravity Simple
Low Operating Cost
Very Bulky
Still High Volume of Liquid After Separation

Vacuum Vacuum is Easy to Produce

Effective up to ∆P of about 0.8 atm
Improved Rates Over Gravity
Equipment is Simple, But Bulky and Expensive
Compared to Pressure Filters, Output is Low
Moisture Content of Cake May Be High
Volatile Liquids Difficult to Handle

Pressure Greater Ouput Per Unit Area

Smaller Equipment, Low Cake Moisture Content
Difficult to Continuously Discharge Cake
Equipment is Expensive, High Operating Costs

Centrifugal Maximum Separating Forces (High-Gravity)

Construction is simple for Cyclones:
-Compact, Low Operating Costs
-Efficiently Falls for Particles <10µm
Centrifuges Have Longer Residence Time:
-More Efficient, Even for Fine Particles
-High Throughputs
-Low Residual Moisture

Other Sonic, Electrokinetic

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 SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G. Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.5

Electrical Low Concentration

Field Slurry, Little
Surrounding Particle-Particle
the particles Contact

High Concentration
Mixture (Low
Porosity)
With Significant
Particle-Particle
Contact

Figure 7-2. Particle contact as a function of concentration. Surface charges and electrostatic
forces can keep particles separated, requiring compressive forces to push particles together.

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SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G. Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.6

Zeta Potential versus pH

10
5 loose-unglued sand run 1
loose-unglued sand run 2
0
loose-unglued sand run 3
-5 0 5 10 15
ZP (mV)

loose-unglued sand run 4

-10 loose-unglued sand run 5
-15 loose-unglued sand run 6
-20 crushed-glued sand run 7
crushed-glued sand run 8
-25
crushed-glued sand run 9
-30
crushed-glued sand run 10
-35
pH
Figure 7-3. Measured zeta potentials for sand particles with and without glue (the glue is used to hold the
sand particles together in a sand cartridge). (H. Patel, Characterization of Consolidated Sand Cartridge
Filter, Thesis, The University of Akron, 2001).

10.0

0.0

-10.0
Zeta Potential [mV]

-20.0

-30.0

-40.0

-50.0

-60.0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
pH

Kaolinite - 0 M Halloysite - 0 M Illite - 0 M

Kaolinite - 0.14 M Halloysite - 0.14 M Illite - 0.14 M

Figure 7-4. Zeta potential measurements for Kaolinite, Halloysite and Illite Clayes in 0
M and 0.14 M NaCl solution. (E. A. Stephan, Examination of Deep Bed Filtration,
Dissertation, The University of Akron, 1999).

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SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G. Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.7
1

0.9

0.8
Grade E Carbonyl Iron
Kaolin
0.7
Porosity

Latex
Talc
0.6
Supercel
Fine Silica
0.5

0.4

0.3
1 10 100 1000 10000
Applied Compressive Stress, kPa

Figure 7-3. Compressibility of packed beds of selected materials (H.P. Grace, “Resistance and
Compressibility of Filter Cakes (Part I and II), Chem. Eng. Prog., 49, 303-318, 367-377, 1953).

THICKENER
0.8

GRAVITY FILTER

0.6 VACUUM FILTER

Porosity

PRESSURE FILTER
0.4
CENTRIFUGE

EXPRESSION
0.2
PARTICLE
DEFORMATION

0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Compressive Stress, ATM

Figure 7-6. Compressive Stress relation to separation operation. (F. Tiller and W. Li, Theory and
Practice of Solid/Liquid Separation, 4th ed., University of Houston, 2002.

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SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G. Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.8
Table 7-5. Filter Selection Chart. (data from D.B. Purchas, Solid/Liquid Separation Technology, Uplands
Press, Croydon, 1981).
TYPICAL OPERATING RANGE PERFORMANCE
Filter SCORE 0 TO 9
(9 IS BEST)
% (mass) OF PARTICLE SIZE

CAKE DRYNESS

PERFORMANCE
WASH

CLARITY
FILTRATE

BREAKAGE
CRYSTAL
SOLIDS IN OF SOLIDS,
THE FEED MICRONS

LEAF 0.01 – 1 0.5 TO 500 5-6 6 7-8 8

PLATE 0.001 – 0.1 0.5 – 100 5 8 8-9 8

CANDLE/PRECOAT 0.001 - 0.1 0.5 - 200 5 7 7-8 8

CARTRIDGE 0.001 – 0.1 0.5 – 80 5 7 7-9 8

FILTER PRESS 0.001 – 50 1 – 100 6-7 7 7-8 8

SHEET FILTER 0.001 – 1 0.1 – 80 5-6 7 8-9 -

STRAINER 0.001 – 0.05 5 – 500 - - 7 -

VACUUM DRUM 2 – 90 1 –500 4-5 7 7-8 8

VACUUM DRUM WITH 0.005 – 0.2 0.5 – 100 - - 8 -

PRECOAT
VACUUM DISC 2 – 90 1 – 500 2-3 2 6 8

BAND, PAN, TABLE 5 – 90 5 – 100,000 5-7 9 7 8

WATER SCREEN 0.001 – 0.1 20 – 100,000 - - 6 -

DEEP BED 0.001 – 0.1 0.1 – 80 - - 7-9 -

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SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G. Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.9
Table 7-6. Centrifuge Selection Chart (data from D.B. Purchas, Solid/Liquid Separation Technology,
Uplands Press, Croydon, 1981).

TYPICAL OPERATING RANGE PERFORMANCE

Centrifuge SCORE 0 TO 9
(9 IS BEST)
% (mass) OF PARTICLE SIZE

CAKE DRYNESS

PERFORMANCE
WASH

CLARITY
FILTRATE

BREAKAGE
CRYSTAL
SOLIDS IN OF SOLIDS,
THE FEED MICRONS

PUSHER 8 – 90 50 – 80,000 9 5 4 4

PEELER/SCRAPER 5 – 80 2 – 20,000 9 6 5 5

WORM SCREEN 3 – 90 100 – 20,000 9 5 4 4

OSCILLATING SCREEN 3 – 90 100 – 30,000 7-9 5 4 3

BASKET 2 –80 2 – 20,000 9 6 5 6

CONICAL SCREEN 5 – 90 100 – 20,000 7 - 5 7

SCREEN BOWL 2 – 70 90 – 20,000 6 5 4 5

DECANTER 2 – 70 1 – 20,000 4 3 4 -

TUBULAR BOWL 0.01 – 1 0.1 – 100 - - 6-7 -

DISC (MANUAL) 0.003 –0.08 0.1 – 100 3 - 6-7 -

DISC (SELF CLEANING) 0.02 – 2 0.1 – 100 3 - 6-7 -

NOZZLE BOWL 0.05 – 5 0.1 – 100 3 - 6-7 -

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SOLIDS PROCESSING HANDOUTS, George G. Chase, The University of Akron

HANDOUT 7.10
Table 7-7. Selection based on cake formation rate (F. Tiller, Chem. Eng. Progr. Oct. 1977, 65-76).
Cake Formation Rate (rate at Separation type Equipment
which cake height grows in a
gravity filter).
0.1 to 10 cm/sec Rapid Filtering Gravity pans; screens; horizontal
belt or top-feed drum filter;
continuous feed pusher centrifuge
0.1 to 10 cm/min Medium Filtering Vacuum drum, disc, horizontal
belt, pan filters, peeler centrifuge
0.1 to 10 cm/hr Slow Filtering Pressure filters, disc and tubular
centrifuges, sedimenting
centrifuges
Negligible cake Clarification Cartridges, granular beds, precoat
drums, filter aid admix