Clarifiers flocculation

Floe Clumps of bacteria and particulate impurities or coagulants that have come together and formed a cluster. Found in aeration tanks and secondary clarifiers. Flocculation The process of forming floe particles when a chemical coagulant or... 

After the enzymatic treatment the juice can be clarified. Flocculation aids and fining aids (gelatine, silica sol, etc.) help to coagulate the cloudy substances and facilitate their separation by settling and filtration. Bentonites can be used to eliminate proteins and other cloudy substances. Filtration (Kieselgur precoat filtration with plate and frame filters, rotating vacuum filters, and sheet filters as police filters ) is used to produce a crystal clear juice. 

The natural process of bringing particles and polyelectrolytes together by Brownian motion, ie, perikinetic flocculation, often is assisted by orthokinetic flocculation which increases particle coUisions through the motion of the fluid and velocity gradients in the flow. This is the idea behind the use of in-line mixers or paddle-type flocculators in front of some separation equipment like gravity clarifiers. The rate of flocculation in clarifiers is also increased by recycling the floes to increase the rate of particle—particle coUisions through the increase in soUds concentration. 

Starch is a polysaccharide found in many plant species. Com and potatoes are two common sources of industrial starch. The composition of starch varies somewhat in terms of the amount of branching of the polymer chains (11). Its principal use as a flocculant is in the Bayer process for extracting aluminum from bauxite ore. The digestion of bauxite in sodium hydroxide solution produces a suspension of finely divided iron minerals and siUcates, called red mud, in a highly alkaline Hquor. Starch is used to settle the red mud so that relatively pure alumina can be produced from the clarified Hquor. It has been largely replaced by acryHc acid and acrylamide-based (11,12) polymers, although a number of plants stiH add some starch in addition to synthetic polymers to reduce the level of residual suspended soHds in the Hquor. Starch [9005-25-8] can be modified with various reagents to produce semisynthetic polymers. The principal one of these is cationic starch, which is used as a retention aid in paper production as a component of a dual system (13,14) or a microparticle system (15). 

Dilution. In many appHcations, dilution of the flocculant solution before it is mixed with the substrate stream can improve performance (12). The mechanism probably involves getting a more uniform distribution of the polymer molecules. Since the dosage needed to form floes is usually well below the adsorption maximum, a high local concentration is effectively removed from the system at that point, leaving no flocculant for the rest of the particles. A portion of the clarified overflow can be used for dilution so no extra water is added to the process. 

Orthokinetic flocculation is induced by the motion of the Hquid obtained, for example, by paddle stirring or any other means that produces shear within the suspension. Orthokinetic flocculation leads to exponential growth which is a function of shear rate and particle concentration. Large-scale one-pass clarifiers used in water installations employ orthokinetic flocculators before introducing the suspension into the settling tank (see Water,... 

The design of the sludge-blanket clarifiers used primarily in the water industry is based on the jar test and a simple measurement of the blanket expansion and settling rate (12). Different versions of the jar test exist, but essentially it consists of a bank of stirred beakers used as a series flocculator to optimize the flocculant addition that produces the maximum floc-setfling rate. Visual floc-size evaluation is usually included. 

Probably more relevant to the chemical industry is the scale-up of thickeners. Thickeners are basically gravity settling tanks that, apart from producing a clear overflow, are designed to have a thick underflow with as Htfle water content as possible. The feed into a thickener is generally more concentrated than the feed into a clarifier, and quite often exhibits zone-settling behavior because of the appHcation of flocculants. 

Clarifiers. The largest user of clarifiers is probably the water-treatment industry. The conventional one-pass clarifier uses horizontal flow in circular or rectangular vessels (Eig. 2) with feed at one end and overflow at the other. The feed is preflocculated in an orthokinetic (paddle) flocculator... 

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of a rectangular basin clarifier having an orthokinetic flocculator where the feed is mixed with a flocculant.

Fig. 3. The Dorrco Flocculator-Squarex clarifier combination (cross-flow arrangement) (a) plan and (b) sectional elevation.

The conventional one-pass clarifier is designed for the lowest specific overflow rate (flow per unit area of Hquid surface), which is usually 1—3 m/h depending on the degree of flocculation. These clarifiers can be started and stopped without difficulty. 

Design and operation of recirculation systems can be compHcated. Problems are avoided by using a sludge-blanket clarifier, in which feed enters below a blanket of accumulated and flocculated soflds which become fluidized in the zone-settling regime by the upflowing feed. Feed soflds are trapped in the blanket. The soflds content of the blanket continuously increases and part must be bled off in order to maintain the mass balance. 

Overflow from the first clarifier, typically a 20% BaS solution, is filtered and sent on to the precipitation department. Settling of soflds in the clarifiers can be enhanced by various flocculating agents (qv), preferably weakly anionic polyacrylamides (17). 

Sedimentation systems consist of a collection of components, each of which can be supplied in a number of variations. The basic components are the same, whether the system is for thickening or clarifying tank, drive-support structure, drive unit and lifting device, rake structure, feedwell, overflow arrangement, underflow arrangement, instrumentation, and flocculation facilities. 

Control philosophies for clarifiers are based on the idea that the overflow is the most important performance criterion. Underflow density or suspended sohds content is a consideration, as is optimal use of flocculation and pH control reagents. Automated controls are of three basic types (I) control loops that optimize coagulant, flocculant, and pH control reagent additions (2) those that regulate underflow removal and (3) rake drive controls. Equahzation of the feed is provided in some installations, but the clarifier feed is usually not a controlled variable with respect to the clarifier operation. 

Automated controls for flocciJating reagents can use a feedforward mode based on feed turbidity and feed volumetric rate, or a feed-back mode incorporating a streaming current detector on the flocculated feed. Attempts to control coagulant addition on the basis of overflow turbidity generally have been less successful. Control for pH has been accomplished by feed-forward modes on the feed pH and by feed-back modes on the basis of clarifier feedwell or external reaction tank pH. Control loops based on measurement of feedwell pH are useful for control in apphcations in which flocculated sohds are internaUy recirculated within the clarifier feedwell. 

Torque Rating The choice of torque rating has been discussed earlier. Torque is a function of such factors as quantity and quality of underflow (therefore, of such parameters as particle characteristics and flocculant dosage that affect underflow character), unit area, and rake speed but, in the final analysis, torque must be specified on the basis of experience modified by these factors. Unless one is experienced in a given apphcation, it is wise to consult a thickener or clarifier manufacturer. 

Points of Chemical Addition In independent physical-chemical treatment or in phosphate removal in the primary clarifier ahead of biological treatment, chemicals are added to raw sewage. In tertiary treatment for phosphate removal and suspended solids (SS) reduction, they are added to secondary effluent. In both cases, proper mixing and flocculation units are needed. For phosphate removal or improvement of SS capmre in biological secondary treatment, chemicals are often added directly to aeration units or prior to secondary settling units, without separate mixing and flocculation. In some phosphate removal applications coagulants are added at... 

---