Sedimentation clarifiers

Typical wastewater pretreatment systems at concentrate facility locations include hydroxide precipitation, filtration, resin bed/ion exchange, and clarifier sedimentation. Wastewater discharge at all facilities must meet the requirements of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), individual states, and the conditions outlined by local wastewater pretreatment ordinances. 

Centrifugation. Centrifugal devices include clarifiers for removal of sediment and extraneous particulates, and separators for removal of fat (cream) from milk (see SEPARATION, CENTRIFUGAL). 

Sedimentation equipment can be divided into batch-operated settling tanks and continuously operated thickeners or clarifiers. The operation of the former is simple. Whereas use has diminished, these are employed when small quantities of Hquids are to be treated, for example in the cleaning and reclamation of lubricating oil (see Recycling, oil). Most sedimentation processes are operated in continuous units. 

Viscosity. Sedimentation rate increases with decreased viscosity, )J., and viscosity is dependent on temperature. Often mineral oils, which are highly viscous at room temperature, have a viscosity that is reduced by a factor of 10 at 70—80°C. Tar, soHd at room temperature, is a low viscosity Hquid at 150—200°C and can be clarified of inorganic soHds at high flow rates. Even the viscosity of water changes significantly when the temperature changes between 10 and 35°C (10). 

Sedimentation Equipment. Centrifugal sedimentation equipment is usually characterized by limiting flow rates and theoretical settling capabihties. Feed rates in industrial appHcations may be dictated by Hquid handling capacities, separating capacities, or physical characteristics of the soHds. Sedimentation equipment performance is illustrated in Figure 8 on the basis of nominal clarified effluent flow rates and the appHcable values. The... 

Suspended Solids Removal. Depending on the concentration and characteristics of the suspended soflds, they can be removed by filtration, flotation, or sedimentation. Coarse soflds are removed by screening. Settleable suspended soflds are removed in a clarifier, which may be circular or rectangular. The efficiency of soflds removal is a function of the overflow rate (m /-d (gal/ft -d) as shown in Figure 5. 

A feed stream to be clarified or thickened can exist at any state represented within this diagram. As it becomes concentrated owing to sedimentation, it may pass through all the regimes, and the settling rate in any one may be the size-determining factor for the required equipment. 

Shoiild the particles have a tendency to cohere slightly during sedimentation, each sampling time, representing a different nominal detention time in the clarifier, will produce different suspended-sohds concentrations at similar rates. These data can be plotted as sets of cui ves of concentration versus settling rate for each detention time by the means just described. Scale-up will be similar, except that detention time will be a factor, and both depth and area of the clarifier will influence the results. In most cases, more than one combination of diameter and depth will be capable of producing the same clarification result. 

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. 

Consider the simple initial condition t = 0 where the sohd concentration (t),o is constant across the entire shiny domain ix < r < rb where / l and l b are, respectively, the radii of the shiny surface and the bowl. At a later time t > 0, three layers coexist the top clarified layer, a middle shiny layer, and a bottom sediment layer. The air-liquid interface remains stationaiy at radius / l, while the hqiiid-slurry interface with radius i expands radiaUy outward, with t with i given by ... 

Knife-Discbarge Centrifugal Clarifiers Knife-discharge centrifuges with solid instead of perforated bowls are used as sedimenting... 

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