Separator sizing

In summary, separator sizing is determined by 3 main factors... 

Flow Sheets. AH minerals processing operations function on the basis of a flow sheet depicting the flow of soHds and Hquids in the entire plant (6,13,14). The complexity of a flow sheet depends on the nature of the ore treated and the specifications for the final product. The basic operations in a flow sheet are size reduction (qv) (comminution) and/or size separation (see Separation, size), minerals separation, soHd—Hquid separation, and materials handling. The overaH flow sheet depends on whether the specification for the final mineral product is size, chemical composition, ie, grade, or both. Products from a quarry, for example, may have a size specification only, whereas metal concentrates have a grade specification. 

Sizing of the cmshed and ground product is a necessary step prior to any mineral processing operation, and in the production of a product having a specific size. Controlling the size of material fed to other equipment is important. AH equipment has an optimum size range of material that it can handle most efficiently. Size separation can be achieved either by screening (for coarser particles) or by classification (for fines) (see also Separation, size). 

Fig. 4. Typical separation sizes of the basic screen types (6).

The products are an oversize (underflow, heavies, sands) and an undersize (overflow, lights, slimes). An intermediate size can also be produced by varying the effective separating force. Separation size maybe defined either as a specific size in the overflow screen analysis, eg, 5% retained on 65 mesh screen or 45% passing 200 mesh screen, or as a d Q, defined as a cut-off or separation size at which 50% of the particles report to the oversize or undersize. The efficiency of a classifier is represented by a performance or partition curve (2,6), similar to that used for screens, which relates the particle size to the percentage of each size in the feed that reports to the underflow. 

In sohd—sohd separation, the soHds are separated iato fractions according to size, density, shape, or other particle property (see Size reduction). Sedimentation is also used for size separation, ie, classification of soHds (see Separation, size separation). One of the simplest ways to remove the coarse or dense soHds from a feed suspension is by sedimentation. Successive decantation ia a batch system produces closely controUed size fractions of the product. Generally, however, particle classification by sedimentation does not give sharp separation (see Size MEASUREMENT OF PARTICLES). 

Centrifugal separation, Magnetic separation, Size separation. 

Ideally, the chance of a spherical particle having diameter t passing through an opening would be zero for all particles of relative size djb > 1 and one for all particles of relative size djb < 1. A plot of the probabiUty-of-passing vs size (Fig. 1, curve D) is a step function, and the separation size, so-called cut size, is d/b = 1. A perfect separation is one where all particles of size less than the cut size pass and all particles of size greater than the cut size are retained. 

The top size of the feed to a screen deck should not be greater than two to four times the aperture size of the deck. Double- (see Fig. 3) or triple-deck screen arrangements are used, requiring a separate sizing for each deck. Then the final screen size is set by the largest deck. 

FIG. 18-63 Calculated product -size distribution for a crystallizer operation at different fine-crystal-separation sizes. 

Does not separate sizes sampling artifacts for nitrate, sulfate not automated... 

Vapor-liquid separators (drums) are used to separate a liquid from a vapor-liquid stream with a minimum of liquid carryover. The separator size is determined by the vapor velocity which depends on the entrainment method used. The working equation is ... 

Density Separation Storage Volume Required Size Modification or Separation Size Reduction Dissolution... 

Note that. some units use pipe line size for tbe separator size designation, others do not. 

Process Driving force Separation size range Examples of materials separated... 

Formulating conditions for the energy to be stationary with respect to variations of the wavefunction P in this generalized normal ordering, one is led to the irreducible Brillouin conditions and irreducible contracted Schrodinger equations, which are conditions on the one-particle density matrix and the fe-particle cumulants k, and which differ from their traditional counterparts (even after reconstruction [4]) in being strictly separable (size consistent) and describable in terms of connected diagrams only. 

Now, because the water-borne radioactive element is predominantly associated with the colloids, we no longer have a need for the distribution coefficient. There will still be a partitioning because the major portion of the radioactive elements will still be adsorbed to the sediment. This is a separate equilibrium partitioning coefficient, requiring a new experiment on the clay sediments and the colloids present. The partitioning colloid-clay ratio would most likely be dependent on the surface areas of each present in the sediments. A separate size distribution analysis has resulted in a sediment-colloid surface area ratio of 99 1 for the sediment. This results in a colloid retardation coefficient oiRc = 100 rather than Ri = 4.2 x 10 or i 2 = 6 x 10. ... 

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