Solid/liquid separation expression equipment

The nature and sizing of equipment depends on the economic values and proportions of the phases as well as certain physical properties that influence relative movements of liquids and particles. Pressure often is the main operating variable so its effect on physical properties should be known. Table 11.1 is a broad classification of mechanical processes of solid-liquid separation. Clarification is the removal of small contents of worthless solids from a valuable liquid. Filtration is applied to the recovery of valuable solids from slurries. Expression is the removal of relatively small contents of liquids from compressible sludges by mechanical means. 

Solid-liquid separation systems generally consist of four stages including pretreatment, solid concentration in thickeners, solid separation in filters or centrifuges, and post-treatment by expression and washing operations. There are different types of SLS equipment served for different functions in relation to the four stages. Product specification, characteristics of solid-liquid suspension, solid settling velocity, rate of cake... 

This chapter summarizes the solid-liquid separation operations commonly used for the pretreatment of drying operations. We focus on the practical aspects of cake filtration, centrifngal filtration, and mechanical expression. The choice of equipment depends on the objective of the separation, the properties of the slurry, and the scale of prodnction. The details of solid-liquid separation theories are omitted. The reader is referred to the references for further information. 

Solid-Liquid Separation Equipment (Thickeners, Clarifiers, FUters, Centrifuges, and Expression)... 

Expression is the separation of liquid from a two-phase solid-liquid system by compression of the system under conditions that permit the liquid to escape, while the solid is retained between the compressing surfaces. Expression serves the same purposes as filtration but is distinguished from the latter in that the pressure is applied by movement of the retaining walls instead of pumping the material into a fixed space. Expression is usually employed to separate systems that are not easily pumped. It is also used instead of filtration when a more thorough removal of liquid from the cake is desired. The usual equipment for expression is a hydraulic press. Most of the common vegetable oils are produced by expression, In the expl in-... 

Expression. Both sedimentation and filtration are suitable separation techniques when the mixture of liquid and solids is sufficiently mobile to allow pumping, or similar method of motion, of the fluid to a barrier which retains the solid but not the liquid. If such movement is not possible then separation can be accomplished by compressing the mixture under conditions which permit the liquid to escape while retaining the solid between the compressing surfaces. This technique is called expression. Design of expression equipment is varied. Batch systems usually operate by the application of hydraulic pressure in units such as the box press, pot press, curb press and cage press. Continuous expression utilises equipment such as screw presses, roller mills, and belt presses [23]. 

Kureha Double-Screw Purifier [Fig. 16.16). This unit employs a double screw with intermeshing blades that express the liquid from the crystal mass as it is conveyed upward. The melt is formed at the top, washes the rising crystals countercurrently, and leaves as residue at the bottom. A commercial unit has an effective height of 2.6 m and a cross section of 0.31 m2. When recovering 99.97% p-dichlorbenzene from an 87% feed, the capacity is 7000 metric tons/yr. The feed stock comes from a tank crystallizer and filter. Data on other eutectic systems are shown, and also on separation of naphthalene and thiophene that form a solid solution a purity of 99.87% naphthalene is obtained in this equipment. 

In Sections III and IV, the principles of nucleation and growth were discussed separately. Now the crystallization process as a whole will be considered. In any practical application of crystallization, a stable solid phase must first be formed from the metastable liquid phase, and then additional molecules are deposited on the nucleus to form the macroscopic crystalline solid. Since nucleation and growth are taking place simultaneously, the theoretical principles discussed earlier are difficult to apply quantitatively to crystallization practice. Consequently, empirical expressions are still generally used in the design of equipment and prediction of its operation. 

Preliminary Selections Assembling background information permits tentative selection of promising equipment and rules out clearly unsuitable types. If the material to be processed is a slurry or pumpable suspension of sohds in a liquid, several methods of mechanical separation m be suitable, and these are classified into settling and filtration methods as shown in Fig. 18-196. If the material is a wet solid, removal of hquid by various methods of expression should be considered. 

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