Suspended

Figure 3.3 shows a simple type of classifier. In this device, a large tank is subdivided into several sections. A size range of solid particles suspended in vapor or liquid enters the tank. The larger, faster-settling particles settle to the bottom close to the entrance, and the slower-settling particles settle to the bottom close to the exit. The vertical baffles in the tank allow the collection of several fractions. 

This type of classification device can be used to carry out solid-solid separation in mixtures of different solids. The mixture of particles is first suspended in a fluid and then separated into fractions of different size or density in a device similar to that in Fig. 3.3. 

Filtration. In filtration, suspended solid particles in a liquid or gas are removed by passing the mixture through a porous medium that retains the particles and passes the fluid. The solid can be retained on the surface of the filter medium, which is cake, filtration, or captured within the filter medium, which is depth filtration. The filter medium can be arranged in many ways. 

In situations where a low concentration of suspended solids needs to be separated from a liquid, then cross-flow filtration can be used. The most common design uses a porous tube. The suspension is passed through the tube at high velocity and is concentrated as the liquid flows through the porous medium. The turbulent flow prevents the formation of a filter cake, and the solids are removed as a more concentrated slurry. 

In aerobic processes, the mean sludge residence time is typically 5 to 10 days. The hydraulic residence time is typically 0.2 to 0.3 days. Suspended growth aerobic processes are capable of removing up to 95 percent of BOD. 

Attached growth processes are capable of removing up to 90 percent of BOD and are thus less effective than suspended growth methods. 

Another suspended growth method is the upward-flow anaerobic sludge blanket illustrated in Fig. 11.6a. Here the sludge is contacted by upward flow of the feed at a velocity such that the sludge is not carried out of the top of the digester. 

They are designed to improve effluents from secondary treatment processes by removing suspended material and with it some of the remaining BOD. 

Ultrafiltration. Ultrafiltration was described under pretreatment methods. It is used to remove finely divided suspended solids, and when used as a tertiary treatment, it can remove virtually all the BOD remaining after secondary treatment. 

Aerosol sprays consist of a material dissolved or suspended in a liquid which when pressure is released volatilizes to produce a fine spray. The spray carries the active material. Used in hair lacquers, paints, etc. the propellant should be inert and non-inflammable. Chlorofluorocarbons have been used extensively but are now being replaced. 

It is necessary to keep these materials suspended in the oil to avoid the formation of varnishes on the engine walls and deposits in the crankcase. 

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The RCCA s (32 to 52 assemblies in the core), regulate the neutron flux in the reactor, and are used for emergency shutdown of the reactor activity. In normal working conditions, the RCCA s are suspended above the fuel elements. 

An alternative and probably now more widely used procedure is to raise the liquid level gradually until it just touches the hanging plate suspended from a balance. The increase in weight is then noted. A general equation is... 

Fig. 11-13. Apparatus for measuring the time dependence of interfacial tension (from Ref. 34). The air and aspirator connections allow for establishing the desired level of ftesh surface. IV denotes the Wilhelmy slide, suspended from a Cahn electrobalance with a recorder output.

A modification of the foregoing procedure is to suspend the plate so that it is partly immersed and to determine from the dry and immersed weights the meniscus weight. The procedure is especially useful in the study of surface adsorption or of monolayers, where a change in surface tension is to be measured. This application is discussed in some detail by Gaines [57]. Equation 11-28 also applies to a wire or fiber [58]. 

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