Thickener Costs

Water from screens, cleaners, washers, thickeners, and flotation cells contain relatively high levels of ink. These waters also contain valuable chemicals, ie, sodium hydroxide and surfactants. Recycle of this water can save up to 10% ia chemical costs. 

Continuous clarifiers generally are employed with dilute suspensions, principally industrial process streams and domestic municipal wastes, and their primary purpose is to produce a relatively clear overflow. They are basically identical to thickeners in design and layout except that they employ a mechanism of hghter construction and a drive head with a lower torque capability. These differences are permitted in clarification applications because the thickened pulp produced is smaller in volume and appreciably lower in suspended solids concentration, owing in part to the large percentage of relatively fine (smaller than 10 Im) solids. The installed cost of a clarifier, therefore, is approximately 5 to 10 percent less than that of a thickener of equal tank size, as given in Fig. 18-94. 

Operating Costs Power cost for a continuous thickener is an almost insignificant item. For example, a unit thickener 60 m (200 ft) in diameter with a torque rating of 1.0 MN-m (8.8 Mlbf in) will normally require 12 kW (16 hp). The low power consumption is due to the very slow rotative speeds. Normally, a mechanism vi l be designed for a peripheral speed of about 9 m/min (0.5 ft/s), which corresponds to only 3 r/h for a 60-m (200-ft) unit. This low speed also means veiy low maintenance costs. Operating labor is low because little attention is normally required after initial operation has balanced the feed and underflow. If chemicals are required for flocculation, the chemical cost frequently dwarfs all other operating costs. 

FIG. 18-93 Approximate installed cost of single-compartment thickeners (1995 dollars). To convert to ft and fr units, multiply diameter in meters by 3.28 and divide cost by 10.76. 

There are a large number of processes in the chemical industries that handle a variety of suspensions of solid particles in liquids. The application of filtration techniques for the separation of these heterogeneous systems is sometimes very costly. If, however, the discrete phase of the suspension largely contains settleable particles, the separation can be effected by the operation of sedimentation. The process of sedimentation involves the removal of suspended solid particles from a liquid stream by gravitational settling. This unit operation is divided into thickening,... 

Centrifugation - Centrifugation has been demonstrated to be capable of thickening a variety of wastewater sludges. Centrifuges are a compact, simple, flexible, self-contained unit, and the capital cost is relatively low. They have the disadvantages of high maintenance and power costs and often a poor, solids-capture efficiency if chemicals are not used. 

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