Asst. Prof. Jewel A.

Capunitan
Department of Chemical Engineering
College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology
University of the Philippines Los Baos
ChE 154 - Transfer Operations II
1
st
sem. 2014-2015
SCREENING EQUIPMENT
and CAPACITY
TYPES OF SCREENING EQUIPMENT
GRIZZLY SCREENS
VIBRATING SCREENS
OSCILLATING SCREENS
RECIPROCATING SCREENS
TROMMELS or REVOLVING SCREENS
REELS
MECHANICAL SHAKING SCREENS
GYRATORY SCREENS
GRIZZLY SCREENS
- consists of a set of parallel bars (made of manganese steel)
separated by spacers at ends
- usual cross section of bars: trapezoidal with wide base upward
to prevent choking
- Feed size range: for large sizes particularly 1 inch and over
Stationary Grizzly
-simplest, least expensive
-slope from horizontal : 20- 50
-for materials 0.05m ( 2 inches)
and coarser
-scalping or rough screening of
dry materials
-not satisfactory for moist and
sticky materials
GRIZZLY SCREENS
Flat Grizzlies
-parallel bars are in horizontal
plane
-used to retain occasional pieces
too large to retain for the
following plant equipment
GRIZZLY SCREENS
Vibrating Grizzly
-bar grizzlies mounted on
eccentrics so that the entire
assembly is given a back-and-
forth movement
VIBRATING SCREENS
- used when large capacity and high efficiency are desired
- advantages: accuracy of sizing, increased capacity per unit
area, low maintenance cost per ton of material handled, saving
in installation space and weight
- fine sizing
VIBRATING SCREENS
- mechanically vibrated screens: vibration is generated
mechanically, transmitted from high speed eccentrics to the
casing of the unit screen
- electrically vibrated screens: vibration to the casing or to the
screens comes from heavy duty solenoid or electromagnet
- mesh 325 to mesh 4; light, fine, dry materials and metal
OSCILLATING SCREENS
- characterized by low speed oscillations ( 5 to 7 oscillations per
minute) in a plane essentially parallel to the screen cloth
OSCILLATING SCREENS
- 0.013 m (0.5 inch ) to 60 mesh; sometimes used for light free
flowing materials at 200-300 mesh
RECIPROCATING SCREENS
- motion varies from gyratory (about 2 inches in diameter) at
the feed end to a reciprocating motion at the discharge end
- usually inclined about 5 degrees, giving the screen a motion
normal to the cloth of about 1/10 inch
- further vibration is caused by balls bouncing against the lower
surface of the screen cloth
RECIPROCATING SCREENS
- for fine separations even down to 300 mesh
- used to handle dry, light, or bulky materials, light metal
powders, powdered foods, and granular materials
- not for heavy tonnages of material like rock or gravel
TROMMELS or REVOLVING SCREENS
- consist of a rotating cylinder of perforated sheet metal or wire
screen
- open at one or both ends, and the axis of the cylinder is
horizontal or inclined (3/4 inch to 3 inches per foot of length)
so that the material is advanced by the rotation of the cylinder
TROMMELS or REVOLVING SCREENS
- usually about 3-4 ft in diameter, 5-8 ft in length and driven at
relatively low speeds of 15 to 20 rpm
- low capacity and efficiency
- best suited for inch to 2 inches
TROMMELS or REVOLVING SCREENS
- used to screen stringy bark and compost materials for use as
landscaping and soil amendment products
- used in resource recovery to segregate solid waste in various
forms including MSW (garbage), compost, incinerator ash and
construction debris, or in mining and aggregate operations for
scrubbing rock and sand.
REELS
- revolving screens driven at relatively high speed
- generally 24 to 40 inches in diameter and 5 to 8 ft long
- speed of rotation : 100-200rpm (above critical speed for a
trommel)
- used in the flour milling industry and for other light, dry, non-
abrasive materials
MECHANICAL SHAKING SCREENS
- consist of a rectangular frame
which holds wire cloth or
perforated plate and is slightly
inclined and suspended by loose
rods or cables or supported from a
base frame by flexible flat springs.
- the screens are given reciprocating
motion
- low headroom and power
requirement
- high cost of maintenance and low
capacity (compared to inclined
high-speed vibrating screens)
GYRATORY SCREENS
- boxlike machines either round or square with a series of
screen cloth nested atop one another with oscillatory motion
in circular orbit
- have an auxiliary vibration caused by balls bouncing against
the lower surface of the screen
- size : 0.6 to 1.5m ( 24 to 60 inches)
TYPES OF SCREENS
SELECTION OF SCREENING EQUIPMENT
1. Full description of material(s) involved
- Physical characteristics (hardness, shape, diameter)
- Flow characteristic (free flowing, sluggish or sticky)
- Moisture content
- Temperature
2. Normal and maximum total rate of feed to the screen
3. Compete sieve analysis of the feed and the desired product
4. Separation(s) and the purpose of screening
SELECTION OF SCREENING EQUIPMENT
5. Dry or Wet Screening
6. Others
-ways of delivering feed to the screen
-previous screening experience with the material
-operating hours per day
-power availability
-space limitations
PARAMETERS TO BE CONSIDERED DURING
A SCREENING OPERATION
1. METHOD OF FEED
Feeding should be done properly to obtain maximum capacity
and effectiveness
Feed should be spread evenly over the whole surface area of
the screen
Flow should be parallel to the longitudinal axis of the screen
surface
Low velocity
PARAMETERS TO BE CONSIDERED DURING
A SCREENING OPERATION
2. SCREENING SURFACE
3. ANGLE OF SLOPE
Need to use optimum slope( to ensure that the screen can still
remove the fines while retaining the tails)
slope, rate of travel, bed thickness
4. DIRECT ROTATION
High effectiveness if material flow is against the screen
rotation
High capacity if material flow is same as screen rotation
PARAMETERS TO BE CONSIDERED DURING
A SCREENING OPERATION
5. VIBRATION AMPLITUDE AND FREQUENCY
Should minimize blinding of the screen surface
Depends on the size and weight of material being handled and
type of screening surface
6. NOISE AND SAFETY
Sources of noise:
- Impact of feed on the screen surface (reduced by rubber
bearings)
- Driving mechanism (reduced by enclosure in a box or
addition of rubber linings)
SCREEN CAPACITY
measured by mass of material that can be
fed per unit time to a unit area of the screen
function of the feed rate
actual screen capacities:
0.05- 0.2 ton/hr-ft2-mm for grizzlies
0.2 0.8 ton/hr-ft2-mm for vibrating
screen
SCREEN CAPACITY
Type of Screen
Capacity Range
(Tons/ft
2
area mm aperture 24 hr)
Grizzlies 1 6
Stationary Screens 1 5
Vibrating Screens 5 20
Shaking and Oscillating
Screens
2 8
Trommels 0.3 2
Table 3 The approximate capacity of screens for dense
materials such as ores (p. 16, Brown)
SCREEN CAPACITY
Relationship between Efficiency and Capacity
Capacity <--> Efficiency: opposing factors!
* The over-all chance of passage of a given undersize particle
is a function of:
- # of contacts between particle and screen surface
- probability of passage during a single contact
SCREEN CAPACITY
Greatest chance of passing a particles occurs if:
it struck the surface perpendicularly
it were so oriented that its minimum dimensions were parallel
to the screen surface
it were unimpeded by other particles
it did not stick to, or wedge into the screen surface
SCREEN CAPACITY
Effect of mesh size on capacity of screens
Probability of passage depends on:
fraction of the total surface represented by openings
ratio of the diameter of the particle to the width of an opening
in the screen
number of contacts between the particle and the screen
surface
* If these factors are constant: average # of particles through a
single screen opening in unit time is nearly constant.
SCREEN CAPACITY
*The maximum capacity of a given screen is roughly
proportional to the screen opening.
Rule of thumb:
Capacity (mass per unit time, divided by mesh size) = constant
for any specified conditions of the operation
Coarse screens with 0.25-4 in. opening:
1 to 8 tons/hr-ft
2
Screens with 0.05-0.25 in. opening:
0.1 to 1.0 tons/hr-ft
2
SCREEN CAPACITY
Factors affecting capacity of screens:
interference of the bed of particles with the motion of others
blinding
cohesion of particles to each other
adhesion of particles to screen surface
oblique direction of approach of particles to the surface
moisture content
SCREEN CAPACITY
Through flow Method of Matthews
Eqn. 19-7, pp. 19-23, Perry:
A = 0.4Ct / ( Cu x Foa x Fs)
where:
A = screen area
C
t
= through flow rate
C
u
= unit capacity (Fig. 19-21, Perry)
F
oa
= open area factor (Fig. 19-22, Perry)
F
s
= slotted opening factor (Table. 19-7, Perry)
SCREEN CAPACITY
SCREEN CAPACITY
SCREEN CAPACITY
Sample problem:
Crushed stone is fed to a screen having an area of 2.2 ft
2
and
square opening of mesh 4 (Tyler Standard). Determine the
capacity of the screen in tons/hr.