Decantation

1. Upper phase
2. Lower phase

An example of decanter.

Decantation is a process for the separation of mixtures, by removing a layer of liquid, generally one
from which a precipitate has settled. The purpose may be either to produce a clean decant, or to
remove undesired liquid from the precipitate (or other layers). If the aim is to produce a clean
solution, a small amount of solution must generally be left in the container, and care must be taken
to prevent any precipitate from flowing with the solution out of the container.
Preliminary processes[edit]
A mixture of an insoluble solid in liquid is allowed to stand. If the solid is more dense than the liquid it
will settle at the bottom if kept undisturbed for some time. This process is called sedimentation.
A centrifuge may be useful in decanting a solution. The centrifuge causes the precipitate to be
forced to the bottom of the container; if the force is high enough, the precipitate may form a compact
solid. Then the liquid can be more easily poured away, as the precipitate will tend to remain in its
compressed form. Similarly a mixture of two immiscible liquids can also be separated by
decantation. For example, the oil and water extracted from fish may be decanted to obtain the oil. A
mixture of kerosene and water can also be separated through decantation.

Examples[edit]
It is frequently used to purify a liquid by separating it from a suspension of insoluble particles (e.g. in
red wine, where the wine is decanted from the potassium bitartrate crystals). To obtain a sample of
clear water from muddy water, muddy water is left in a container until the mud settles, and then the
clear water is poured into another container.
Another example of decantation is the regeneration of used chiral stationary phase (CSP). The CSP
to be decanted is gently mixed in a container with a compatible solvent to form a suspension. The
suspension is allowed to rest for a period of time, after which the supernatant is carefully poured off.
The supernatant contains the undesirable constituents of the former suspension, while the leftover
sediment in the container is clean, reusable CSP. Decantation should be done directly after
sedimentation. This process is also used in erected pure iron from iron ore.
Winnowing
Winnowing is not to be confused with windrowing.

Rice winnowing, Uttarakhand, India

Winnowing in a Dalit village in Tamil Nadu, India

Use of winnowing forks

Wind winnowing is an agricultural method developed by ancient cultures for
separating grain from chaff. It is also used to remove weevils or other pests from stored
grain. Threshing, the loosening of grain or seeds from the husks and straw, is the step in the chaff-
removal process that comes before winnowing.
In its simplest form it involves throwing the mixture into the air so that the wind blows away the
lighter chaff, while the heavier grains fall back down for recovery. Techniques included using a
winnowing fan (a shaped basket shaken to raise the chaff) or using a tool (a winnowing fork or
shovel) on a pile of harvested grain.

In Greek culture[edit]
The winnowing-fan ( [lknon], also meaning a "cradle") featured in the rites
accorded Dionysus and in the Eleusinian Mysteries: "it was a simple agricultural implement taken
over and mysticised by the religion of Dionysus," Jane Ellen Harrison remarked.[1] Dionysus
Liknites ("Dionysus of the winnowing fan") was wakened by the Dionysian women, in this instance
called Thyiades, in a cave on Parnassus high above Delphi; the winnowing-fan links the god
connected with the mystery religions to the agricultural cycle, but mortal Greek babies too were laid
in a winnowing-fan.[2] In Callimachus' Hymn to Zeus, Adrasteia lays the infant Zeus in a
golden lknon, her goat suckles him and he is given honey.
In the Odyssey, the dead oracle Teiresias tells Odysseus to walk away from Ithaca with an oar until
a wayfarer tells him it is a winnowing fan (i.e., until Odysseus has come so far from the sea that
people don't recognize oars), and there to build a shrine to Poseidon.

In China[edit]

Chinese rotary fan winnowing machine, from the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia (1637)

Further information: Agriculture in China

In Ancient China the method was improved by mechanisation with the development of the rotary
winnowing fan, which used a cranked fan to produce the airstream.[3] This was featured in Wang
Zhen's book the Nong Shu of 1313 AD.

In the Old Testament[edit]

In the Old Testament the word winnow is used in several verses in different books in the New
International Version while other versions of the bible translate the action as "fan", "throw" or the
separating tool as "pitchfork", "shovel", "winnowing fan", or "winnowing instrument".
Ruth 3:2 "Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be
winnowing barley on the threshing floor."
Proverbs 20:8 "When a king sits on his throne to judge, he winnows out all evil with his eyes."
Proverbs 20:26 "A wise king winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them."
Isaiah 41:16 "You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But
you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel."
Jeremiah 4:11 "At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, A scorching wind from the barren
heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse;"
Jeremiah 15:7 "I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring
bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways."
Jeremiah 51:2 "I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will
oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster."

In the New Testament[edit]

In Matthew 3:12, a sentence introduces the separation of wheat and chaff (good and bad) by "His
winnowing fan is in his hand" (American Standard Bible and New American Bible translation).
The New International Version, the New Revised Standard Version and the New American Standard
Bible translate the term as "winnowing fork"; the Holman Christian Standard Bible translates it as
"winnowing shovel".

In Europe[edit]

Le vanneur (The Winnower) by Jean-Franois Millet, a 19th-century depiction of winnowing by fan

In Saxon settlements such as one identified in Northumberland as Bede's Ad Gefrin [4] (now
called Yeavering) the buildings were shown by an excavator's reconstruction to have opposed
entries. In barns a draught created by the use of these opposed doorways was used in winnowing.[5]
The technique developed by the Chinese was not adopted in Europe until the 18th century, when
winnowing machines used a 'sail fan'.[6] The rotary winnowing fan was exported to Europe, brought
there by Dutch sailors between 1700 and 1720. Apparently they had obtained them from the Dutch
settlement of Batavia in Java, Dutch East Indies. The Swedes imported some from south China at
about the same time and Jesuits had taken several to France from China by 1720. Until the
beginning of the 18th century, no rotary winnowing fans existed in the West.[7]

In the United States[edit]

The development of the winnowing barn allowed rice plantations in South Carolina to increase their
yields dramatically.

Mechanization of the process[edit]

Winnowing machine from 1839

In 1737 Andrew Rodger, a farmer on the estate of Cavers in Roxburghshire, developed a winnowing
machine for corn, called a 'Fanner'. These were successful and the family sold them throughout
Scotland for many years. Some Scottish Presbyterian ministers saw the fanners as sins against
God, for wind was a thing specially made by him and an artificial wind was a daring and impious
attempt to usurp what belonged to God alone.[8] As the Industrial Revolution, the winnowing process
was mechanized by the invention of additional winnowing machines, such as fanning mills.
 Sieve

Metal sifters

An ami shakushi, a Japanese ladle or scoop that may be used to remove small drops of batter during the frying
of tempura

A sieve, or sifter, is a device for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for
characterizing the particle size distribution of a sample, typically using a woven screen such as a
mesh or net or metal.[1] The word "sift" derives from "sieve". In cooking, a sifter is used to separate
and break up clumps in dry ingredients such as flour, as well as to aerate and combine them.
A strainer is a form of sieve used to separate solids from liquid.

Contents
[hide]

1Industrial strainer
2Sieving
3Wooden sieves
4US standard test sieve series
5Other types of sieves
6See also
7References

Industrial strainer
Some industrial strainers available are simplex basket strainers, duplex basket strainers, and Y
strainers. Simple basket strainers are used to protect valuable or sensitive equipment in systems
that are meant to be shut down temporarily. Some commonly used strainers are bell mouth
strainers, foot valve strainers,[2] basket strainers. Most processing industries (mainly pharmaceutical,
coatings and liquid food industries) will opt for a self-cleaning strainer instead of a basket strainer or
a simplex strainer due to limitations of simple filtration systems. The self-cleaning strainers or filters
are more efficient and provide an automatic filtration solution.[3]
Sieving
Sieving is a simple technique for separating particles of different sizes. A sieve such as used for
sifting flour has very small holes. Coarse particles are separated or broken up by grinding against
one-another and screen openings. Depending upon the types of particles to be separated, sieves
with different types of holes are used. Sieves are also used to separate stones from sand.
Triage sieving refers to grouping people according to their severity of injury.

Wooden sieves[edit]

A wooden mesh in which the withes were one eighth of an inch wide and set the same distance apart. This
would be used on an English farm of the Victorian era to sift grain, removing dust and soil.

The mesh in a wooden sieve might be made from wood or wicker. Use of wood to avoid
contamination is important when the sieve is used for sampling.[4] Henry Stephens, in his Book of the
Farm, advised that the withes of a wooden riddle or sieve be made from fir or willow with American
elm being best. The rims would be made of fir, oak or, especially, beech.