SEDIMENTATION

Engr. Kenneth M. Soriano

SEDIMENTATION
Sedimentation
 The partial separation or concentration of
suspended solids from a liquid based on the
motion of the particles through fluids.
 separation of dilute slurry (solid suspended in

fluid) into a clear fluid and dense slurry (higher

solid content) by gravity settling.
Basic Theories
 Particle Movement through a fluid
Many processing steps, especially mechanical
separations, involve the movement of solid particles
or liquid drops through a fluid. The fluid may be a
gas or a liquid, and it may be flowing or at rest.

If a particle is moved through the fluid by an

external force, its motion can be divided into two
stages:
Basic Theories
Short-period acceleration

-the velocity increases from zero to its terminal

velocity

-very short, usually in the order of tenths of a

second or less (initial acceleration effects are
usually short-range)
Basic Theories
Period at which particle is at its terminal velocity

-maximum attainable velocity

-constant velocity
Basic Theories
Classification of Settleable Solids

 Discrete Particles – usually greater than 20 microns

in size (e.g. mineral particles, salt crystals, similar
substance which have little tendency to cohere)

 Flocculant Particles –include those particles with

size less than 20 microns (e.g. metal hydroxide,
chemical precipitate, organic substances other than
true colloids)
Mechanism of Particle Motion Through a
Fluid
Fe

Fb Fd

External Force – (Gravity or Centrifugal Force)

Buoyant Force – acts parallel with external force but in
opposite direction.
Drag Force – This appears whenever there’s motion on
particle and fluid. This acts to oppose motion and
parallel with direction of movement but in opposite
direction.
Mechanism of Particle Motion Through a
Fluid

Drag Force Coefficient – (Sphericity)(Reynolds

Number of the particle in a fluid)
 Newton’s Law:

Where External Force, ; Buoyant Force, ;

Drag Force,
Mechanism of Particle Motion Through a
Fluid

Substituting and re-arranging,

If external force is due to gravity,

If external force is due to centrifugal action:

Settling Regime
Free Settling
-particles fall is not
affected by boundaries of
other particles or
cylinder’s wall.
-Usually the diameter of
the container to DP ratio is
100.
-concentration is less than
0.1% by volume.
Hindered Settling
Motion of particle is
greatly affected or
hampered by other
particles or particles are
near to each other as it
settles.
Settling Regime
 Brownian movement: If the particles are quite
small, Brownian motion is present. It is the random
motion imparted to the particle by collisions
between the molecules of the fluid surrounding the
particle and the particle.

This movement of the particles in random directions

tends to suppress the effect of gravity, so settling of
the particles may occur or not at all.
Terminal Velocity
The particle quickly reaches a constant velocity,
which is the maximum attainable under the
circumstances and which is called the terminal
velocity
Terminal Velocity for Free Settling

When the velocity of the particle attains the maximum

(or terminal) velocity, du/dt = 0, thus

For spherical particles: and

CD vs. NRe
Terminal Velocity for Free Settling

Experimental determination of in terms of

yields a curve that can be reduced to three straight
lines which is dependent on the range of . The
general form of the equation is:

and
Terminal Velocity for Free Settling

RANGE OF MOTION

Stoke’s Law <2 24 1

Intermediate Law 2 to 500 18.5 0.6

Newton’s Law >500 0.44 0

General Correlation of Ut vs. DP (In the absence of Reynolds

Number)
 Terminal Velocity for Free Settling

For Stoke’s Law Range:

To determine the range of motion if NRep is not shown, Let

K = (Archimedes Number or Galileo’s Constant)1/3

If K<3.3, Stoke’s Law applies; 3.3 <K<44, Intermediate

Law; and K>44, Newton’s Law
Terminal Velocity for Hindered Settling

Where
= Hindered Settling Velocity
= Terminal Settling Velocity
= volume fraction of solid in the suspension
= porosity (volume of liquid/total volume)
= function of Reynolds Number
n vs. NRe
Example 1
 Determine the terminal settling velocity of dust
particles having a diameter of 60 microns at
294.3K and 101.32 kPa. The dust particles can be
considered spherical with a density of 1280 kg/m3.
For air: µ = 0.01828 x 10-3 Pa-s and ρ = 1.202
kg/m3.
Example 2
 Solid spherical particles having a diameter of 0.09
mm and a solid density of 2002 kg/m3 are settling
in a solution of water at 26.7⁰C. The volume
fraction of the solids in the solution is 0.45. The
settling velocity is (For H2O ρ = 994.7 kg/m3 and µ
= 0.861 x 10-3 Pa-s)
Example 3
 A random handful of silica particles ranging in size from
28 mesh to 200 mesh is thrown to a very deep body of
water (without tides or turbulence)
Data:
µ of water = 0.01 poise
Density of silica = 2.65 g/cm3
28 mesh: 0.0589 cm
200 mesh: 0.0074 cm
The distance between the largest and smallest particle
after 10 min is
Example 4
 A gravity settling tank is to be used to clean waste
water from an oil refinery. The waste water contains
1% oil by volume as small droplets ranging in size from
100 to 1000 microns which will be removed from the
water before the latter is to be discharged into the
river. The tank is rectangular in section 2 ft wide by 4 ft
deep with provisions for smooth continuous discharge of
clean water and skimming off of oil at the surface of
the discharge end. If 10,000 gal/min of waste water is
to be cleaned of oil droplets, specific gravity of oil
0.87, the length of the settling tank is
Batch Sedimentation

A A A
ZO B B

Z
C D ZC D

A = clear zone ; B = suspension zone (uniform concentration zone)

C = transition zone ;D = thickened zone or compression zone
(impeded settling)
Batch Sedimentation
 For Free Settling:

 For Hindered Settling:

Integrating,
Example
A laboratory test on a suspension of a solid in a liquid gave the
following information:

Original height of sludge before settling 10 in.

Free settling rate 0.10 in./min
Height of sludge at the end of free-settling period 6.5 in.
Height of the sludge at the end of 120 minutes 4 in.
Height of sludge when settled completely 1.5 in.

One thousand cubic feet of similar sludge is to be settled in a

vertical cylindrical tank, the diameter of which is equal to the depth
of the liquid suspension in it. The time it would take for the solid to
settle to a height of 20% of the original height of the sludge is
Continuous Sedimentation
(Area of Thickener)
 Thickening – increase concentration of suspended
solids
 Clarification – to remove a relatively small quantity
of suspended particles and produce a clarified
effluent
Basin area determination:
(Dorr Thickener)

Assuming that the Concentration of solids is small:

ρF = ρU = ρV = ρ
Basin area determination:
(Dorr Thickener)
 Solid Balance:
 Water Balance:

Which may be written in the form:

Dividing by the thickener area, A:

For the particles to be separated, (V/A) < Ut

Therefore:
Basin area determination:
(Dorr Thickener)
Thus, the minimum thickener area, A, should be the
maximum obtained using various values of Ut versus CL:
Where:
C - concentration of slurry at any time, t, mass/volume
CO - initial slurry concentration, mass/volume
CU – slurry concentration at the underflow, mass/volume
LO, LU, L – volumetric flow rate of the feed, underflow and
at any time, respectively
A – thickener area
Ut – settling velocity
Example
Calculate the minimum area and diameter of a thickener with
a circular basin to treat 0.1 m3/s of slurry (solids concentration
of 150 kg/m3). The results of batch settling tests are:
Solids concentration Settling velocity
(kg/m3) (m/sec)
100 148
200 91
300 55.33
400 33.25
500 21.40
600 14.50
700 10.29
800 7.38
900 5.56
1000 4.20
1100 3.27
Example
A value of 1290 kg/m3 for underflow concentration
was selected from a retention time test. Estimate the
underflow volumetric flow rate assuming total
separation of all solids and that a clear overflow is
obtained.
Example:

CL Ut Ut Cu Lo Co A
kg/m^3 micrometer/s m/s kg/m^3 m^3/s kg/m^3 m^2
100 148 0.000148 1290 62.32977 0.1 150 934.9466
200 91 0.000091 1290 46.42644 0.1 150 696.3966
300 55.33 5.53E-05 1290 46.23422 0.1 150 693.5133
400 33.25 3.33E-05 1290 51.87387 0.1 150 778.1081
500 21.4 2.14E-05 1290 57.23393 0.1 150 858.509
600 14.5 1.45E-05 1290 61.48089 0.1 150 922.2133
700 10.29 1.03E-05 1290 63.49637 0.1 150 952.4455
800 7.38 7.38E-06 1290 64.33688 0.1 150 965.0533
900 5.56 5.56E-06 1290 60.41678 0.1 150 906.2517
1000 4.2 4.2E-06 1290 53.52529 0.1 150 802.8793
1100 3.27 3.27E-06 1290 40.94713 0.1 150 614.2069
Example
 Area = 966 m^2
 Diameter = [4*966/ ]0.5
 Diameter = 35.1 m
 Underflow Flow rate, U = [(0.1*150)/1290]
 U = 0.0116 m^3/s
Continuous Sedimentation (Area of Thickener)

 Talmadge and Fitch

Step 1 Plot Z vs. θ
Continuous Sedimentation (Area of Thickener)

 Talmadge and Fitch

Step 2 Draw a tangent line to the minimum pt of
the curve

Minimum pt. of the curve

Continuous Sedimentation (Area of Thickener)

 Step 3 – The early portion of the curve represents

“free settling” at nearly constant velocity. Draw
tangent at this portion of the curve.
Continuous Sedimentation (Area of Thickener)

 Step 4 – A the very end of the test, where conc. are

high and velocities are low, the curve also shows
nearly constant velocity. Draw a tangent to this
portion of the curve
Continuous Sedimentation (Area of Thickener)

 Step 5 – The two tangents are extended until they

intersect
Continuous Sedimentation (Area of Thickener)

 Step 6 – At the intersection construct the angle

bisector.
Continuous Sedimentation (Area of Thickener)

 The intersection of angle bisector line with the

settling curve gives an estimate of the time θC and
ZC
 Example
A continuous thickener is required to concentrate a slurry of
calcium carbonate in water from a solids content of 50
kg/m^3 to 130 kg/m^3, and to produce a clear overflow
containing no calcium carbonate. A single batch sedimentation
test produced the experimental result below
Time, 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
hr
Z, m 1.1 0.98 0.82 0.68 0.54 0.42 0.35 0.31 0.28 0.27 0.27

If the thickener is fed with slurry at a rate of 0.06 m^3/s, the

minimum thickener area in square meter that is required is
Example
C0Z0 = CuZu
(50)(1.1)=(130)Zu
Zu = 0.042
 Example
1.2

1.1

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6
Z

0.5

Zu =0.42 0.4

Zc =0.34 0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
θ
θu =5.01 θc =6.05
Example

A = [(0.06 m^3/s)(3600 s/1hr)(5.01 hr)]/1.1 m

A = 983.78 m^2