JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

MOMENTUM AND
MECHANICAL OPERATION
LABORATORY
EXPT: BATCH SEDIMENTATION PROCESS

BY
BACHELOR OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
THIRD YEAR

GROUP – SECTION A1
OBJECT OF THE EXPERIMENT
The object of the experiment “Study of Batch Sedimentation” is to study the variation of the
height of the interface between the clear liquid and the thickening zone with time for
different concentrations of the slurry. The variations observed are plotted at 5 different
desired concentration values, i.e. 30%, 28%, 26%, 24% and 22% Barite (v/v) in water. A
plot was also made between the settling rate (dz/dt) at t=0 with initial concentration C0.

T HEORY OF SEDIMENTATION

The separation of dilute slurry based on the differences in relative masses of the different
layers due to gravity settling into a clear fluid and slurry with higher solid concentration is
known as Sedimentation. The mechanism of sedimentation observed during a batch settling
is depicted as follows:

As sedimentation progresses over time, we find a distinctive boundary between zones B and
C. At the end we find three distinct regions or stages: (A) Clear Liquid (CL) Zone, (C)
Thickening (TH) Zone and (D) Compressed Zone (CMP).
The graph above shows the variation of interface height with settling time. Initially the rate
of fall of height is more than that in latter stages. This is explained by the fact that as settling
proceeds the hindrance increases and so the rate of fall of height almost becomes constant. It
is expected that at the end the height should remain constant but due to porosity of the
compressed zone the liquid entrapped in the pores rises up and the level of the compressed
solid material further decreases. This value of height is called Z∞. Hence it is expected that
as initial concentration of the slurry increases the rate of sedimentation decreases.

E XPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS

Amount of CaCO3 taken = 135 g

Total weight of slurry 2256 g
Concentration of slurry = 135/2256 x 100% = 6%

1. Concentration of slurry: 6%

Serial No. Time(min) Height of column Z, (cm)

1 0 99.4
2 1 85.7
3 1.5 78
4 3 64
5 4 58
 6 5 51
7 6 42
8 7 34
9 8 27
10 9 23
11 10 20
12 11 12
13 12 10.2
14 13 8.6
15 14 7.4
16 15 6.8
17 16 6.1
18 17 5.8
19 20 5.8

GRAPH PLOT—
SLURRY CONC
120

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 1 1.5 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 20

SLURRY CONC

C omments and discussions

The variations of heights of the interface between CL and TH are plotted against time for
different concentrations (30%, 28%, 26%,24%, 22% w/v) in the graph (1). Also, it is
evident from the graphs that the magnitude of the settling rate decreases as the concentration
of the slurry increases. This happens because as the concentration of slurry increases, the
hindrance to settling increases due to presence of more solid substances in the slurry which
causes hindered settling, and hence the settling velocity decreases. This is exactly depicted in
graph (2), which explains how the initial rate of fall of height decreases with increase in
concentration. There could be an error associated with time measurement as it depends on the
person taking the readings. Another error could be due to improper mixing of the slurry
before its fed into the thickener which could occur due to the highly insoluble nature of
barite.