SEPARATION AND

CLASSIFICATION OF
SOLIDS
Separation of solids

■ Techniques used to separate one material from the other is called

separation.
■ Separations are extremely common in chemical manufacture.
■ Types of Separation:
– Diffusional separation is used for separating homogeneous mixtures.
Includes distillation, crystallization and absorption.
– Mechanical separation is used for separating heterogeneous
mixtures. Includes screening and classifying.
SEPARATION
TECHNIQUES
Sieve

Sieves, or sifters, are devices

for separating wanted
elements from unwanted
material or for characterizing
the particle size distribution
of a sample.
Mechanical
screening

Mechanical screening, often

just called screening, is the
practice of taking granulated
ore material and separating it
into multiple grades by
particle size.
Magnetic
separation

Magnetic separation is the

process in which
magnetically susceptible
material is extracted from a
mixture using magnetic force.
Leaching

Leaching is the process of

extracting substances from a
solid by dissolving them in a
liquid.
Classification of solids

■ Particle classification is a method of sorting an initial distribution of

particles to achieve a desired degree of uniformity, according to a chosen
parameter.
■ It is an important unit process in many industries and finds demanding
applications in mineral processes, pharmaceutical, and toner or powder
paint industries.
Classification techniques
■ According to medium of suspension
– Wet classifiers use liquids as medium of suspension.
– Dry classifiers use gases as medium of suspension.
■ According to mode of transport
– Mechanical classifiers incorporate moving parts which influences
the motion of particles.
– Non-mechanical classifiers use fluid drag only to separate particles.
■ According to forces exerted
– Gravitational classifiers are generally used to separate very large
particles and are mostly seen as a pre-treatment stage.
– Centrifugal classifiers offer the advantage of obtaining fine cut sizes
due to high partition power.
DRY CLASSIFICATION
Classification
by elutriation

Elutriation is a process of
washing fines by air while
allowing the coarse product
settling.
Fluidised bed
classifier

The particles to be classified

are continuously fed into the
fluidised bed where gas
supply is divided into two
regions of different gas
velocity.
Cross-flow
classifier

Cross-flow classifiers are

designed so that the direction
of airflows is perpendicular
to gravity.
Cascade
classifier

The zigzag classifiers consist

of several inclined branch
pipes vertically arranged to
form a zigzag separation
zone.
Inertial air
classifier

The fine particles are carried

by air and discharged from an
outlet set on the sidewall. The
coarse particles proceed
straight down by inertia and
collected bellow.
Vortex air
classifier

The first industrial design

which separates particles at
size cut about 10 μm. De-
agglomeration occurs during
classification which leads to
good dispersion of the raw
materials in airflow.
Rotating
wheel
classifier
Rotating wheel classifiers use
rotating blades to create the
air vortex or the centrifugal
field.
Circulating air
classifier

Circulating air classifiers are

widely used in cement
industry. It has generally
complex interior geometry.
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Electrostatic
classifier

Electrostatic classification is
a process by which aerosol
particles are fractionated
according to their electrical
mobility.
 WET
CLASSIFICATION
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Sedimenta-
tion classifier

These are mostly used in

separating coarse particles
from a mixture. A typical
classifier consists of a sloping
elongated round-bottom tank
and a sand-raking spiral.
Hydraulic
classifier

Hydraulic classifiers differ

from sedimentation
classifiers in that particle
settling directions are in
opposite to fluid movement.
Hydro-
cyclones

Hydrocyclones consist of a
top cylindrical section and a
lower conical section.
Centrifugal effects push
coarse particles away and
fine particles remain in the
fluid stream.