Lecture 5 – Gravitational Separators -

Sedimentation

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 Gravitational Separators
• Separation of unstable and destabilized suspended
solids from a suspension by the force of gravity:
Settling (sedimentation) tanks
Tube settlers
Hydro cyclones
• In preliminary treatment,
sedimentation aims to
remove grid, sand, and other
inorganic materials with
diameter greater than about
0.15–0.20 mm. 2
 Basic Definitions
• Sedimentation (or settling) is the separation of
solid particles from suspensions due to gravity.
• Clarification - when sedimentation produces
clarified effluent, includes flotation and filtration.
• Thickening - the process whereby the settled
impurities in sedimentation tanks are concentrated
and compacted on the floor of the tank and in the
sludge-collecting hoppers.
• Sludge are concentrated impurities withdrawn
from the bottom of sedimentation tanks
• Scum are material that floats to the top of the tank
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• Part of preliminary treatment
• The most common grit chamber is
simply a wide place in the channel
where the flow is slowed
sufficiently to allow the heavy grit
to settle
• Sand is about 2.5 times as heavy as
most organic solids and, thus,
settles much faster than the light
solids
• The objective of a grit chamber is to
remove this inorganic grit without
removing the organic material
• Following the grit chamber most
wastewater treatment plants have a
settling tank to settle as much of
the solid matter as possible 4
An ideal settling tank.
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Sedimentation

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Settling of particles depends on:

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Depending on the concentration of solids and the possible
interactions between the particles, four types of settling can occur:

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 Example 1
Find the terminal settling velocity of a
spherical discrete particle with diameter
0,5mm and specific gravity of 2.65 settling
through water at 200C

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Factors that affect the sedimentation
process
• Flow velocity , vf η
• Viscosity of the fluid
• Size of particle , vs d2

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 Particle trajectories in an ideal settling tank

• Consider a particle entering the settling tank at the water

surface
• This particle has a settling velocity of v0 and a horizontal
velocity vh
• Particles having settling velocity that enables them to hit the
ground are termed critical particles in that particles with lower
settling velocities Vs than horizontal velocity Vhare not all
removed and particles with higher settling velocities are all 19
 • The hydraulic retention/detention time is
defined as:

• The overflow rate,

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 Solved example 1
A water treatment plant settling tank has an
overflow rate of 600 gal/day-ft2 and a depth of 6ft.
What is its retention time?

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Critical Settling Velocity & Overflowrate

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Batch Settling Column Test for Type 1 Settling

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 Example 1

If vc = 8m/h, determine the removal efficiency, X

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 Type 2 – Flocculent Settling
(settling of flocculent particles in dilute suspension)

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Typical flocculator used in water treatment 34
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 Sedimentation Tank/Basin Design
• Sedimentation tanks have two functions:
1. Removal of settleable solids to produce a
clarified effluent
2. Concentration of solids to produce a
handleable sludge
• The design of a sedimentation tank takes both of
these functions into consideration and the
eventual size will depend on whichever function is
limiting

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 Types of settling tanks
• Sedimentation tanks may function as:
1. Quiescent type tanks (fixed type)
2. Continuous flow type tanks
• The plan view can take several shapes
• Long narrow rectangular tanks with horizontal
flow are generally preferred to the circular tanks
with radial or spiral flow.
• This is because circular basins are generally more
sensitive to short‐circuiting and achieve poorer solids
removal. 46
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Sedimentation tank design

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 DESIGN
• In specifying a water and wastewater sedimentation tank size, the major
features to be considered are:
- tank cross sectional area,
- tank depth,
- type of cleaning mechanism used.

• In specifying a design basis for water and wastewater sedimentation tanks;

three conditions are commonly considered:
- solid handling capacity (kg/day),
- overflow rate (lpm/m2),
- detention time.

• Additional design data required to ascertain mechanical construction,

specific gravity of solids, size distribution of solids, underflow
construction, operating temperature, and geographical location. Typical
dimensions of sedimentation tanks are given later
Circular Basin Rectangular Basin
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Sedimentation tanks can be divided into 4
different functional zones:

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 Sludge Removal

• The settled sludge must be removed.

• This can be done intermittently and continuously,
depending on the amount of sludge that is accumulated
in time.
• Special scraper and belts are designed to remove the
sludge and to transport it to the sludge treatment system.

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 Typical Dimensions of Sedimentation Tanks

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Description Dimensions
Range Typical
______________________________________________________
Rectangular
Depth, m 3‑5 3.5
Length, m 15‑90 25‑40
Width, m 3‑24 6‑10
Circular
Diameter, m 4‑60 12‑45
Depth, m 3‑5 4.5

Bottom Slope, mm/m 60‑160 80

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Sedimentation basin efficiency is influenced by:
• Floc characteristics i.e. size, shape, density
• water temperature i.e. viscosity
• shortcircuiting
• gases in the water – causes float scum
• algal growth on tank walls – can block filters
• intermittent tank operation (flow rate)
• Surface loading (loading per unit area)
• Weir loading

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 Settling Basins

Advantages
• Simplest technologies
• Little energy input
• Relatively inexpensive to install and
operate
• No specialized operational skills
• Easily incorporated into new or existing
facilities
Disadvantages
• Low hydraulic loading rates
• Poor removal of small suspended solids
• Large floor space requirements
• Re-suspension of solids and leeching
 Example 7
A water treatment plant has a flow rate of 0.6 m 3/sec. The settling basin at the
plant has an effective settling volume that is 20 m long, 3 m tall and 6 m wide.
Will particles that have a settling velocity of 0.004 m/sec be completely
removed? If not, what percent of the particles will be removed?

v0 = Q/A = 0.6 m/sec / (20 m x 6 m) = 0.005 m/sec

Since v0 is greater than the settling velocity of the particle of interest,

they will not be completely removed.

The percent of particles which will be removed may be found using the
following formula:

Percent removed = (vp / v0) 100

= (0.004/0.005) 100 = 80 %
 Example 8
How big would the basin need to be to remove
100% of the particles that have a settling velocity
of 0.004 m/sec?
v0 = Q / A

0.004 = 0.6 / A

A = 150 m3

If the basin keeps the same width (6 m):

A = 150 m3 = 6m x L

L = 25 m
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weir

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