Papers by Keyword: Solid-Liquid Separation

Abstract: In industrial applications, it is very common to use multiple hydrocyclones in parallel to improve the separation. This equipment employs the centrifugal field to promote solid-liquid or liquid-liquid separation. In cases where there is interest in recovering the liquid phase by removing the maximum amount of dispersed phase (waste), such as in oil well drilling units and in water treatment systems, the employment of a hydrocyclone able to promote both the recovering liquid and the concentration of suspension is viable. This paper presents a comparison between two hydrocyclones considered concentrators, called H13 and HCOT3. The results obtained showed that both separators have a satisfactory capacity to concentrate aqueous suspensions, with the underflow-to-throughput ratio equivalent. The Euler number of HCOT3 hydrocyclone was 19% lower than that obtained for the H13 hydrocyclone. Moreover, the results showed that the HCOT3 has a total efficiency of separation 34% greater compared to H13.

Abstract: Hydrocyclones are equipment typically used in solid-liquid separation. Such equipment can be used with the purpose of classifying particles or concentrating suspensions. In this context, a new filtering hydrocyclone was conceived through Surface Response and Differential Evolution Algorithm techniques in order to optimize the Euler’s number. Based on this optimized geometry, the aim of the present paper was to verify the influence of the underflow diameter on the overall separation process at 147 kPa on the same optimized hydrocyclone geometry, but without the filtration effect, by performing laboratory experiments and CFD simulations using the commercial software Fluent®. The results showed that the use of the smallest underflow diameter increased up to 44% (v/v) the concentration of the underflow stream, compared to the suspension initially fed, with an Euler’s number of 862. Despite a small decrease (14%) in the total efficiency and an increase from 12.01 to 16.05 of the reduced cut size diameter, compared to the underflow diameter originally used in the optimization procedure, the benefits of recovering liquid by reducing the underflow diameter outweigh these disadvantages.

Abstract: Hydrocyclones are equipments widely used in solid-liquid separation, as in mineral, chemical, petrochemical, textile, and metallurgical industries. The suitable choice of its dimensions depends on the process main objective. There is the case that the major interest is to concentrate a suspension, either to discard the dispersed phase (solids) or to use it. The objective of this work was to study, experimentally, a filtering hydrocyclone with a suitable geometry that provides a low underflow-to-throughput ratio, i.e., that produces a thick underflow. The effect of the underflow orifice diameter in the equipment performance was evaluated. The results showed that the smallest orifice size produced an underflow stream with concentration upper than 45% in volume.

Abstract: Based on the filtration experiment of a rotary filter press equipped with the filtration fabric, this paper presents a study on the dynamic filtration performance and the filtration resistance of anthranilic acid copper during the production of saccharin sodium. The best possible operating condition is expected by examining the influence on the filtration rate and its attenuation in different operating conditions, which can provide guidance for future industrial applications, and an efficient regeneration method is proposed.

Abstract: Hydrocyclone has been increasingly used in mineral, food and chemical industrial processes as common solid-liquid separation equipment. Small-sized hydrocyclone is generally applied to separate fine particle which is hard to separate by conventional sized hydrocyclone. However, the separation efficiency could be reduced due to the limitations of inlet width and capacity in this case. A novel impeller hydrocyclone is designed to solve this problem, and the influences of impeller on inner fluid flow rate have been discussed by simulating fluid flow patterns using a common CFD software, FLUENT. The results show that increasing the speed of rotating blade section is an effective way to improve the particle separation efficiency due to the increase in centrifugal force.

Abstract: Abstract This paper presents and discusses the factors influencing the yield of Ti-Al alloy in the TiPro process which is a process developed at the University of Waikato for producing titanium alloy powders by mechanically activating Al/TiO2 powder mixtures and subsequently preheating the resultant composite powder in order to ignite a combustion synthesis reaction and separate the liquid Ti-Al alloy by extrusion. In this study, TiO2/Al composite powders with different powder particle microstructures have been produced and used to study the effects of starting composite powder particle microstructure on the solid/liquid separation of TiAl from solid Al2O3 by extrusion. Results obtained so far indicate that maximizing the time the Ti-Al alloy phase is maintained in the liquid state after the reaction between TiO2 and Al is one of the critical factors to increase the yield of Ti-Al alloy produced through the separation of liquid Ti-Al from the solid Al2O3 phase by extruding the mixture of liquid Ti-Al and Al2O3 formed through reactions and heating.

Abstract: For preventing sand in underground oil, this paper structures a model of hydrocyclone with the inside cyclone and the outside one seriesing and describes how it works. By the TGrid procedures, the all of the hydrocyclone is meshed with the tetrahedral and the boundary conditions are determined. The methods of Three-dimensional numerical simulation in FLUENT are used to simulate the velocity field distribution, the pressure field distribution, the path lines of the separated medition characteristics of the separated medium and the phase distribution of the medium. The affect of the internal separated medition characteristics to the separated performance is analysed. Through the simulation, it is found that the spiral fin in the hydrocyclone can guide the fluid to produce a vortex flow to meet the purpose of separating the solid-liquid. There is no formation of the air column comparing with the conventional cyclone, so the internal flow field is more stable to conductive to the separation of the media. It provides a basis for the improvement of the cyclone.

Abstract: Flow field in the filter is simulated by using Computational Fluid Dynamics. At the same time, pressure and velocity field distribution in the filter are analyzed. The maximum differential pressure and filtration velocity of filter column are all decreasing with column height increasing which means that there are stagnant water zones on the top of filter column. This phenomenon not only has an effect on filtration efficiency, but also can lead cavitation erosion. So the structure of filer must be improved. The change of pressure and velocity on two sides of filtering material are caused by flow resistance of material with many holes. All theses analysis results of velocity and pressure field can be the basic theory for the design of high efficiency filter.

Abstract: Hydrocyclones are devices used in solid-liquid, liquid-liquid, and solid-liquid gas separation process applied in several industry fields such as mining, food and petrochemical. With the rising need of diminishing energy consumption and enhancing process efficiency, modifications on these equipments have been proposed in order to elevate their performance. It can be found in literature optimized geometric relations for a hydrocyclone (designated CH₁₁), aiming to conjugate low energy consumption and small cut size diameters. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to study the influence of filtration on CH depending on where the filtering wall is settled (cylindrical or conical part). The main experimental results suggest that the placement of the permeable region (conical or cylindrical parts) influenced the performance of the equipment regarding the main variables. In conclusion, setting a filtering wall brought expressive changes for the separation process.

Abstract: This paper is about the study on desanding technology based on the characteristics of the produced fluid and the principle of the suspension gravity settling. Proposed a new type of three-phase separator by analyzing the species of gravity desanding and the main influencing factors of sedimentation (including particle properties, liquid properties, solid-liquid ratio, containers and stir) .The inclined plane is substituted by a plane on the internal components of the container, which makes the sand deposits easily and then removed by desander. The design principle of the desander is based on the principle of jetting pump (the desanding technology in airtight container). It has been applied to oil filed successfully and provides a reference for further study.