UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK

Memorandum Report
Sedimentation Experiment
Saad Almaymoni 3/23/2010

ID#3252894

Abstract:
The purpose of this lab sedimentation experiment was to relate industrial application (e.g.: design of thickeners) to settling process by interpreting results of different sedimentation regimes. In order to accomplish this, different settling regimes will be examined, and the relationship between solution concentration and settling velocity will be determined.

This memorandum report will discuss the sedimentation of glass beads with both inclined and vertical orientations. In addition, the settling of 8-wt% of a CaCO3 solution with water will be examined before and after the addition of flocculants to the solution. To verify the concentration effects on the settling process, 2-wt% of CaCO3 solution will be compared with the 8-wt% one.

The settling velocities were determined using Richardson-Zaki equation and Kynch graphical method. The results obtained using these two approaches were consistent in general. In addition, the settling time in sedimentation process was proven to be a function of solids concentration, orientation of the containers, and effects of adding flocculants.

Test Methods:
Sedimentation is the partial separation or concentration of suspended solid particles from a liquid by gravity settling [1]. Understanding sedimentation process is crucial for engineers in general, and chemical engineers in particular. An example of the importance of this process is the purification and preparation of drinking water. Two methods will be made use of in this experiment: the Richardson-Zaki equation and the Kynch method. The Richardson-Zaki equation relates the terminal velocity (settling velocity in this case) to the particle velocity obtained from the height-time settling curve. (1) Richardson-Zaki equation . Where,

: the voidage of particles.

n: proportional exponent (n = 4.6 + x/D), but x (particle diameter) is generally is very small compared to D (diameter of the vessel) that second term is neglected, and n is equal to 4. UP: particle velocity from height-time settling curve. UT: particles terminal velocity.

However, the Richardson-Zaki equation is derived on the assumption that the particle obeys Stokes Law. So, it is important to verify that this is a valid assumption. This will be done by determining the actual particle size using Stokes Law.
( )

(2) Stokes Law. Where,

UT: particles terminal velocity [m/s]. x: particle diameter [m].

p: the particles density [kg/m3]. f: the fluids density [kg/m3]. g: the acceleration due to gravity [m/s2]. : the fluids viscosity [Pa.s].

Equation (2) can be rearranged in terms of x into the following form:

(3)

Once the particle size has been determined, the validity of the assumption can be checked be calculating Reynolds number. For Stokes Law to be valid, Reynolds particle number must be less than 0.3. (4) Reynolds number. On the other hand, the Kynch method is a graphical based method. In this method, particles are assumed to behave according to Stokes Law too. In addition, other assumptions and approximations are used in this approach (e.g.: wall effects are negligible). The settling velocity is found using the height-time graph. So, a tangent is plotted at the settling height. The slope of this portion of the graph represents the settling velocity. After determining the velocity, the particle diameter will be calculated and the Reynolds number will be checked to be less than 0.3. [1]

Presentation and Discussion of Results:

Figure 1: height (cm) vs. time (s) settling curves for 2-wt% and 8-wt% of CaCO3 solution:

2 & 8-wt% CaCO3

25 20 h (cm) 15 10 5 0 0 500 t (s) 1000 1500 2 wt% CaCO3 - vertical 8 wt% CaCO3 - vertical

Figure 1 is a plot of the height-time settling curve for 2 and 8-wt% CaCO3 solution. This graph shows the effects of concentration on sedimentation process. It can be seen that the lower the concentration of solids is the less settling time is required. The 2-wt% solution took about 200 seconds (3.3 minutes) before it reaches its settling height, whereas the 8wt% solution took 1400 seconds (23.3minutes) to reach the final sediment. For the 2-wt% case, it was very hard to determine the velocity using the Kynch method due to the fact that the plot obtained was almost linear. It was found that the settling velocity is almost 8mm/s for both the Kynch and Richardson-Zaki methods (see appendix for results tables). For the 8-wt% solution, the settling velocity for each method was different (3mm/s for Richardson-Zaki and 1mm/s for Kynch). Finally, the mass flux was calculated using the Kynch method for each case. For 2 and 8 wt-% mixtures, the mass

flux was 8.70E-05and 5.26E-05 kg/m2.s, respectively. Comparing these values shows that more solids are being transferred at the lower concentration, which means that the less settling time is required for the 2-wt% mixture.

Figure 2:height (cm) vs. time (s) settling curves for 8-wt% CaCO3 with and without flocculants:

8 wt% before and after adding flocc.

25 20 h (cm) 15 10 5 0 0 500 1000 t (s) 1500 2000 8 wt% CaCO3 - vertical 8 wt% CaCO3 flocc. - vertical

Figure 2 is a plot of the settling curve for an 8-wt% CaCO3 solution before and after the addition of flocculants. It was observed that after the addition of flocculants less time is required to reach the final sediment. So, the flocculants-free trial took about 23 minutes (1400 seconds) before it settles, whereas after adding flocculants, the same solution took about 6 minutes (400 seconds) to settle. So, the settling time was reduced by a factor of 3 after the addition of flocculants to the mixture. Both Kynch graphical method and Richardson-Zaki equation gave a settling velocity of 4mm/s. The mass flux of the mixture was found to be 1.24E-04 kg/m2.s after the addition of flocculants. This is

another indication that the settling time is reduced significantly after the addition of flocculants.

Figure 3: height (cm) vs. time (s) curves for vertical and inclined glass beads settling:

glass beads inclined and vertical oreintations

15 14 13 h (cm) 12 11 10 9 8 0 100 200 t (s) 300 400 500 glass beads -vertical glass beads - inclined

Figure 3 is a plot of height-time settling curve for glass beads and octanol mixture with two different orientations: vertical and inclined. When the cylinder was placed vertically, it took about 400 seconds before the glass beads settle. On the other hand, it took less than half that time (approximately 120 seconds) for the inclined orientation. So, the orientation of the cylinder affects the settling time significantly. The terminal (settling) velocity of glass beads particle was 2mm/s and 1.4mm/s using Richardson-Zaki and Kynch methods, respectively. On the other hand, for the inclined orientation, the terminal

velocity varied significantly in both cases. It was found to be 2.2mm/s and 0.2mm/s using the Richardson-Zaki equation and the Kynch graphical method in the same order. Finally, comparing the mass flux in both case will conclude that inclined orientation reduced the settling time by a factor of 2 (6.4E-5 kg/m2.s for vertical and 1.1E-4 kg/m2.s for inclined).

Conclusions:
The settling time required for sedimentation increases as the concentration of the solids in the mixture increases. In addition, increasing the concentration of a mixture lowers the mass flux of settling solids. For concentrated mixtures, the addition of flocculants reduces the time required for sedimentation process significantly. It also increases the mass flux of settling solids. The way that a vessel is place (the orientation) has an effect on the sedimentation process. On an inclined, the settling time can be reduced by a factor of two and may be more.

Recommendation:
This lab experiment was successfully conducted with no significant errors on expected results. So, I do not find any room for implements.

References:
[1] Sedimentation. University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Department of Chemical Engineering, posted on ChE3434 blackboard, 2010.

Appendices: