Centrifugal Purifiers/Clarifiers

Purifiers and Clarifiers differ only in that clarifiers are not set up to remove water. Their design are similar
to the point that most purifiers found on board can be converted to use as a clarifier with simple alteration
of the gravity disc
If an oily water mix is placed into a tank then speration of the two parts will begin with the
lighter element rising to the top. The rate the seperation occurs is governed by several factors including
the difference in specific gravities and the force of gravity acting upon it.
For mixes placed into a settling tank there is little that can be done about the gravity but the difference in
the specific gravities can be increased by heating. This because water density changes at a much reduced
rate when compared to oil. The limiting factor to this is that the water cannot be heated above 1!C for
obvious reasons.
" wide shallow tank will increase the rate of clarification over a tall thin tank
Principles of operation
#hen a volume of light oil is placed into a tank contain a weir and a $uantity of water the
fluids will tend to arrange themselves as shown above. The height of the water in the weir rises to a point
governed by the volume % and thereby relative height& and specific gravity of the light oil.
'nowing this it is possible to form a rudimentary purification system.
"s a oil(water mix is fed into the tank seperation begins with heavy particulates falling to the base of the
tank along with water which )oins the other water excess overflowing the heavy phase weir. *opefully
clear oil passes over the light phase weir. The problem arises that to ensure their is suffcient time to allow
for full%seperation of the oily mix the flow would have to be very small relative to the si+e of the tank.
Principle of seperation in centrifuge containing angled plate stack
Fluid moving between two plates has a velocity greatest at mid point and minimum
approaching the plates.
a particle entering into the plates will tend to be pushed upwards by the fluid flow. "ll the time centrifugal
foce tends to retard the hori+ontal component of the movement causing the partical to approach the
underside of the top disc. "s it approaches the fluid flow velocity reduces. The centrifugal force eventually
overcomes the force acting on the partical due to fluid movement and th epartical starts to move towards
the oute rim. The centrifugal force acting on a particle is proportional to its mass therefore a small particle
will tend to move further under the influence of fluid flow. Indeed a particle small enough will be carried
through the plates and out with the discharge. In this way it can be seen that reducing the flow rate to a
purifier will tend to increase the $uality of the output.
Basic centrifuge
The basic centrifuge differs than that described above most obviously by sitting on its side. In
reality it takes the form of a round bowl a cross section of which will show something like that seen above.
,ravity is replaced by centripetal force as the bowl is spun at high revolutions thereby creating very high
g-forces.
" disc stack is incorporated to encourage a laminar flow increaseing improving the seperation effect. .irty
oil is introduced via a centreline oil feed dip tube. The oil is led to distribution holes which are refected in
the disc stack but not the dam
The following factors are of importance when understanding the function of the purifier
Increasing the sg of the oil will tend to push the interface outlet and cause overflow from the
heavy phase outlet untill the equilibrium is restored. Should the interface be moved so far as
to breach the dam oil will be issued from the heavy phase outlet and an alarm will sound.The
ideal position for the interface is to lie over the distribution holes
Reducing the sg of the oil will tend to bring the interface towards the axis, this reduces the
force of speration on the oil mix and reduces the efficacy of the unit possibly leading to
contaminants and water carryover with the light phase outlet
the "gravity" disc are changeable on virtually all purifers. Their centre bore is governed by the
sg of the oil being centrifuged. The largest bore should be used without rising overflow
The flow rate of a purifer should be set to optimise removal of whole system impurities. The
lower the oil feed the greater the time for impurity removal and the more efficient the
purification. The higher the rate the greater the amount of system oil is treated per unit of time.
!or a system such as main engine oil where contaminants are continuously being added to the
system. "s a rule of thumb the total volume of the system should pass through the purifer
three times every #$ hours, this rate may be vary depending on operational parameters. "
similar calculation has to be made with fuel oil to ensure removal of water and sludges which
may accummulate over time.
Choosing Gravity Disc
The graph shown above is one typical of one found in a purifer instruction book for selecting
appropriate gravity disc si+e. /hown on the diagram is an example of an oil of sg .01 at !C. The sg at
12!C for use with this graph is found by pro)ecting along a hori+ontal line to 12!C. This step would be
omitted if the sg at 12!C was already known. " line is then drawn parallel to the pre-drawn sloping lines.
#here the drawn sloping line cuts the appropriate oil supply temperature isothermal then This becomes
the selection point for the disc. This is found simply by ascertaining which si+e band the point lies in.
Self cleaning centrifuge
The ma)ority of purifers found on board are of the self cleaning type intat they are able to
open the bowl to discharge any accummulated sludge. "part from the sliding bowl the main difference is
the centripetal pump over the simple design. In this a fixed centrigual style impeller is mounted in the
light phase outlet drawing the oil and discharging it at pressure sufficient to deliver it to the receiving
tank. " discharge valve is fitted which is ad)usted to give a constant back pressure in the bowl. The
ad)ustment of this back pressure tends to move the position of the interface but more importantly
increases the oil in the light phase delivery chamber increaseing the immersion depth of the lip of the
pump. This reduces possiblility of air being entrained and removes foaming.. In the event of bowl failure
back pressure will fall3 this may be detected by a pressure switch initiaing a shut down
Desludge event
For the bowl shown above a typical se$uence of events would be4 p class 5 6noindent67
1. Bowl online
2. sludge cycle timer activates and bowl comes off line (heater may be disconnected at this time
3. Oil feed stopped
4. Oil still in bowl displaced by addition of a quantity of displacement water
. Bowl open control water passed to bowl via distributor! bowl opens
". Bowl open water discharged via a small orifice
#. Bowl closes
$. %eal water added
&. Oil feed commenced! timer started to give set time for bac' pressure to build up for oil disharge
1(. heater reconnected
Typical alarms and shut downs
The following gives a general list of alarms only some of which may be fitted.
%ac &ressure shutdown' this measures the discharge oil pressure and alarms and initiates a
shut down when below a set value
(eavy phase overflow. )il has a much higher visccosity than water. The heavy phase outlet is
led to asmall catchment tan containg a float. The outlet from the tan is restricted in such a
way that water flows freely but oil tends to bac up. This initiates an alarm and shut down
%owl not open' This may be dome in several ways, typically by a lever switch operated by the
discharged sludge hitting a strier plate. " nouther method is by measuring the motor current,
when the bowl opens the bowl speed is dragged down due to friction effects of the
dischargeing sludge and water. The motor current rises until full speed is reestablished. This
is detected by a current sensing relay
*ater in oil' This found on modern designs which have a detection probe mounted in the oil
discharge
(igh temperature alarm and shut down
+ow control,seal water pressure. *here control water is supplied via a fixed small header
tans a float switch may be fitted.
Other Designs
Sharples constant sludging
*eres one to send a shiver down the spine of anybody of my age.
This consisted essentially of a standard non desludging bowl into which were drilled small holes on the
circumference fitted with no++les. /eal water was pumped continuously from a small catchment tank
mounted ad)acent to the purifer into the bowl where it passed though to be e)ected through the )ets. It
then drained to the catchment tank. .irty oil would float to the surface where it would overflow though a
surface mounted skimmer to the sludge tank. Theoretically the bowl could run for considerable periods
without cleaning. The reality was one to two weeks3 bowl cleaning included patiently trying to clear the
small bore no++les. I remember loading bunkers which were brick red3 it contained lots of sand. The
purifer was permenantly overflowing to an extent we had to use the second purifier to run on the sludge
tank. 8owl cleans were every day with the other engineers playing the !it best if one person concentrates
on them! card. The worst aspect was the Chief 9ngineer who used to lie in wait for me when I was called
out during the night. :n sneaking back to for some sleep he would drag me into to his cabin % which was
next to mine& for a thank you drink- this inevitably lasted untill ; am
odern trends
The most obvious trend is that towars online sludging. In this during normal operation a small $uanity of
extra seal water is added and the bowl opened for an extremently short period of time thus removing the
need to interupt the process.
Control and Operating water
#ater must be supplied at a fixed pressure to ensure that the $uantity supplied to the purifer is constant
for the set parameters. The water normally comes from the vessels hot water system or is independently
heated to reduce thermal shocking and to prevent cooling of the hot oil
Drive
Considerable tor$ue would be re$uired to direct drive the bowl upto speed using an
appropriately si+ed electric motor. In addition very high loading would occur on the gear train3 to prevent
scuffing due to oil film breakdown would re$uire large mating areas therby large gear trains which would
again increase the starting load.
" centrifugal clutch arrangement is fitted which has between < and = ferrodo lined brake pads. These are
designed to slip during the start up period and also to a much lesser extent during the speed up period
after de-sludge. Purifer manufacturers will usually $uote a maximum and >I?I>@> start up time. "s the
pads wear it may be necessary to remove and restore the mating surface to keep the start up time
correct. "s a last measure the number of pads should be altered
The electric motor may be of special design allowing for a long period of slight overload during the start
up period.
The gear train is generally a single stage worm and wheel arrangement with the wheel being made of a
softer material. Aubrication is normally splash only3 the viscosity of the oil is essential to prevent wear as
the form of lubrication is mainly boundary therefore the wear is governed by the viscosity and additives
contained within the oil.
#hen wear occurs it will be scuffing and relative movement between the mating faces polishes out any
pitting. "s wear worsens galling occurs destroying the running surface. This damage is reflected in both
elements therefore both should be changed.
"s well as overload other causes of premature failure are poor design % step forward
westfalia&3 poor material choice3 poor lube oil choice3 too long a de-sludge period relative to supplied oil
$uality3 out of balance bowl3 failing bearing set in particular the vertical shaft upper resilient bearing
arrangement
The use of planned maintenance is essential particularly with respect to bearing changes. It is strongly
recommended to monitor condition using vibration analysis
Bowl Cleaning
/hould be carried out at regular intervals not exceeding manufacturers recommendations. 9very care
should be taken not to score the surfaces of the bowl especially the sliding surfaces for de-sludging types.
The disc stack is generally numbered and should be built up as per this system as the stack is a balanced
unit.
!ater washing
This was a techni$ues employed some time ago to improve purification of lube oil and to remove acids. It
involved continuously adding a small $uantity of water at oil temperature to the oil inlet which would pass
through and overflow. This is much out of favour as it tends to remove the essential oil additives in
particualr detergents. "n alternative is to in)ect steam which improves the removal of colloidal carbon by
causing it to coagulate
Typical Circuit
/hown is a typical circuit for a lube oil system although it can e$ually be applied to a fuel
system. Control is achieved by the three way valve which eitherdiverst oil to recirculate or sends it to the
purifer.
:il flow rate is controlled by the oil control valve situated before the positive displacement
delivery pump which is driven off the purifier hori+ontal shaft via a weak link arrangement
8ack pressure from the purifer is controlled at oultet via the back pressure control valve
Damage
/hown is typical damage to the sealing face of a sliding bowl. This has been caused by either
poor assembly or by hard material being trapped aft the bowl closes. @nfortuately it is more likely to be
the former.
Failure is detected by loss of sealing water as seen down the sludge shute. In addition there will be
carryover to the heavy phase and loss of discharge pressure as the seal is exhausted.