SEDIMENTATION

Supervised By : Dr. Raid Tariq

Name : Abed alkalek Mustafa

Chemical Engineering - 4 ST
Uint Operation 2020 - 2021

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Introduction
A sedimentation tank or at least a silt trap is
usually located just before a constructed treatment
wetland . Historically, sedimentation tanks have
been designed on the basis of three simple
principles:

1. Overflow rate;

2.Weir loading rate; and

3.Hydraulic retention time.

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However, this has led to an empirical basis for
designing efficient settling tanks. The general
principles in any sedimentation tank design
method are as follows:

1. The objective is to remove settleable solids (SS)

and to reduce the SS content of the sewage,
thereby reducing the corresponding biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD).

2. The principle of gravity settlement in relatively

quiescent conditions is employed in the design of
all sedimentation tanks.
3. On a typical sewage treatment works,
sedimentation units are provided in three stages of
treatment: stormwater detention and treatment,
primary sedimentation, and final or secondary
sedimentation.

4. Sedimentation tanks are designed to operate on

a continuous-flow basis. They are usually
rectangular or circular in shape and are equipped
with mechanical sludge-collecting devices. With
the exception of tanks designed for continuous
sludge removal (final sedimentation tanks in
activated sludge plants), the bottom of
sedimentation tanks is essentially flat (up to 15°)
and has sludge hoppers with relatively steep

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sides. Settled sludge on the tank floor is moved by
mechanical scrapers into the hoppers for
subsequent withdrawal.

5. Imhoff or two-story tanks provide both

sedimentation and digestion in a single tank. The
use of such devices is limited to small plants
serving populations <5000.

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Work mechanism

Much of the suspended material can be removed by simply allowing the

water to stand and settle for some time. This retention time (from one
hour up to two days, the longer the better) is required to settle particles
in the bottom. Storing water for at least one day will also promote the
natural die-off of some bacteria.

 
Coagulants enhance sedimentation because they neutralise the surface
charge of suspended particles. Particles that cause turbidity (e.g. silt,
clay) are generally negatively charged, making it difficult for them to
clump together because of electrostatic repulsion. But chemical
coagulant particles are positively charged, and they chemically attracted
to negative turbidity particles, neutralising the latter’s negative charge
and accumulate to form larger particles (flocs), which settle faster.

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Natural coagulants contain significant quantities of water-soluble
proteins, which carry an overall positive charge when in solution. The
proteins bind to the predominantly negatively charged particles that
cause turbidity and form flocs. The flocs can be settled out or removed
by filtration. Bacteria and viruses can attach themselves to the
suspended particles in water. Therefore, reducing turbidity levels through
coagulation may also improve the microbiological quality of water.

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Assuring purity of
drinking water

Sedimentation provides an effective means of

treatment to produce a clarified effluent for further
treatment by filtration. In the sedimentation
processes, much of the solids are removed by
gravitational settling; particles that do not settle
and remain suspended ‘carry over’ to the filtration
process where they can be removed by the filters.

Sedimentation is generally accomplished in

rectangular or circular basins. Conventional
sedimentation tanks have long detention time,
often requiring 3–4 h for gravity settling to produce
clarified water that can be effectively filtered.
These large detention times can allow plant
operators to adjust to changes in raw water quality
to maintain an acceptable finished water product.
Sedimentation basins also allow a treatment train
to accommodate large solids loading as a result of
raw water quality changes.
The clarifier overflow rate is often used to quantify
the process loading rate and is usually expressed
in gallons per minute or gallons per day per square
foot of area (gpm ft−2 or gpd ft−2).

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 Conventional sedimentation overflow rates
generally range from 0.5 to 1.0 gpm ft−2 to produce
clarified water that is suitable for filtration
(American Water Works Association, 2011).
A considerable amount of mechanical equipment
is required to accomplish clarification and sludge
withdrawal from the sedimentation basin.
PAC can be added at the rapid mix or flocculation
steps of the process to control tastes and odors.
However, because the PAC tends to settle rapidly,
the contact time is sometimes less than adequate
to achieve good control. Normally, the PAC is only
in contact with the bulk raw water for the
flocculation time and approximately 30 min in the
clarifier. PAC can also assist in the removal of
organics from the water by adsorption on the
carbon and eventual removal with the settled
carbon.

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Tectonics & Gas Hydrates

Sedimentation is one of the main factors that

control gas hydrate accumulation on continental
margins. A high rate of sedimentation favors the
formation of gas hydrates on the continental
margins and the sedimentation rate generally
decreases with increasing distance from the
coastline and increasing water depth.
Sedimentation rates for major ocean basins during
the Cenozoic Era are given in.

Rapid sedimentation at rates >1 mm/year

generate overpressure in many sedimentary
basins around the world. Regions of higher
sedimentation bring in a higher quantum of organic
matter. Sedimentary organic carbon content
(% Org-C) doubles with each 10-fold increase in
sedimentation rate (S), assuming that other factors
remain constant, primary production (R), porosity
(φ), and sediment density (ps) (Müller and Suess,
1979) When low-permeability sediments are
rapidly loaded, pore fluids cannot escape and the
fluids bear some of the overlying sediment load. In
this situation, there is development of pore

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pressure that exceeds the hydrostatic pressure
(overpressure, P∗). Numerous processes generate
overpressure but in many passive margins rapid
deposition is thought to be a dominant
mechanism, producing a two-way coupling
between sedimentary processes and fluid flow.

The process of flow expelled fluid is dependent on

the rate of sedimentation, lithology, and
stratigraphy. Fluids are often trapped in pore
spaces between sediments and rocks, which will
affect the fluids when sedimentation and
compaction occurs.

In the subsurface the compaction and

sedimentation will increase with depth which would
influence the liquids to be displaced upward
because the density is lower than the surrounding
solids. The fluid flow at the subsurface occurs
mainly from complex fault systems, salt diapirs
and will mainly be trapped in the highest point of a
permeable rock unit (Selley, 1998). Fluid migration
is defined when petroleum migrates from the
source rock to the reservoir rock. This process is
defined when petroleum is transported as a
separated phase and mainly driven by buoyancy
of petroleum relative to water.

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Geological structures such as faults, diapirs and
landward dipping bedding planes are favorable
zones for rising fluid flows
(Ginsburg and Soloviev, 1997).

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Mineral Processing
Sedimentation or thickening is the natural gravity
settling of the solid portion of the concentrate pulp.
It takes place in a cylindrical thickening tank in the
form of layers. The pulp is fed continuously from
the top of the tank through a pipe.
The clear liquid overflows out of the tank. The
thickened pulp that settles at the bottom is taken
out through a central outlet.
The deposition process can be accelerated and
the settled solids can be pushed toward the central
outlet by rotating suspended radial arms
performing as an automatic rake mechanism. The
sedimentation process would produce thickened
pulp of 55%–65% solids
by weight.

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