INTRODUCTION

Screening or sieving is a method of separating granular solids according to size.

A sieve shaker is a machine designed to hold and agitate a stack of sieves for the purpose of

separating a granular material sample into its component particles by size. The stack of sieves is

composed of sieves of different sizes. The one with the largest openings is on the top while the

sieve with the smallest openings is on the bottom with a solid tray beneath to catch the smallest

of the particles. The sample is placed into the top sieve of the stack, and as the sieve shaker

agitates the sample, the individual components sift through each of the sieves in turn with each

one retaining particles of a successively smaller size (Petersen, 2021)

Screens are widely used in nearly every process that handles particulate materials.

Manufacturers use the screening process as a form of quality control—to decide whether

materials are suitable for the next step of their manufacturing process (Basinger, 2017).  It can be

done in dry or wet method depending on the state of the feed and desired state of the product.

The two types of screening are:

1. Dry screening is used when the particles are free-flowing and can pass through openings

with just a shaking or tapping motion. It entails screening materials in their naturally

mined state by way of vibration. The processor filters the material through physical

screens, wherein particles of a certain size will pass through openings of a certain size.

2. Wet screening is used when water needs to be added to the sample to get the particles to

pass through the sieve. It is typically used for processes that involve finer feed material,
 or in cases where the material has a high moisture content that makes it more difficult to

dry screen.

In addition, industrial screens are made from woven wire, silk or plastic cloth, metal bars,

perforated or slotted metal plates, or wire that are wedge shaped in cross section. Various metals

are also used, with steel and stainless steel the most common. Standard screen range in mesh size

from 4 to 400 mesh, and woven metal screens with openings as small as 1μm are commercially

available. Screen finer than about 150 mesh are not commonly used, however, because the very

fine particle other method of separations is usually more economical (McCabe, Smith & Harriott,

1993). Through screening, there is an observable particle size distribution (PSD) that is used in

industry to select appropriate subsequent processes that the material may undergo (Nam,

Labuschagne, Buthelezi, Durgean, Ndimande, & Khoza, 2016).

So, in this experiment, the objectives are to separate a mixture of a certain substance into

uniform particle sizes using the method of screening. Next is to obtain the differential and

cumulative screen analysis of the given sample. Also, to show graphically the relationship of the

particle diameter with the mass fraction, and particle size with cumulative mass fraction. Lastly,

to characterize a sample by determining the specific surface, particle population, and average

particle size of a sample mixture. The experiment involves screening in which solid particles

dropped on a screening surface are separated according to their size only. Material passed

through a series of screen of different sizes is separated into sized fraction, fraction in which both

maximum and minimum particle sizes are known.

 In terms of screen efficiency, McCabe et al., (1993) stated that the effectiveness of a screen

(often called the screen efficiency) is a measure of the success of a screen in closely separating

materials A and B. It is commonly obtained by getting the ratio of oversize material A that is in

the overflow to the amount of A entering with the feed. In addition, the capacity of the screen is

also measured by the mass of the material that can be fed per unit time to a unit area of the

screen. To obtain maximum effectiveness, the capacity must be small, and large capacity is

obtainable only at the expense of a reduction in effectiveness. In practice, a reasonable balance

between capacity and effectiveness is desired. The capacity of a screen is controlled simply by

varying the rate of feed to the unit. The effectiveness obtained for a given capacity depends on

the nature of the screening operation.