PROCESS SYNTHESIS FOR PARTICLE SEPARATIONS USING CENTRIFUGES

Particle separations with centrifuges, i.e. non-sharp separations, are investigated. A methodology is studied which will lead to the creatio n of a cost optimal particle separation process. The particle separati on task examined is specified by fixing the feed flowrate and particle composition of feed and products. According to separation breakpoints for adjacent particle size channels, a superstructure is built which contains all possible processing solutions. The optimal particle separ ation process is obtained using a non-linear optimisation technique (M INOS, GAMS). This technique is used to minimise an objective function in terms of centrifugation costs, subject to the formulations of the s uperstucture. It is demonstrated that the methodology of the superstru cture can be successfully applied for particle separation processes. C ost optimal operating and design conditions are deduced for three part icle separation tasks. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.