PILOT-PLANT STUDIES OF NON-STEADY-STATE CONTINUOUS SEDIMENTATION - HYDRODYNAMICS AND SOLIDS DISTRIBUTION PROFILES

A sedimentation-flocculation pilot plant has been designed and built, capable of operating under continuous and discontinuous conditions, in corporating a system to detect solids concentration profiles throughou t the settler using electrical conductivity, and an automatic control device, supported by suitable computer equipment with its own software . The hydrodynamic behaviour of the continuous thickener has been stud ied through transient-response techniques. Results of experiments carr ied out with mineral suspensions in continuous operation are presented here. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.