Continuous separation of suspensions containing light and heavy particle species

Continuous separation of bidisperse suspensions containing particles of sig nificantly different size and density in a vertical settler was examined. T he effects of the feed total solids volume fraction, composition, and flow rate on the performance of the settler were investigated. For feed total so lids volume fractions less than 0.1, a kinematic model based on the Patward han and Tien (1985) expression for relative velocity was found to predict t he experimental measurements fairly well over a wide range of parameters. F or feed total solids volume fractions greater than 0.2, a strong local inst ability was observed in the settler. This local instability significantly i mproved the performance of the settler in some cases.