Prediction of steady state dispersion height from batch settling data

Abstract

AbstractIn order to design continuous industrial settlers, it has in the past been necessary to obtain extensive pilot plant data, the interpretation of which required considerable experience before it could be used for scale‐up purposes. The idea of using batch settling tests has always seemed attractive, but the difficulty of reconciling unsteady‐ and steady‐state experiments has so far proved physically and mathematically insurmountable.In this study the variation in steady state height with dispersion throughput in a continuous settler is predicted from unsteady state data obtained in a small‐scale batch settler. Models are presented which relate the drop sedimentation and coalescence in batch and continuous dispersions, thus enabling the steady state settler behavior to be predicted from parameters obtained from the batch data. These models are verified with available experimental data and should greatly simplify the future design and scale‐up of continuous settlers.