Thickening of clay slurry with fines removal 1

[sekura]

Please can anyone suggest how I can continuosly separate the fines 15 microns or less from a (50-120gpm) clay slurry with a PSD of 2-45 microns I have tried Hdrocyclones but their operation seems to seperate based on a flow ratio between the underflow and the overflow instead of Particle size and this peice is stalling my project and stressing me out real bad
Help in needed
Thanks

 

[unclesyd]

Try doing a search on "Elutriation" especially as it relates to mining and mineral industry.

 

[25362]

Schweitzer's Handbook of Separation Techniques for Chemical Engineers -McGraw-Hill- has chapters of centrifuging and hydrocyclones, that may be helpful. The latter has graphs and tables for selecting and sizing hydrocyclones for particular duties (flow rates, particle sizes, etc.).

 

[m777182]

we were using a combination of flocculants and decanter centrifuge very successfully for a similar task.
M777182

 

[cawse001]

Hydrocyclones are the way to go. Yes they will send a lot of water to the overflow, along with the -15 micron material.

In general they are combined with a thickener to recover water from the cyclone overflow stream. Very common for fines removal in mineral sands operations.

General rules of thumb:

Higher pressure = finer cut point
Lower feed slurry density = finer cut, better separation efficiency.
Smaller cyclone = finer cut

Contact Warman, Krebs, Linatex or Multotec for further design info.