i

Government Engineering College, Bharuch

Chemical Engineering Department

Certificate
This is to certify that
Mr./Miss ____________________________ of
B.E. 8 th Semester Enrollment No. ___________
has satisfactorily completed his/her term work in Solid Fluid
Operations (2180508) for the term ending in
April 2017-18.

Date: / 04 /2018
Faculty for Subject Head of the Department

External Examiner:
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Table of Contents

Sr. Page
Name of Tutorial Date Grade Sign
No. No.

1 Tutorial-1 (Introduction of Solid-

Fluid Operations) 1

2 Tutorial-2 (Mixing and 6

agitation)

3 Tutorial-3 (Fluidization) 17

4 Tutorial-4 (Transportation) 21

5 Tutorial-5 (Filtration and 26

Sedimentation)

Tutorial- 6 (Solid-Fluid Mass

6 Transfer) 41

Tutorial- 7 (Solid-Fluid Reactors)

7 47

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 Tutorial-1 (Introduction of Solid-Fluid Operations)

Q-1 Define Solid-Fluid Operations.

 Solid-fluid systems contain solids that may be the ultimate recipients of the fluid-solid
mass transfer entering into the process result.
 Examples are biological processes in which biological solids are the user of the mass
transfer of the mixing flow patterns, various types of the slurries reactors in which the
solids either are being reactive or there may be extraction or dissolving take place or
there may be polymerization or precipitation of solids occurring.

Q-2 Give detailed classification of Solid-Fluid Operations.

 Based on driving force these operations are classified as follows:

 If the driving force is chemical potential then these operations are termed as
Solid-Fluid Mass transfer Operations.
 If the driving force is pressure difference then these operations are termed as
Solid-Fluid Fluid Flow Operations.
 Other of these operations are called Solid-Fluid Mechanical Operations.

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Q-3 Explain various Solid-Fluid Operations with examples in detail.

 Solid-fluid operations can be classified into two major categories namely,

 solid-liquid operations and
 solid-gas operations

 Solid-liquid operations
 These operations are classified under following categories:
Solid-liquid mass-transfer operations,
Mechanical operations, and
Fluid flow operations.

 Solid-liquid Mass-Transfer Operations

 These type of operations contain four major operations:
Leaching
Crystallization
Adsorption
Membrane separation
a. Leaching
 Leaching is the preferential solution of one or more constituents of a solid mixture
by contact with a liquid solvent
 Example: an important process for example is the leaching of sugar from sugar
beets with hot water.

b. Crystallization
 Crystallization is a unit operation that involves separation of a solute from its
solution in the form of crystals.
 Example: production of Glauber’s salt, a crystalline form of sodium sulfate.

c. Adsorption
 When a solid surface is exposed to a gas or liquid, molecules from the gas or the
solution phase accumulate or concentrate at the surface. This phenomenon of
concentration of molecules of gas or liquid at a solid surface is called adsorption.
 Example: adsorption of moisture on the packets of silica-gel.

d. Membrane separation
 Membrane separation is a technology which selectively separates materials via
pours and/or minute gaps in the molecular arrangements in the continuous
structure.
 Example: waste water treatment

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 Mechanical Operations
 These type of operations contain four major operations:
a. Mixing
b. Agitation
c. Filtration
d. Sedimentation
a. Mixing
 It implies taking at least two separate phases (same or different) and causing them
to distribute randomly through one another.
 Example: dissolving a solid reactant into a solvent.

b. Agitation
 It refers to the induced motion of material in a circulatory pattern inside a tank or
vessel.
 Example: Suspending relatively lighter solid particles in the liquid

c. Filtration
 The operation of separating a solid from a liquid by means of a porous medium is
called as Filtration.
 Example: filtration of sand from water.

d. Sedimentation
 The separation of solids from a suspension in a liquid by gravity settling is called
sedimentation.
 Example: water containing insoluble impurities.

 Fluid-Flow Operations
 There is only one main operation in this category.
a. Fluidization

a. Fluidization
 The term fluidization is used to describe the condition of fully suspended
particles, since the suspension behaves as a dense fluid.
 Example: suspension of solid particles in liquid.

 Solid-gas operations
 These operations are classified under following category:
Solid-gas mass-transfer operations.

 Solid-gas Mass-Transfer operations

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  These type of operations contain four major operations:
a. Drying
b. Adsorption and
c. Membrane separation

a. Drying
 Drying is a unit operation that refers to the removal of relatively small amount of
moisture from a substance with the help of thermal energy.
 Example: removal of moisture from paper.

b. Adsorption
 When a solid surface is exposed to a gas or liquid, molecules from the gas or the
solution phase accumulate or concentrate at the surface. This phenomenon of
concentration of molecules of gas or liquid at a solid surface is called adsorption.
 Example: adsorption of hydrogen on nickel.

c. Membrane separation
 Membrane separation is a technology which selectively separates materials via
pours and/or minute gaps in the molecular arrangements in the continuous
structure.
 Example: hydrogen removal and nitrogen enrichment by membrane gas
separation.

Q-4 Applications of solid-fluid operations.

 Removal of solids liquid sewage wastes

 Removal of suspended impurities from water
 Small amount of water removed from solid
 Removal of water at temperature below boiling point
 Purifying crystalline product
 Making material more suitable for handling and storage
 Reducing transportation cost
 Preventing corrosion
 Used for an ion exchange
 In water softening applications
 For treatment and concentration of dilute waste solutions
 Separation of rare earth metals.
 Widely used in metallurgical industries
 In metallurgical processing of aluminum, cobalt, manganese and zinc.
 Gold is separated from its ores
 Vegetable oils are recovered from seeds

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 Many pharmaceutical products are recovered from plant roots and leaves.
 Tea and coffee are prepared by leaching operations
 In petroleum industry with catalytic cracking
 Used for roasting ores, drying fine solids and adsorption of gases.
 Used in other catalytic processes like synthesis of acrylonitrile and for carrying
out solid-gas reactions.

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 Tutorial-2 (Mixing and agitation)
Q-1. Define mixing & agitation.

Agitation and mixing are not synonymous.

Agitation refers to the induced motion of a material in a specified way, usually in a circulatory
pattern inside some sort of container.

Mixing is the random distribution, into and through one another, of two or more initially separate
phases.

For example, a single homogenous material, such as a tank full of cold water, can be agitated,
but it cannot be mixed until some other material (such as another liquid or powdered solid) is
added to it.

Q-2. State various purposes of agitation with examples.

Liquids are agitated for number of purposes, depending on the objectives of the processing step.
These purposes include;

1) Suspending solid particles, for example, suspension of dirt and water.

2) Blending miscible liquids, for example, methyl alcohol and water.
3) Dispersing a gas through the liquid in the form of small bubbles.
4) Dispersing a second liquid, immiscible with the first, to form an emulsion or a suspension
of fine drops.
5) Promoting heat transfer between the liquid and a coil or jacket

Q-3. Explain different types of agitators with neat sketches and selection criteria.

Agitators are often referred as impellers.

They are classified mainly in two types based on direction of currents those are generated by the
blades; (I) Axial flow impellers, (II) Radial flow impellers.

Axial flow impellers generate currents in the direction parallel to the axis of impeller shaft.

Radial flow impellers generate currents in radial or tangential direction.

Another classification is based on viscosity of fluid that is being operated; (I) for low to
moderate viscosity, (II) for very viscous liquids.

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For low to moderate viscosity, propellers, turbines and high efficiency impellers are used.

For very viscous liquids, helical impellers and anchor agitators are used.

1. Propellers:

It is an axial flow, high speed impeller for liquids of low

viscosity. Small propellers turn at full motor speed, either
1150 or 1750 rpm; larger ones turn at 400 to 800 rpm.
The direction of rotation is usually chosen to force the
liquid downward, and the flow currents leaving the
impeller continue until deflected by the floor of the vessel.
The highly turbulent swirling column of liquid leaving the
impeller entrains stagnant liquids as it moves along, and
the propeller blades vigorously cut or shear the liquid.
Because of the persistence of the flow currents, propeller agitators are effective in very large
vessels.
Revolving propeller traces out a helix in the fluid and if there were no slip between liquid and
propeller, one full revolution would move the liquid longitudinally a fixed distance depending on
the angle of inclination of the propeller blades. The ratio of this distance to the propeller
diameter is known as “Pitch” of the propeller. A propeller with a pitch of 1 is said to have
Square pitch.
Standard 3 blade marine propellers with square pitch re most common; 4-blade, toothed and
other designs are sometimes employed for special purposes.
Propellers rarely exceeds 18 inch in diameter regardless of the size of the vessel. In a deep tank,
two or more propellers may be mounted on the same shaft, usually directing the liquid in the
same direction.

2. Turbines:
Four types of turbine impellers
are illustrated in the figure;
The simple straight blade
turbine pushes the liquid
radially and tangentially with
almost no vertical motion at
the impeller. The currents it
generates travel outward to the
vessel wall and then flow
either upward or downward.
Such impellers are sometimes
called “Paddles”. In process

7
vessels, they typically turn at 20 to 150 rpm.
The disk turbine, with multiple straight blades mounted on a horizontal disk, creates zone of high
shear rate; it is especially useful for dispersing gas in a liquid because at moderate speed, the gas
is forced to flow radially to the blade tips, where it is dispersed by the high shear.
The concave-blade CD-6 disk turbine impellers are also widely used for the gas dispersion.
A pitched-blade turbine is used when good overall circulation is important because it provides
some axial flow in addition to the radial flow.

3. High efficiency impellers:

Variations of the pitched-blade turbine have been developed to provide more uniform axial flow
and better mixing as well as to reduce the power requirement for given flow rate.
The high-efficiency impellers HE-3 have three slanted blades that are crimped to decrease the
blade angle near the tip.
The A310 fluid-foil impeller uses airfoil-shaped blades which taper so that they are narrower at
the tip then at their base.
These impellers are widely used to mix low or moderate viscosity liquids, but they are not
recommended for very viscous liquids or for dispersing gases.

4. Impellers for highly viscous liquids:

(a) Helical Ribbon impeller: For viscosities
above 20 Pa.s, and have been used successfully
with viscosities upto 25000 Pa.s.,diameter of
such helix is very close to the inside diameter of
the tank.
(b) Anchor impeller: Used to provide good
agitation near the floor of the tank. It is less
effective for mixing because it creates no vertical
movement but promotes heat transfer very well.
Scrappers may be employed to physically
remove liquid from tank wall.

Mixer selection criteria:

When the mixing time is critical, the best mixer is the one that mixes in the required time with
smallest amount of power.

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In many cases a short mixing time is desirable, but not essential and the mixing time is a
compromise arrived at by considering the energy cost for mixing and the capital cost of the
mixer.
For mixing reagents in a feed tank or blending product from different batches in a storage tank, a
relatively small mixer might be used, even if several minutes are required for complete mixing.

Q-4. Explain method for calculation of power consumption for agitation.

When the flow in the tank is turbulent, the power requirement can be estimated from the product
of the flow q produced by the impeller and the kinetic energy Ek per unit volume of the fluid.
q = n Da3 NQ
Ek = ρ (V’2)2 / 2

Velocity V’2 is slightly smaller than the tip speed u2. If the ratio V’2/ u2is denoted byα, V’2 = α π
n Da and the power requirement is
P = n Da3 NQ (ρ/2) (α π n Da)2
P = ρ n3 Da5 (α2π2/2) NQ
In dimensionless form,

P  2 2
 NQ
n 3 Da5 ρ 2

From the equation, Power number Np,

P
NP 
n Da5 ρ
3

In FPS units,

Pg c
NP 
n 3 Da5 ρ
From above equations we can find power requirement if we know Power number, agitator speed,
agitator diameter and density of fluid. Three terms from these four are known but Power number
is unknown which we can find from Reynolds number by the graph given below;

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Q-5 Explain in detail about Static mixers.

 These are the mixers which are applicable to gases or low viscosity liquids which are
blended by passing them together through a length of a open pipe or a pipe containing
orifice plates or segmental baffles.

 So the mixing is done by the flow of the gases or liquids inside the pipe only.
Under appropriate conditions the pipe length may be as short as 5 to 10 pipe diameters,
but 50 to 100 pipe diameters is recommended.

 More difficult mixing tasks are accomplished by static mixers, commercial devices which
consist of a series of metal inserts placed in the pipe.

 Types of Static Mixers:

(1)Helical element mixer
(2)Turbulent vortex mixer

1. Helical Element Mixers:

 Helical-element mixer is mainly used with viscous liquids and pastes.

These mixers provide continuous in- line mixing of fluids, gases, or powders using no
moving components.

 That’s why also known as motionless mixers.

 Alternating helical mixing elements provide thorough radial and axial blending in a short
length by dividing the main flow into two equal streams as material passes each element.

 Each element 1 to 1.5 pipe diameters in length, divides the stream into two, gives it a 180
degree twist, and delivers it to the next element.

 The second element divides the already divided stream and twists it 180 degree in the
opposite direction.

 Successive elements further subdivide the stream until the striations are so thin that the
blending process can be finished by molecular diffusion.

 The number of divisions increases by 2n, where “n” is the number of elements.

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 These mixers are custom-designed for each application. The number of elements is
determined by the specific application.

 Mixers can be jacketed or electrically heated, and supplied with fixed or removable mixer
elements.

 Sizes range from 2mm to 2m in diameter.

The recommended number of helical elements is 6 for Re = 100 to 1000, 12 for Re = 10
to 100, and 18 for Re less than 10.

 More elements are needed for very viscous liquids because of the lower molecular
diffusivity.

 The pressure drop per unit length is about 6 times that in the empty pipe when Re less
than 10, but increases to about 50 to 100 times that in the empty pipe when Re = 2000.

2. Turbulent Vortex Mixer or High Shear Mixer:

 This is also used for gases and low-viscosity liquids as shown in figure (b).

 These also provide continuous in-line mixing of fluids, gases, or powders using no
moving components.
Each element of this mixer has four tabs protruding at an angle into the pipe.

 Counter-rotating longitudinal vortices are formed in the wakes of the tabs, providing
efficient blending of the liquids or gases after only two to four elements.

 The unique, intermeshing element design provides high levels of mixing in a very short
overall length and product residence time.

 The pressure drop per unit length is 25 to 40 times the value for the empty pipe at Re =
10^4 to 10^5, but since only a few elements are needed, the overall pressure drop is not
large.

 The design is also adaptable to many types of applications.

 These mixers are custom-designed for each application. The number of elements and
design specifics are determined by the specific application.

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  Mixers can be jacketed or electrically heated, and supplied with fixed or removable mixer
elements and sizes range from 2mm to 2m and larger in diameter.

Q-6 Explain about intensive mixers in detail.

 Intensive mixers are those which are used for mixing of high viscous materials having
high intensive power requirement for mixing compared to static mixers.

 Intensive mixers includes change-can mixers, kneader ( disperser or masticator ), mixer

extruder and muller mixers.

(1) Change-can mixer:

 Blend viscous liquids or light pastes as in food processing or paint manufacture.

 A small removable can 5-100 gal in size holds the material to be mixed.

 In pony mixer, the agitator consists of several vertical blades held on a rotating head and
positioned near the walls of the can.

 The blades are slightly twisted and the agitator is mounted eccentrically wrt. the axis of
the can.

 The can rests on a turntable driven in a direction opposite to that of the agitator.

 When mixing is complete, the agitator head is raised, lifting the blades put of the can, the
blades are wiped clean, and the can is replaced with another containing a new batch.

 In beater mixer, the can or vessel is stationary, the agitator has a planetary motion, are
shaped to pass with close clearance over the side and bottom of the mixing vessel.

(2) KNEADERS:

 Kneaders are high intensive mixers for cohesive solid systems.

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  Some kneaders achieve their mixing action by squashing the mass flat, holding it and
squashing it again.

 Others tear the mass apart and shear it between a moving blade and a stationary surface.
There are two main types of kneaders:

 There are two main types of kneaders:

(1) Double arm kneader
(2) Banbury Mixers

Double arm Kneader:

 A two arm kneader handles suspensions, paste and light plastic masses.

 All double arm kneader mixers are equipped with two mixing blades placed in W-shaped
horizontal trough.

 The commonly used blades are sigma blade, spiral blade, masticator blade and naben
blade.

 The blades rotate towards each other at the same or differential speed.

 The rotation of blade is either tangential to each other or the blade may overlap within
trough.

 The blades pass the container walls and each other at a close clearance 2-3 mm resulting
in homogeneous mixture.

 The close clearance produces very high shearing action thereby reducing any large
particles.

 Homogeneous mixing is achieved within 10-15 minutes and mixing homogeneity is 99%.

 The power consumption is very high compared to other types of mixers.

 A disperser is heavier in construction and draws more power than a kneader, it works
additives and coloring agents into stiff materials.

 A masticator is still heavier and draws even more power. It can disintegrate scrap rubber
and compound the toughest plastic masses and are often called intensive mixers.

SIGMA MIXER:

 The sigma blade mixer is a commonly used and most popular mixer for high viscosity
materials.

 It belongs to the family of double arm kneader mixers.

 It consists of a short rectangular trough with a saddle shaped bottom. Two counter
rotating blades are incorporated in the trough.

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  The blades are so placed and shaped that the material turned up by one blade is
immediately turned under the adjacent one.

 The blades are driven

through a gear
mechanism provided at
either or both ends.

 The trough may be

open or closed and
may be jacketed for
heating or cooling. The
machine is operated in
a batch wise fashion.

 The machine can be emptied through a bottom valve where 100% discharge or thorough
cleaning, between batches, is not as essential.

 The material to be kneaded is dropped into the trough and mixed for a period of about 5-
20 minutes or longer.

 The trough is then unloaded by tilting it.

(2) Banbury Mixer:

 A banbury mixer is the most common internal

mixer. It is a heavy duty machine with two blades
each rotating in a cylindrical sheet, but these
cylinders partly intersect with each other.

 The blade is pear shaped, but the projection is

spiral along the axis and the two spirals interlock.

 The machine operates at a speed of 40 rpm or

lower.

 The clearance between the blades and the walls is

extremely small, and it is here that the mixing
action takes place.

 The material is fed from above and held in the

trough during mixing by an air-operated piston under a pressure of 1-10 kgf/cm2.

 Mixed material is discharged through a heavy sliding door which is provided at the
bottom of the trough.

 The heat generated is taken out by spraying cooling water on the walls of the mixing
chamber and circulating through the hollow agitator shafts during operation.

 Used mainly in plastic and rubber industries.

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Muller Mixers:

 A muller mixer consists of a pan incorporating muller wheels.

 In one of the designs of muller mixer , the pan is stationary and wheels rotate; while in
the other design, the pan is rotated and the axis of the wheels is held stationary.

 In the stationary pan muller mixer, the

central vertical shaft is driven, causing the
muller wheels to roll in a circular path
over layer solids on the pan floor.

 Plows direct the solids under the muller

wheels during mixing or to an opening in
the pan floor for the discharge of the mixer
at the end of the cycle.

 The muller wheels crush the material,

breaking down lumps and agglomerates.

 Capacity of the muller mixer ranges from

a fraction of cubic meter to more than 1.6
m^3 and the corresponding power
requirements ranges from 1/3 to 75hp.

 Mullers are used for handling batches of heavy solids and pastes.

 These are also effective in uniformly coating the particles of granular solids with a small
amount of liquid.

Mixer Extruders:

 Extruders are used to mix liquid-solid systems and to extrude molten or plasticized
polymers to semi-final and final product forms.

 The feed to an extruder usually contains the base polymer in granular or powder form,
together with additives such as stabilizers, plasticizers, and coloring pigments.

 The base polymer and additive are combined in a feed tunnel, providing a relatively
homogeneous mass that is then extruded in the main working chamber.

 During processing in the extruder, the polymer is melted and the additives are mixed.

 The feed enters a channel where it is mixed by one or two rotating screws.

 The extrudate product is delivered at high pressure and at a controlled rate from the
extruder for shaping by a die or mold.
Applications:

 Plastic industry

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  Preparation of additives such as pigments and resins

 Used to process cat and dog foods

 Floating and sinking fish feeds for the aquaculture and fish farming

 Textured vegetable proteins

 Gelatinized starches

 Infant formulations

Q-7 Explain heating and cooling mixers in detail.

Heating Mixer:

 Bigger vessel with double wall jacket construction and perfect height to dia ratio.

 Inside vessel is made from S.S 304 and mirror polished to avoid depositing of material.

 Adjustable baffle plate in angle is provided to achieve rapid and better dispersion.

 Efficient production without cross- contamination and free from moisture.

 Lower scrap rates in the extrusion due to consistence quality of the dry blend.

 Excellent dispersion of the additives even with higher calcium loading.

 Precise peripheral speed of mixing tool.

 Special S.S. blades having abrasive and wear resistance, balanced with proper design for
excellent mixing and higher blade life.

 Heavy duty bearing housing with best quality bearings for trouble free working.

 Best quality material of all key components.

 A platform with ladder railing is provided for approaching the heating mixer.

Cooling Mixer:

 Bigger S.S. 304 Vessel mirror polished with mild steel jacket for water circulation
insures better and efficient cooling of compounds.

 Mirror polished S.S 304 cone is provided for water circulation and to increasing the
cooling surface area and efficient cooling cycle in least time.

 Shovel type S.S blades for efficient movement of compound for shorter cooling time and
discharge of material.

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 Tutorial-3 (Fluidization)
Q-1. Define fluidization and minimum fluidization velocity.

Fluidization:

● Fluidization is a process in which solids are caused to behave like a fluid by blowing gas
or liquid upwards through the solid-filled reactor.
● Fluidization is widely used in commercial operations; the applications can be roughly
divided into two categories.
● Physical operations such as transportation, heating, absorption, mixing of fine powder,
etc. and chemical operations, such as reactions of gases on solid catalysts and reactions of
solids with gases etc.

Minimum fluidization velocity:

Terminal velocity is the highest velocity attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid. It
occurs when sum of the drag force and the bouncy force is equal to the downward force of
gravity acting on the object. Since the net force on the object is zero, the object has zero
acceleration. The smallest velocity at which fluidization occurs is the minimum fluidization
velocity (balance of gravity, drag and bouncy force).

Q-2. Explain condition for fluidization with neat sketch.

● Consider a vertical partially filled with fine granular materials.
● The tube is open at the top and has a porous plate at the bottom to support the bed and
distribute the flow uniformly over the entire cross section.
● Air is admitted below the distributor plate at a low flow rate and passes upward through
the bed without causing any particle motion.
● If the particles are quite small, flow in the channels between the particle will be laminar
and pressure drop across the bed will be proportional to the superficial velocity Vo.
● As the velocity increase, the pressure drop increase, but the particle do not move and
height remains the same.

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 ● Further increasing the velocity, it will reach a critical value at which the upward drag
forces will exactly equal the downward gravitational forces, causing the particles to
move. This is point A in the graph.
● With a further increase in velocity, the particle become separated enough to move about
in the bed, and fluidized begins (point B).
● Once the bed is fluidized, the pressure drop across the bed stays constant, but the bed
height continues to increase with increasing flow.
● The bed can be operated at quite high velocities with very little or no loss of solids, since
the superficial velocity needed to support a bed of particles is much less than the terminal
velocity for individual particles.
● If the flow rate to the fluidized bed is gradually reduced, the pressure drop remains
constant, and the bed height decreases, following the line BC which was observed for
increasing velocities.
● However, the final bed height may be greater than the initial value for the fixed bed, since
solid dumped in a tube tend to pack more tightly than solids slowly settling from a
fluidized state.
● The pressure drop at low pressure drop offsets the weight of the bed at point B, and this
point, rather than point A, should be considered to give the minimum fluidization
velocity VOM.
● To measure VOM, the bed should be fluidized vigorously and allowed to settle with the
gas turned off, and the flow rate increased gradually until the bed starts to expand.
● More reproducible values of VOM can sometimes be obtained from the intersection of
the graphs of pressure drop in the fixed bed and the fluidized bed.
Q -3. Explain the detail about types of fluidization.

 There are three types of fluidization such as

1. Particulate Fluidization
2. Bubbling Fluidization

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3. Continuous Fluidization

1) Particulate Fluidization:-

 The equation derived for minimum fluidization velocity (Vom) apply to liquids as well as
to gases, but beyond Vom the appearance of beds fluidized with liquids or gases is often
quite different.
 When fluidizing sand with water, the particles move further apart and their motion
becomes more vigorous as the velocity is increased, but the average bed density at a
given velocity is the same in all sections of the bed.
 This is called “particulate fluidization” and is characterized by a larger but uniform
expansion of the bed at high velocities.

2) Bubbling fluidization:-

 Bed of solids fluidized with air usually exhibit what is called aggregative or bubbling
fluidization.
 At supercritical velocities much greater than Vom most of the gas passes through the bed
as bubbles or voids which are almost free of solids, and only a small fraction of the gas
flows in the channels between the particles.
 The particles move erratically and are supported by the fluid, but in the space between
bubbles, the void fraction is about the same as at incipient fluidization.
 The non uniform nature of the bed was at first attributed to aggregation of the particles,
and the term aggregative fluidization was applied; but there is no evidence that the
particles stick together and the term bubbling fluidization is a better description of the
phenomenon.
 The bubbles that form behave much like air bubbles in water or bubbles of vapor in a
boiling liquid, and the term “boiling bed” is sometimes applied to this type of
fluidization.
 The behavior of a bubbling fluidized bed depends very strongly on the number and size
of the gas bubbles, which are often hard to predict. The average bubble size depends on
the nature and size distribution of the particles, the types of distributor plate, the
superficial velocity, and the depth of the bed.

3) Continuous Fluidization:-

 When the fluid velocity through a bed of solids becomes large enough, all the particles
are entrained in the fluid are carried along with it, to give continuous fluidization.
 Its principal application is in transporting solids from point to point in a processing plant,
although some gas-solid reactors operate in this fashion.
 The generalization that liquids give particulate fluidization of solids while gasses give
bubbling fluidization is not completely valid.
 The density difference is an important parameter, and very heavy solids may exhibit
bubbling fluidization with water, while gases at high pressure may give particulate
fluidization of fine solids.

19
  Also, fine solids of moderate density, such as cracking catalysts, may exhibit particulate
fluidization for a limited range of velocities and then bubbling fluidization at high
velocities.

Q -4. Write industrial applications of fluidization.

 Extensive use of fluidization began in the petroleum industry with the development of
fluid- bed catalytic cracking. Although the industry now generally uses riser or transport-
line reactor for catalytic cracking, rather than fluid beds, the catalyst regeneration is still
carries out in fluid-bed reactors, which are as large as 30ft in diameter.
 It is used in catalytic process such as synthesis of acrelonitrile, solid gas reaction and
gasification.
 It is also used in roasting ores, drying fine solid, adsorption of gases.
 Solid is vigorously agitated by fluid passing through bed, this ensure that there is no
temperature gradient to bed.
 FCC convert heavier petroleum fraction into smaller.
 Fluidization beds are used as a technical process which has ability to promote high levels
of contact between gases and solids.
 In 1950, it was applied to minerals & metallurgical process such as drying and roasting.
 In 1970, it was used to produce most useful polyethelene, which is reduced the cost of it
very much.

20
 Tutorial-4 (Transportation)
Q.1 State different types of transportation system use to industry.

 There are two types of transport use in industry.

1.Hydraulic Transport
2.Pneumatic Transport

1.Hydraulic transport

 A suspension of solid particles in a liquid, as in a mixture of cement, clay, coal dust,

manure, meat, etc. - with water is often called a slurry.
 It is a transmission system that uses pressurized hydraulic fluid to power hydraulic
machinery.
 In transport systems for slurries it's important to avoid settling of solids by keeping the
fluid velocities in the pipe lines above certain levels. The levels depends primary on the
type and size of the solid in the slurry.

2.Pneumatic transport

 Use of a gas to transport a particulate solid through pipeline.

 Pneumatic transport systems are used to move powder and other solid products.
 In a pneumatic conveying system most of the energy is used for transport of the air itself.
The energy efficiency of a pneumatic conveying plan.
 The principal types of system are
1. Negative pressure system
2. Positive pressure system
3. Vacuum pressure system

Q.2 Write short note on slurry transport.

 Particles smaller than about 50 micrometre in diameter settle very slowly and are readily
suspended in moving liquid.
 Larger particles are harder to suspend l, and a fairly large liquid velocity is needed to
keep the particle moving, especially in horizontal pipes.
 The critical velocity Vc,below which particle will settle outside typically between 1 and 5
m/s, depending on the density difference between solid and fluid, the particle diameter,
and slurry concentration ,and size of the pipe.
 Critical velocity is larger in big pipe than in small pipe.
 When the velocity is 3Vc or greater the pressure drop in the slurry and that in the
equivalent single phase liquid are equal.
 The velocity in a long slurry pipeline is typically 1.5 to 2 times Vc.

21
Q.3 Explain in detail about belt conveyor and roller conveyor, screw and bucket elevator.

BELT CONVEYOR

 A belt conveyor is made up of an endless belt that traverses between two or more pulleys
and is supported at intermediate points by idler rolls.
 These conveyors can handle a wide range of materials, from fine powders to large lumpy
stone or coal, at rates varying from several tons per hour to over5000 ton/hr.
 Speeds vary from 35 to 300 m/min with belts extending over considerable distances.
Such belts are widely used.
 It can be arranged horizontally and with inclined or declined sections combined with
convex and concave curves in the belt.
 Desired path of travel is limited only by the strength of the belt and the permissible angle
of incline or decline for the particular situation.
 Bulk materials are sometimes conveyed on flat belts supported on horizontal idlers on the
carrying and return runs. However, in most industrial systems, in order to increase the
handling capacity, the belt is formed into a trough shape after it has been loaded with
material and it is supported along the carrying run by toughing idlers.
 Solid being transferred vary in size of particles; dusty material sometimes results in dust
explosions. The materials can also vary in abrasiveness, be free-flowing, or cohesive, or
friable. Wet or sticky materials, however, are often a problem if they are not continuously
cleaned from the belt surface.
 Material characteristics are typically used to determine the required belt width, the
carrying capacity of a particular belt, and the maximum inclination at which the belt can
be operated.

ROLLER CONVEYOR

A roller conveyor supports unit type of load on a series of rollers,

mounted on bearings, resting at fixed spacing on two side frames
which are fixed to stands or trestles placed on floor at certain
intervals.

22
 A roller conveyor essentially coveys unit loads with at least one rigid, near flat surface to
touch and maintain stable equilibrium on the rollers, like ingots, plates, rolled stock,
pipes, logs, boxes, crates, moulding boxes etc. The spacing of rollers depend on the size
of the unit loads to be carried, such that the load is carried at least by two rollers at any
point of time.
 Roller conveyors are classified into two groups according to the principle of conveying
action.

These are:
1. Unpowered or Idle Roller Conveyor.
2. Powered or Live Roller Conveyor.

 In an unpowered roller conveyor, the rollers are not driven or powered from an external
source.
 The loads roll over the series of rollers either by manual push or push from an endless
moving chain or rope fitted with pusher dogs, rods or clamps. Generally these conveyors
operate at horizontal plane, but at times a gentle slope is given to these conveyors to aid
motion of the loads.
 An inclination of 1.5% to 3% ensures that the load will roll by gravity. Such conveyors
are termed “gravity roller conveyor’’
 In a powered roller conveyor, all or a selected number of rollers are driven by one or a
number of motors depending on the selected drive arrangement. The driven rollers
transmit motion to the loads by friction.
 The powered roller conveyors may be installed at a slightly inclined position, up to 10°
up or up to 17° down.
 The load can be moved in either directions by changing the direction of rotation of the
rollers, where these are called reversing conveyors.
 Roller conveyors are used for conveying almost any unit load with rigid riding surface
that can move on two or more rollers. These are particularly used between machines,
buildings, in warehousing as storage racks, docks, foundries, rolling mill plants,
manufacturing, assembly and packaging industry.
 They are also used for storage between work stations and as segment of composite
handling system. However, the limitations of rollers conveyors are that they can be best
used for objects with rigid flat surfaces, and for movement to relatively short distances.
 Needs side guards to retain the loads from falling off. Gravity roller conveyors have the
risk of accelerating loads.

23
SCREW CONVEYOR

A rotating screw is employed to push (or

pump) solid powder through a tube or U-
shaped trough.

 Screw conveyors are generally of

relatively simple design and rather
low cost, but power requirements
are high. Sometimes cooling is
required as considerable power is
converted to heat.
 The abrasiveness and average size
of the granular powder are
important.
 For cohesive materials that pack or adhere, problems occur.
 Solid particles that easily break into smaller particles are much easier to convey via
screw conveyors.
 Solids with hard and rather large lumps often cause problems in these conveyors.
 Screw conveyors that provide up to 30-m lifts have been built.
 Screw rpm often ranges from 200 to 400.

BUCKET ELEVATORS

 A series of metal or plastic buckets are

used to lift solid particles.
 These buckets are attached to an
endless belt or chain.
 The buckets are first filled with the
solid particles, and the buckets are
unloaded after the moving belt has
lifted the buckets. Continuous
elevators can handle a wide range
materials, from light to heavy, free-
flowing granular and pulverized
materials with lumps up to 100 mm.
 This elevator handles material rather gently. Bucket speeds range from 30 to 46 m/min.
 The lower speeds are used in order to properly fill the buckets when fluffy, low-density
materials are handled. Capacities range up to 75 m3/hr. on standard elevators.
 Super elevators are continuous-type elevators in which buckets are mounted between two
strands of chains.

24
  This arrangement makes it possible to handle a larger volume because the bucket can be
extended in back of the chain.
 Elevators of this type are capable of handling upto 375 m3/hr.

Q.4 Explain in detail about pneumatic transport with neat sketch.

 Use of a gas to transport a particulate solid through pipeline.

 Pneumatic transport systems are used to move powder and other solid products.
 In a pneumatic conveying system most of the energy is used for transport of the air itself.
 The energy efficiency of a pneumatic conveying plant is therefore relatively low, but this
is often outweighed by easy handling and, in well-designed systems, dust free solutions.

 The principal types of system are

1. Negative pressure system: - useful in

transporting solid from multiple intake points
(railroad cars, ships, holds) etc.

2. Positive pressure system: - best for one intake

point and one or more point of delivery.

3. Vacuum pressure system:-which combine the

advantage of the previous two.

25
 Tutorial-5 (Filtration and Sedimentation)
Q-1. Define filtration, constant rate filtration, constant pressure filtration.

Filtration: The Separation of solids from a suspension in a liquid with the help of porous
medium or screen which retains the solid and allows the liquid to pass is termed as filtration.

Constant rate filtration: The method in which the pressure drop over the filter is held
constant throughout a run so that the rate of filtration is maximum at the start of filtration and
decreases continuously towards the end of the run is called Constant Pressure filtration.

Constant pressure filtration: The method in which the pressure drop is varied usually from
minimum at the start of filtration to a maximum at the end of filtration so that the rate of
filtration is constant throughout the run is called Constant Rate filtration.

Q-2. Write short note filter aid and filter media.

Filter Aid:

Filtration of slurries containing very finely divided solids or slimy, impermeable cake that
quickly plug the filter media. In cases the porosity of the cake must be increased to allow
passage of the filtrate at a reasonable rate. This is achieved by adding a filter aid to the slurry
before filtration.

A filter aid is granular or fibrous material which packs to form a bed of very high voidage,
Because of this, they are capable of increasing the porosity of the filter cake.

A filter aid should be of low bulk density, should be porous, and should be capable of
forming a porous cake.

Filter Media:

The filter medium in any filter must meet the following requirements:

a) It should not plug.

b) It should be mechanically strong to withstand the process condition.
c) It should be resistant to the corrosive action of fluid.
d) It should offer as little resistance as possible to the flow of filtrate.
e) It should be cheap.
f) It should possess ability to discharge cake easily.
g) It should have long life.

26
Q-3. Explain with neat sketch in detail about plate and frame filter press.

Construction :

 This is the simplest type of pressure filter.

 It consists of plates and frames arranged alternately and supported on a pair of rails.
 The plate is a solid piece having a ribbed surface.
 The frame is hollow and provides the space for the filter cake.
 By this alternate arrangement of frame and filter the chamber form in which cake will
deposit.
 The plate and frame are square or rectangular in shape which made from cast iron,
stainless steel, nickel, aluminum, monel, wood, hard rubber or plastics
(polypropylene).
 Filter cloths are placed over each plate to cover the plate surface on both sides so that
hollow frame is separated from the plate by the filter cloth.
 The plate and frame have circular holes on the corners for feed and discharge.
 The filter cloth also having holes.
 The filter cloth themselves act as gaskets.
 By using the hand screw or hydraulically the press is closed and a continuous channel is
formed along the whole length.
 At the bottom of the plates, holes are cored which connect the faces of the plates to the
outlet cocks.

27
 Working :
 Slurry to be filtered is pumped through the feed channel.
 It runs into the chambers formed and filled the chamber completely.
 The filtrate passes through the cloth, runs down the faces of plates and finally leaves
the filter through discharged cocks.
 The solids are deposited on the filter cloth. After some time chamber is fully charged then
the press is said to be jammed.
 To remove soluble impurities from the cake wash liquid may be introduced in the
press, and then blown with air to remove the residual liquid from it.
 The press is then dismantled, and the cake of solids scrapped off from each plate and
dropped to a conveyor or storage bin.

 Advantages :
1. Simple in construction.
2. Low first cost.
3. Very low maintenance and hence, its cost is low.
4. It provides large filtering area per unit for floor space occupied.
5. High operating pressures are easily obtained.
6. It is possible to alter the capacity.
7. Most joints are external, so leakage is easily detected.
8. Flexibility.

 Disadvantages:
1. Labour requirement is very high.
2. Filter cloth life is relatively short.
3. Not suitable for high throughputs.
4. Presses frequently drip and leak, making housekeeping in the area a problem.
5. Cake washing is likely to be imperfect.

Q-4. Explain in detail about continuous vacuum filter?

 Rotary Drum Filter :

Construction :

 A rotary drum filter is from 50 to 400 cm

in diameter and 50 to 800 cm long.
 Outer surface is formed of Plate and
which turns at 0.1 to 2 r/min.
 Inside the outer drum, there is a smaller
drum with a solid surface.
 The annular Space between the two drum
is divided into number of components by

28
 radial partitions and separate connection.
 As the drum rotates, vacuum and air are alternately applied to each compartment.

 Working :-
 The drum is immersed to desired depth in the slurry.
 Vacuum is then applied to the portion of drum which is submerged in the slurry through
the rotary valve.
 The liquid (filtrate) is sucked into the compartment and solid get deposited on the cloth
drum.
 It is higher speeds and high rate of filtration will be achieved.
 The filtrate from the compartment than goes to a filtrate collecting tank through the
internal pipe and rotary valve.
 Cake is formed comes out of slurry, the cake is washed by spraying wash liquid.
 The wash liquid leaves the filter through the rotary valve and is collecting separately in a
separate tank.
 After washing, cake enters into a drying zone as the drum rotates where the cake is dry by
solid.
 Vacuum is cut off and the cake is removed by scrapping it off using a adjustable doctor
blade.
 Once the cake is removed from the drum sector, it re-enter the slurry and the cycle is
repeated.

Q-5 Explain in detail about discontinuous vacuum filter.

 Pressure filter are usually discontinuous; vacuum filter are usually continuous.
 A vacuum nutsche is little more than a large Buchner funnel,1 to 3m(3 to 10ft) in
diameter and forming a layer of solid 100 to 300 mm(4 to 12 in)thick.
 Because of its simplicity, a nutsche can readily be made of corrosion-resistant material
and is valuable where experimental batches of a variety of corrosive material are to be
filtered.
 Nutsches are uncommon in large-scale processes because of the labor involved in digging
out the cake; they are useful. However, as pressure filter in some batch operations in
which the cake must be dried in the filter itself before discharge.

Q-6 Explain laboratory batch sedimentation process & rate of sedimentation process.

“BATCH SEDIMENTATION”

“Sedimentation is the tendency for particles in suspension to settle out of the fluid in which
they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier.”

29
At first, the solid is uniformly distributed in the liquid, as shown in fig. the total depth of the
suspension is Z.
There are mainly 4 zones visualize in sedimentation process.
1) Zone A – clear liquid
2) Zone B – original concentration
3) Zone C – transition layer
4) Zone D – settled solid

To proceed the sedimentation there are 2 stages.

1) flocculation
2) Suspension

The concentration of solid is high enough that sedimentation of flocks is hindered by other
solid to such an extent that all solid at a given level settled at a common velocity.
At first, the solid is uniformly distributed in the liquid.
After sort time, the solid have settled and give clear liquid zone, zone A and zone D of settled
solids.

Above zone D there is a transition layer zone C, in which the solid content varies from that in
the original pulp to that in zone D.
In zone B, the concentration is uniform and equal to the original concentration, since the
settling rate is same throughout this zone.
As settling continuous, depth of the zone A and D is increases. The depth of zone C remains
constant and depth of zone B decrease.
Eventually, zone B disappears, and all solids are in zone C and D.
As the time will pass zone C compresses in zone D.
Finally, when the weight of the solid is balanced by compressive strength of flocks, the
settling process stop.
The entire process is called batch sedimentation.

30
“RATE OF SEDIMENTATION”

A typical plot of interface height versus time is shown in figure.

During the early stage of settling velocity is constant, as shown by first portion of curve.
When zone B disappears, the rate of settling start to decrease, and steadily drops until the
ultimate height is reached.
For the example shown, the interface height was still decreases at 20h, and ultimate height
was only estimated.

Q-7 What is clarifier (thickener) and classifier?

Gravity separation under the hindered settling conditions is often use to convert dilute slurry of
fine particles into clarified liquid and concentrated suspension this process is carried out in large
open tanks called thickeners or clarifier.

 Clarifier: the equipment which removes virtually all the particles from the liquid is
called clarifier.
 Classifier: the device which separates the solid into two fractions is called classifier.

Q-8 What is clarifying filter, functioning and working and explain types of clarifying filter?

Define: it is the equipment that removes small amount of the solid or liquid droplet from
either liquid or gases.
Functioning: particles get trapped either on the surface of the filter medium or within the
filter medium.
Working: during the flow through the clarifying filter the undesirable amount get entrapped
either on the surface or within the flow channels and get immobilized.
Where they reduce the effective diameter of the channel but usually do not block them
completely.
Clarifying filter is classified into two categories,
31
  Liquid clarification
 Gas cleaning
Liquid clarification: in this type of clarification, undesirable solid particle are removed from
the liquid stream, to make liquid stream free from solid particles.
This includes gravity bed filters with the pack of disks for a clarifying the liquid. The disks
are made of asbestos and cellulose fibers
Uses: it is uses especially in,
1. Beverage industry
2. Pharmaceutical
3. Fuel oil
4. Lubricant
5. Electroplating solutions.

Filters for gas cleaning includes pad filters for atmospheric dust and bag filters for process dust.
Air is get cleaned by passing through pads of the cellulose pulp, cotton, glass fiber.
The pad material may be dry or coated with the viscous oil to act as a dust holder. Dust congaing
gases enter the bag and gases are passed out, and dust is leaving behind. Periodically the flow is
automatically cut off and clean gas is blown back to dislodges the dust for recovery/disposal.

32
Q-9 Explain sink & float method & differential settling method in detail.

Sink and float process:

Floating is when a substance is on the liquid.

Sinking is when the whole substance is below the liquid surface.
A sink and float method uses a liquid as sorting medium.
The particles of lower specific gravities float on the surface of the medium while the particles
of higher specific gravity sink to the bottom.
The speed at which the separation of the "sink" from the "float" particles takes place depends
upon the weight of individual particles and also on the specific gravity between the particles
and medium.
Thus the large and heavy particles sink fast and separation of these from float particle is
easily achieved while the smaller particles or those with a small gravity differential from the
medium are not as readily separated.
In practice the finer fraction of the ore are not subjected to sink and float treatment as even
under the best condition the rate of separation would be uneconomically slow.
Float and sink process are used to treat relatively coarse particles usually greater than 10
mesh.
This method has the advantage that in principle the separation depends only on the difference
in to density of the two substances and is independent of the particles size.
This method is also known as heavy fluid separation.
The problem is to choose a liquid medium of the proper density to allow the lighter material
to float and heavy to sink.
The specific gravity of the medium be in the range of 1.3 to 3.5 or greater there are only a
few liquids that are sufficiently heavy, cheap non-toxic and non-corrosives to be practicable.
Halogenated hydrocarbon and cacl2 solution have been used for this purpose.
Cleanly coal and concentration ores are common application of sink and float.
 Differential settling methods:
The separation of solid particles into several size fractions based upon their settling velocities
in a particular medium is called differential settling or classification.
Density of the medium is less than that of either of the two substances to be separated
In differential settling, both light and heavy materials settle though a medium.
Suppose that there are two materials: heavy-density material A (such as galena, with a
specific gravity ρa = 7.5) and light-density material B (such as quartz, with a specific gravity
ρa = 2.65). The terminal settling velocity of components A and B, from Eq. (7), can be
written

33
 Eq. (1) & (2)

For particles of equal settling velocities, vtA = vtB, by equating Eq. (1) to (2), canceling terms,
and squaring both sides.

Eq. (3) & (4)

For particles that are essentially spheres at very high Reynolds numbers in the turbulent
Newton’s law region, CD is constant and CDA = CDB, giving

Eq. (4)

For laminar Stokes’ law settling

Eq. (5)

Substituting Eq. (5) into Eq. (3) and rearranging for Stokes’ law settling, where vtA = vtB,

34
 Eq. (6)

For transition flow between laminar and turbulent flow,

Eq. (7)

For particle settling in the turbulent range, Eq. (4) holds for equal settling velocities.
For particles CDA = CDB and settling is in the turbulent Newton’s law region, containing Eq.
(1) and (2),

Eq. (8)

If both A and B particles are settling in the same medium, then Eq. (4) and (8) can be used to
make the plots given in Fig. 1 for the relation of velocity to diameter A and B.

Settling and separation of two materials A and B in Newton’s law region.

35
Q-10 Describe thickener in details.

Industrially sedimentation processes carried out by batch wise or continuously in equipment

called thickener.
A thickener consists of a relatively shallow tank from the top of which clear liquid is taken off
and the thickened liquid is withdrawn or removed from the bottom.
In majority cases, the concentration of the suspension is high and hindered settling takes place.
The rate of sedimentation can be artificially increased by the addition of the coagulating agents
such as alum, etc.
By adding coagulating agents, causes the precipitation of colloids particles and the formulation
of flocks. Suspension is also frequently heated which causes reduction in the viscosity of the
liquid.

Batch thickener

A batch thickener usually consists of a cylindrical tank provided with opening for a slurry feed
and product discharge. The bottom of the cylindrical tank is conical. The tank is filled with the
slurry and slurry is allowed to settle.

Continuous thickener

Two main two functions of thickeners are:

1. To produce a clear liquid
2. To produce a given degree of thickening of a suspension.

36
For the production of the clear liquid the upward velocity of the liquid must always be less than
the settling velocity. Thus diameter of the tank determines the clarifying capacity of the
thickener.

Q-11 Explain with net sketch in detail about suspended batch centrifugal filter.

 A common type of batch centrifugal

filter is suspended batch centrifugal
filter. Which is shown in figure (a).
 It has perforated basket range from 750
to 1200mm in diameter and from 18 to
30 inch deep, which is rotating with
speed between 600 to 1800 rpm.
 The basket is held at the lower end of
vertical shaft driven from above. The
filter-medium lines the perforated wall of
the basket.
 Feed slurry is entered through inlet pipe,
which is mounted at middle of wall.
 Liquor drain through the filter medium in
to casing and discharge through
discharge pipe and cake is deposited on
perforated wall of basket which is discharged by adjustable knife.
 Sometimes at a higher speed of motor during loading and washing step the motor is shut
off and the basket nearly stopped by means of brake.
 With the basket slowly turning, at perhaps 30 to 50 rpm, the solid are discharged by
cutting them out with an unloader knife, which peels the cake off filter medium and
drops it through an opening in basket floor.
 The filter medium rinsed clean, the motor turned on, and the cycle repeated.
 Suspended batch centrifugal filters are used extensively in sugar refining, where they
operate on short cycles of 2 to 3 rpm per load and produce up to 5 ton/hour of crystals
per machine.
 Where large tonnages of crystals are separated, there automatic or continuous centrifugal
filters are used.
 Another type of suspended batch centrifugal filter is driven from bottom.
 Except in sugar refining, suspended centrifuge usually operate on cycles of 10 to 30 min
per load, discharging solid cake at rate of 300 to 1800kg/h.

Q-12 Explain types of centrifugal filter in detail with neat sketch.

There are three types of centrifugal filter

1. Suspended batch centrifugal filter

37
2. Automatic batch centrifugal filter
3. Continuous centrifugal filter

1. Suspended batch centrifugal filter: ( same as answer of Q-11)

2. Automatic batch centrifugal filter:

A short-cycle automatic batch
centrifuge is shown in below figure:
 In this machine the basket rotate at
constant speed about horizontal axis.
Feed slurry, wash liquid, and screen
rinse are successively sprayed into the
basket at appropriate interval for
controlled length of time.
 The basket is unloaded while turning
at full speed by a heavy knife that
rinse periodically and cuts the solid
out with considerable force through a
discharge chute.
 Cycle timers and solenoid-operated valves control the various part of the operation;
feeding, washing, spinning rinsing, and unloading. Any part of the cycle may be
lengthened or shortened as desired.
 Basket diameter in centrifuge is between 500 and 1000mm, automatic centrifuge have
high productive capacity with free-draining particles.
 Usually they are not used when the feed contain many particles finer than 150-mesh.
 Automatic centrifuge cannot handle slow-draining solid, which would uneconomically
long cycle, or solid that do not discharge cleanly through the chute. There is also
considerable breakage or degradation of crystals by the unloader knife.

3. Continuous centrifugal filter

 A continuous centrifugal
separator for coarse crystals is the
reciprocating-conveyor
centrifuge shown in below figure:

 A rotating basket with the slotted

wall is fed through a revolving
feed funnel. The purpose of the
funnel is to accelerate the feed
slurry gently and smoothly.

38
  Feed enters the small end of the funnel from stationery pipe at the axis of rotation of
basket.
 It travels toward the large end of funnel, gaining, speed as it goes, and when it spills off
the funnel onto the wall of the basket, it is moving in the same direction as the wall and
at very nearly the same speed.
 Liquor flow through the basket wall, which may be covered with a woven metal cloth. A
layer of crystals 25 to 75 mm thick is formed. This layer is moved over the filtering
surface by reciprocating pusher. Each stroke of the pusher move the crystals a few
inches toward the lip of the basket; on the return stroke a space is opened on filtering
surface in which more cake can be deposited
 When the crystals reach the lip of the basket, they fly outward into a large casind and
drop into a collector chute.
 Filtrate and any wash liquid that is sprayed on the crystals during their travel leave the
casing through separate outlets.
 The gentle acceleration of the feed slurry and deceleration of discharged solids minimize
breakage of the crystals. Multistage units that minimize the distance of travel of the
crystals in each stage are used with solid cakes that do not “convey” properly in a single
stage machine.
 Reciprocating centrifuges are made with baskets ranging in diameter from 300 to 1200
mm. they dewater and wash 0.3 to 25 ton/h of solids containing no more than about 10
percent by weight of material finer than 100-mesh.

Q-13 Explain cyclone and hydrocyclone with neat sketch.

Cyclone:

 Cyclones are used to separate solid particles

from solid-gas mixture.
 It consists of vertical cylinder with a conical
bottom, a tangential inlet near the top, and an
outlet for dust at the bottom of cone. The inlet is
usually rectangular.
 The outlet pipe is extended into the cylinder to
prevent short-circulating of air from inlet to
outlet.
 The incoming dust-laden air travels in a spiral path around and down the cylindrical
body of the cyclone.
 The centrifugal force developed in the vortex tends to move the particles radially
toward the wall, and the particles that reach the wall side down into the cone and are
collected.
 The cyclones are basically centrifugal settling devices.
 The centrifugal force at radius r is equal to mv2/rgc, where m is the mass of the
particles and v is tangential velocity.
39
  The ratio of the centrifugal force to the force of gravity then

 The dust particles entering a cyclone are accelerated radially, but the force on a particle
is not constant because of the change in r and also because the tangential velocity in the
vortex varies with r and with distance below the inlet and the efficiency of a cyclone is
generally predicted from empirical correlations.
 The efficiency of cyclone is decreasing with decreasing diameter of cyclone and the
collection efficiency of a cyclone increases with the particles density and decrease as
the gas temperature is increased because of the increase in gas velocity. The efficiency
is quite dependent on flow rate because of the square velocity term.

Hydrocyclones:

 Hydrocyclones are cone-cylindrical in shape, with

a tangential feed inlet into the cylindrical section
and an outlet at each axis.
 The outlet at the cylindrical section is called the
vortex finder and extends into the cyclone to
reduce short-circuit flow directly from the inlet.
 At the conical end is the second outlet, the spigot.
For size separation, both outlets are generally
open to the atmosphere.
 Hydrocyclones are generally operated vertically
with the spigot at the lower end, hence the coarse product is called the under flow and
the fine product, leaving the vortex finder, the over flow. Figure (b) schematically shows
the principal Sow and design features of a typical hydrocyclone: the two vortices, the
tangential feed inlet and the axial outlets. Except for the immediate region of the
tangential inlet, the fluid motion within the cyclone has radial symmetry.
 If one or both of the outlets are open to the atmosphere, a low pressure zone causes a gas
core along the vertical axis, inside the inner vortex.
 To increase capacity, multiple small hydrocyclones may be manifolded from a single
feed line. Although theprinciple of operation is simple, many aspects of their
operationare still poorly understood, and hydrocyclone selection and prediction for
industrial operation are largely empirical.
 Hydrocyclone particle size separation performance. It quantifies the weight fraction (or
percentage) of each particle size fraction in the feed reporting to the under flow product.
For any particle size d, the partition number, p(d), is calculated from
Where U and F are the mass flow rates of solids and feed

40
 Tutorial- 6 (Solid-Fluid Mass Transfer)
Q-1. Define nucleation and explain primary and secondary nucleation.

 A Nucleation is the number of new particle formed per volume of magma or solid free
mother liquor.
 MAGMA: In crystallization from a solution, the two phase mixture of mother liquor and
crystal of all size is occupied the crystallizer and is withdrawn as product is called
magma.
 The two step mechanism of nucleation of crystals in solution. The formation of
crystalline nano particles start with nucleation and control of nucleation is crucial for the
control of number, size, perfection, polymorph modification and other characteristics of
particles.
 The rate of nucleation is the number of new particles formed per unit volume of magma
or solid-free mother liquors.
Q-2. Define crystallization and list out various crystallizer used for crystallization.

 Crystallization is a unit operation that involves the separation of solute from its solution
in foam of crystal.
Various crystallizer used for crystallization,
 Agitated batch crystallizer
 Swenson walker crystallizer
 Oslo crystal crystallizer
 Vaccum crystallizer

(1) Agitated batch crystallizer

 Working
• Solution is placed in the crystallizer.
• Cold water is passed through the pipes
continuously, due to this cooling solution
becomes supersaturated and crystals are formed.
• Propeller is allowed to rotates. It has two
purposes
1. It increases rate of heat transfer – maintains
the temp. of the soln. uniformly.
2. It keeps fine crystals in suspension – uniform
crystals.
• The crystals are formed at the bottom, separated from mother liquor by a suitable
mechanism.

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Advantages :
• Uniform and fine crystals are formed.
Disadvantages :
• Batch or discontinuous equipment
• Solubility is least at the surface of the cooling coils due to decrease in the rate of heat
transfer.
(2) Swenson-walker crystallizer
Working

• The hot saturated solution is fed at left

side of the crystallizer and cooling water
flows through the jacket counter
currently making the process continuous.
• The spiral stirrer prevents accumulation
of crystals on the cooling surface and
lifts the crystals already formed and
showers them through the solution.
• The free suspension of crystals allows them to grow uniform size free from
aggregates.
• The crystals sediments at the bottom of the trough, and can be washed out at the end
of process.
• Arrangement for Cooling water circulation and flow measurement in jacket is made
by using storage type water tank, a pump and a Rota meter.
• Necessary instrumentation is done for temp measurement.
Advantages :
• Large saving in floor space, labor.
• Material in-process
• Continuous process
• Uniform crystals free from aggregates or inclusions.
Disadvantage :
• Scrappers may break crystals at little extent.

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(3) Oslo Crystal Crystallizer
Working
• The solution is heated by heater and
pumped into vapour head.
• Hot solution undergoes flashing due to
reduced pressure, which results in the
formation of solvent vapour and
supersaturated solution.
• Vapour is removed by suction pump.
• Supersaturated solution passes through the
long tube.
• The operation is controlled in such a way that crystals do not form in the vapour head but
should form in the crystallizing chamber.
•
The crystallizing chamber consists of a bed of crystals suspended in an upward flowing
.
stream of liquid
• Supersaturated liquid flows through the bed of crystals, which are maintained in a
fluidized state which attains uniform temperature.
• So, there is a continuous gradation (gradual increase in size) of crystals in the chamber.
• At bottom, coarse crystals are settled, fine crystals are settled above it.
• Very fine crystals are overflow through the liquid and enter in to recirculating system,
which then combined with fresh feed.
• From time to time, coarse crystals are taken out through the opening at the bottom of the
chamber.

(4) Vacuum crystallizer

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  Working
• High Vacuum is created; it must correspond to B.P. of the solution, but lower than
the feed temp.
• Soln. undergoes flashing, results into solvent evaporation.
• Flashing leads to ebullition i.e. keeps in suspended until they become large size.
• Propeller prevents the solution reaching at discharge pump.
• Adiabatic condenser makes the body cool. This, cooling causes supersaturation and
crystallization.
 Advantages:
• Very simple – no moving parts
• Corrosive materials can be used
• Constructed as large size
• Operated either batch or large scale

Q-3 Define drying and give detail classification of dryers.

Drying

 Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or another solvent
evaporation from a solid, semi solid or liquid.
 This process is often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products.
 The final product must be solid, in the form of continuous sheet (e.g. Paper), long pieces
(e.g. wood), particles (e.g. cereal grains or corn flakes) or powder (e.g. sand, salt,
washing powder).
 A source of heat and an agent to remove the vapor produced by the process are often
involved. In bio products like food, grains, and pharmaceuticals like vaccines, the solvent
to be removed is almost invariably water. Desiccation may be synonymous with drying or
considered an extreme form of drying.
 Other possibilities are vacuum drying, where heat is supplied by conduction or radiation
(or microwaves), while the vapor thus produced is removed by the vacuum system.
 Another indirect technique is drum drying (used, for instance, for manufacturing potato
flakes), where a heated surface is used to provide the energy, and aspirators draw the
vapor outside the room.

Classification of Dryers:

There is no specific way of classifying drying equipments.

Major division may be made among
(1) Dryers in which the solid is directly exposed to a hot gas
(2) Dryers in which heat is transferred to the solid from an external medium
(3) Dryer that are heated by dielectric

44
Dryers that expose the solids to a hot gas are called adiabatic or direct dryers.
Dryers in which heat is transferred from an external medium are known as non adiabatic or
indirect dryers.

Q-4 Explain in detailed about Rotary Dryer and Tray Dryer.

Rotary Dryer

 The rotary drier is basically a

cylinder, inclined slightly to
the horizontal, which may be
rotated, or the shell may be
stationary, and an agitator
inside may revolve slowly.
 In either case, the wet material
is fed in at the upper end, and
the rotation, or agitation,
advances the material progressively to the lower end, where it is discharged.
 Figure shows a direct heat rotary drier. In direct-heat revolving rotary driers, hot air or a
mixture of flue gases and air travels through the cylinder. The feed rate, the speed of
rotation or agitation, the volume of heated air or gases, and their temperature are so
regulated that the solid is dried just before discharge.
 The shell fits loosely into a stationary housing at each end.
 The material is brought to a chute that runs through the housing; the latter also carries the
exhaust pipe.
 The revolving shell runs on two circular tracks and is turned by a girth gear that meshes
with a driven pinion.
 The inclination is one in sixteen for high capacities and one in thirty for low ones.
 As the shell revolves, the solid is carried upward one-fourth of the circumference; it then
rolls back to a lower level, exposing fresh surfaces to the action of the heat as it does so.
 Simple rotary driers serve well enough when fuel is cheap.
 The efficiency is greatly improved by placing longitudinal plates 3 or 4 in. wide on the
inside of the cylinder. These are called lifting flights. These carry part of the solid half-
way around the circumference and drop it through the whole of a diameter in the central
part of the cylinder where the air is hottest and least laden with moisture. This is the most
common form of revolving rotary cylinder.
 It has high capacity, is simple in operation, and is continuous.
Tray Dryer
 Principle: In tray dryer hot air is continuously passed over wet mass. Heat transfer
takes place by forced convection.
 Construction: It consists of rectangular chamber whose wall is insulated. Trays are
placed in the chamber according to need.

45
 Working:
 Wet solid is loaded into trays. Trays
are placed in the chamber.
 Fresh air is introduced through inlet
which passes through the heaters
and heated up.
 The hot air is circulated by means of
fans at 2 to 5 meter per second.
 The water is picked up by air and
moist air is removed from outlet.
 During the cycle of drying only 10
to 20 % of fresh air is introduced
and 80 to 90% air is circulated back.
 Tray dryer may be operated under vacuum, often with indirect heating; Vapor from the
solid is removed by an ejector or vacuum pump.
 Freeze drying is the sublimation of water from ice under high vacuum temperature
below 0⁰C.

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 Tutorial-7 (Solid-Fluid Reactors)
Q-1 Enlist various types of types of solid-fluid reactors.

 Fixed-bed reactor
 Slurry reactor
 Fluidized-bed reactor
 Moving-bed reactor

Q-2. Explain fixed-bed reactor with neat figure along with advantages & disadvantages .

 Fixed-bed reactors have long been used in process

industries. They contain catalyst, typically in pellet
form, packed in a static bed.
 The syngas is then passed through the bed, where the
reactions are induced as the gases contact the catalyst.
Originally, fixed-bed reactors were the only
commercially viable reactor type due to technological
limitations.
 A fixed bed reactor is a cylindrical tube filled with
catalyst pellets with reactants flowing through the bed
and being converted into products. The catalyst may
have multiple configurations including: one large bed,
several horizontal beds, several parallel packed tubes,
and multiple beds in their own shells.
 The pellets may be spherical, cylindrical, or randomly shaped pellets. They range from
0.25 cm to 1.0 cm in diameter. The flow of a fixed bed reactor is typically downward.

Features:

 Process plant sizes: lab scale to pilot and mini.

 Pressure upto 150 bar and temperatures upto 1200°C.
 Available in different material of construction like stainless steel, Inconel, Hastelloy B/C,
corrosion resistant alloys and others.
 Semi or fully automated system with SCADA set for data acquisition and remote control
of all parameters.
 Reaction steps in a fixed bed reactor
 Mass transfer of gas through gas film
 Mass transfer of gas through liquid
 Dissolving bubble gas
 Mass transfer of dissolved gas through liquid film
 Reaction on the surface of the catalyst

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Advantages:

 Advantages of packed bed or fixed bed reactor include ideal plug flow behavior, lower
maintenance cost and reduced loss due to attrition and wear.
 Heat management is very important aspect for design of fixed bed reactor. Poor heat
distribution may result in non uniform reaction rates and consequently low reactant
conversion.

Disadvantages:

 Poor heat transfer may also result in generation of hot spots and thermal degradation of
catalyst. However, the situations are observed more in large fixed bed and for highly
exothermic or endothermic reactions when temperature control is difficult.
 The regeneration or replacement of catalyst is also difficult in fixed bed reactors and
process needs to be shutdown.
 Another major disadvantage of packed bed reactor is plugging of bed due to coke
deposition which results in high pressure drop. High pressure drop is also observed for
small beads or pellets of catalysts. However, increase in pellet size increases the pore
diffusion limitation.

Q-3. Explain slurry reactor with neat sketch along with advantages and disadvantages.

Types of slurry reactors:

1) Bubble column reactor.
2) Fischer tropsch reactor.
3) Slurry batch reactor

The catalytic reaction can also be carried out in two–phase or three –phase stirred tank reactors
also known as slurry reactors.
In three –phase reactor, gas and liquid reactants are brought into contact with solid catalyst
particles. In two–phase reactor, fluid phase is usually liquid reactant in contact with the solid
catalyst.
In three –phase slurry reactor the gaseous reactant and solid catalysts are dispersed in continuous

48
liquid phase by mechanical agitation using stirrer.
This kind of reactor is used in hydrogenation, oxidation, halogenations and fermentation process.
The reactors can be operated in batch, semi batch or continuous mode.
In three – phase system bubbles of gas rise through agitated slurry. Solid particles are in size
range of 0.01to 1.0 mm.
The solid concentration can be up to 30 vol. %. Lower concentration is also used.
Industrial hydrogenation reactors are usually of the size in the range of 500-200 L.
The reactors are operated up to pressure of 200 atm and temperature of 350°C.
The reactors are equipped with internal agitator, gas inlet, facility for insitu sampling and heater
or cooler for temperature control.

Equipments which is used in reactor is as following:

1) Reaction tank: Made of glass or steel which is required. Hold media and catalyst and its size
in the range of 200-500 L. Additional parts are mounted on it like internal agitator, gas inlet,
facility for in-situ sampling and heater or cooler for temperature control.
2) Probes: it has various types like Heat transfer probes, Mass transfer probes, Bubble size
measurement probe, and Temperature probe.
3) Spargers: Used to introduce air in the reactor. At the bottom, consist of tube and holes for
escape air and gases.
4) Cooling coils: Water is circulated through these coils to lower the temperature inside the
reaction vessel.

Advantages:
 High heat capacity to provide good temperature control.
 Potentially high heat rate per unit volume of reactor if the catalyst is highly active.
 Easy heat recovery.
 Adaptability to either batch or continues process.
 The catalyst may easily be removed or replaced if it’s working life relatively short.
 Because of high intra particles diffusion rate, small particles can be used.

Disadvantages:
 Generation of fine particles by abrasion of the catalyst.
 Catalyst removal by filtration may provoke problems with possible plugging difficulty on
filters, further time of operations and the costs of the filtering systems may be a
substantial portion of the capital investment.
 Higher catalyst consumption than that of fixed bed reactors.
 Back mixed flow and the volume of the reactor are not fully utilized.

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Q-4 Explain fluidization bed reactor with neat figure with advantage and disadvantage.

Fluidized bed reactor (FBR)

It is a type of reactor device that can be used to carry out a

variety of multiphase chemical reactions. In this type of
reactor, a fluid (gas or liquid) is passed through a
solid granular material (usually a catalyst possibly shaped as
tiny spheres) at high enough velocities to suspend the solid
and cause it to behave as though it were a fluid.

 The solid substrate (the catalytic material upon which

chemical species react) material in the fluidized bed
reactor is typically supported by a porous plate,
known as a distributor.

 The fluid is then forced through the distributor up

through the solid material.

 At lower fluid velocities, the solids remain in place as the fluid passes through the voids
in the material. This is known as a packed bed reactor.

 As the fluid velocity is increased, the reactor will reach a stage where the force of the
fluid on the solids is enough to balance the weight of the solid material.

 This stage is known as incipient fluidization and occurs at this minimum fluidization
velocity.

 Once this minimum velocity is surpassed, the contents of the reactor bed begin to expand
and swirl around much like an agitated tank or boiling pot of water.

 The reactor is now a fluidized bed. Depending on the operating conditions and properties
of solid phase various flow regimes can be observed in this reactor.

Advantages

 The increase in fluidized bed reactor use in today's industrial world is largely due to the
inherent advantages of the technology.

 Uniform Particle Mixing: Due to the intrinsic fluid-like behavior of the solid material,
fluidized beds do not experience poor mixing as in packed beds. This complete mixing
allows for a uniform product that can often be hard to achieve in other reactor designs.
The elimination of radial and axial concentration gradients also allows for better fluid-
solid contact, which is essential for reaction efficiency and quality.

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 Uniform Temperature Gradients: Many chemical reactions require the addition or
removal of heat. Local hot or cold spots within the reaction bed, often a problem in
packed beds, are avoided in a fluidized situation such as an FBR. In other reactor types,
these local temperature differences, especially hotspots, can result in product degradation.
Thus FBRs are well suited to exothermic reactions. Researchers have also learned that the
bed-to-surface heat transfer coefficients for FBRs are high.

 Ability to Operate Reactor in Continuous State: The fluidized bed nature of these reactors
allows for the ability to continuously withdraw product and introduce new reactants into
the reaction vessel. Operating at a continuous process state allows manufacturers to
produce their various products more efficiently due to the removal of startup conditions
in batch processes.

Disadvantages

 Increased Reactor Vessel Size: Because of the expansion of the bed materials in the
reactor, a larger vessel is often required than that for a packed bed reactor. This larger
vessel means that more must be spent on initial capital costs.

 Pumping Requirements and Pressure Drop: The requirement for the fluid to suspend the
solid material necessitates that a higher fluid velocity is attained in the reactor. In order to
achieve this, more pumping power and thus higher energy costs are needed. In addition,
the pressure drop associated with deep beds also requires additional pumping power.

 Particle Entrainment: The high gas velocities present in this style of reactor often result in
fine particles becoming entrained in the fluid. These captured particles are then carried
out of the reactor with the fluid, where they must be separated. This can be a very
difficult and expensive problem to address depending on the design and function of the
reactor. This may often continue to be a problem even with other entrainment reducing
technologies.

 Lack of Current Understanding: Current understanding of the actual behavior of the

materials in a fluidized bed is rather limited. It is very difficult to predict and calculate
the complex mass and heat flows within the bed. Due to this lack of understanding,
a pilot plant for new processes is required. Even with pilot plants, the scale-up can be
very difficult and may not reflect what was experienced in the pilot trial.

 Erosion of Internal Components: The fluid-like behavior of the fine solid particles within
the bed eventually results in the wear of the reactor vessel. This can require expensive
maintenance and upkeep for the reaction vessel and pipes.

 Pressure Loss Scenarios: If fluidization pressure is suddenly lost, the surface area of the
bed may be suddenly reduced. This can either be an inconvenience (e.g. making bed

51
 restart difficult), or may have more serious implications, such as runaway reactions (e.g.
for exothermic reactions in which heat transfer is suddenly restricted).

Q-5 Explain Moving bed reactor with neat figure and write advantage and disadvantage of
same.

 Moving bed reactors are catalytic reactors in

which the catalyst moves through the reactor
along with the reactants. They are open
systems and operate at steady state Moving bed
reactors are reactors in which the catalytic
material flows along with the reactants and is
then separated from the exit stream and
recycled.

 Solid catalyst pellets are continuously

introduced at the top of the reactor, as are the
fluid phase reactants.

 The catalyst and the fluid flow together down

the reactor. The reaction takes place along the way, which establishes a concentration
gradient.

 In some cases, a set of sampling access ports may be installed so that one may collect
data on reactant and product concentrations.

 Heating coils or wraps can be included along the reaction chamber to mediate heat from
the reaction.

Advantages

 Easy to regenerate catalyst

 Have plug flow characteristics

 Low catalyst handling cost

 High conversion rate

 Good selectivity

52
Disadvantages

 Flow of solids not easy to maintain

 Poor heat transfer characteristics

 Fluid reactant may bypass catalyst bed

 Solid distribution difficult to maintain

 Stagnation may occur

 Attrition, break-up of catalyst pellets due to impact against reactor walls may occur.

53