Solid-Liquid Separation by Capillary Siphoning

The Effect of Suspended Solid Adhesion to a Capillary Bundle on the Rate of Draining

Abstract

In order to investigate the capillary siphoning effect of a capillary bundle immersed in a slurry tank, the draining rate of clear water through a bundle of sterilized gauze, Q_s, was measured, after suspended solids adhered to the bundle and settled in a CaCO₃-slurry tank. Then, Q_s was compared with the draining rate of distilled water through the bundle of clear gauze, Q_o.
The experimental results were discussed on the basis of a couple of models for adhesion of suspended solids to the bundle; (a) adhesion to the surface of the bundle and (b) to the inside of the bundle.
The conclusions obtained are:
(1) Model (a) gave a fairly good agreement with the experimental relationship between the draining ratio Q^*(=Q_s/Q_o) and the amount of CaCO₃ solids adhering to the bundle ΣW_p.
(2) This fact indicates that the suspended CaCO₃ solids adhere to the surface of the bundle immersed in the slurry.
(3) By vibrating the bundle, CaCO₃ layer on the bundle surface could be shaken off, and the draining ratio Q^* increased to about 0.8.