International Journal of Mineral Processing, Vol.167, 79-85, 2017
Scale-up rules for flocculation
We present here a study of three baffled tanks, 0.15 m, 0.20 m and 030 m in inner diameter, agitated by Rushton turbine, with reference to scaling up the flocculation kinetics. A clay slurry was used as a model wastewater. The experiments were carried out at mixing intensity 40 W/m(3) and clay concentration 0.58 g/L. The model wastewater was flocculated with the Sokoflok 16A organic flocculent (solution 0.1 wt%) in the range of dimensionless flocculent dosage D-F(*) from 0.448 to 5.241 mg/g. The flocs that formed were separated by means of sedimentation. The operational conditions were designed according to following proposed scale-up rules: i) P/V = const., ii) t(F)(*) = N center dot t(F) = const., iii) D-F(*) = const. and iv) U-sed = const. Applying the proposed scale-up rules, the flocculation efficiency was found to be practically the same irrespective of vessel size and flocculation dosage. For the given flocculated system and process conditions, the maximum degree of turbidity removal Z(emax)(*) = 96.1 +/- 0.6% was found for dimensionless flocculation time 1916 +/- 5% and dimensionless flocculent dosage D-F(*) = 3.128 mg/g +/- 8%, regardless of vessel size. The approach to scale-up proposed by Camp (1955) is discussed and criticized in the light of present-day mixing theory, and an explanation is offered of the shortcomings of this approach, and why it gives incorrect scale-up results. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.