CDB 3044 : PROCESS PLANT DESIGN

Conceptual Process Design - Synthesis of Separation Systems (I)

1
 Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lecture, student should be able to

1. Sequence appropriately the separators (homo and heterogeneous)

2. Identify the suitable heterogeneous separator(s) for a specified separation

task.

2
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
HETEROGENOUS MIXTURE SEPARATION

Some Review
WHY SEPARATORS ARE NEEDED ? - SEPARATION OF DESIRED PRODUCTS FROM BYPRODUCTS
AND UNREACTED FEED UP TO THE REQUIRED SPECIFICATION.
- PURIFICATION OF FEEDS.

IS IT AVAILABLE AT ANY PLANT ?

.........

TYPES OF SEPARATOR ADSORBER

ABSORBER

Extraction
Liquid-Liquid
Solid-Liquid
DISTILLATION

MEMBRANE
STRIPPER etc...

3
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
WHERE ARE SEPARATORS NORMALLY LOCATED ?

Normally, form the major part of any chemical plant.

REACTOR

SEPARATION
Reactor
& RECYCLE
SYSTEM

HEAT
EXCHANGER
NETWORK

UTILITIES

Prior and after reactor !

4
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Heuristic Approach
During the conceptual design of a chemical process, among the related decisions that have to be made
concerning separator system ;

Separator type
Sequencing of Separator
DISTILLATION
ABSORBER
Operating Conditions
DISTILLATION
 TEMPERATURE
 PRESSURE
DISTILLATION  CONCENTRATION
 ADDITION OF EXTRA COMPS.

MEMBRANE
MEMBRANE

What type of suitable How are the separators arranged ?

separator ?

5
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Heuristic Approach SUGGESTED PROCEDURE

1. Decide on type of separator that will be likely used for the required separation.
Of course, we have to start with
What type of mixture ? gathering the related information !

Heterogeneous
Exploiting differences in certain physical
properties (e.g. density, molecular size,
surface tension etc.) in order to perform
separation.
Homogenous
Require addition or creation of
another phase to perform separation.

e.g. Distillation (liquid mixture)

e.g. Membrane Separation
Extraction (solid, liquid mixture)
Filtration
Condensation (gas mixture)
Gravity settler
Absorption (gas mixture)
Centrifugal Separator
Adsorption (gas mixture)
Phase Separation
Flotation
6
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Heuristic Approach SUGGESTED PROCEDURE
2. Decide on the sequencing of the separator to achieve the process requirement.
Golden Rule : Perform the heterogeneous mixture separation first or as soon as
the mixture is formed during any stage of the process.
It is easiest to conduct !
The phase separation involves :
Vapour/Liquid
e.g. flash drum
Liquid/Liquid (immiscible)
e.g. phase separator
Solid/Liquid
e.g. filtration, membrane separation, gravity settler
Solid/Vapour (gas)
e.g. Venturi Scrubber
Solid/Solid
e.g. shaking, vibrating screen

7
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Gravity Settler Separators
a. Vapour Liquid Separation - Flash Drum
A vapor–liquid separator may also be referred to as a Flash Drum, Breakpot, Knock-out drum,
Knock-out pot, Compressor suction drum or Compressor Inlet Drum. When used to remove
suspended water droplets from streams of air, it is often called a demister.

Liquid drops separated from vapour/gas flow based on the settling velocity (terminal velocity) of
the liquid drop. It is a function of the droplets size.

 The maximum velocity of the vapour set

within the vessel must be less than the settling
velocity.

 In the event where droplets particle is very

small, the use of baffles or mesh pad could
promote coalescence between the particles to
form larger size thus easier to separate.

 The method is not practical to separate

particle diameter less than 10 micrometer.
8
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Gravity Settler Separators

b. Liquid-Liquid Separation - Decanter

Separation of dispersed liquid phase from a continuous phase. The continuous

phase velocity must be low enough to allow low density droplets to rise from
bottom of the vessel to the interface and coalesce, and the high density droplets to
settle down to the interface and coalesce. The velocity of the continuous phase
must be lower than the terminal velocity for the particles calculated using
equation above.

c. Solid Liquid Separation - Sedimentation

Solid particles settle to the lower part of the vessel as it travels with the liquid
flow across the vessel. When the prime function of the equipment is to produce
more concentrated slurry, it is called thickener while if the function is to remove
the solid particles from the liquid, it is called clarifier.

9
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Inertial and Centrifugal Separators

In the event when gravity settler is deemed to be too slow due to factor such as closeness in the density
between the droplets or particles and the continuous phase, inertial or momentum separators could improve
the efficiency by giving the momentum force in addition to the gravity force. The additional force provided
is normally in the form of centrifugal force.

The design of the inertial separators normally follows a collection efficiency curve supplied by equipment
manufacturers from sets of experiments conducted.
Cyclone (solid gas) and hydro cyclone (solid liquid or liquid liquid) are examples of equipment exploiting
the principle.

Particle Size (mm)

10
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Electrostatic Precipitation

Electrostatic precipitators are commonly used to separate particulate matter that is easily ionized from a gas
stream. Electrostatic field is produced between wires or grids and collection plates by applying high voltage
between the two. A corona is established around the negatively charged electrode. The corona ionizes the
molecules of gases such as O2 or CO2 which in turn attach themselves to the particles and charging them at
the same time. The opposite charge electrode (collection plates) will attract these particles and later dislodged
them by mechanical forces.

The method is most effective when separating particles with high resistivity. The operating voltage
typically range from 25 and 45 kV or more depending on the design and operating temperature.

The application is typically restricted to the separation of fine particles of solid or liquid from a large
volume of gas. Again the design could be based on the collection efficiency curve as provided by
manufacturer.

11
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Filtration
Suspended solid particles in a gas, vapour or liquid are removed by passing the mixture through a porous
medium that retains the particles and passes the fluid (filtrate). The solid can be retained on the surface of
the filter medium (cake filtration) or captured within the filter medium (depth filtration).

The filter media for cake filtration can be made of cloth, ceramic or even metal. There are various
arrangement for the filter media such as plate & frame, bag, conveyor belt, rotating filter etc. Conventional
filter media can be used up to temperature of 250 oC. Higher temperatures require ceramic or metallic.

12
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Filtration
For the depth filtration, granular medium consisting of layers of particulate solid (e.g. stones, pebbles etc.)
placed on a support grid is used as the filter medium. Downward flow of the mixtures causes the solid to be
captured within the medium. Such arrangement is normally used for removing small amount of solids from
large quantities of liquids. This filtration mechanism can removed particles with sizes down to 10 microns.

For smaller sizes particles down to 0.05 microns, microfiltration using polymer membrane is used. Two most
arrangements used consist of spiral wound and hollow fiber.

13
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation
In settling processes, particles are separated from a fluid by gravitational forces acting on the particles. The
particles can be liquid drops or solid particles. The fluid can be a gas, vapor or liquid.

Gravity settler for the separation of gas-liquid and

vapor-liquid mixtures Gravity settler for the separation of liquid-liquid
mixtures

Gravity settler for the separation of fluid-solid mixtures

14
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation
When a particle falls under the influence of gravity, it will accelerate until the
combination of the frictional drag in the fluid and buoyancy force balances
the opposing gravitational force.

If the particle is assumed to be a rigid sphere, at this terminal velocity, a force balance gives:

15
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation

Rearranging the equation gives:

More generally, Equation can be written as:

16
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation

By applying the correlations for cD

Flow is in the laminar region (Stoke’s Law region)

The terminal velocity will be

17
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation
Empirical expression for Re > 2

The terminal velocity will be

For higher values of Re

The terminal velocity will be

18
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation

 When designing a settling device, the maximum allowable velocity in the device must be
less than the terminal settling velocity. For this the particle diameter must be known.

 For gas-liquid and vapor-liquid separations, there will be a range of particle droplet sizes. It
is normally not practical to separate droplets less than 100 μm diameter in such a simple
device

19
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Settling and Sedimentation

 A simple gravity settler or decanter is used for removing a dispersed liquid phase from another liquid phase

 The horizontal velocity must be low enough to allow the low-density droplets to rise from the bottom of the
vessel to the interface and coalesce and for the high density droplets to settle down to the interface and coalesce.

 The decanter is sized on the basis that the velocity of the continuous phase should be less than the terminal
settling velocity of the droplets of the dispersed phase.

 The velocity of the continuous phase can be estimated from the area of the interface between the settled phases:

• The velocity of the continuous phase must

be less than the terminal settling velocity

20
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Settling and Sedimentation

 Decanters are normally designed for a droplet size of 150 μm.

 Dispersions of droplets smaller than 20 μm tend to be very stable can’t be separated by this equipment.

 The band of droplets that collect at the interface before coalescing should not extend to the bottom of
the vessel. A minimum of 10% of the decanter height is normally taken for this.

 An empty vessel may be employed, but horizontal baffles can be used to reduce turbulence and assist the
coalescence through preferential wetting of the solid surface by the disperse phase.

 More elaborate methods to assist the coalescence include the use of mesh pads in the vessel or the use of an
electric field to promote coalescence.

 Chemical additives can also be used to promote coalescence.

21
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Settling and Sedimentation

 A mixture of gas, vapor or liquid and solid particles enters at one end
of a large chamber, particles settle toward the base
 Again the device is specified on the basis of the terminal settling velocity of the particles

 The efficiency with which the particles of a given size will be collected from the simple setting
devices is given by

22
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Settling and Sedimentation

 When high concentrations of particles are to be settled, the surrounding particles interfere
with individual particles.
 This is particularly important when settling high concentrations of solid particles in liquids.

 When separating a mixture of water and fine solid particles in a gravity settling device, it is common in
such operations to add a flocculating agent to the mixture to assist the settling process.
 This agent has the effect of neutralizing electric charges on the particles that cause them to repel each
other and remain dispersed.
 The effect is to form aggregates or flocs, which, because they are larger in size, settle more rapidly.

23
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Settling and Sedimentation

 The separation of suspended solid particles from a liquid by gravity settling into a clear
fluid and a slurry of higher solids content is called sedimentation.

 A thickener, the prime function of which is to produce a more concentrated slurry.

A thickener for liquid-solid separation

24
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Settling and Sedimentation

 When the prime function of the sedimentation is to remove solids from a liquid rather than to produce a
more concentrated solid–liquid mixture, the device is known as a clarifier.

Clarifiers are often similar in design to thickeners

25
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation
Simple gravity settling classifier

This type of classification device can be used to carry out

solid–solid separation in mixtures of different solids. The
mixture of particles is first suspended in a fluid and then
separated into fractions of different size or density in a
device similar to classifier

 A large tank is subdivided into several sections. A size range of solid particles
suspended in gas, vapor or liquid enters the tank.
 The larger, faster-settling particles settle to the bottom close to the entrance, and the
slower-settling particles settle to the bottom close to the exit.
 The vertical baffles in the tank allow the collection of several fractions

26
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation
Example:
Solid particles with a size greater than 100 μm are to be separated from larger particles in a settling chamber.
The flowrate of gas is 8.5 m3/s. The density of the gas is 0.94 kg/m3 and its viscosity 2.18×10-5kg/m/s. The
density of the particles is 2780 kg/m3.
a. Calculate the settling velocity, assuming the particles are spherical

b. The settling chamber is to be box-shaped, with a rectangular cross section for the gas
flow. If the length and breadth of the settling chamber are equal, what should the
dimensions of the chamber be for 100% removal of particles greater than 100 μm?

Solution
Assume initially that the settling is in the Stoke’s Law region

27
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation
Example:
Check the Reynolds number

Since outside the range of validity of Stoke’s Law

28
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation
Example: For 100% separation of particles

and

29
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Settling and Sedimentation
Example:
Assuming L = B, then

30
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Inertial and Centrifugal Separation
• Sometimes gravity separation may be too slow because of the closeness of the
densities of the particles and the fluid, because of small particle size leading to low
settling velocity or, in the case of liquid–liquid separations, because of the formation
of a stable emulsion.

 Inertial or momentum separators improve the efficiency of gas–solid settling devices by giving the
particles downward momentum, in addition to the gravitational force.
31
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Inertial and Centrifugal Separation

Impingement separator

32
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Inertial and Centrifugal Separation

 Use of centrifugal forces increases the force acting on the particles.

 Particles that do not settle readily in gravity settlers often can be separated from
fluids by centrifugal force.

 The simplest type of centrifugal device is the cyclone separator for the
separation of solid particles or liquid droplets from a gas or vapor

 This consists of a vertical cylinder with a conical bottom. Centrifugal force is

generated by the motion of the fluid. The mixture enters through a tangential inlet
near the top, and the rotating motion so created develops centrifugal force that
throws the dense particles radially toward the wall. The entering fluid flows
downward in a spiral adjacent to the wall. When the fluid reaches the bottom of the
cone, it spirals upward in a smaller spiral at the center of the cone and cylinder

33
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Inertial and Centrifugal Separation

 The design of cyclones is normally based on collection efficiency curves

 The same principle can be used for the separation of solids from a liquid in a hydrocyclone.
Although the principle is the same, whether a gas or vapor is being separated from a liquid, the
geometry of the cyclone will change accordingly. Hydrocyclones can also be used to separate
mixtures of immiscible liquids, such as mixtures of oil and water.

34
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Inertial and Centrifugal Separation

Separation of liquid-solid mixture Separation of liquid−liquid mixture

35
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Electrostatic precipitators

 Electrostatic precipitators are generally used to

separate particulate matter that is easily ionized from
a gas stream

 This is accomplished by an electrostatic field

produced between wires or grids and collection
plates by applying a high voltage between the two

Electrostatic precipitation

36
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Filtration

 Suspended solid particles in a gas, vapor or liquid are removed by passing the mixture
through a porous medium that retains the particles and passes the fluid (filtrate).

Plate-and-flame filter Bag filter

37
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Filtration

Belt vacuum filter Rotary vacuum filter

38
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Scrubbing

 Scrubbing with liquid (usually water) can enhance the collection of particles when
separating gas–solid mixtures

Packed bed scrubber Spray scrubber

39
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Scrubbing

Venturi scrubber

40
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Flotation
Flotation is a gravity separation process that exploits the differences in the surface properties of particles. Gas
bubbles are generated in a liquid and become attached to solid particles or immiscible liquid droplets, causing
the particles or droplets to rise to the surface. This is used to separate mixtures of solid-solid particles after
dispersion in a liquid or liquid-liquid mixtures of finely divided immiscible droplets. The liquid normally used
is water and the particles of solid or immiscible liquid will attach to the gas bubbles if they are hydrophobic.

 Gas bubbles are generated by means of

dispersion, dissolution (changing of
pressure from high to low in the vessel) and
electrolysis.

 Widely used in the mineral ore processing.

41
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM
Flotation

A typical flotation cell for solid separation

Dissolved air flotation (DAF)

42
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Drying

Removal of water moisture from a solids into a gas stream (normally air) by heat. Four commonly used type of
dryer are tunnel dryers, rotary dryers, drum dryers and spray dryers. Another important class of dryers is the
fluidized bed dryers.

 Choice between dryers is normally made based on practicalities

such as material handling characteristics, product
decomposition, product physical form etc.

 Dryer efficiency is measured by heat of vaporization / total

heat consumed.

43
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Drying

Common types of thermal dryer

44
 SYNTHESIS OF SEPARATION SYSTEM

Drying

Common types of thermal dryer

45
 References

1. Smith, R. Chemical Process: Design and Integration. Wiley, 2005.

2. Sinnott R. K. Chemical Engineering Design, Coulson & Richardson’s Chemical Engineering Volume 6. 4th
Ed. Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 2006.
3. Peters M. S. and Timmerhaus K. D. Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers. 5th Ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Thank you.
47