Water Engineering, Education & Applications Email: info@weea.co.za Website www.weea.co.za or cmutsvangwa@hotmail.com Paper No.

WT 2/11: Determination of Terminal Settling velocity for discrete and flocculent particles
Crispen Mutsvangwa MSc (Eng.,); MSc Water & Environmental Management

Copyright 2011.

Water Engineering, Education & Applications

Determination of Terminal settling velocities for discrete and flocculent particles

Sedimentation is the downward movement of small suspended particles by gravity. Sedimentation is classified upon the characteristics and concentration of suspended materials: Discrete particles Flocculent

1.1

Discrete particles (Type 1) Discrete particles are particle whose size, shape and specific gravity do not change with time i.e. non-interactive settling of particles from a dilute suspension. Examples are grit and sand, and their mass is constant. Flocculant particles (Type 2) Particles which agglomerate (coalesce/flocculate) during settling i.e. no constant characteristics. Their mass varies during the process of settling and an increase in mass causes a faster rate of settlement.

1.2

Settling in an ideal settling basin for Type 1/discrete particles

An ideal horizontal settling zone is free from inlet and outlet disturbance, in which particles settle freely at terminal settling velocities in quiescent conditions without any disturbances and flocculation is absent (Fig. 1). The particles are distributed uniformly In the design of sedimentation basins, the usual procedure is to select a particle with a terminal velocity vs and to design the basin so that all the particles that have a terminal velocity equal to or greater than vs will be removed. Q = Av s Where: vs A =surface area of sedimentation basin (1)

=settling velocity or surface loading, m3/m2.day ( v s =

Q ) A

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Inlet zone Particle trajectory h Settling zone vp vs

vp

Outlet zone

Fig. 1 Type I settling in a horizontal basin Design velocity for a continuous flow sedimentation:

vs =

depth det ention time

H T

The length of basin and the time a unit of water spends in the basin (detention time) should be such that all particles with velocity vs will settle at the bottom of basin, but adjustments must be made for:

Effects of inlet and outlet Turbulence Short circuiting Sludge storage

Particles with velocity less than vs will not be removed during the detention time, but some particles with velocity less than vs which enter the tank at distance from the bottom not greater than H will be removed e.g. at h. Assuming that particles of various sizes are uniformly distributed on the entire depth H, at inlet, then particles with settling velocity vp less than vs will be removed in the ratio:

Xr =
Where:

vp vs
Xr =fraction of particle with settling velocity vp that are removed

To determine the efficiency of removal for a given settling time, t it is necessary to consider the entire range of settling velocities present in the tank.

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2.1

Determination of settling velocities

Sieve analysis and hydrometer test combined with Newton and Stokes Law:
4 gd ( s w ) 3C d w

vs =

(Newtons law for all regimes of flow)

Or

vs =

gd 2 ( s w ) 18

(Stokes Law for laminar flow)

Where: s =density of particle w =density of fluid =Newtons drag coefficient Cd vs =settling velocity of particle =dynamic viscosity 2.1.1 Settling column analysis A settling column 2 to 3m deep, and diameter at least 100 times the largest particle size to prevent wall effects The initial suspended solid concentration of the suspension is noted, Co in mg/l A sample is placed in a jar and mixed completely to ensure uniform distribution of particles Suspension is allowed to settle quiescently Samples are drawn at time intervals at a point h (one point) discrete settling particles, the depth of sampling will not affect the resultant h distribution curves of the settling velocities: vi = ti The procedure is repeated for time intervals t2, t3; t4; t5..tn, and these values of settling velocities are plotted against mass fraction remaining to give the settling velocity characteristic distribution curve for the suspension.

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vp<vs

Sampling point h

vp>vs

Fig. 2 Column analysis for discrete particles

1.0
Proportion of particles with less than stated settling velocity

1-Xs Xs
Removed particles

Xp
Suspension settling velocity distribution curve for the mass fraction remaining

vp

vs
Settling velocities

Fig. 3: Settling velocity distribution curve for the mass fraction remaining xs vp The total removal is given as: R = (1 x s ) + dx v 0 s Where; Xs =particles with vp=vs 1=Xs =fraction of particles with vpvs removed

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xs

v
0

vp
s

dx =fraction of particles with vp<vs removed

2.2

Example Determine the total removal efficiency given the following data: o o o o settling analysis results Table 1 column is 1.6m deep surface loading is 30m/day Co=200mg/l

Table 1 Time, min Conc, Ci, mg/l Solution 1. Compute mass fraction remaining and corresponding velocities (Table 2) 0 200 40 175 80 170 120 160 160 155 200 110 240 80 280 35

Table 2
Time, (min) Mass fraction remaining, xi = 40 80 0.85 0.02 120 0.8 0.013 160 0.78 0.01 200 0.55 0.008 240 0.4 0.0067 280 0.175 0.0007

Ci Co

0.88 0.04

vs =

h , m/min t

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Type II settling (flocculent particles)

settling is a result of inter-particle collisions density of particles change because flocculating particles are continually changing in size, shape and settling velocities due to the above factors, Stokes law cannot be applied

3.1

Analysis of settlement for Type 2 particles analysis performed in column at least 300mm in diameter depth equal to the proposed sedimentation tank samples are withdrawn at regular time intervals from multiple ports or different sampling heights and analyzed to determine the reduction in suspended solids the % removal is plotted as a numerical value against the depth and time the concentrations obtained are used to compute mass fraction removal instead of he mass fraction remaining from the plot removal at various times, the theoretical efficiency is predicted and a theoretical surface loading is established the design surface loading should be 1/3 of that suggested by the settling tests (theoretical), to get similar solids removal results to those obtained from a settling column
Cij xij = 1 C 0 100 ,

Where: xij Co Cij

=mass fraction is % that is removed at the ith depth at jth time interval =initial solid concentration =concentration at ith depth and jth depth time interval the values Cij and time are plotted to give isoremoval lines, lines with the same concentration the slope at any point on any given isoremoval line is the instantaneous velocity of the fraction of particles represented by the line velocity becomes greater at greater depth (the slope of the isoremoval lines becomes steeper), a common characteristic of flocculating suspensions, reflecting and increase in particle size and settling velocity because of continued collision and aggregation with other particles.

The % removal is given as: % removal = Where: h

h R + Rn +1 h1 R1 + R2 h2 R2 + R3 + ..... + n n + 2 h 2 h 2 h
=column height

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R1 h

=see diagram =see diagram

Example Determine the overall removal efficiency of the sedimentation tank and surface loading given the following g data:

initial solid concentration of sample Co results of column analysis of flocculating suspension height of sedimentation tank detention time

=200mg/l =Table 3 =2.4m =1 hr 20min

Table 3

Table 4

Solution

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Cij (Table 4) xij = 100 1 C 0 plot iso-concentration lines (isoremoval lines), Fig. 4 plot vertical line at t =1 hr 20 mins (80 mins, i.e. retention time) from the graph at 80 mins, about 45% of the solids reach the floor i.e. 100% removed determine h Overall removal, R

compute

Fig. 4 Plot of the iso-concentration curves

Overal % removal =

0.5 45 + 50 0.6 50 + 60 0.3 60 + 70 0.5 70 + 80 0.3 80 + 90 + + + + + 2.4 2 2.4 2 2.4 2 2.4 2 2.4 2

0.4 90 + 100 = 73.76% 2.4 2

Surface loading

Q m 3 / day Area(L B ), m 2
volume of tan k Q

Detention time,

t=

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80 =

Area heigh Area 2.4 = Q Q

80 min Area = 2.4m Q

Surface loading

2.4 Q = = 0.03m / min = 43.2m / day = 43.2m 3 / m 2 .day area 80

Adjustment for full scale

SL =

43.2 = 28.8m / day 28.8m 3 / m 2 .day 1.5

The surface loading for continuous flow tank should be 1/3 of that suggested by the settling column tests to get similar solids removal results to those obtained from a settling column. The optimum removal efficiency can be obtained by trying several detention times and then computing the surface loadings. The one which gives the maximum removal efficiency will be the one corresponding the maximum optimum surface loading.

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