Table of Contents

Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Chapter 1: Objectives ................................................................................................................. 3
Experiment A: To study the effect of initial concentration and initial suspension height
upon sedimentation rates ....................................................................................................... 3
Experiment B: To determine the effect of flocculating agent upon sedimentation rates ....... 3
Chapter 2: Industrial Application............................................................................................... 4
Chapter 3: Results and Discussion ............................................................................................. 5
Experiment A: The Effect of Initial Concentration and Initial Suspension Height upon
Sedimentation Rate ................................................................................................................ 5
Experiment B: The Effect of Flocculating Agents upon Sedimentation Rates ....................... 6
Chapter 4: Conclusion................................................................................................................ 8
References .................................................................................................................................. 9
Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 10
Table of Data........................................................................................................................ 10

1
Abstract
Sedimentation is a process of allowing the suspended particles to be removed from
water by means of gravity. The purpose is to enhance the filtration process by removing
particulates (Ahmad, 2005) . The process can be achieved by lowering the velocity of the
water to be treated to a point below which the particles will no longer remain in suspension.
There are several factors that affect the separation of solids from water which are size, type
and shape of particles to be removed. In the industry, sedimentation process is present in
wastewater treatment,

The experiment A is carried out with different initial concentration and different
initial suspension height along sedimentation rates. The concentrations of calcium carbonate
solutions vary at 50g, 100g to 150g of calcium carbonate per 2 liter of water. The particles
settling rate in each cylinder is studied. The cylinder with highest concentration of calcium
carbonate, 25g/L settles down at highest rate of 0.100 g/L while lowest rate of sedimentation
is 0.084 g/L with initial concentration of 75 g/L at the same initial height of suspension solid
particles. Cylinder with initial suspension height of 60cm settles down faster than cylinder
with suspension height of 30 cm that is, 0.100 g/L.

Meanwhile for experiment B, flocculating agent of different volume is added to each

cylinder of same concentration of calcium carbonate solutions. The flocculating agent used is
Aluminium Chloride (AlCl). Addition of flocculants enhances the sedimentation rates to
become faster since it made the particles larger resulting to settle faster.

2
Chapter 1: Objectives

Experiment A: To study the effect of initial concentration and initial suspension height
upon sedimentation rates

Experiment B: To determine the effect of flocculating agent upon sedimentation rates

3
Chapter 2: Industrial Application
Sedimentation is basic processes in water purification and is used as initial step in
water treatment process. Municipalities use this method in treating water as it provide
benefits such as making following treatment process easier, lower cost and less dissimilarity
in quality of water that goes through the process. In wastewater treatment, particles are
removed from water by forming accumulated solids at bottom of sedimentation tank and
removed regularly. Coagulants are added in water to assist in settling process (Types of
Settling Tanks, 2018).

(figure - http://www.thewatertreatments.com/wastewater-sewage-treatment/zones-
sedimentation-basin/)

In food industry, sedimentation is used to separate dirt and debris from raw materials,
crystals from their liquor and fine particles or other products by air movement. The
sedimentation of solid particles can occurs in spray dryers where the material to be dried is
broken up into small droplets and fall through heated air. For milk, the removal of solid
impurities is done using sedimentation (Earle, 1983).

Other than that, sedimentation is also used in medical industry for blood test called
erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). In this test, the red blood cells settle at bottom of test
tube that contain blood sample. Normally, it will settle relatively slow. If the rate is faster
than normal, it may indicate inflammation in the body (Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate
(ESR) , 2018).

4
Chapter 3: Results and Discussion
Experiment A: The Effect of Initial Concentration and Initial Suspension Height upon
Sedimentation Rate

Experiment A carried out used to study the effect of initial concentrations upon sedimentation
rates in cylinder 1, 2 and 3. There are three different cylinders were filled with different
initial concentrations. The concentrations were 25, 50 and 75 g/L for cylinder 1, 2 and 3
respectively with the same of initial suspension height, which is 90 cm. From table 1 in
appendix shows that the final settling time, tf of suspended solid particles for cylinder 1, 2
and 3 are 30, 75 and 100 minutes. For figure 3.1 below shows as the initial concentration of
suspended solid particles increases from cylinder 1, 2 and 3, the time taken to settle the
suspended particles becomes longer. This happens because; the higher the concentration of
the calcium carbonate (suspended particles) will results in increasing viscosity of the
suspended fluid. Besides, drag force acting on the suspended solid also increases and their
velocities become decreases (R G Holdich, 1997). Hence, this causes the time taken for settle
down the suspended solid particles become longer. Cylinder 1 has the highest rate than
cylinder 2 and 3.

𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠, 𝑍𝑓 (𝑐𝑚)

𝑆𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 =
𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑡𝑓 (𝑚𝑖𝑛)

Height of Suspended Solid,Z against

Settling Time,t
100
Height of suspended solid, Z

80
60
Cylinder 1
40
Cylinder 2
(cm)

20
Cylinder 3
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Settling time, t (min)

Figure 3.1: The figure shows graph of Height of Suspended Solid, Z against Settling Time, t
for cylinder 1, 2 and 3

Other graph plotted for cylinder 2, 4 and 5 to study the effect of initial suspension heights
upon sedimentation rates upon cylinder 2, 4 and 5. As for cylinder 2, 4 and 5 they have
different in initial height of suspended solid particles that are 90, 60 and 30 cm. While their
initial concentration of suspended solid particles are same of 50 g/L. From table 1, the final
settling time, tf of suspended solid particles inside cylinder 2, 4 and 5 are 75, 50 and 20
minutes respectively. In addition, from figure 3.1 for graph of cylinder 2, 4 and 5, the higher
the initial height of suspended solid, the longer it takes the solid to settle down with same
initial concentration. This is because suspended solid particles require longer time to travel a
longer distance to reach the bottom of the cylinder as the initial height increases. Supposedly,
cylinder 5 has the highest sedimentation rate when comparing with sedimentation rate for

5
cylinder 2 and 4 because of its initial height is the lowest that is 30cm. However, in table 1 it
shows that cylinder 2 has the highest rate. This might due to some errors occurred when
mixing the calcium carbonate with water such as the water is over the exact measurement,
which can cause the initial height is incorrect. Hence, affect the rate of sedimentation.

Height of Suspended Solid, Z against Settling time, t

100
Height of Suspended Solid, Z

80

60
Cylinder 2
40
(cm)

Cylinder 4
20
Cylinder 5
0
0 20 40 60 80
Settling Time, t (min)

Figure 3.2: The figure shows graph of Height of Suspended Solid, Z against Settling Time, t
for cylinder 2,4 and 5

Experiment B: The Effect of Flocculating Agents upon Sedimentation Rates

For this experiment, the concentration of flocculants need to same for each cylinder which
are 50g of calcium carbonate in 75ml of water. The manipulated variable is the volume of
flocculants used for each cylinder. The volume of flocculants were 5ml, 10ml, 15ml, 20ml,
and 25ml to cylinder 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. The results show that cylinder 5 is the
fastest to sediment followed by cylinder 4, cylinder 3, cylinder 2 and cylinder 1. It shows in
the graph that the gap between all the cylinder reducing as the sediment rate become with just
difference in the volume of flocculants. This can be proved by differentiate the time taken for
the suspended solid to sediment in experiment A too.

This indicates that the calcium carbonate already sediment down by gravity, which cause the
difference in height of suspended solid, is reduce. The sediment rate for cylinder 1, cylinder
2, cylinder 3, cylinder 4 and cylinder 5 is 0.294, 0.420, 0.614, 0.880 and 0.96 cm/min
respectively. As the higher volume of flocculants were used the sedimentation rate will be
faster. This is because the flocculants helps in separation process. It helps in producing the
floc by attracting the suspended solids to get attached. Therefore, higher volume of
flocculants will cause faster sedimentation rate and better separation. Thus, the results of this
experiment is compatible.

6
 HEIGHT OF SUSPENDED SOLID, Z (cm) VS TIME (MIN)
90
THE HEIGHT OF SUSPENDED SOLID , Z

80
70
60
50
40
30
(cm)

20
10
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
TIME (MIN)

CYLINDER 1 CYLINDER 2 CYLINDER 3 CYLINDER 4 CYLINDER 5

Figure 3.3: Graph of height of suspended solids, Z against the time taken for the solids to
sediment

7
Chapter 4: Conclusion
In conclusion, for experiment A, cylinder 3 with initial concentration 75g/L has the lowest
sedimentation rate which is 0.084 cm/min while cylinder 1 with initial concentration of 25
g/L has the highest sedimentation rate which is 0.100 g/L. This is because, the higher the
concentration, the lower the sedimentation rate. At the same time, the higher the height of
initial suspension solids, the lower the sedimentation rate. Cylinder 5 should be the highest
sedimentation rate, this is because of its initial height of suspension solid is the lowest which
is 30 cm compared to cylinder 2 (90cm) and cylinder 4 (60cm). However, in this experiment,
we get cylinder 2 with initial concentration of 50 g/L is the highest sedimentation rate
compared to cylinder 4 (50g/L) and 5 (50g/L).

For experiment B, the higher the volume of flocculants, the sedimentation rate will become
faster. In this case, cylinder 5 has the higher volume of flocculants, which is 25ml. Thus, the
sedimentation rate is 0.95 cm/min.

8
References
(n.d.).
Ahmad, R. (2005). Particulate Matter Removal by Filtration and Sedimentation. In Water
Encylopedia.
Earle, R. L. (1983). Unit Operation in Food Processing. 2.
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) . (2018, July 18). MeslinePlus Lab Test Information,
p. 2.
R G Holdich. (1997). solid/liquid seperation by sedimentation. process mechanical
engineering, 43-45.
Types of Settling Tanks. (2018, May 18). What is Sedimentation in Water Treatment, p. 2.

9
Appendix
Table of Data

Cylinder Zₒ tₒ Z (cm)
(cm) (min)
Time Interval (min)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
1 90 0 90 73.0 66.0 55.0 44.0 31.0 20.0 12.0 9.5 9.0 8.0
2 90 0 90 78.1 75.0 68.0 61.0 54.0 46.5 39.0 32.0 28.0 24.5
3 90 0 90 81.0 73.5 67.0 60.0 57.5 46.5 39.5 38.5 34.0 26.5
4 60 0 60 46.5 32.5 20.5 7.0 5.5 5 4.0 3.6 3.1 2.9
5 30 0 30 16.0 5.5 3.5 2.5 2.5 2.5

Z (cm) tf (cm) Zf (cm) Sedimentation

Rate, S (cm/min)
Time Interval (min)
55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105
8.0 8.0 50 5 0.100
20.5 16.3 13.6 11.3 9.5 9.5 9.5 75 9.5 0.127
23.9 22.0 21.0 19.0 18.5 17.9 16.5 13.0 12.0 12.0 12.0 95 8 0.084
2.9 2.9 2.9 50 2.9 0.058
20 2.5 0.125

Table 1: The table shows the relationship between the heights, Z (cm) of suspended solids against time taken, t (min) for the solids to settle down with:
(a) different concentration 25, 50 and 75 g/L in cylinder 1, 2 and 3 respectively. (b) Different initial height of suspended solids at 90, 60 and 30 cm for
cylinder 2, 4 and 5 respectively with same initial concentration.

10
 Z (cm)
Cylinder Zₒ (cm) tₒ (min) tf (cm) Zf (cm)
Time Interval (min)
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
1 90 0 50.0 47.0 38.7 30.0 25.0 20.5 17.0 16.0 15.0 14.7 50.0 14.7
2 90 0 72.5 62.5 54.5 48.0 41.7 37.0 32.0 28.0 25.0 21.0 50.0 21.0
3 90 0 79.0 70.0 61.0 55.0 47.0 42.0 39.0 38.5 33.5 30.5 50.0 30.7
4 90 0 82.0 77.0 71.5 68.0 63.5 59.0 52.0 48.0 44.0 37.6 50.0 44.0
5 90 0 83.5 79.5 75.0 69.5 65.6 59.0 54.0 51.0 47.0 44.0 50.0 47.5

Table 2: The relationship between the height of the suspended solids, Z and the time taken for the solids to sediment at different volume of flocculants was added.

11