BICOL STATE COLLEGE OF APPLIED

SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

College of Engineering and Architecture
City of Naga

Methods, Processes, and Equipment Involved

in Handling of Solids
(Separation and Classification of Solids)

Submitted by:
BLANDO, Mark Goldwyn E.

Submitted to:
Engr. Augusto A. Avanceña

BSME-5A
CONTENTS:
I. Introduction

II. Processes Involved in Handling of Solids

III. Equipment Involved in Handling of Solids

IV. Significance of Separation and Classification of Solids in the

Manufacturing Process of Industrial Plants

V. Safety Protocols

VI. References
 INTRODUCTION

Separation techniques are involved in a great number of processing industries and

represent, in many cases, the everyday problem of a practicing engineer. In spite of this, the topic

is normally not covered efficiently nor sufficiently in higher education curricula of some

engineering programs, mainly because its theoretical principles deal with a number of subjects

ranging from physics principles to applied fluid mechanics. In recent years, separation

techniques involving solids have been considered under the general interest of powder and

particle technology, as many of these separations involve removal of discrete particles or

droplets from a fluid stream.

This chapter discusses classification and separation of solid–liquid systems. Separation of

solids from the liquid medium is generally the last step in processes that employ slurry systems,

where the solid particles separate out by settling in the suspension medium. Particles need to be

placed in a field or a potential energy gradient to be able to be separated from the liquid phase or

to its constituents depending on the differences in physical property relevant to the field. This

field can be gravitational or its analogue centrifugal, electrical, or magnetic. The particles are

separated according to their mass, the charge that they carry, or their magnetic susceptibility,

respectively, depending on the field in which they are placed. By far, the most extensively used

separation is based on the differences in the mass of the particles in a gravitational, or centrifugal

field in macroscale industrial operations. The solid material to be separated is generally of

colloidal size range, ranging from submicron sizes to not more than a few millimeters.

In this term paper, various processes, methods, significance, types, and safety protocols

of Separation and Classification of Solids will be given focus.

 PROCESSES INVOLVED IN HANDLING OF SOLIDS

Techniques used to separate one material from the other is called separation. Separations

are extremely common in chemical manufacture. In fact, much processing equipment is devoted

to separate one phase or one material from the other. There are two types of separation:

diffusional and mechanical separation. Diffusional separation is a technique used for the

separation of homogeneous mixtures. This separation includes the transfer of material between

the phases including distillation, crystallization and absorption. Mechanical separation is used for

the separation of heterogeneous mixtures. These are based on the physical differences between

the particles such as size, shape or density. It can be applied for separating solids from solids,

solids from liquids and also solids from gases.

Sieves, or sifters, are devices for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or

for characterizing the particle size distribution of a sample, typically using a woven screen such

as a mesh or net or metal. A strainer is a form of sieve used to separate solids from liquid.

Sieving is a simple technique for separating particles of different sizes. Coarse particles are

separated or broken up by grinding against one-another and screen openings. Depending upon

the types of particles to be separated, sieves with different types of holes are used. Sieves are

also used to separate stones from sand. Sieving plays an important role in food industries where

sieves (often vibrating) are used to prevent the contamination of the product by foreign bodies.

Mechanical screening, often just called screening, is the practice of taking granulated ore

material and separating it into multiple grades by particle size. This practice occurs in a variety

of industries such as mining and mineral processing, agriculture, pharmaceutical, food, plastics,

and recycling. A screening machine consist of a drive that induces vibration, a screen media that
causes particle separation, and a deck which holds the screen media and the drive and is the

mode of transport for the vibration.

Magnetic separation is a process in which magnetically susceptible material is extracted

from a mixture using a magnetic force. This separation technique can be useful in mining iron as

it is attracted to a magnet. In the machine, the raw ore is fed onto a conveyor belt which passes

underneath two pairs of electromagnets under which further belts run at right angles to the feed

belt. The first pair of balls are weakly magnetized and served to draw off any iron ore present.

The second pair are strongly magnetized and attracted the wolframite, which is weakly magnetic.

These machines are capable of treating 10 tons of ore a day.

Leaching is the process of extracting substances from a solid by dissolving them in a

liquid, either naturally or through an industrial process. In the chemical processing industry,

leaching has a variety of commercial applications, including separation of metal from ore using

acid, and sugar from sugar beets using hot water.

EQUIPMENTS INVOLVED IN HANDLING OF SOLIDS

Classifiers are traditionally grouped into wet and dry classifiers. The difference between

dry and wet methods is the medium of suspension being used. Wet classifiers use liquids as the

medium of suspension while dry classifiers use gases. However, several technologies can be

operated under either dry or wet conditions. The examples include sieving and cyclone

classification. Classification techniques can be also classified into mechanical and non-

mechanical classifiers regardless the working medium. Mechanical classifiers incorporate

moving parts which influences the motion of particles. Non mechanical classifiers use fluid drag

only to separate particles. In terms of the forces exerted to particles, classifiers can be
categorized into two major types: gravitational and centrifugal classifiers. Gravitational

classifiers are generally used to separate very large particles and are mostly seen as a pre-

treatment stage. This is because gravity itself does not provide sufficient partition power in

classifying small particles. The advantage of centrifugal classifiers is the possibility of obtaining

fine cut sizes due to a high partition power.

Dry classification is widely used in many industrial processes. In comparison to wet

classification, dry classification does not need drying and slurry treatment. When dry

classification uses air as the working medium, it often refers to air classification. As a

complement of sieving, air classification can separate smaller or larger particles than commercial

sieving sizes. Therefore, air classification manages a wider range of materials, typically from 2

mm down to 5 µm. The primary application of air classification is to achieve a narrower size

range of product, which produce better flow characteristics and enhance the properties of the

final product.

Elutriation is a process of washing fines by air while allowing the coarse product settling.

The bulk of unclassified powders are usually introduced to the elutriator from the middle inlet.

The air stream flows upwards and washes the fine particles from the bulk. The lighter or finer

particles are lift against gravity to a fines collector overhead. The denser or larger particles are

too heavy to be raised and fall against airflow into the coarse collector below. The cut size is

controlled by varying the gas velocity.

Segregation may occur when a binary mixture is fluidized in a fluidized bed. Measures

are taken to prevent segregation, which makes classification by fluidized bed unusual. This is

because segregation is often incomplete under normal operations. In order to make classification
processes feasible, some modifications to the fluidized bed must be made to enhance the degree

of particle segregation.

Cross-flow classifiers are designed so that the direction of airflows is perpendicular to the

gravity. The gas is injected to the classifier horizontally from the inlet on the left wall. The

material inlet is nearby the gas nozzle and the powders are fed downwardly into the classifier.

The particles are spread to a fan-shape in the chamber. The particles are separate since the coarse

powders and the fine powders have different trajectories in the separation zone due to the fluid

drag forces and gravitational forces. The coarse powders settle quicker than the fines. By

inserting the several plates at certain distances to the gas inlet, the classified particles are

collected into fractions.

Cascade air classifier; the Zigzag classifiers consist of several inclined branch pipes

vertically arranged to form a zigzag separation zone. These inclined pipes have rectangular

cross-section and are inclined alternately to the left and to the right at the same angle. An inlet is

opened at the top or the middle of the classifier in order that the materials to be classified are fed

into it. The coarse fractions fall to the bend where they need to cross through the classifying

airflow coming from below. The separation of fines takes place at each bend and several bends

are required to increase the sharpness of separation.

Inertial air classifier separate fine powders from 40 to 400 µm. Both particles and airflow

enter the classifier from the top and flow downwardly. An outlet is set on the sidewall and

inclines by 45 degree. The fine particles are carried by air and discharged from this outlet. The

coarse particles proceed straight down by inertia and collected below. A secondary air is

introduced just below the fines outlet and the airflow washes the remaining fine particles from

the falling coarse fraction, particularly dislodging the adhering fines from the surface of the
coarse particles. A curvilinear chamber is provided to direct the secondary airflows to the fines

outlet.

Vortex air classifiers belong to centrifugal classifiers. It is the first industrial design

which separates particles at size cut about 10 µm. An advantage of the vortex air classifiers is

that de-agglomeration occurs during classification which leads to good dispersion the raw

materials in airflow. The disadvantage is that the product to air ratio has significant effects on the

cut size. To solve this problem, a vane is installed in the classifier to create a forced vortex in

which the circumferential velocity component is determined by the rotor speed.

Rotating wheel classifiers use rotating blades to create the air vortex or the centrifugal

field. The advantage of a rotating wheel classifier is the elimination of any external compressor

to send air as in a vortex air classifier. In addition, the volumetric flow rate of air required for

classification is much less in the rotating wheel classifier.

Circulating air classifiers are widely used in cement industry. It has generally complex

interior geometry. Particles are fed from the top onto a plate where the particles are scattered by

rotation of the plate. Circulating airflows carry the fine particles to the outer wall (annular

chamber). The air flows back to the classification chamber via vanes and leave the fine particles

fall into the fines collector. The coarser particles remain in the interior chamber and falls into the

coarse collector below.

Electrostatic classifier are the conventional classifiers have in general cut size above 1

µm. However, finer end products are required to obtain better product characteristics for example

in toner industry. Electrostatic classification is a process by which aerosol particles are

fractionated according to their electric mobility.

 Wet classification refers to the process of separating particulates in a liquid suspension

into fractions according to particle size or density by methods other than screening. Wet

classifiers work as a result of difference in settling rate between fine and coarse particles. The

basic principles of classification is that fine particles have a slower settling velocity than coarse

particles of same density or light particles have a slower settling velocity than heavy particles of

same size. The applications of wet classifiers were found in the treatment of raw materials for

example effecting a simple sand-slime separation resulting in two products. In general, wet

classifier types fall into two categories: gravitational and centrifugal classifiers. Gravitational

classifiers can be subdivided into sedimentation and hydraulic classifiers. Depending on the

operation manner, each type can be further divided into mechanical and non-mechanical

classifiers.

Spiral classifiers and rake classifiers are two types of sedimentation classifiers and are

mostly used in separating coarse particles from a mixture. A typical spiral classifier consists of a

sloping elongated round-bottom tank and a sand-raking spiral. The raw materials are fed to the

central section of the pool and flow to the weir while the suspended particles settle down. Four

zones can be identified in the poor, which are stationary zone, moving zone, hindered settling

and free settling zone. The cut size depends on a number of parameters including the height of

the weir, angle of tank slope, viscosity of the mixture, and so on. Secondary fresh water may be

supplemented to clean the coarse fraction before discharging. Spiral classifiers produce coarse

particles in good quality while they are generally not used in separating fine particles. The rake

classifiers have almost similar configurations with spiral classifiers. The only difference is that

the rakes move following a rectangular direction in rake classifiers.

 Hydraulic classifiers differ from sedimentation classifiers in that particle settling

directions are in opposite to fluid movement. It is a mechanical cone classifier consisting of a

cylinder and a conical tank. The materials are fed from top to a slowly rotating disk. A vane is

placed above the disk to generate upward water current. The coarse particles escape from the

upward stream and go to the lower part of the classifier where being washed by water jet. The

device has around 50% of overflow capacity for 74 µm particles but the overflow drops

dramatically for finer particles. Therefore, it has been used to treat low quality classifier sands.

Hydrocyclones consist of a top cylindrical section and a lower conical section. The raw

materials were fed into the body tangentially through the inlet on the top sidewall. The solid-

liquid mixture followed a downwards helical pathway. The centrifugal effects pushed coarse

particles away from the fluid stream to the wall where the coarse particles felled and were

collected below. The fine particles remained in the fluid stream and discharged above.
 SIGNIFICANCE OF SEPARATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF SOLIDS

IN THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF INDUSTRIAL PLANTS

The purpose of separation may be analytical, can be used as a lie component in the

original mixture without any attempt to save the fractions, or maybe preparative, i.e. to "prepare"

fractions or samples of the components that can be saved. The separation can be done on a small

scale, effectively a laboratory scale for analytical or preparative purposes, or on a large scale,

effectively an industrial scale for preparative purposes, or on some intermediate scale.

Chemical products are made by a combination of processes that include synthesis,

separation, and purification. The traditional chemical engineering methods of separation and

purification include distillation, crystallization, adsorption, membrane processes, absorption and

stripping, and extraction.

The petroleum refining industry uses the same traditional chemical engineering

separation technologies as the chemical industry, including distillation, crystallization,

adsorption, membrane processes, absorption and stripping, and extraction. Like the chemical

industry, the petroleum refining industry would benefit from separation technologies with

improved energy efficiency, raw materials efficiency, and cost effectiveness.

Various sectors of the aluminum industry, from primary smelters to producers of finished

products, have diverse separation needs. In terms of basic processes, the industry needs

improvements in separation processes that increase metal purity. The industry as a whole has a

need for innovative separation technologies to improve the sorting, and thereby the quality, of

scrap. The recycling of scrap reduces energy use, reduces costs for the purchase of raw materials,

and reduces the impact of waste on the environment.

 The steel industry comprises two major parts. The first is called the ''integrated'' segment

because iron ore and coke (made from coal) are combined in blast furnaces to produce molten

iron (called hot metal), which is then refined and alloyed to produce various types and grades of

steel. The oxygen-based refining process, which is the one most widely used today, is sometimes

called the basic oxygen process and may be carried out in a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) or a

basic oxygen converter. Oxygen-based steelmaking accounts for about 60 percent of the steel

produced in the United States each year. The second, and fastest growing, part of the U.S. steel

industry is based on the electric arc furnace (EAF), which can melt steel scrap to make liquid

steel without going through the ore-coke-blast furnace cycle. Fluxes and oxygen are used to

further refine the EAF output, usually by ladle treatment. Facilities that use EAF steelmaking are

popularly known as "minimills" because they are cost-effective and much smaller than integrated

plants. Minimills now produce about 40 percent of U.S. steel output.

The use of sands to make moulds and cores is nearly universal in the metal casting

industry. A pattern (often made of wood) is used to make the mould, which establishes the

external shape of the metal casting. To make a sand mould, clean sand is mixed with small

amounts of hydrophilic clay, usually bentonite, and pulverized coal. Water is added to facilitate

handling, and the mixture is placed in two boxes called the "cope" and the "drag." The pattern is

then used to transfer the desired external shape of the metal casting in the packed sand in the

cope (top of the casting) and the drag (bottom of the casting). The two boxes with the pattern

impression constitute the mould. The core is the interior piece of the mould needed to make

hollow castings. In the core room of a metal casting facility, new sand is mixed with resin and

sometimes a catalyst and formed into the core. The core is then placed in the mould, and the two

mould boxes are assembled into a ''flask'' ready for casting. In the mould production process for
investment casting, a wax pattern is repeatedly dipped into ceramic slurry and coated with dry

ceramic grit until the mould is of adequate thickness. The mould is then dried via water

evaporation before it can be used. Drying is the rate-limiting step for this kind of mould

production, and the metal casting industry would benefit from a separation technology that

reduced drying time in investment casting mould production.

 SAFETY PROTOCOLS

Separations are extremely in chemical manufacture. In fact, much processing

equipment is devoted to separate one phase or one material from the other. Before

starting work with a chemical a “chemical hazard pocket guide” should be consulted for

necessary information about the chemical. It will give the type of reaction the chemical

may produce, its inflammability, carcinogenicity, prevention and treatment procedures

etc. No eating, drinking, or smoking where chemicals are used. Skin should be covered

with protective clothing. Clothing should be removed immediately it gets wet or

contaminated with a chemical. Eyes or skins should be washed with plenty of water after

an accident. Face mask may be used in toxic dust or gases. Workers working in antibiotic

related products must be changed routinely so that an individual is not exposed to a

certain antibiotic for a long period of time. Whenever a dust allergy or respiratory

problem precipitates the worker should immediately be removed from the work place and

put under proper healthcare. In case of inflammable gas or solvent leakage the exhaust

fans should be started and all the source of fire should be extinguished.

Grinding or milling of drugs, excipients, or herbal products. During weighing

dusts may float on air. During powder mixing dusts may be generated. During coating

operation dusts are generated. During capsule filling and tablet punching operation dusts

may be generated.
 Filtration Air is sucked through a suitable filter medium (like paper, wool, cotton-

wool and nylon). Filter bags can be attached with machines where dust is produced.

Inertial separator In cyclone separator the air is circulated at high speed in a spiral

manner. Due to centrifugal force the dust particles are thrown outward and the particles

are collected at the bottom and the clean air comes out through the top. Electrostatic

separator It consists of metal tubes though which a conductor wire is passed. Several

thousand volts of DC current is applied on the metal wire. When air is passed through the

pipes the dust particles becomes charged and precipitates on the inner wall of the tube

and clean air passes out. Periodically the dust is collected.

There are different fire hazards and sources. Types of fire Class A Fires are fires in

ordinary combustible materials such as wood, cloth, paper etc. those produce glowing

ember. Class B Fires These are fires of flammable petroleum products, liquids, gases and

greases etc. Class C Fires These fires involve energized electrical equipment. Class D

Fires These are fires in combustible metals.

To prevent fire hazards, there are two types of water-based foams available,

Chemical foams and Mechanical foams. Chemical foams are bubbles filled with CO 2

produced by chemical reaction in an aqueous solution mixed with a foaming agent. The

reacting chemicals are usually of sodium carbonate and ammonium sulfate. Mechanical

foams are bubbles filled with air. Foams forms barrier and prevents contact between fuel

and air. Dry chemicals These are finely divided solid particles usually discharged through
a hose pipe. Usually they contain sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate and

ammonium sulfate.
REFERENCES:

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/shubhrajit-3057268-industrial-hazards-safety-

precautions/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_process

https://www.nap.edu/read/6388

https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444522375500102

https://www.scribd.com/document/392563376/IP4-Separation-and-Classification-of-

Solids-docx

https://www.slideshare.net/vicky937/separation-screening-and-classification