Settling Tank Examples
Settling Tank Examples
Settling Tank Examples
Abstract: Sedimentation and clarification are used interchangeably for potable water; both refer to the separating of solid
material from water. Various types of sedimentation exist, based on characteristics of particles. In type 1 settling, particles
whose size, shape, and specific gravity do not change over time are suspended in dilute solution In dilute solutions number of
particles is insufficient to cause displacement of water (most potable water sources). Terminal settling velocity can be found
out theoretically from the equilibrium of a particle settling through a column and used to calculate the removal efficiency.
However many parameters are not easy to measure and therefore empirical analysis of type I sedimentation is carried out
to determine the efficiency of removal for a particular loading rate. A mathematical model is formulated and a numerical
solution technique have been used for calculating removal efficiency from the time and concentration data of settling analysis.
INTRODUCTION
Sedimentation and clarification are used interchangeably Examples:
for potable water; and both refer to the separating of solid
material from water (Peavy et al. 1985). Since most solids • Plain settling of surface water prior to treatment by
have a specific gravity greater than 1, gravity settling is rapid sand filtration (type 1)
used remove suspended particles. When specific gravity is • Settling of coagulated and flocculated waters (type 2)
less than 1, floatation is normally used. Various types of • Settling of coagulated and flocculated waters in lime-
sedimentation exist, based on characteristics of particles soda softening (type 2)
• Settling of waters treated for iron and manganese con-
Discrete or type 1 settling particles are those particles tent (type 1)
whose size, shape, and specific gravity do not change
over time. PARTICLE SETTLING
Particle settling, or sedimentation, may be described for
Flocculating particles or type 2 settling particles are a singular particle by the Newton’s equation for terminal
those particles that change size, shape and perhaps spe- settling velocity of a spherical particle. A knowledge of this
cific gravity over time. velocity is basic in the design and performance of a sedimen-
Above types have both dilute and concentrated suspensions tation basin. The rate at which discrete particles will settle
in a fluid of constant temperature is given by the Stokes
Dilute: In dilute suspension, number of particles is insuffi- equation for laminar flow:
cient to cause displacement of water (most potable wa-
ter sources). g(ρp − ρw )d2
vt = (1)
18µ
Concentrated: In concentrated suspension, number of
particles is such that water is displaced (most waste where
waters) g = accelaration due to gravity
ρp = density of the particle
Sedimentation has many applications in prepara- ρw = density of the water
tion of potable water as it can remove suspended d = diameter of particle
solids and dissolved solids that are precipitated. µ = coefficient of viscosity
However direct application of above equation is not seldom
1
Undergraduate Student, Department of Civil Engineering, possible in water treatment because the size of particles d
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati-781039, mus t be known and the correction factor φ to account for
India. email:samdani@iitg.ernet.in. departure from sphercity has to be determined. An indi-
2
Undergraduate Student, Department of Civil Engineering, rect method of measuring velocities of discrete particles in
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati-781039, dilute susupensions and of determining setling characteris-
India. email:skapoor@iitg.ernet.in. tics of a suspension, was devised by T.R.Camp 1943( cited
PROCEDURE
in the lower portion, the graph is an undulating one with Velocity in m/min
some of the values even negative which is not physically FIG. 3. Interpolated points from Lagrange’s formula
possible.
In the numerical interpolation of this point (x0 , v0 ), there
are many hurdles and many standard methods cannot be removal efficiency X is calculated for all the available values
used because: of vi Xi denotes the removal efficiency for v0 = vi .
Px0
vi · ∆x
1. Intervals are unequal for vi or xi so solution cannot X = 1 − x0 + xi =0 (6)
be obtained by usual integration techniques like simp- v0
son’s rule, weddle’s rule (Scarborough 1966). Further calculations are done on the basis of the problem
2. Lagrange interpolation is undulating. type.
3. To use splines, first and second derivatives at the start
Type a: v0 is given
and end of the interval is required. Hence in this case
In this case value of X is required to be found out for given
splines also could not be used.
v0 . From the stored values Xi , value of X is interpolated as
The only option available was to use linear interpolation Xi+1 − Xi
between two data points. Correspondingly integration is X = Xi + (v0 − vi ) (7)
vi+1 − vi
performed using Trapezoidal rule(Scarborough 1966) which
is applicable to any number of subintervals, whether even such that
or odd and for all interval sizes. Using the trapezoidal rule vi+1 ≥ v0 ≥ vi (8)
IMPLEMENTATION For analysing the data from this input file, following com-
The algorithm was coded in the C programming language mand is used at the prompt ($)
on a Linux based platform. For graph plotting Gnuplot soft- $ settlingtypeI exmpl
ware has been used and the output of the program is a pdf In this case exmpl is the name of the input file. The output
file processed by LATEX. To run the program, an input file is of the program is found in the file exmpl.inp.report.pdf.
required. In settling analysis two kinds of problems can be
defined CASE STUDIES
1. When the loading rate (v0 ) is known and removal Example 1
efficiency is required to be found out. In this case A Settling column analysis is run on a Type-
option X is used in the input file. 1 suspension. The settling column is 2 m tall.
2. When the removal efficiency (X) is known and cor- The initial concentration of well mixed sample is
responding loading rate (v0 )is required to be found 650 mg/l. Result of the analysis are shown below
out. In this case option v is used in the input file. Time, min 58 77 91 114 154
Conc., mg/L 560 415 325 215 130
A sample input file to be used with the program is shown.
All numerical entries are typed after the colon. Input Units: What is the theoretical efficiency in a settling basin with
Loading rate v0 in m / min a loading rate of 2.4 x 10−2 m3 /m2 d(m/d)? The input file
Removal Efficiency X in decimals ( not %) for this problem is ex1.inp
Concentration, Ci in mg/ L
Time, ti in min Problem type ( X or v):X
Height of column,H in m Value of X if v or v0 if X:0.024
Height of the column:2
No of data points:7
Type your entries after the colon(ie :) : 0 650
If you want to calculate X 58 560
with v given take option X : 77 415
If you want to calculate v0 91 325
with X given take option v: 114 215
Your option Problem type ( X or v): X 154 130
Value of v if X or X if v:0.0174 250 52
Height of the column: 2
No of data points:8 After analysing this data with settlinganalysisI pro-
Time concentration: gram, the efficiency X is found to be 78.49 % for given load-
0 300 ing rate v0 = 0.024000 m/ min
Mass fraction x
of vi , with the assumption that at t = ∞ , vi = 0 and xi = 0. 0.6
0.5
0.6
0.5 Velocity v in m/min
Again, analysis was run using this input file and the velocity
v0 is obtained as 0.023494 m/ min for given efficiency X of
65.00 ( % ).
Calculations are shown in Table 2 and the graph of vi vs.
xi is shown in Fig. 6.
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Velocity v in m/min
FIG. 6. Graph for ex2.inp
CONCLUSIONS
Removal efficiency is a critical parameter in the design of
sedimentation tank. However calculating removal efficieny
manually is a tedious job that is best left to the computer.
The data obtained from settling analysis experiment is the
concentration of solids in various samples taken at different
times. Even though the samples may be taken at equal inter-
vals, the main variables in finding the removal efficiency are
velocity and mass fraction left. Since the interval in velocity
and mass fraction are unequal, many popular numerical in-
terpolation and integration methods are not applicable and
the simple method of trapezoidal rule has to be used. The
algorithm is implemented on a Linux based machine and
the output file contains the plot of mass fraction vs. veloc-
ity. This software can be used study the variation of loading
Input
Calculate Velocities
Calculate Efficiency
Tables
v Problem X
Type?
v or X
STOP
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Velocity v in m/min
Figure 1: Cumulative settling velocity distribution curve calculated from the settling velocity data given in
Table 1