LAB MANUAL

FOR
MECHANICAL
OPERATIONS
 INDEX
1. Ball Mill

2. Plate and Frame Filter Press

3. Elutriator

4. Pressure Drop through Packed Bed

5. Sedimentation

6. Characteristics of Fluidized Bed

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

BALL MILL
 BALL MILL

1. Objectives:
To find efficiency of ball mill for dry material with the help of Rittinger’s No. and draw
fractional and differential plot

2. Theory:
The main body of the ball mill is a low speed rotary cylinder mounted on two large
bearings horizontally. Rotary part of ball mill is driven at reducing speed by motor
through speed reducer and gear wheel or by low speed synchronous motor through gear
wheel. Inside the cylinder, feed proper grinded by medium steel balls. The medium will
be lifted to certain height under the action of centrifugal force and friction and drop or
fall.
The power consumption is found as:
Power required (theoretical)
per unit feed rate,(P/ m ) = Increase specific surface / Rittiner’s No

Where, Rittinger’s No is constant for one material and,

6 ni xi
specific surface for feed and product is calculated as:

D
pi

where, ρ density of particle

ni ration of specific surface (from graph)
xi mass fraction retained
D pi average dia. of particle

Power supplied is calculated with the difference of power supplied with material P2 and
without material P1 from experiment.
3. Experimental procedure:
 Feed is available in form of lump so prepare feed to size of coarse powder using
jaw crusher.
 Perform sieve analysis on feed material and note different weight fraction
 Run ball mill at constant RPM without material for 15 min and note reading for
power calculation
 Charge feed in ball mill and again run for 15 min at same RPM and note energy
meter reading
 Now take out the product and carry out same sieve analysis as done on the feed

3.1 Schematic diagram:

3.2 Utilities:
The ball mill is used for grinding materials such as coal, pigments, and felspar for
pottery etc.
 3.3 Experimental observation:
 RPM :
 Energy meter reading without and with material :

Feed and product observation:

Feed observation Product observation

Feed Screen aperture Mass Product Screen Mass

Screen (mm) retained Screen aperture retained
(g) (mm) (g)

4. Result and discussion:

Calculation table:

For feed material:

Screen Screen Avg Dia. Mass Mass Mass fraction Ratio of

aperture D pi (mm) retained fraction pass through sp. Surface (xi*ni/ D pi )
(mm) (g) retained (xi) (ni)
For product material:

Screen Screen Avg Dia. Mass Mass Mass fraction Ratio of

aperture D pi (mm) retained fraction pass through sp. Surface (xi*ni/ D pi )
(mm) (g) retained (xi) (ni)

Increase of sp. Surface (mm2/g) = Sp. Surface of product - Sp. Surface of feed

Theoretical power per unit feed rate (P/ m ) = increase specific surface/ Rittiner’s No

Power supplied = power supplied with material P2 – power required without material P1

Crushing efficiency = theoretical power required / power supplied

Mechanical efficiency = power supplied / power required with material

Fractional plot: Fractional plot is drawn between mass fraction retained and average diameter of
particle for feed and product data and validate your graph with standard graph.

Cumulative plot: Cumulative plot is drawn between mass fraction pass through and screen
aperture for feed and product data and validate your graph with standard graph.

5. Conclusion:

6. Sources of error:

7. References:
INSTRUCTION MANUAL

ELUTRIATOR
 ELUTRIATOR

1. Objectives:

 To investigate the working of a standard elutriator and to analyze its separation abilities.
 To separate particles from a mixture into three different fraction in three elutriating
columns and find out the separation efficiency of each column.

2. Theory:

The separation of solid particles into several fractions based on their terminal velocities is called
classification. Elutriator is the simplest device that works on the principle of classification. If two
particles having different settling velocities are placed in a rising current of water and the water
velocity is adjusted to a value between the terminal velocities of the two particles a separation
will result.
An elutriator is a device used to separate particles into two or more groups. In an elutriator
containing three columns the feed is entered in the column 1 having the smallest diameter. The
diameter gradually increases in column 2 and column 3.
When the particles are introduced, often through a side tube, the smaller particles are carried
away with the fluid stream while the larger particles settle against the upward current.

The resistance force per unit projected area of the particle under terminal falling conditions is
given by:

The dimensionless group does not involve since:

The group is known as the Galileo number Ga or sometimes the Archimedes
number Ar.

In table 1 values of are given as a function of In order to

determine the terminal falling velocity of a particle is evaluated and the
corresponding value of and hence of the terminal velocity can be calculated

Table 1. Values of as a function of for spherical particles.

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

.620 .720 .819

.919 .018 .117 .216 .315 .414 .513 .612 .711 .810

0 .908 .007 .105 .203 .301 .398 .495 .591 .686 .781

1 .874 .967 0.008 0.148 0.236 0.324 0.410 0.495 0.577 0.659

2 0.738 0.817 0.895 0.972 1.048 1.124 1.199 1.273 1.346 1.419

3 1.491 1.562 1.632 1.702 1.771 1.839 1.907 1.974 2.040 2.106

4 2.171 2.236 2.300 2.363 2.425 2.487 2.548 2.608 2.667 2.725

5 2.783 2.841 2.899 2.956 3.013 3.070 3.127 3.183 3.239 3.295

Since, both and are both functions of the diameter d of the particle. Calculation of
size of sphere having a given terminal falling velocity can be calculated by the use of another
combination, , which is independent of diameter.

Table 2 is given as a function of The diameter of a sphere of known

terminal falling velocity may be calculated by evaluating and then finding the
corresponding value of , from which the diameter may be calculated
 Table 2. Values of as a function of for spherical particles.

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

3.401

3.316 3.231 3.148 3.065 2.984 2.903 2.824 2.745 2.668 2.591

2.517 2.443 2.372 2.300 2.231 2.162 2.095 2.027 1.961 1.894

1.829 1.763 1.699 1.634 1.571 1..508 1.496

0.963

1 .969 .919 .865 .811 .760 .708 .656 .605

2 .554 .503 .452 .401 .350 .299 .249 .198 .148 .097

3 .047 .996 .946 .895 .845 .794 .744 .694 .644 .594

4 .544 .493 .443 .393 .343 .292

3. Experimental Procedure:
 200 gm feed is prepared and its particle size analysis is done.
 Terminal setting velocities of the particles are calculated using equation 4 and Table 1.
 The flow rates are calculated using terminal settling velocities such that the largest
particle should settle in smallest diameter column and the smallest particle should settle
in largest diameter column.
 Actual flow rate of the elutriator is set at 85% of the minimum value.
 Flow rate of the Rotameter fixed and wait for 30 minutes.
 The flow rate of water coming out of the exit is checked using a measuring cylinder and
stopwatch. It should meet the desired value.
 The sample is fed through the hopper.
 The whole setup is to operated for half an hour.
 After that the pump is closed and again the setup is left for 1 hour for particles to settle
down in respective tubes of different diameter.
 After the completion of the experiments the materials settled in each column are to dried,
filtered and screened to get the particle size analysis.
 The materials are dried in oven after filtration.
  Then weigh the particles and do particle size analysis for particles collected from each
column respectively.
 Calculate cut particle diameter for each tube using equation 5 and Table 2.
 Determine separation efficiency from cumulative plot of feed and products in each
column.

3.1 Schematic diagram:

FEED

WATER
EXIT

WATER
ENTRY

COLLECTION
VESSELS

COLUMN 1 COLUMN 2 COLUMN 3

Figure 1: SCHEMATIC DESCRIBING DESIGN AND OPERATION OF A STANDARD

ELUTRIATOR.
3.2 Utilities:

 Electric supply single phase AC, – socket with earth

connection.
 Water supply (Initial fill).
 Drain required.
 Floor area required .
 Raw material for the feed (Silica).
 Oven for drying of product.
 Electronic weighing balance (2kg least count 0.1 gm.).

3.3 Experimental Observations:

Flow Rate (actual): Flow Rate (measured):

Density of calcite :

Diameter of Column 1: Diameter of Column 2:

Diameter of Column 3:

Table 1: FEED PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS

Screen Diameter Weight Retained Cumulative Mass

Mass Fraction
(µm) (gm) Fraction

TOTAL

Table 2: PRODUCT PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS FOR COLUMN 1

Screen Diameter Weight Retained Cumulative Mass

Mass Fraction
(µm) (gm) Fraction
 TOTAL

Table 3: PRODUCT PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS FOR COLUMN 2

Screen Diameter Weight Retained Cumulative Mass

Mass Fraction
(µm) (gm) Fraction

TOTAL

Table 4: PRODUCT PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS FOR COLUMN 3

Screen Diameter Weight Retained Cumulative Mass

Mass Fraction
(µm) (gm) Fraction

TOTAL

4. Results and Discussion

5. Sources of Error

6. Conclusions

7. References
 INSTRUCTION MANUAL

PRESSURE DROP
THROUGH PACKED BED
 Pressure drop through packed bed
1. Objectives:
To plot modified Reynold’s No. (NRe.m) vs. modified friction factor (f) and verify
Ergun’s equation

2. Theory:
Packed bed provides a large surface area of contact between two fluids and thus
extensively used in distillation, extraction, absorption etc. As the fluid pass through the
bed, it passes through the void present in the bed. The voids form continuous channels
throughout the bed. The flow may be laminar through some channels and turbulent in
other channels.
Pressure drop through bed length is calculated as:
P h * g * (  m   )
 N/m
L L
Friction factor is given by Kozeny-Carman equation:

P *  3 * D P
f 
L *V 2 * (1   ) * 

Modified Reynold’s No. is defined as:

V *  * DP 1
N Re.m 
 (1   )

Ergun’s equation:
For 1< Re <1000

P 150 *  * (1   ) 2 V 1.75 *  * (1   ) *V 2
 
L S * DP 2 3 S * DP *  3

Pressure drop per length = Kozeny-Carman eqn + Burke-Plummer eqn

(Laminar flow) (Turbulent flow)
For Re >1000, pressure drop calculated with only Burke-Plummer equation for
turbulent flow.
 Where, h manometer reading
ρm density of manometer fluid
ρ density of water
L bed length
ε void fraction of bed
VP volume of single particle
V superficial velocity
SP surface of single particle
μ viscosity of fluid

ϕs sphericity

Dp equivalent diameter of particle

3. Experimental procedure:

 Determine surface area of one ring by taking average value of inside, outside
diameter and length of random 10 rings
 Determine volume of one ring experimentally with the help of measuring
cylinder
 Determine porosity of bed with the help of measuring cylinder
 Now on experimental setup, allow water to flow from bottom to top in a packed
bed. Regulate flow of water by means of pinch cork.
 Note the manometer reading at different flow rate
 For flow measurement, note collected outlet volume of water with time and
calculate flow rate
 Also note flow rate from rotameter and correlate with calculated water flow rate.
3.1 Schematic diagram:

3.2 Utilities:
In industry, a packed column is a type of packed bed used to perform separation
processes, such as absorption, stripping, and distillation. A packed column is
a pressure vessel that has a packed section.

3.3 Experimental observations:

Inside diameter of column
Effective height of packing L
Density of manometer fluid ρm
Density of water ρ
Viscosity of water μ
Inside diameter of packing
Outside diameter of packing
Length of packing
 manometer reading flow rate Q Rotameter flow rate
h1, cm h2, cm Volume of water, ml Time, s (LPM)

4. Result and discussion:

Manometer Flow Pressure Superficial Modified Friction Eargun’s

Reading, rate, Q drop per velocity, V Reynold’s factor, f equation,
Δh = h1-h2, m3/s length, m/s no, NRe.m N/m
m N/m

 Plot between Friction factor vs. Modified NRe.m and pressure drop vs. superficial
velocity.

5. Sources of error:

6. References :
 INSTRUCTION MANUAL

SEDIMENTATION
 SEDIMENTATION

1. Objectives;

To study the batch sedimentation for limestone water slurry.

Use these data to calculate the area of a continuous thickener (S) in which limestone water slurry
equivalent to the slurry in your experiment is fed at the rate of 50 tons of dry solid per hour to
produce slurry of 550 grams of limestone per liter?

2. Theory:

Sedimentation, or clarification, is the processes of letting suspended material settle by gravity.

Depending on the particles concentration and the type of interaction between the particles,
sedimentation or settling can be described as of four types:
 Discrete Particle Settling: The particles settle without any interaction. This occurs under low
solids concentration.
 Flocculent Settling: This is defined as a condition where particles initially settle
independently, but flocculate in the depth of the clarification unit. The velocity of settling
particles usually increases as the particles aggregate.
 Hindered Settling: Inter – particle forces are sufficient to hinder the settling of neighboring
particles. The particles tend to maintain a fixed position with respect to each other. This type
of settling is typical in the settler for the activated sludge process (or a secondary clarifier).
 Compression Settling: This occurs when the particle concentration is so high that so that
particles at one level are mechanically influenced by particles on lower levels. The settling
velocity then drastically reduces.
Sedimentation used in industry can be mainly of two types:

Gravity Sedimentation: which uses gravitational force as a driving force for settling.

Centrifugal Sedimentation: which uses centrifugal force as a driving force for settling.

3. Experimental Procedure:

 Prepare limestone water slurry containing 250 g of solids in 1 litre water.

 Observe the height of interface between clear and suspended solid and note the height of
interface with time.
 Repeat this experiment at least three times.
  The ultimate height and ultimate concentration of the solid in the settled sludge (Cu) is to
be measured on the next day.

3.1 Schematic Diagram:

Figure 1: Schematic of a sedimentation experiment.

3.2 Utilities:
 Measuring cylinder with Calibrated chart/scale.
 Limestone (250 g).
 Electronic weighing balance (2kg least count 0.1 gm.).
 3.3 Experimental Observations and calculations:

Weight of limestone taken:

Volume of water added:

Height of the Time Height of the Time Height of the Time

interface (h) (seconds) interface (h) (seconds) interface (h) (seconds)

1. Thickener area calculation:

Plot height of interface (hi) w.r.t. time (ti). Determine the intercept and the slope of the curve
atleast at 10 points of the curve (covering the whole range of time). The slope is the settling
velocity (v) corresponding to the points selected in step above and the intercept is for that
particular time. Obtain the concentration of solid using the following equation:

where, concentration of solids in slurry initially

initial height of the interface
concentration of solids in slurry corresponding to interface .

2. Plot settling velocity (v) versus solids concentration (C). Calculate LC for different settling
velocity (v) using following equation.
 where, Average density of slurry and water respectively.
ultimate concentration of solid in thickened sludge.

3. Plot versus v. From curve obtain the value of v for which is minimum. This
value of v is critical condition.

4. Repeat the above calculations for each set of data separately. Do not use average values.

4. Results and Discussion:

5. Sources of Error

6. Conclusion

7. References