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Clarifiers

Clarifiers are settling tanks that use mechanical means to continuously remove settled solids from liquids. Inside the clarifier, solid contaminants settle to the bottom where they are collected by a scraper, while particles that float are called scum. Clarifiers are used to treat potable water, wastewater, and mining wastewater by adding chemicals to help solids clump together and settle more quickly for removal. They work by allowing heavier particles to settle to the bottom into sludge while producing clarified liquid.

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49 views2 pages

Clarifiers

Clarifiers are settling tanks that use mechanical means to continuously remove settled solids from liquids. Inside the clarifier, solid contaminants settle to the bottom where they are collected by a scraper, while particles that float are called scum. Clarifiers are used to treat potable water, wastewater, and mining wastewater by adding chemicals to help solids clump together and settle more quickly for removal. They work by allowing heavier particles to settle to the bottom into sludge while producing clarified liquid.

Uploaded by

vijay kumar honnali
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Clarifiers are settling tanks built with mechanical means for continuous removal of solids being

deposited by sedimentation.[1] A clarifier is generally used to remove solid particulates or suspended


solids from liquid for clarification and/or thickening. Inside the clarifier, solid contaminants will settle
down to the bottom of the tank where it is collected by a scraper mechanism.[2] Concentrated
impurities, discharged from the bottom of the tank, are known as sludge, while the particles that float
to the surface of the liquid are called scum.

Applications[edit]
Pretreatment[edit]
Before the water enters the clarifier, coagulation and flocculation reagents, such
as polyelectrolytes and ferric sulfate,[3] can be added. These reagents cause finely suspended
particles to clump together and form larger and denser particles, called flocs, that settle more quickly
and stably. This allows the separation of the solids in the clarifier to occur more efficiently and easily,
aiding in the conservation of energy.[3] Isolating the particle components first using these processes
may reduce the volume of downstream water treatment processes like filtration.

Potable water treatment[edit]


Drinking water, water being purified for human consumption, is treated with flocculation reagents,
then sent to the clarifier where removal of the flocculated coagulate occurs producing clarified water.
The clarifier works by permitting the heavier and larger particles to settle to the bottom of the
clarifier. The particles then form a bottom layer of sludge requiring regular removal and disposal.
Clarified water then proceeds through several more steps before being sent for storage and use.[3]

Wastewater treatment[edit]
Main article: Wastewater treatment
Sedimentation tanks have been used to treat wastewater for millennia.[4]
Primary treatment of sewage is removal of floating and settleable solids through sedimentation.
[5]
Primary clarifiers reduce the content of suspended solids and pollutants embedded in those
suspended solids.[6]: 5–9 Because of the large amount of reagent necessary to treat domestic
wastewater, preliminary chemical coagulation and flocculation are generally not used, remaining
suspended solids being reduced by following stages of the system. However, coagulation and
flocculation can be used for building a compact treatment plant (also called a "package treatment
plant"), or for further polishing of the treated water.[7]
Sedimentation tanks called 'secondary clarifiers' remove flocs of biological growth created in some
methods of secondary treatment including activated sludge, trickling filters and rotating biological
contactors.[6]: 13

Mining[edit]
Methods used to treat suspended solids in mining wastewater include sedimentation and floc blanket
clarification and filtration.[8] Sedimentation is used by Rio Tinto Minerals to refine raw ore into refined
borates. After dissolving the ore, the saturated borate solution is pumped into a large settling tank.
Borates float on top of the liquor while rock and clay settles to the bottom.[9]

Technology[edit]
Rectangular sedimentation tanks with effluent weir structure visible above the fluid
surface.Drained circular sedimentation tank showing central inlet baffles on the right with solids
scraper and skimmer arms visible under the rotating bridge.
Although sedimentation might occur in tanks of other shapes, removal of accumulated solids is
easiest with conveyor belts in rectangular tanks or with scrapers rotating around the central axis of
circular tanks.[10] Mechanical solids removal devices move as slowly as practical to minimize
resuspension of settled solids. Tanks are sized to give water an optimal residence time within the
tank. Economy favors using small tanks; but if flow rate through the tank is too high, most particles
will not have sufficient time to settle, and will be carried with the treated water. Considerable
attention is focused on reducing water inlet and outlet velocities to minimize turbulence and promote
effective settling throughout available tank volume. Baffles are used to prevent fluid velocities at the
tank entrance from extending into the tank; and overflow weirs are used to uniformly distribute flow
from liquid leaving the tank over a wide area of the surface to minimize resuspension of settling
particles

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