Aquamarine Global Solutions

The equipment discussed in the Sedimentation/Clarifier section belong to the deep depth sedimentation category and the Lamella Settlers to the shallow depth category. Both are designed to handle suspensions with low concentration slurries and solid particles that exhibit free and independent settling (Stokes law) before they are entering the the hindering zone. In both categories laminar conditions are required to obtain a sharp separation between the settling solids and the liquid so that the upward velocity of the liquid is lower than the settling velocity of the finest solid matter. Since velocity is directly related to surface area the larger the area the better the separation. If the area is too small the upward velocity goes up and a fraction of fine particles will migrate to the surface and report to the overflow so the surface area is a critical factor in sizing. Comparing the two categories the periphery depth of conventional clarifiers have a long sedimentation path of about 2-3 meters whereas the clearance between lamella plates, in analogy to depth, have a short path of 5-10 cm