Laboratory and Pilot Testing

This chapter describes process objectives, feed properties, bench-scale testing, and pilot-scale testing. Material balance is used to back-calculate the variables that are difficult to measure accurately, but are required as a part of the measuring indices or metrics. Laboratory spintube testing can be made to determine the separability, and the G's and t's to make separation. It can also be used to determine whether chemical additives, coagulants, and flocculants are required to enhance separation. A special designed spintube centrifuge system, equipped with optical transmission measurement, provides sedimentation behavior of the suspension (monodispersed versus polydispersed particles, and unflocculated versus flocculated suspension) over time as well as space. Pilot testing is a necessary program once a bench-scale test demonstrates the viability of the separation process. Various parameters in controlling and monitoring pilot centrifuge testing are also discussed.