Sedimentation of organic fibres and inorganic particles can be observed in several industrial applications. Fibres are involved not only in wastewater treatment but also in other separation applications. In the paper industry, the separation of inorganic filler and coating particles from short cellulose fibres is still a challenge in the recycling process. During that process, particles have to be removed to obtain a purified fibre suspension. These fibres can be used again to produce new paper. With the currently applied techniques, like screening and flotation, the efficiency of short fibre separation is very poor. Moreover, also separation by sedimentation fails due to similar settling velocities of heavy-small particles and the light and larger fibres. This paper concentrates on the sedimentation of organic fibres and inorganic particles in water. The investigated suspensions are made by resolving two different and specially produced papers a coated and an uncoated one, as well as the single components used for its production. We observe a different sedimentation behaviour according to the concentration of fibres and particles in the suspension and the pHvalue of it. The main result is that, according to the fibre rate, the sedimentation behaviour is particle dominant or fibre dominant.
Sedimentation of fibres and particles in a fluid can be observed manifold in industrial applications. Not only in waste water treatment but also during the paper recycling process or other separation applications, fibres and particles are involved. The current paper is focussed on the detailed description of the sedimentation behaviour of fibres and particles. Mathematic modelling is used to investigate inter particle influences in detail. In particular a method called Stokesian Dynamics is used to simulate the settling of fibres and particles. The main challenge of the modelling is the dependence of the direction of each fibre on its sedimentation velocity and the different sizes of the particles with a poly-modal particle size distribution. Additionally fibres, particles and the fluid are influencing each other in a significant manner and in a long range. Therefore, one has to take into account the influences of many particles, while calculating the velocity of one particle.
Sedimentation of fibres and particles can be observed manifold in industrial application. In waste water treatment, the water is clarified from solid particles and fibres utilizing sedimentation. Some filtration processes use fibres as an aid to improve the filtration quality. Finally, in the paper recycling process, one tries to separate cellulose fibres from inorganic particles used as filling material or in printing colours. For all these applications, it is necessary to understand the hydrodynamic interactions between single particles as well as particle and fibre collectives.In the present paper, the sedimentation behaviour of fibres and particles is considered in detail. Mathematic modelling is used to investigate inter particle influences in detail. In particular, a method called Stokesian Dynamics is used to simulate the settling of fibres and particles. The main challenge of the modelling is the dependence of the direction of each fibre on its sedimentation velocity and the different sizes of the particles in a poly-modal particle size distribution. Additionally fibres, particles and the fluid are influencing each other in a significant manner and in a long range. Therefore, while calculating the force on a particle, one has to take into account the influences of many particles.
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