Mechanical Solid–Liquid Separation

Abstract

The separation of a suspension into its continuous liquid and disperse solid phase can be realized principally by thermal or mechanical means, whereby the emphasis is put here on the mechanical separation methods. Mechanical solid–liquid separation represents a cross‐sectional technology and is relevant for a range of particle sizes from some millimeters down to some nanometers. One can distinguish systematically into density separation processes, such as sedimentation and flotation; filtration processes, such as depth filtration, cake, cross‐flow, and sieve/blocking filtration; and processes that are using electric or magnetic properties of the particles. The huge variety of solid–liquid separation apparatuses and machines can be classified clearly by a physically based scheme. Various special tasks can be in the center of interest, such as thickening, clarification, deliquoring, washing, three‐phase separation and extraction, sorting, and classification. Several measures are available to enhance the basic separation processes, such as mechanical–thermal hybrid processes, batchwise or continuously operating processes, apparatus combinations, and slurry pretreatment. Last but not least, far important aspects of progress in solid–liquid separation technology can be summed up under the keyword digitalization and simulation. Most modern methods of numerical simulation enable to create digital twins of separation apparatuses, which can be used in many different ways.