Introduction:

In this experiment, the bench top SOLTEQ Sedimentation Studies Apparatus will

be used to observe the different characteristic of sedimentation and determine the

effect of initial concentration and suspension on sedimentation rates. From a single

batch experiment, which has been conducted, the settling rates curves can be

constructed. The apparatus consists of five glass cylinders, which is mounted onto the

unit where it is lighted up from behind. Each glass cylinders has its own measuring

scale so that the suspension height of the sediment can be measured. These glass

cylinders can also be remove for adding the solution and also cleaning as well.

The objective of the experiment is:

To observe the effect of the different initial heights and the concentration of

the Kaolin on the settling rate.

To observe the effect of flocculants in every different volume on the settling

rate.

Results and Discussions:

Time (min) Z (cm)

Cylinder 1 Cylinder 2 Cylinder 3 Cylinder 4 Cylinder 6
0 30 60 90 90 90
1 26 54.5 86 86 82
2 21.5 48 80 80 77
3 15.5 41 75 74 72
4 10.5 35 68 67 66
5 6 28.5 63 60 61
6 0.8 22.5 56 54 55
7 0.5 15.8 51 47 50
8 0.4 5.7 45 41.5 44
 9 0.3 3.2 37 36 38
10 0.25 2.9 32 30.4 32
11 0.2 2.8 27 22.8 26
12 0.2 2.7 20 17.5 20
13 2.6 15 11.5 14
14 2.6 7 6.9 11.2
15 2.5 5.2 6.6 10.8
16 2.45 4.8 6.4 10.4
17 2.4 4.5 6.2 10.1
18 2.35 4.3 6.15 9.7
19 2.3 4.1 6.1 9.4
20 2.3 4 6 9.1
21 3.9 5.98 9
22 3.85 5.9 8.8
23 3.8 8.7
24 8.6
25 8.5
27 8.4
Table 1: Settling rate for different initial height and concentrations.

Figure 1:Clear Liquid Interface Height, Z vs Setting Time. (Different Initial Height, Different

Concentration.)
Figure 2:Clear Liquid Interface Height, Z vs Setting Time. (Same Initial Height, Different

Concentration.)

Sedimentation can be a continuous process or batch-by-batch process. The mass rate

of the sediments, which refer as the concentration during the continuous process plays

an important role for the system to be functioning correctly. Sedimentation is a part of

application in the oil and gas industry. According to Petrowiki, sedimentation is part

of mechanism involving demulsify oil. This process is driven by the density in order

to differentiate water and oil, which may not cause the emulsion to break. An

emulsion pad would form if there were an accumulation of emulsion droplets at the

interface of oil/surface in the surface equipment. However these pads will cause some

problems to the operation and appropiate actions must be act on them in order to

resolve the problem.

At the beginning of this work, for every glass cylinders are filled with different

concentration of kaolin mix with water, which is 28.29g, 56.57g, 84.86g, 127.29g and

169.72g respectively. Once the mixture has been done, it will be poured accordingly

to the initial height that was set which is 30cm, 60cm and 90cm respectively. Then,

one of these glass cylinders would be agitated its mixture so that the observation of

the sediments to be settle down can be seen clearly with the aiding of the backlight of

the apparatus. The initial height of 90cm will be repeated using different

concentration of kaolin mixture and same steps area repeated as well.

Based on figure 1, is a plotted graph of clear liquid height, z versus settling time, t.

The graph shows that at initial point of the sedimentation, the clear liquid interface

decreases at a constant rate as the sedimentation process occurs which is shown by the

steep line part of the plot. At a certain depth, which it has been reached, the slope

changes. As the sediments in each glass cylinder has been settled, the graph shows

that each plot is almost horizontal. An obstruct setling dominates causes the

compression settling stage which it represented by the plot which is almost horizontal.

Based on the figure 2, the plotted graph shows that height of the sediments decreases

as the concentration increases. This is due to the process of the sedimentation, which

are continuos where the solid regions concentration increased as the solids are being

more compacted. The concentration of the sediments is relative low, which causes the

height of sediments decreases at a constant rate.

When carrying out this experiment, there are several errors occurred. From these

errors, the data, which has been collected, will be inaccurate and might, cause a slight
change towards the graph plotted. Firstly, when the height of the interface is being

measured, it is dificult to determine the actual boundaries of the intercace since there

were particles suspended inside the glass cylinder. Moreover, for mixture of each

glass cylinder, it was agitated in a different degree since the experimenter manually

did it, which caused some of the sediments not to mix well. Lastly, there was a time

delay when the glass cylinder needs to be place onto the apparatus due to the

sediments, which started to settle as agitation was stopped.

During conducting this experiment, some safety consideration has been made. Firstly,

when agitating the mixture, care and safety was exercised as the cylinder was made

out of glass. The glass cylinder was made sure that it was securely closed with its cap

when agitating it. Moreover, the apparatus had a backlight so that when observing the

height of sediments on the glass cylinder would be easier. Lastly, the experimentors

used their personal protective equipment, which was compulsory for carrying out the

experiment.

Conclusion:

Based on the above datas and graphs from this experiment, it can be concluded that

different initial heights and concentration of the mixture can affect the sedimentation

characteristics. By increasing the concentrations of the kaolin mixture, these would

increase the settling time for the sediments to reach its final height.

As for recommendation for this experiment is to makes sure that the mixture is stir

using an electric stirrir so that time delay would be reduce when placing the cylinders

onto the apparatus. Secondly, when agitating the mixture is to make sure it is handle

with gently so that sediments would be packed evenly. Lastly, adding an extra 1-
minute when measuring the height of the sediments would reduced the inaccuracy as

well as making easier for the experimentor to focusly on taking the measurement.

References:

Oil demulsification -. (2017). [online] Petrowiki.org. Available at:

http://petrowiki.org/Oil_demulsification [Accessed 15 Feb. 2017].