LAUSR

Continuous gravity settlers are widely used for liquid-liquid separation in solvent extraction processes. In the present work, effects of settler design (geometry, settling area (A), location of inlet/outlet) and internals (baffles, picket fence, end-plate) on the separation performance are investigated. An experimentally validated Eulerian CFD model implemented in OpenFOAM is used. For fixed flow rate of dispersion (Qt), an increase in settler length led to a reduction in the dispersion band thickness. For settlers with L/W < 1.5, the settler performance was found to be improved by combined use of baffle and picket fence. The organic to aqueous phase ratio (αorg/αaq), end-plate height and aqueous outlet location were found to influence the phase separation significantly. An empirical correlation is developed to predict the dispersion band thickness as a function of Qt, A, ρorg/ρaq, inlet baffle opening slot position and αorg/αaq. The present work will be useful for design of optimal settler configuration.