The concept of the decanter involves the balancing of liquid heights due to differences in density of the two phases,as

well as settling velocity of the heavier phase falling through the lighter or the lighter
rising through the heavier.The phases are divided in to continuous phase and dispersed phase.To know which phase is continuous and what is dispersed the following formulae is used.
=(Flow rate of lighter phase/Flow rate of Heavy Phase)*(density of light phase*Viscosity of heavier phase/density of heavier phase*viscosity of light phase)^0.3
Q density
In the current example kg/sec kg/m3
MDC 0.272 1330
Water 0.005 1000
Conditions for In the current, MDC-Water system,Water is in light phase there fore it is dispersed.Continous phase is MDC.
Result
<0.3 light phase dispersed
0.3-0.5 light phase probably dispersed The next step is using the Stokes law for determining the settling velocity of the droplets to find the diameter and height of the decanter.
0.5-2.0 Phase inversion probable,design for worst case
2.0-3.3 heavy phase probably dispersed
>3.3 heavy phase always dispersed Assume the droplet size to be 150m
Terminal Settling Velocity
u
d
=d
d
2
g(
d
-c)/18
c
ud
Assume I is 80% of diameter D of the vessel and L/D=5 Where L is the length of the vessel, mts
(Q
c
/A
1
)<ud ,where A
1
=IL=(0.8D)(5D)=4D
2
(Q
c
/4D
2
)<ud
Q
c
is the volumetric flow rate of continous phase divided by the density of continous phase.
and D (0.5)*((Q
c
)/(ud))^0.5 i.e in this case
Diameter of the decanter,(D) Diameter
Length of the decanter Since;L=5*Diameter
Residence time in the decanter (Volume of tank/Total Volumetric flow rate)
0.125 hours
8 mins
The concept of the decanter involves the balancing of liquid heights due to differences in density of the two phases,as well as settling velocity of the heavier phase falling through the lighter or the lighter
rising through the heavier.The phases are divided in to continuous phase and dispersed phase.To know which phase is continuous and what is dispersed the following formulae is used.
=(Flow rate of lighter phase/Flow rate of Heavy Phase)*(density of light phase*Viscosity of heavier phase/density of heavier phase*viscosity of light phase)^0.3
Viscosity
kg/m.sec
0.000413
0.000894
0.013385
In the current, MDC-Water system,Water is in light phase there fore it is dispersed.Continous phase is MDC.
The next step is using the Stokes law for determining the settling velocity of the droplets to find the diameter and height of the decanter.
Assume the droplet size to be 150m
u
d
=d
d
2
g(
d
-c)/18
c
-0.009410756 m/sec
L is the length of the vessel, mts
Q
c
is the volumetric flow rate of continous phase divided by the density of continous phase.
0.204678363
m
3
/sec
2.331859005 mts
11.65929502 mts
(Volume of tank/Total Volumetric flow rate)
The concept of the decanter involves the balancing of liquid heights due to differences in density of the two phases,as well as settling velocity of the heavier phase falling through the lighter or the lighter
=(Flow rate of lighter phase/Flow rate of Heavy Phase)*(density of light phase*Viscosity of heavier phase/density of heavier phase*viscosity of light phase)^0.3
The next step is using the Stokes law for determining the settling velocity of the droplets to find the diameter and height of the decanter.