Development of a dynamic process model for the mechanical fluid separation in decanter centrifuges

The flowsheet simulation is a current simulation tool in the areas of research & development, plant design and production of chemical products. The objective of flowsheet simulations is the estimation of the overall process behaviour by solving mass and energy equations. The dynamic flowsheet simulation of particulate processes is a new tool which extends the classical simulation tools which are used in the chemical process engineering by the particle size distribution as one relevant new parameter. The complexity of particulate processes is given by the variety of material properties which depend on the particle size, particle size distribution, the volume fraction of solids and the physicochemical properties. This work illustrates a dynamic process model for continuous centrifuges and considers the material properties of the processed solids and the machine behaviour. First the theoretical framework is presented. Due to the complexity of the material, different material functions, such as the particle size distribution, hindered settling, consolidation or sediment transport used for the dynamic calculation of the process within a lab-decanter centrifuge. ... mehrExample simulations show the capability of the presented approach. One main feature of the numerical approach is given by the fact, that the small numerical effort reveals the possibility for real time simulations which are applied in the process industry for calculation at the same rate as actual wall clock time.