Separator designs for solids handling

How does a disc stack centrifuge work? It separates solids and one or two liquid phases from one another using extremely high centrifugal forces. The centripetal force generated by the rotating bowl pushes solids against the periphery of the bowl, while the less dense liquid phases form concentric inner layers. The separation process can be either a discontinuous or continuous, depending on the amount of separated solids.

Disc stack centrifuges have different types of mechanisms to handle solids, depending on the separation duty at hand. There are three types of separator design depending on solids handling type :

• Solid-wall separator, where operation must stop in order to open the bowl so that the collected solids can be removed manually.
• Intermittent solids discharge separator, where ports at the bowl periphery automatically open at controlled intervals to remove the collected solids
• Continuous solids discharge separator, where nozzles at the periphery of the bowl allow solids and liquids continuously leave the separator during operation.