| A modern separation process using high intensity ultrasonics has been developed and studied for the agglomeration and collection of fine suspended particles (Kaolinite), in fluids (water). This flexible process has many other potential applications such as removal of dissolved gases, partially immiscible liquids and fine solid suspensions from liquids.; Finite element model was used to explain the mechanism of acoustic agglomeration of suspended particles in fluids. The pressure and velocity profiles obtained from the finite element results for different models, with and without contaminants were studied and compared with the theoretical and experimental findings from literature. A bench scale experiment was designed and several illustrative experiments were conducted. This involved two reactor tanks, one with an ultrasound generator and the other as a control sample (without ultrasound), to find critical parameters influencing acoustic agglomeration. The tank with ultrasound generator showed appreciable increase in rate of settlement of suspended particles. |
