A STUDY OF MULTISTAGE/MULTIFUNCTION COLUMN FOR FINE PARTICLE SEPARATION

A non-agitated multi-stage column was constructed and applied to wastewater treatment. Preliminary oil/water separation tests were performed. Excellent separation results verifies the multi-function feature of the multi-stage column. Hydrodynamic behavior is considered as the underlying cause for the separation performance. Therefore, a series of experiments were carried out to investigate the hydrodynamic parameters, including gas holdups and liquid circulating velocities. The experimental data will be used to create a mathematical model to simulate the multi-stage column process. The model will further shed light on the future scale-up of the MSTLFLO process