Particle collision theories applied to agglomeration in suspension

Abstract

An experimental and theoretical investigation has been made of an agglomeration technique for small solid particles suspended in a liquid. In this technique the particles are agglomerated under the action of a binding liquid, which is added to the turbulently flowing suspension and wets the particles. Special attention was paid to the first part of the wetting period of the technique.

Using existing particle collision theories it was found, that the collision efficiency for solid particles and binding liquid droplets during the first part of the wetting period is extremely low; only one out of every thousand to ten thousand collisions results in an adhesion of a particle to a droplet. The influence of the energy dissipation rate and of the viscosity of the suspension liquid on the collision process as predicted by one of the theories is in reasonably good agreement with the experimental results.