CONTINUOUS SEPARATION OF MIXED SOLIDS USING A ROTATING-SCREEN FLUIDIZED-BED

The rotating-screen fluidized bed was shown to be an efficient separator for particles in the size range 1 - 5 mm immersed in a fluidizing medium composed of finer particles. Destruction of bubbles by the rotating screens attenuated wake-induced vertical mixing to an extent that permitted the device to approximate a liquid phase float/sink separator. A theoretical model gave realistic values for diffusivity and differential settling velocities, but was incompatible with the observed lack of influence of bed depth on separation effectiveness.