SEDIMENTATION LABORATORY

REPORT
(DATE OF SUBMISSION: 20-06-2018)

Kamolchanok Wongsrigul (14126133)

Mihails Aleksejevs (15057992)
Gienah Antonietta Josiphine (16060334)
Ruth Maura Prabaswara (16060857)

Process and Food Technology

The Hague University of Applied Sciences

Introduction
The phenomenon of settling of particles in motionless water is crucially important as seen
naturally in rivers, and particularly in water purification process. When water has no dynamic
changes or no movement, suspended solid submerge to the bottom according to the gravity
force thus sediment is formed. The process is called sedimentation.

In this experiment, starch solution with 3 different suspension concentrations were

conducted in batch settling process. The goal of the experiment was to investigate the
interface position against time. By doing so, the interface velocity evolution, and the settling
velocity were calculated. Besides, after gathering the experiment results, the impact of the
concentration on the sedimentation was determined.

Background theory
● According to the Stokes ‘law, the settling velocity of one particle in a laminar regime
(Re<1) and with a low concentration is [1]:

● For concentrated suspension, the apparent settling velocity at the concentration C,

uc, could be calculated from the modified Stokes ‘law [1]:

● Another modelling proposes this equation [1]:

Experimental procedure

Materials:
Corn Starch, divided into three parts:
1. 5 grams of starch in 100 grams of water
2. 10 grams of starch in 100 grams of water
3. 20 grams of starch in 100 grams of water

Equipment:
1. Three volumetric cylindrical tubes

Experiment procedure:
1. Each materials were prepared according to the designated values, and poured into
separate cylinders. Each cylinders were labeled according to the concentrations.
2. The experiment were done simultaneously in order to shorten the period, therefore all
three cylinders were shaken at the same time. When the shaking stopped, the timer was
immediately started. It was recorded as t=0.
3. At intervals, the suspension was measured with the scales present on the cylinder.
The number of layers present in the solution were analyzed as well.
4. The height of the sediment was measured when it wasn’t settling anymore.

Experimental results:

Theoretical calculations:
For low concentrations C<0.0002 𝑚3 solid/𝑚3 suspension – Stoke’s law

For higher concentrations - Modified Stoke’s law

When C<0.02

When C>0.02

Another modelling method for high concentrations suggests

Volumetric concentrations were calculated using the following formula:

So, the result is the following:

In theory, all concentrations should obey modified Stoke’s law (hindered velocity) with

And this formula

because all their volumetric concentrations are

>0.02.

After performing the calculation in Excel, the following results were achieved:

The theoretical calculations make sense, with the increase of concentration the velocity
drops because with the increase of concentration there are more particles that hinder the
settling.

Discussions
Comparing the theoretical results with experimental data
Theoretical calculations were conducted in order to be compared to the data obtained from
the experiment. However, the results acquired during the experiment differ from the theoretical
values from the by orders of magnitude.

The experimental data does not make sense because according to the experiment, the most
concentrated solution settles the fastest. From the graph resulted from the experiment data it
can be seen that the most concentrated solution has the highest interface, followed by the
least concentrated solution, then the lowest slope is the middle concentrated solution. The
most possible explanation is that the data of the solution with the highest concentration is
incorrect.

This error can be explained by the fact that it was really hard to read the experimental data
since there were more than one interface and the line between interfaces was very vague. It
possible that the interface that is seen in one solution and another is different. Then, it means
that the comparison is not valid because they do not have the same condition.
The experiment should be repeated with different concentrations to maybe find the
concentration where the interface would be visible

Also, the theoretical data may not match the actual data because the exact particle 15
micrometers size [2] was not measured but acquired from literature sources.

Precautions that were taken in order to reduce errors

1. Simultaneous shaking was done by three persons at the same time in order to
have the same t=0.
 2. Precise measurement of the weight of starch and water, making sure that the
ratios are according to the manuals.

Recommendations
1. Making sure that the solution is shaken thoroughly in order to be as
homogenous as possible. If possible, using the same force for each tube.
2. Analyzation is better to be done in bright environment in order to have a clear
vision of each layers.
3. The experiment was conducted using volumetric cylinders, which may be the
cause of imprecise calculations. If possible, it is more suitable to use cylinders
which ratio is in centimeters to calculate the exact length.
4. Using the exact same cylinders for all three.

Conclusion
This experiment resulted with unanticipated outcomes in which the experimental data were
not corresponded with the theoretical values. The most concentrated suspension settled the
earliest. The observation was uncomfortable since the interfaces were not precisely
identified. Repeating the experiment may improve the accuracy of the results.

References
[1] Coulson, J.; Richardson, J.; Harker, J.; Coulson, J. Coulson and Richardson's chemical
engineering; Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford, 2002; pp. 239-242.

[2] J. Jane, L. Shen, L. Wang, C. C. Manningat “Preparation and Properties of Small-Particle

Corn Starch” Cereal Chem. 69(3):280-283