Comparison of gravitational SPLITT fractionation with gravitational settling for separating micron size particles

Abstract

The performance of gravitational Split-flow thin-channel (GrSPLITT) fractionation has been compared with conventional gravitational settling (GrSettling) method. Two modes of GrSPLITT (full-feed depletion (FFD) mode and transport (TS) mode) were employed. Silica and natural river particles were used to test these techniques. The particles were fractionated at the following cutoff diameters (dc) 2, 4, 6, 10, 14, and 20 μm. The fractions with diameter <dcwere analyzed for their particle size distribution by both optical or scanning electron microscopy and image analysis. Several parameters were used to objectively compare the efficiency of the methods. Almost all of the tests showed that TS-GrSPLITT had the highest separation efficiency. The ranking of FFD-GrSPLITT and GrSettling were considered to be of equal ranking as the order varied for the different parameters and samples used.