ABSTRACT
In the fields of agriculture and water treatment, separation of sediment (especially fine sediment) from raw water is one of the most important issues faced today. There are many methods to solve this problem, among them the vortex chamber type sediment extractor, which has recently been used and studied so much because of its advantage in removing sediment having a diameter larger than 0.055 mm. It is a device used to extract sediment from the diverted water by vortex flow and centrifugal force in enclosed chamber that is shaped for constant removal of streams of high and low sediment concentration. It can be said that the vortex chamber is an economical, efficient, and water-conserving choice compared with conventional settling basins especially for excluding fine suspended sediment particles. The paper firstly reviews the previous models of the vortex chamber. Then, a new design for a vortex chamber type sediment extractor will be discussed in detail. This design is capable of separation of fine sediment having diameter less than 0.055 mm. One experimental study on sediment removal efficiency of this chamber was carried out. The muddy water having a sediment concentration Ci of 30,000 ppm tangentially flows into the vortex chamber from the water tower and this causes the muddy water in the chamber to move in a vortex pattern. In the vortex chamber, two discharges exist, were provided: through the bottom orifice, and upper outlet. The flow though the bottom orifice is muddy water with a high sediment concentration, and the flow out through the upper outlet is clean water with a low sediment concentration. For different experimental conditions, the sediment removal efficiency is presented and discussed.
