University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Fluid-particle dynamics play an important role in many industrial processes from the pulp and paper, mineral dressing to the oil sands industry. Invariably, it is desired to separate solid particles, fibers, or liquid droplets based on their density difference, particle size, particle length or particle thickness. Although, drag on a single particle is well researched, little is known of the drag experienced by a particle in a mixture of other particles having different density and size. The talk will deal with modeling of separation of fibers of different lengths as applied to the pulp and paper industry and on the separation of silica sand from oil droplets. Simple fluid-particle models will be employed and will compared with experimental data. The talk will stress the need for a generalized particle- interaction model in a multi-species system of particles having different size and density.