Recovery of solids from a liquidsolids slurry

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR THE RECOVERY OF SOLID OLEFIN POLYMERS FROM A SLURRY THEREOF IN A LIQUID DILUENT COMPRISING SEPARATING THE MAJOR PORTION OF THE PARTICULATE SOLID POLYMER FROM SAID DILUENT BY EVAPORATION OF SAID DILUENT AND THEREAFTER CONDENSING SAID DILUENT, SAID CONDENSED DILUENT CONTAINING LESS THAN 1 WEIGHT PERCENT SOLID POLYMER FINES, INTRODUCING THE RESULTANT SLURRY INTO THE UPPER PORTION OF A SETTLING ZONE ADJACENT A FIRST END PORTION WHEREIN SAID SOLIDS GRAVITATE TOWARD THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID ZONE AND REMOVING SUBSTANTIALLY SOLIDS-FREE DILUENT FROM THE UPPER PORTION OF A SECOND END PORTION OPPOSITE SAID FIRST END PORTION, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING INTRODUCING WATER INTO THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID SECOND END PORTION SO AS TO FORM AN INTERFACIAL LAYER CONTAINING POLYMER SOLIDS BETWEEN THE RESULTANT WATER PHASE AND DILUENT PHASE, PASSING SAID INTERFACIAL LAYER OVER A PLURALITY OF PARTITIONS OF DECREASING HEIGHT IN THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID ZONE WITH THE HEIGHT OF SAID PARTITIONS DECREASING STEPWISE FROM A MAXIMUM ADJACENT THE AREA OF INTRODUCTION OF WATER TO A MINIMUM ADJACENT SAID FIRST END PORTION TO