Apparatus for bringing about particle growth in a flowing liquid suspension

Claim 1

Apparatus for separating suspended particles from a flowing carrier fluid, comprising in combination: a coalescence device including a vessel having a supply duct connected to a source of particle-bearing flowing fluid, having a discharge opening through which the particle-bearing fluid emerges from said vessel, and having at least one stationary plate attached to the inside of said vessel intermediate said supply duct and said discharge opening defining in association with said vessel a velocity gradient generating fluid passage in which the direction of fluid flow is reversed at least once, said passage comprising at least two vertically-elongated chambers in serial communication, each chamber being defined by generally vertically-extending surfaces including a pair of opposite walls disposed in a preselected spaced-apart relationship so that predetermined velocity gradients are generated in the fluid flowing through each of said chambers due to frictional contact with the walls of said chambers, said predetermined velocity gradients having a predetermined magnitude sufficiently large to promote coalescence of the particles but not so large as to cause disintegration of the coalesced particles; and, a separator device including a separator vessel having a supply opening connected with the discharge opening of said coalescence device and receiving flowing fluid from it, having a plurality of spaced-apart substantially parallel plates positioned within it, said plates mounted at a slope relative to a vertical plane and defining a plurality of parallel passages through which the fluid flows, the space between the plates being sufficiently small to cause the coalesced particles to separate from the flowing carrier fluid and to be deposited on said plates, said separator vessel having a discharge opening through which the flowing carrier fluid is discharged.