Size Separation
Size Separation
Large pieces of material are usually estimated
visually, difficulties arising only in the estimation of
powders. size separation is a unit operation that
involves the separation of mixture of verious size of
particles into two or more portion by means of
screening surface.
also known as sieving, sifting, classifying or screening.
Standards for Powders
Standards for powders for pharmaceutical purposes are
laid down principally in the Indian Pharmacopoeia which
states, that the degree of coarseness or fineness of a
powder is differentiated and expressed by the size of the
mesh of the sieve through which the powder is able to
pass.
Size Separation
The IP specifies five grades of powder and the number of the
sieve through which all the particles must pass.
Grade of powder Sieve through which
all particles must
pass
Coarse 10
Moderately coarse 22
Moderately fine 44
Fine 85
Very fine 120
The IP specifies a second, smaller size of sieve for the coarser
powders but states the not more than 40 per cent shall pass
through.
The relevant grades of powder and sieve number are shown in
the table:
Sieve through which Sieve through which
Grade of powder all particles must not more than 40
pass per cent of particles
pass
Coarse 10 44
Moderately coarse 22 60
Moderately fine 44 85
Fine 85 Not specified
Very fine 120 Not specified
Thus, the full definition of Coarse Powder is that :
It is powder all the particles of which pass through
a No. 10 sieve and not more than 40 percent
through a No. 44 sieve, this is usually referred to
as a 10/44 powder.
Other grades are expressed in a similar way.
•
The Indian Pharmacopoeia makes two statements with regard
to these `official' grades of powders in practice:
1. It is required that, when a powder is described by a number,
all particles must pass through the specified sieve.
2. When a vegetable drug is being ground and sifted, none must
be rejected.
• The reason for this will be apparent if the character of a
vegetable drug is compared with a chemical substance. The
latter is a homogeneous material so that, if a certain quantity,
of a powder is required, an excess may be ground, a sufficient
amount of the desired size range obtained by sieving, and the
oversize particles (known as tailings) may be discarded.
A vegetable drug, however, consists of a
variety of tissues of different degrees of
hardness, so that softer tissues will be
ground first and tailings obtained by sifting
will contain a higher proportion of the
harder tissues. In many cases, constituents
are not distributed uniformly through
vegetable tissues;
for example, in digitalis the glycosides are
concentrated in the mid-rib and veins.
Hence, if tailings are discarded when
grinding and sifting the drug, it is likely
In addition to the grades of powder specified by the
British Pharmacopoeia, the British Pharmaceutical
Codex details a further grade known as Ultra-fine
Powder.
In this case, it is required that the maximum dimension
of at least 90 percent of the particles must be not
greater than 5µm and none must be greater than
50µm.
Determination of particle size for this grade is carried
out by a microscopic method.
Sieves
Sieves for test purposes are the subject of a
British Standard.
Most of the sieves used are of the wire
mesh type, the number of the sieve
indicating the number of meshes included
in a length of 25.4 mm (1 inch) in each
direction parallel to the wires.
It should be noted that it is
the
number of meshes that
is
specified and not the numberof
wires.
Thus, a No. 10 sieve has 10
meshes per inch in each
direction, but it will be
realized that if there were 10
wires there would be 9
meshes only.
The simple statement of the
number of meshes per
unit length is not sufficient, however, as the size
of the particle that will pass the sieve will
Effect of wire diameter on sieve mesh size.
STANDARDS FOR
SIEVES
according to B.P.
It is required that wire-meshsieves shall be
made
from wire of uniform,circular cross-section
and for
each sieve the following particulars are stated:
Number of Sieve
This is the number of meshes
in a length of 25.4 mm (1
in.), in each direction,
Nominal Size of Aperture
(hole)
This is the distance between
the wires, so that it
represents the length of the
side of the square aperture.
Nominal Diameter of the
Wire
This dimension and the number of meshes
form the basic standards for the sieve.
The wire diameter has been selected to give a
suitable aperture size, but also to have
Approximate Screening Area.
This standard expresses the
area of the meshes as a
percentage of the total area
of the sieve.
It is governed by the size of
wire used for any particular
sieve number and is
kept within the range 35 to
40 per cent.
This gives suitable strength to the sieve, but
Aperture Tolerance
Average
Some variation in the aperture size is
unavoidable and this variation, expressed
as a percentage, is known as the aperture
tolerance average.
The term tolerance is used in engineering
practice to mean the limits within which a
particular quantity or dimension can be
allowed to vary and still be acceptable for
the purpose for which it is required.
Finer wires are likely to be subject to a
greater proportional variation in diameter
than coarse.
fine meshes cannot be woven with the same
accuracy as coarse meshes. Hence, the
aperture tolerance average is smaller for
sieves of 5 or 10 mesh than is the case for
300 mesh.
PERFORATED PLATE
SIEVES
Sieves may also be made by drilling holes in
metal plate, so that this type will have
circular apertures as against the square
apertures of the wire mesh sieve.
In general, these sieves are used in the
larger sizes and can be made with greater
accuracy than
wire-mesh sieves, as well as being
susceptibleto less
distortion in [Link]
commonly used also as screens type
impact
mills. is
Usually, the holes are spaced with their
centers arranged at the apices of
equilateral triangles, so that all the
apertures are equidistant
Perforated plate
Similar standards are laid down with the
appropriate
equivalent specifications for plate
thickness and
nominal width of the bridge which control
the strength of the sieve in the same way as
wire diameter in wire mesh sieves.
M a t e r i a l s Used f o r
Sieves
1) The wire should be of
uniform, circular
cross-section.
2) The material should have suitable
strength to avoid distortion
3) Be resistant to corrosion by any
substances
that may be sifted.
METALS
Iron wire
Advantage
cheap,
Disadvantag
e
• Rusting
• Iron
contamina
tion of
METALS
Coated Iron (coating with galvanizing or
tinning).
Advantage
• Increases the protection against corrosion
• Increases the strength
Disadvantage
Coating after manufacture lead to
some variation in the mesh size.
METALS
Copper
Advantage
Avoiding the risk of iron contamination
Disadvantage
As a soft metal, meshes can
be distorted easily.
METALS
Copper Alloys (brass and phosphor-bronze)
Advantages
• Resemble copper possessing
good
in resistance to
• corrosion
Their strength is greater so that less risk
of the meshes distortion.
METALS
Stainless Steel
Advantages
• Good resistance to
• corrosion
Adequate strength
• The most
suitable purposes.
for
pharmaceutical
Disadvantage
s Expensive
NON-METALS
Used when all risk
of metallic contamination be avoided.
Used for sieves with fine meshes, since
non-metal fibers are stronger than a
metal wire of similar thickness.
NON-METALS
Materials of natural origin
(hair and silk), are used but
synthetic fibers (nylon and
terylene)
are more suitable
Advantages of synthetic fibers
• Have more strength and
• resistance
can
all
be to corrosion.
extruded in diameters, so
enabling of sieves to be
made. a
wide
variety
SIEVING METHOD
• I n this method, t h e fi ne powder is sep a ra t ed
from t h e coarse powder by using sieves of
desired numb er.
• The degree of fi neness of a powder is known
with t h e help of sieve t h r o u g h which t h e
powdered m a t eria l is passed. Sieves a r e
n u m b e red in order to distinguish from each
other.
• Size separation of powder is done by passing
t h e powdered m a t eria l throu g h a set of
sieves.
• Sieves a r e a r r a n g e d in descending order i.e.
sieve of larger size is a t t h e top a n d t h e
smallest one a t t h e bottom. The bottom sieve
is a t t a c h ed to t h e receiving pan.
6
•The material is placed in the uppermost
sieve. The sieves are s h a ke n with t h e help of
mechanical sieve s h a ke r or electromagnetic
devices. I t helps t h e particles to p a ss throu g h
t h e sieves.
• The working of mechanical sieving devices a r e
based on a n y of t h e following methods.
1. Agitation 2. Brushing 3. Centrifugal
7
8
1. Agitation
Methods
Sieves may be agitated in a number of different
ways:
Oscillation (move back and forth)
The sieve is mounted in
a frame that
oscillating.
Advantages
Simple method
Disadvantages
The material may roll on the
surface of the sieve,
Vibration
The mesh is vibrated at high speed, often by
an electrical device.
Advantages
The rapid vibration is
imparted to the particles on
the sieve and the particles are
less likely to “blind” the
mesh.
2. Brushing
Methods
A brush can be used to move the particles on the
surface of the sieve and to keep the meshes clear.
A single brush across the diameter of an ordinary
circular sieve, rotating about the mid-point, is
effective;
In large-scale production a horizontal cylindrical
sieve is employed, with a spiral brush rotating on
the longitudinal axis of the sieve.
3. Centrifugal
Methods
Use a vertical cylindrical sieve with a high
speed
rotor inside the cylinder, so that particles
are thrown outwards by centrifugal force.
The of air created by the
current movement
helps
Especially
sieving. is useful with very fine powders.
Size Separation Methods
• Size Separation by sieving:
Sieving method
• Size separation by fluid classification
• Sedimentation methods
• Elutriation methods
• Cyclone methods
37
Size separation by fluid classification:
Industrial methods of particle size
separation
based on sedimentation or on elutriation.
Wet sieving is more efficient than the dry
process,
because particles are suspended readily
and
passing easily through the
sieve with less
blinding of the
meshes.
SEDIMENTATION METHODS
1. Sedimentation Tank
A suspension of the solids in a fluid, most
commonly water, is placed in a tank and
allowed to stand for a suitable time.
The upper layer is then removed, giving a single
separation, or the suspension may be collected
as a number of fractions by arranging for the
pump inlet to remain just below the surface.
The suspension pumped out will then
contain successively coarser particles.
Advantag
es
Simple process
Disadvantages
•A batch process only
•It does not give a clean split of particle sizes
because some small particles will be near the
bottom of the tank at the beginning of the
process and so will be removed with the coarse
particles.
Elutriation Method:
The size separation of powder is based on the low density
of fine particles and high density of the coarse particles.
Elutriating t a n k is used to separate the coarse and fine
particles of powder after levigation. The dry powder or
paste
made by levigation process is kept in a n elutriating t a n k and
mixed with a large quantity of water. The solid particles are
uniformly distributed in the liquid by stirring and then it
is allowed to settle down. Depending on the density of solid
particles, it will either settle down or remain suspended i1n7
•The sample is withdrawn a t different heights through the
outlets. These are dried and t hus the powder with various
size fractions are collected.
• Nowadays in elutriation process, the particles are
suspended in a moving fluid, generally water or air.
•The apparatus consists of a vertical column with a n inlet
near the bottom for suspension, a n outlet a t the base for
coarse particles and a n overflow near the top for fluid and
fine articles.
• One column will give single separation into two fractions.
If more t h a n one fraction is required a number of tubes of
increasing area of cross section can be connected in series.
• The velocity of the fluid decreases in succeeding tubes as
the area of cross section increases, thus giving a number of
fractions. These fractions are separated and dried.
18
Advantages of Elutriation Method
(1) The process is continuous.
(2)Depending on the number of fractions required, the
same number of tubes of different area of cross section
can be connected.
(3)The separation is quick as compare to other methods
of separation.
(4)The apparatus is more compact t h a n as t h a t used
in sedimentation methods.
The main disadvantage of this method is t h a t the suspension
of solid particles has to be diluted which may not be
desired in certain cases.
20
Comparison of sedimentation & elutriation
• In sedimentation method the fluid is stationary & the separation of particles of
various sizes depends on particles velocity.
• In elutriation method the fluid flows & the separation of particles depends on
the velocity of the fluid.
CYCLONE SEPARATOR
Principle In cyclone separator, the centrifugal force is used to
separate solids from fluids. The separation depends not
only on the particle size but also on density of particles.
Hence depending on the fluid velocity, the cyclone separator
used
can beto separate all types of particles or to remove only 12
coarse particles and allow fine particles to be carried through
with the fluid.
13
Cons t r uc t i on : It consists of a cylindrical vessel with a
conical base. In the upper pa r t of the vessel is fitted with a
tangential inlet and a fluid outlet and a t the base it is
fitted with solid outlet.
Working: The suspension of a solid in gas (usually air) is
introduced tangentially a t a very high velocity, so t h a t
rotary movement takes place within the vessel. The fluid is
removed from a central outlet a t the top. The rotatory flow
within the cyclone separator causes the particles to be
acted on by centrifugal force. The solids are thrown out to
the walls, thereafter it falls to the conical base and
discharged out through solids outlet.
U s e s : Cyclone separators are used to separate the
suspension of a solid in a gas (air). It can be used with
liquid suspensions of solids.
14
AIR SEPARATOR
P r i n c i p l e : It works on the same principle as t h a t of cyclone
separator. But in this case the air movement is obtained by
means of rotating disc and blades. To improve the
separation, the stationary blades are used. By controllin1g5
these blades and the speed of rotation, it is possible to vary
the size a t which separation occurs.
Co n stru ct i o n : It consists of a cylindrical vessel with a
conical base. In the upper part of the separator the vessel
is fitted with feed inlet, and a t the base there are two
outlets, one for line particles and other for heavy particles.
The rotating disc and rotating blades are attached to the
central shaft, to produce air movement
Working : The sample powder is passed through the feed
inlet, which falls on the rotating disc. The rotating blades
are attached to the same shaft. These produce a current of
air as shown by the arrows. The fine particles are picked up
and are carried into space, where air velocity is sufficiently
reduced. The fine particles are dropped and ultimately
collected a t a n outlet meant for fine particles. The heavy
particles which fall downward are removed a t a n outlet
meant for heavy particles.
U s e s : Air separator is often attached to the ball mill or
h ammer mill to separate and ret u rn oversized particles for
further size reduction
16
Bag Filters:
Working:
Uses:
Advantages: