Performance of lamella clarifiers for juice and syrup clarification

A new design for syrup and juice clarifiers is presented. The design takes advantage of the considerably improved performance of clarifiers incorporating lamella plates, and the reasons for the improvement are outlined. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) work done to simulate the performance is summarised. This design enables the residence time to be dramatically reduced and the simplified design leads to cheaper and better clarifiers. Practical experience with factory scale units is described, confirming the good flow characteristics. The results of preliminary test work on a factory syrup clarifier are presented, which is also shown to operate efficiently as a phosphatation clarifier. In addition the performance of a full-scale juice clarifier has been evaluated and compared with the performance of a Rapidorr clarifier. This work confirms the considerable advantages which this type of design provides, in realising substantial reductions in residence time, capital costs and operating costs.