Ellis Inclined Plate Clarifier

Designed to separate solids from water.

Inclined Plate Clarifier

The Ellis Inclined Plate Clarifier (IPC) offers a large settling surface area in a very small footprint. The separation of solids is independent of clarifier depth and is most strongly related to the available surface area. The Ellis IPC uses a series of closely spaced inclined plates to provide the required settling surface area. The driving force for this separation is gravity operating on the entrained solids.

The Inclined Plate Clarifier or lamella was first described and quantified by Hazen in 1904. The lamella consists of a series of closely spaced flat plates inclined at an angle of from 45 to 60 degrees from horizontal.

Preconditioned water with entrained solids enters the plate area at or near the bottom and flows upward between the plates. This is referred to as a counter current flow pattern. The path length, plate spacing, and angle of the plate are usual engineering variables. As the flow rises between pairs of plates the heavy solids with a specific gravity higher than the surrounding water will settle onto the top surface of the lower plate and slide down the inclined surface to be collected in the sludge hopper. Clear, near solids free water, exits the top of the plate area and overflows an adjustable weir.

This technology has been successfully applied to a wide variety of industrial processes including:

1) Solids from scrubber water

2) Lime containing solids from:

  1. Fluoride removal
  2. Phosphate removal
  3. Vegetable fluming
  4. Solids and turbidity from surface water
  5. Cooling tower blow down
  6. Heavy metal precipitation
  7. Food grade starch
  1. Stone washing of textiles
  2. Filter backwash water
  3. Abrasive polishing
  4. Paint booth solids
  5. Bottom ash
  6. Mill scale

Preconditioning of the wastewater is generally always required. These pretreatment processes are usually configured for gravity inlet to and through the clarifier. The preconditioning may be a two or even three step process.

FLASH-MIX FLOCCULATION TANK (FFT)

  1. Designed for one-half minute and five minutes reaction time.
  2. A two-step process designed for the addition of a coagulant and/or a flocculant.

CHEMICAL REACTION FLOCCULATION (CRF)

  1. Designed for ten minutes and five minutes reaction time.
  2. A two-step process designed to oxidize and precipitate solids followed by flocculation.
  3. Designed for twenty minutes, ten minutes and five minutes reaction time.
  4. A three-step process designed to reduce, oxidize and precipitate solids followed by flocculation.

ADVANTAGES OF THE ELLIS INCLINED PLATE CLARIFIER:

  1. Clarifier plates at 55 degree angle for optimum settling of solids
  2. Integral sludge auger to thicken and convey sludge to discharge of clarifier
  3. Non-clogging inlet diffusion baffle that distributes flow evenly over width of separator
  4. Access hatches allow access to sludge chamber and auger without removing plates
  5. Clarifier is much smaller than other clarifiers having the same settling areas.