Slant Plate Clarifiers: 5 Things You Need to Know

Slant plate clarifiers remove solids from water and are an excellent choice for many industrial water suppliers. Slant plate clarifiers are primarily used to speed up the filtration process, making them ideal in almost any situation.

Today’s blog discusses five things you need to know about slant plate clarifiers and why they’re ideal for your water filtration system. Keep reading to learn more. 

5 Things You Need to Know

1. It’s a multi-step process. Slant plate clarifiers are an essential part of a much bigger process. Before the clarifiers can do their jobs, the rest of the water filtration system needs to be set up so that the solids in the water can make their way to the clarifiers. Gravity can then do its job.
   The process starts at the top of the tank where the clarifier is located. The wastewater flows in and is fed through baffles to the bottom of the unit, where the settling process begins as water flows up through the plates and the solids settle into the bottom of the clarifier. 
   But the solids don’t stay in the clarifier. They are transferred to the sludge thickening tank to settle even more before being pumped through a filter press for dewatering, a process in which the residual water is removed.
   
   Finally, the filter press releases the water into the equalization tank, where the peaks and flows are managed to keep the water at a consistent level. At this stage, solids are disposed of.

2. They work with gravity. The counter-current flow pattern makes this process work so well, and gravity is a crucial part of that. The inclined plates encourage this. Once the flow reaches the sludge chamber, it is forced up through the plates.
   
   Gravity does its work here, forcing the solids to the bottom of the flow, allowing for a clean and easy separation.

3. They work with or without a flash mixer tank. Taking between 10 and 90 seconds to do its work, a flash mixer tank uniformly disperses and blends chemicals into the process stream, agitating the mixture and causing fine particles to clump together, making them easy to remove. Mixers can be configured with a Radial impeller for a radial flow that’s perpendicular to a vertical flow. Mixers can also be configured with a Pitch impeller to create an axial flow that’s perpendicular to a horizontal flow. 
   While a flash mixer tank is a great tool to use, you don’t need one to operate your water filtration system with slant plate clarifiers since those chemicals aren’t required to complete this process.
   The flash mixer tank is only needed to disperse and blend chemicals into the process stream if those chemicals are used.

4. You can use them with flocculants and coagulants. The word “flocculant” comes from “floc,” which refers to the flakes composing a material. Flocculants help particles clump together. After flocculation, the sediment looks like larger, aggregated flakes, making them easier to remove.
   Flocculants vary. Some are organic or inorganic, with different charges, charge densities, molecular weights, and forms. Organic polymeric flocculants are the most popular option out there due to how little is required to achieve results.
   Flocculants can be used for solids removal, water clarification, sludge thickening, and the dehydration of solids, making them an ideal companion for slant plate clarifiers.
   Coagulants are positively charged molecules used to remove suspended solids from water, helping to neutralize them. Examples of suspended solids include gravel, sand, algae, clay, iron, protozoa, and bacteria.
   Coagulation treatment is ideally performed before sedimentation and filtration to ensure the neutralization of suspended contaminants. It takes less than two minutes to neutralize gravel, sand, and fine sand, making it perfect for fine types of sediment. However, other sediment types take longer to neutralize, necessitating other neutralization treatments.
   Aluminate sulfate, ferric sulfate, ferric chloride, and sodium illuminate are common coagulants used in water filtration. Many industrial water suppliers choose aluminum sulfate because it’s readily available and affordable.
   Flocculants and coagulants work in tandem, although they are separate processes. Coagulation is a chemical process using salts to release positive and negative charges. Flocculants are a physical process composed of polymers that settle the particles. Together, they greatly aid the water filtration process.

5. They save you space, time, and money. Slant plate clarifiers are an easy, affordable addition to your water filtration system that efficiently removes solids from a wide range of waste and process liquids.
   Clarifiers use less water, saving you on water costs. Clarifiers use gravity, eliminating the need for a more expensive process to accomplish the same task.
   Slant plate clarifiers are small for what they do. Because of how these plates are inclined, there’s a larger area for particles to settle – as much as ten times more than the actual floor space in the clarifier.
   Slant plate clarifiers are easy to maintain, have no moving parts, and are quickly and safely operated around the clock.
   Taking up less space, reducing the need for manpower, and saving money are all great reasons to start using slant plate clarifiers as part of your water filtration system. 

WTRBOX Slant Plate Clarifiers 

Our WTRBOX Slant Plate Clarifiers come as fully-integrated, skid-mounted systems with proprietary remote monitoring and control capabilities. Slant Plate Clarifiers are ideal for use in the aerospace, electronics, automotive, mining, textiles, power generation, petrochemical, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and metal finishing industries. 

We make our clarifiers in the USA and are approved through UL. Our clarifiers are available for purchase or rent. We offer in-house financing and leasing. Our systems come with various specifications and range from 25 to 150 GPM treatment capacity, allowing us to serve a variety of needs. 

Get Your Slant Plate Clarifiers from J.Mark Systems

Do you have questions about slant plate clarifiers? Are you wondering if they’d work well for your water filtration system? Are you interested in a quote? 

No matter what you’re looking for, J.Mark Systems is here to guide you through the process of finding your perfect water filtration system. Contact J.Mark Systems today to get started.