Supercentrifuge with a piston driven by a pressurized fluid for the extraction of solids and process for extracting the same

A supercentrifuge with a piston driven by a pressurized fluid, the supercentrifuge comprising:

• a rotor with perimeter walls and with the piston located therein, said piston dividing the rotor into one upper side and one lower side, wherein
• the lower side is a chamber for the clarification of liquids separating solid particles and clarified liquid, the bottom end of said chamber including an outlet opening for the discharge of residual or supernatant liquid through the action of gravity and the outlet opening of the chamber defining a vertical projection;
• the upper side of the rotor includes a hermetically sealable clarified fluid outlet movable between an open position which allows the extraction of the clarified fluid from the chamber and a closed position in which produces the hermetic sealing of the upper side
• the upper side of the rotor further includes a gas passage connected to a pneumatic pumping system which provides pressurized gas injectable to the upper side of the rotor through said gas passage to produce outward movement of the piston along the rotor toward the outlet opening of the rotor for automatic discharge of solid particles settled and retained within the chamber of the lower side through the outlet opening after a clarification and filling cycle, and which pneumatic pumping system provides vacuum applicable to the upper side of the rotor through said gas passage to produce an ascending movement of the piston;
• the piston has a valve, said valve providing access to a conduit or conduits passing through the piston to allow the clarified liquid free of solids to pass from the chamber of the lower side to the upper side through the piston and thereby allowing the extraction of the clarified liquid from said chamber;
• the supercentrifuge further comprising a lower injector outside the rotor arranged in a non-interfering position with the vertical projection of the outlet opening of the chamber and oriented in an upward, non-vertical direction for the projection from the outside of the rotor of a jet of liquid requiring clarification to the inside the chamber through said outlet opening in an injection step, the non-interfering position of the lower injector permitting the discharge of residual or supernatant liquid by gravity through the outlet opening without interfering with said lower injector in a supernatant discharge step.