Rapid continuous clarifier

Apparatus for clarifying the liquid portion of a slurry such as preflocculated sugar juice, said apparatus comprising:

• a tank including an upwardly opening conical lower section and a cylindrical upper section;
• a downwardly opening conical tray located within the tank and dividing the tank into upper and lower portions at approximately the juncture of the conical section and the cylindrical section, the outer periphery of the tray being spaced from the interior of the tank to provide an annular passageway therebetween;
• a vertical pipe centrally located within the upper portion of the tank and having an open bottom above the tray;
• a rotated pipe located within the vertical pipe, said rotated pipe including a deflector cone within the pipe and a plurality of apertures in the side wall of the rotated pipe immediately above the deflector cone;
• a plurality of mud scrapers attached to the rotated pipe and disposed immediately above the conical tray;
• means for supplying a slurry to the upper end of the rotated pipe so that the slurry flows out of the rotated pipe through the apertures and into the vertical pipe;
• means for supplying mud inside the vertical pipe so that the mud and slurry are mixed within the vertical pipe and flow out through the open bottom of the vertical pipe to the upper portion of the tank circumscribing the vertical pipe, at least some of the liquid portion of the slurry rising through the mud and collecting in the upper portion of the tank around the vertical pipe above the level of the mud, some of the slurry flowing downwardly through the passageway between the tray and the tank into the lower portion of the tank where substantially the remaining liquid portion rises through the mud and collects immediately beneath the center of the tray;
• means for withdrawing the collected liquid from the upper and lower portions of the tank;
• and
• a mud outlet at the bottom of the tank.