Centrifuge separating systems

Abstract

A centrifuge, for example a decanter type centrifuge, comprises a bowl (10) rotatable about a longitudinal rotational axis (Y), an inlet (14) for feeding into the bowl a slurry to be separated, and a helical scroll conveyor (12) rotatably mounted about the rotational axis and adapted to be rotated within the bowl at a different speed from that of the bowl in order to scroll particles adjacent to the bowl wall to a solids discharge end of the bowl. The decanter further comprises a plurality of walls (23) at least partly submerged in the centrate and defining passages therebetween. By providing a plurality of passages, through which the centrate to be clarified can travel, particles (e.g. solids) to be separated from the centrate have a short distance to travel under centrifugal force before entering the boundary layer at the walls of the passages. This enables more of the fine particles in the centrate to be separated out.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.