Viscosity of diluted suspensions of vegetal particles in water

Department of Process Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Opole University of Technology, Poland

^⁎ Corresponding author: a.szydlowska@doktorant.po.edu.pl

Abstract

Viscosity and rheological behaviour of sewage as well as sludge are essential while designing apparatuses and operations employed in the sewage treatment process and its processing. With reference to these substances, the bio-suspensions samples of three size fractions ((i) 150÷212 μm, (ii) 106÷150 μm and (iii) below106 μm) of dry grass in water with solid volume fraction 8%, 10% and 11% were prepared. After twenty four hours prior to their preparation time, the suspension samples underwent rheometeric measurements with the use of a rotational rheometer with coaxial cylinders. On the basis of the obtained results, flow curves were plotted and described with both the power model and Herschel-Bulkley model. Moreover, the viscosity of the studied substances was determined that allowed to conclude that the studied bio-suspensions display features of viscoelastic fluids. The experimentally established viscosity was compared to the calculated one according to Manley and Manson equation, recommended in the literature. It occurred that the measured viscosity values substantially exceed the calculation viscosity values, even by 105 times. The observations suggest that it stems from water imbibition of fibrous vegetal particles, which causes their swelling and decreases the amount of liquid phase in the suspension.