Cleaning of clogging central tube in juice clarifiers

Abstract

This research aims to remove the solid sediments that completely blocked the central distribution pipe in the juice clarifiers. These sediments can't be removed by traditional methods such as crushing or heating, due to the special condition of the pipe inside the clarifier, its narrow diameter and vertical position. Therefore, chemical methods were used to solve this problem. A new technique was used in this process through a mixture of sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide solution. There are many experiments and attempts to find the most suitable way of addition and also the final required concentrations of 1:1 dilution for both solutions and the diluted sodium hydroxide solution (48%) was added firstly and after 24 hours a solution of hydrogen peroxide was added with twice the amount of sodium hydroxide. This work was based on the fact that the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in the alkaline medium is accompanied by the release of oxygen, the occurrence of effervescence and the rise of impurities up to the surface of the solution in an exothermic reaction. This method which has been succeeded in removing sediments from the pipe of lengths up to 7 meters, can be considered a new addition in the field of chemical removal of sediments.