Simple Solid-Liquid Separation Methods 

Oftentimes, experimental work requires obtaining reaction products in the solid phase from the solution or recovering useful liquid products from the suspension. The resulting products are then processed further to acquire the designated result, which commonly involves these steps: pre-treatment, concentration, separation, and post-treatment. 

In this article, an elaboration of simple solid-liquid separation methods will be presented. 

Filtration is a physical separation method that utilizes filter papers with various pore sizes to retain the solid products while allowing the liquid part of the mixture to pass the filter paper by gravitational force. The retained solids are called residues, whereas the past solution is called filtrate. 

Sedimentation is a process that involves settling down heavy insoluble particles in the mixture. Furthermore, the process of removing the resulting solution from the settled solid particles without disturbing them is called decantation. 

Centrifugation separates the dispersed small particles or liquid with different densities by spinning them around an axis at a high speed. 

Evaporation is the process of removing the liquid component of the mixture to obtain the non-volatile solids. 

Crystallization is a method to obtain a solid product by heating the solution to concentrate it and subsequently cooling down the solution.  

Suci Amelia

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