Patent ID: 7083050

Claim:
An apparatus for the clarification and/or thickening of a solution containing solids, where the apparatus comprises a clarification and/or settling tank, which is equipped with a feedwell for a slurry to be settled, a discharge port for the settled solids or underflow in the center of the settling tank, a discharge launder for a clarified solution or overflow, and a rake system rotating on its shaft in order to move the underflow from the edges towards the center of the tank, wherein the feedwell being equipped with a mixing element rotating on its shaft and being a helix mixer, formed of two tubes attached to a shaft by means of support elements, which make ⅓–2 revolutions around the shaft, and a guiding cone for the slurry fixed to the lower section of the feedwell being comprised of at least one conical surface which is open inside and equipped with slurry guide ports, wherein the bottom of the feedwell is equipped with slurry discharge ports.