A thickener has several basic components: a tank to contain the slurry, feed piping and a
feed well to allow the feed stream to enter the tank, a rotating rake mechanism to assist in
moving the concentrated solids to the withdrawal points, an underflow solids withdrawal
system, and an overflow launder.
Continuous thickeners have undergone several modifications that have resulted from the
development of a wide variety of organic polymeric flocculants. As a result, there are now
two basic types of continuous thickeners: Conventional and High-rate.