In the middle of the 19th century, there were three-foot centrifuges for textile dehydration and overhead centrifuges for separating crystalline sugar in sugar factories. These earliest centrifuges were intermittent operation and manual slagging.

Industrial centrifuges can be roughly divided into filter centrifuges, sedimentation centrifuges and separators.

The function principle of centrifugal separator has two kinds of centrifugal filtration and centrifugal sedimentation. Centrifugal filtration is to make the filtrate under the centrifugal force, make the liquid pass through the filter medium to become filtrate, while the solid particles are left on the surface of the filter medium, so as to achieve solid-liquid separation; The principle of sedimentation and stratification achieves solid-liquid or liquid-liquid separation.

The selection of the centrifuge must be based on the comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the size and concentration of the solid particles in the filtrate, the density difference between the solid and the liquid (or two liquids), the viscosity of the liquid, the characteristics of the filter residue, and the separation requirements to meet the moisture content of the filter residue. According to the requirements of the filtrate, which type of centrifuge is initially selected. Then according to the processing capacity and the automation requirements for the operation, the type and specifications of the centrifuge are determined.