CH19441

PARTICLE SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY

UNIT 3
FILTRATION

1
CONTENTS
• Theory of filtration
• Batch and continuous filters
• Flow through filter cake and filter media
• Compressible and incompressible filter cakes
• Filtration equipments - selection, operation and design of
filters
• Optimum cycle of operation, filter aids.
2
CONCEPT OF FILTRATION
• The separation of solids from a suspension in a liquid with the help
of a porous medium or screen which retains the solids and allows the
liquid to pass is termed as FILTRATION.

• The operation of separating a solid from a liquid by means of a porous

medium (usually a wire or fabric filter cloth) is called as filtration.

• The medium retains the solid in the form of a porous cake, while the
liquid passes through it.

3
• As a separation process, filtration is used widely in chemical and other
allied process industries to isolate finely suspended solid particles
from its slurry with a liquid by passing the slurry through some form
of porous medium called the filter medium or septum.

• The medium may be a screen, cloth, membrane, or a bed of solids.

• The isolation is accomplished by forcing the liquid through the

medium while the solid particles are trapped within its pores to form a
layer known as cake.

• The liquid passing through the medium is called the filtrate.

4
The Industries Behind the Growth of Industrial Filtration

1. Water Treatment
2. Chemicals
3. Pharmaceuticals
4. Biotechnology
5. Food Processing

5
The Benefits of Industrial Filtration
For many industries and businesses, industrial filtration is essential for day-
to-day operations. The benefits of employing a filtration system are clear:

• Removes particles and substances from liquids

• Enables liquids, oils, and coolants to be reused

• Protects tools and machinery

• Stops contamination from spreading

• Cleans water

• Improves the overall performance of equipment

6
 Most Common Industrial Filtration
Applications
• Protect Equipment

• Purification

• Safety

• Product Isolation

• Efficiency

7
Filtration and filters can be classified in several
ways
• by objective —
• the desired product being solid, clarified liquid, or both;
• by filtration mechanism —
• cake filtration and deep-bed filtration
• by driving force —
• the driving forces in cake filtration are gravity, mechanical pressure, vacuum
pressure, or centrifugal force; and
• by operating cycle —
• intermittent (batch) or continuous.

8
PRINCIPLE OF CAKE FILTRATION
• In cake filtration, the feed to be
handled (two phase mixture) is
called slurry, the bed of
deposited solids on a porous
membrane (filter medium) is
called cake and the clear liquid
leaving the filter medium is
called filtrate.
9
TYPES OF CAKE FILTRATION
• Cake filtration can be operated at constant pressure and constant
rate conditions.
• If the pressure drop across the filter is constant throughout the run,
the filtration process is called constant pressure filtration.

• Here the rate of filtration is maximum at the beginning and

decreases continuously towards the end of the run.

• The method in which the pressure drop is gradually increased so

that the rate of filtration is constant throughout run is called
constant rate filtration.
10
Factors affecting the rate of filtration

(i) Pressure drop across the cake and the septum;

(ii) Resistance of the cake;

(iii) Resistance of the septum;

(iv) Area of the filtering surface; and

(v) Viscosity of the filtrate.

11
MECHANISM OF FILTRATION

12
Filter media
• In case of cake filters, the selection of filter medium is the most
important consideration in their satisfactory operation. The filter
medium in any filter should have the following requirements:
(i) It should retain the solids to be filtered;
(ii) It should not plug or blind;
(iii) It should offer minimum resistance to filtrate flow;
(iv) It should be mechanically strong to withstand the filtering pressure;
(v) It should be chemically resistant to corrosive fluids;
(vi) It should be resistant to mechanical wear;
(vii) It should have the ability to discharge the cake easily and cleanly;
(viii) It should have long life; and It should be cheap.
13
Filter media
• Canvas cloth; woollen cloth; metal cloth of Monel,

• stainless steel, nickel, copper, bronze, or other alloys;

• Paper, synthetic fiber cloth of nylon, polypropylene, etc.,

are used as filter medium depending upon the process conditions

14
Filter aids

• Filtration of slurries containing very finely divided solids or slimy,

deformable flocs is very difficult due to formation of a dense,
impermeable cake that quickly plug the filter media.

• In such cases the porosity of the cake must be increased to allow

passage of the filtrate at a reasonable rate.

• This is achieved by adding a filter aid to the slurry before filtration.

15
• A filter aid is a granular or fibrous material which packs to form a bed of
very high voidage.
• Because of this, they are capable of increasing the porosity of the filter
cake.
• A filter aid should be of low bulk density, should be porous, should be
capable of forming a porous cake, and must be chemically inert to the
filtrate
• The commercial filter aids are diatomaceous earth - almost pure silica
prepared from deposits of diatom (marine organisms) skeletons, expanded
pearlite, and asbestos fibres.

16
Methods of using filter aids :

(i) adding a filter aid to the slurry before filtration, and

(ii) precoating, i.e., by depositing a layer of a filter aid on the filter

medium before filtration.

17
• Precoats prevent gelatinous solids from plugging the filter medium
and give a clear filtrate.

• The precoat is a part of the medium rather than that of the cake.

• When the filter aid is directly added to the slurry before filtration, the
presence of it increases the porosity of the sludge, decreases its
compressibility and reduces the resistance of cake during the filtration
operation.

18
19
FILTRATION EQUIPMENTS

• For any given filtration operation, the choice of a suitable filter largely
depends on the minimum overall cost of the equipment which is
related to the filtering area, pressure drop, mechanical design,
operating cycle, cake resistance, ease of discharge of filter cake, and
quality of filtrate.

20
Other important factors to be considered for the
selection of a filter are
(i) the nature of solids present in the slurry — particle shape and size,
size distribution, and their cake forming characteristics;

(ii) the properties of the fluid — viscosity, density, and corrosiveness;

(iii) the quantity of slurry to be filtered;

(iv) the concentration of solids in the slurry;

(v) the valuable product — solid , liquid , or both; and

(vi) washing of the cake.

21
 Pressure Filters
• Filters which operate with super-atmospheric pressure on the upstream
side of the filter medium and atmospheric or greater pressure at the
downstream side of the filter medium are termed as pressure filters.

• In these devices, the filtering pressure is applied on the upstream side

by a liquid pump or by a compressed gas. Hence, pressure filters are
fed by plunger, screw, diaphragm or centrifugal pumps. Since the cake
discharge from a pressure environment is difficult, continuous filters
are in limited use and most of the pressure filters are batch operated.
22
Advantages of Pressure filters :

(i) Use of high filtration pressure results in relatively rapid filtrations.

(ii) These filters are compact so they provide a large filtration area per
unit of floor space occupied by the filter.

(iii) Batch pressure filters offer greater flexibility than any other filter at

relatively low initial investment.

23
Disadvantages of Pressure filters
(i) Difficult to adapt to continuous processes and the operating cost is high
in many applications.
(ii) Continuous pressure filters are inflexible to some extent and are
expensive.
• A filter press is the simplest and the most commonly used filtration
equipment.
Two main forms in which this press is made are : the plate and frame press,
and the recessed plate press/chamber press.
24
PLATE & FRAME FILTER PRESS
• It consists of plates and frames arranged alternately and supported on a
pair of rails.
• The plate is a solid piece having a ribbed surface.
• The frame is hollow and provides the space for the filter cake.
• The alternate arrangement of plates and frames results in the formation
of chambers.
• The plates and frames are square or rectangular in shape and can be
made of cast iron, stainless steel, nickel, aluminium, monel, hard
rubber or plastics (polypropylene).
• Coated materials are also used (rubber or lead or epoxy resin covered).
25
 PLATE & FRAME FILTER
PRESS [SECTIONAL VIEW]

26
PLATE AND FRAME

27
PLATE & FRAME
FILTER PRESS

28
• Slurry to be filtered is pumped through the feed channel.

• It runs into the chambers formed and fills the chamber completely
(i.e., frames).

• As the feed pump continues to supply the slurry to be filtered, the

pressure goes on increasing.

• Because of this, the filtrate passes through the cloth, runs down the
faces of plates and finally leaves the filter through discharge cocks.

• The solids are deposited on the filter cloth.

29
• The two cakes are formed simultaneously in each chamber and these
join when the frame is full and no more slurry can enter into it.

• The press is then said to be jammed.

• Wash liquid may be introduced in the press to remove soluble

impurities from the solids and the cake is then blown with air to
remove the residual liquid from it.

• The press is then dismantled, and the cake of solids scrapped off from
each plate.

30
• In simple washing, the wash liquor is introduced through the feed
channel and leaves the filter through the outlet cocks (i.e., it follows
the same path as the slurry and filtrate). It is suited when the cake is
uniform and permeable.

• These units are made in plate sizes ranging from 100 × 100 mm to
1500 × 1750 mm. Operating pressures upto 700 kPa are common. The
press may be operated at pressure upto 7 MPa by using a suitable
material of construction.

31
32
Note:
• The rate of washing is one-fourth the final rate of filtration.

33
 VACUUM FILTERS

Filters which operate with less than atmospheric pressure on the

downstream side of the filter medium and atmospheric pressure on the
upstream side of the filter medium are referred to as vacuum filters.

Thus, these filters are limited to a maximum filtering pressure of one

atmosphere. Vacuum filters need a vacuum pump which is a source of
the filtration driving force (it creates vacuum on the downstream side)
and is costly to operate.
34
 CLASSIFICATION
Vacuum filters are classified as
• discontinuous vacuum
filters (vacuum nutsch filter)
• continuous vacuum filters
(rotary drum filter).

35
36
 Rotary Drum Filter
• A rotary drum filter is the most
common type of continuous vacuum
filter.
• In this filter filtration, washing, partial
drying and discharge of cake all take
place automatically.

37
 WORKING
• The drum is immersed to the desired depth in the slurry which is mildly agitated to
prevent the settling of the solids.

• Vacuum is then applied to the portion of drum which is submerged in the slurry
through the rotary valve.

• Because of this, the liquid (filtrate) is sucked into the compartment and solids get
deposited on the cloth to form a cake of the desired thickness which can be
regulated by adjusting the speed of the drum.

• With higher speeds, thinner cake will be formed and consequently, high rate of
filtration will be achieved.
38
• The filtrate from the compartment then goes to a filtrate collecting tank
through the internal pipe and rotary valve.

• As the portion of the drum on which the cake is formed comes out of the
slurry, the cake is washed by spraying wash liquid. The wash liquid leaves
the filter through the rotary valve and is collected separately in a separate
tank.

• After washing, the cake enters into a drying zone as the drum rotates where
the cake is partially dried by sucking air through the cake of solids.

39
• After the cake of solids has been sucked as dry as possible, vacuum is
cut off and the cake is removed by scrapping it off using a adjustable
doctor's knife.

• A little air is blown in under the cloth to aid the removal of the cake.

• Once the cake is removed from the drum sector, it re-enters the slurry
and the cycle is repeated.

40
Flow sheet for continuous vacuum filtration

41
42
 CENTRIFUGAL FILTRATION

• In case of slurries containing coarse granular or crystalline solids

forming a porous cake, the filtration operation can be carried by using
centrifugal force rather than the pressure force.

• Centrifugal filters can be operated batchwise or in a continuous

fashion. In these filters, the slurry is fed centrally to a rotating basket.
The perforations in the walls of the basket are covered by a filter
medium. The slurry is forced against the basket sides by pressure
resulting from the centrifugal action, i.e., by centrifugal force.
43
• The liquor passes through the filter medium and the solids are retained
by the medium.

• After building the cake to a predecided thickness, the feed is stopped

and the cake of solids is spun for a short period to remove residual
liquid from the cake.

• In Fig. (a), a stationary cylindrical bowl contains a slurry (liquid +

particulate solids of greater density than liquid). Since the bowl is not
rotating, solids will settle at the bottom with a horizontal liquid surface
above the solids.
44
45
Fig.(b) shows that the bowl is rotating about its vertical axis. In this case, the

liquid and solids are acted upon by two forces – the gravity force acting downward

and the centrifugal force acting horizontally.

Normally, the centrifugal force is very large as compared to the gravity force and
hence, the same may be neglected in comparison with the centrifugal force.

Under the action of the centrifugal force, the solid particles are tightly pressed
against the vertical bowl wall and the liquid layer assume the equilibrium position
with an almost vertical inner surface as shown in Fig. (b).

46
• If the wall of the bowl is perforated and perforations are covered with
a filter medium such as a fine wire screen as shown in Fig. (c), the
liquid is free to flow outward but the solids are not.

• Almost all the liquid quickly flows out of the bowl, leaving behind the
cake of filtered solids.

47
 Centrifugal Filters
• A centrifuge or centrifugal is any rotating machine that utilizes a
centrifugal force for the separation of liquid from solids as well as for the
separation of immiscible liquids of different densities.

The essential components of a centrifuge machine are :

1. a rotor or bowl in which centrifugal force is applied to the contents of
bowl,
2. a drive shaft,
3. a drive mechanism e.g. electric motor,
4. a frame for support, and align these and
5. a casing. 48
Suspended batch centrifugal – Batch centrifuge

49
 CONSTRUCTION
• A batch centrifuge which is commonly used in industrial processing is the top
suspended centrifuge.
• It consists of a basket with perforated sides. The diameter of the basket ranges
from 750 to 1200 mm and depth from 450 to 750 mm.
• The basket rotates at speeds between 600 to 1800 rpm.
• The basket is held at the lower end of a free swinging vertical shaft.
• The shaft is driven from above by an electric motor.
• The perforated sides (walls) of the basket are covered with a filter medium on the
inside.
• The basket is surrounded by a casing provided with a filtrate discharge connection
at the bottom.
• The basket and other parts may be constructed of mild steel, monel and stainless.
In case of mild steel, they may be lined with lead, rubber, etc.
50
 WORKING
• Slurry to be filtered is fed to the rotating basket through an inlet pipe or channel.

• It is forced against the basket sides by centrifugal force. The liquid passes through
the filter medium into the casing and out a discharge pipe, while the solids form a
filter cake against the filter medium.

• The cake thickness usually varies from 50 to150 mm. The cake is washed by
spraying wash liquid to remove the soluble material.

• It leaves the centrifuge through the discharge pipe. After washing is complete, the
cake is spun as dry as possible, usually at a speed higher than that during the
charging and washing steps.
51
• The motor is then turned off and the basket speed is reduced by the application of a brake.
At the basket speed of 30 - 50 rpm, the cake is discharged by cutting it out with an
unloader knife.

• The knife peels the cake off the filter medium and drops it through an opening in the
basket floor. The valve which forms part of the bottom is opened to allow cake discharge
into a

• receiver placed below. After unloading, the filter medium is rinsed clean and the cycle is
repeated.

• These machines are widely used in sugar refining. They operate in sugar refining on

• short cycles of 2 to 3 minutes per load.

52
Centrifuge machines
are also called as
hydroextractor

53