PARTICLE TECHNOLOGY

FILTRATION

CHE 147: Particle Technology

FILTRATION
Batch and Continuous Filtration

Agbayani, Malhea Glaiza

Bernesto, Bon Joey
Collado, Renz Nikko A.
Figares, Yardena
Micua, Daisy
Reyes, Mae Jeianett
Ventura, Ventura
September 16, 2019

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FILTRATION

FILTRATION
It refers to a unit operation in which a heterogeneous mixture of a fluid and particles of solid are
separated by a filter medium which permits the flow of the fluid but retains the particles of solid. It
therefore involves primarily the flow fluids through porous media
The fluid can be a gas or a liquid.
The suspended solid particles can be very fine or much larger, very rigid or plastic particles,
spherical or very irregular in shape, aggregates of particles or individual particles.
The valuable product may be the clear filtrate from the filtration or the solid cake.
Industrial filtration equipment differs from laboratory filtration equipment only in the amount of
material handled and in the necessity for low-cost operation.

Slurry – it refers to a mixture consists of the liquid and the suspended particles.
Filter cake – it refers to the solid particles build up on a filter.
Note! The cake itself also acts as a filter to the suspended particles and as the cake builds up,
resistance to flow also increases!
Filter Media/Septum – it refers to a material with tiny openings through which a fluid is passed
to remove solid particles.
Filtrate – it refers to the fluid that passed through a filter.

Types of Filtration Equipment

1. Classification of filtration
a. Batch Filtration – it refers to a filtration where the cake is removed after a run.
b. Continuous Filtration – it refers to a filtration where the cake is continuously
removed.
2. Gravity/Bed filters (simplest type of filter) – it refers to a type of filter mainly used in cases
where relatively small amounts of solids are to be removed from large amounts of water
in clarifying the liquid.

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3. Plate-and-frame filter presses – it refers to a type of filter consist of plates and frames
assembled alternatively with a filter cloth over each side of the plates.

4. Leaf filters – it refers to type of filter developed for larger volumes of slurry and more
efficient washing.

5. Continuous rotary filters

a. Continuous rotary vacuum-drum filter – it refers to a type of continuous rotary filter
that filters, washes, and discharges the cake in a continuous repeating sequence.

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b. Continuous rotary disk filter – it refers to a type of continuous rotary filter that
consists of concentric vertical disks mounted on a horizontal shaft.
c. Continuous rotary horizontal filter – it refers to a type of continuous rotary filter that
is a vacuum filter type with the rotating annular filtering surface divided into sectors.
General Types of Filtration Equipment
I. CAKE FILTERS
1. Discontinuous pressure filters – It refers to a pressure filter that can apply a large
pressure differential across the septum to give economically rapid filtration with viscous
liquids or fine solids. Ex. Plate-and-frame filter presses and Leaf filters
2. Automatic belt filter - it refers to a discontinuous pressure filter that separates,
compresses, washes, and automatically discharges the cake. Ex. Larox belt filter
3. Discontinuous vacuum filter – it refers to vacuum filter in which the operation is
discontinues, uncommon in large-scale processes because of the labor involved in digging
out the cake. Ex. Vacuum nutsch
4. Continuous vacuum filter/Continuous rotary filter – It refers to a vacuum filter in which
the liquor is sucked through a moving septum to deposit a cake of solids. Ex. Continuous
rotary vacuum-drum filter, Continuous rotary disk filter and Continuous rotary
horizontal filter

II. CENTRIFUGAL FILTERS

1. Suspended Batch Centrifuges – it refers to the most common type of batch centrifuge
in industrial processing in which the filter medium lines the perforated wall of the basket.
2. Automatic Batch Centrifuges – it refers to a short-cycle automatic batch centrifuge in
which the basket rotates at constant speed about a horizontal axis.
3. Continuous Filtering Centrifuges – It refers to a reciprocating-conveyor centrifuge in
which a rotating basket with a slotted wall is fed through a revolving feed funnel.

Filter Media and Filter Aids

1. Filter media/Septum – it refers to a material that removes solids from the slurry
Requirements:
a. It must remove the solids to be filtered from the slurry and give a clear filtrate
b. The pores should not become plugged so that the rate of filtration becomes not too
slow.
c. The filter medium must allow the filter cake to be removed easily and cleanly.

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d. It must have sufficient strength to not tear and must be chemically resistant to the
solutions used.
2. Filter aids – it refers to a materials that aids filtration that can be used as a precoat before
the slurry is filtered or can also be added to the slurry before filtration.

Note! The use of filter aids is usually limited to cases where the cake is discarded or to
cases where the precipitate can be separated chemically from the filter aid!

Basic Theory and Equations of Filtration

1. Rate of Filtration

The Ruth Equation

where; = rate of filtration,

= volume of filtrate collected at any time

(if P2 = 0 psig or atmospheric pressure)

= average specific cake resistance,
= constant, s = compressibility coefficient
For rigid solids, s = 0
For compressible solids, 0.1 < s < 1.0
C = mass of dry cake deposited per unit volume of filtrate collected

= density of filtrate, = weight of dry cake,

= mass fraction of solids in slurry

= porosity, = density of solids

= fictitious volume of filtrate collected to form a cake with resistance equal to
that of filter medium

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, filter medium resistance

, resistance of cake

(Another form of the Ruth Equation)

2. Filtration Equations for Constant-Pressure Filtration

Basic equations for filtration rate in batch process

(rate of filtration at constant pressure)

or

Let then (The Original Ruth Equation)

To determine the constants of filtration etc. experimentally from a data of

From

we get which in the form of a straight line

If the resistance of filter medium is negligible,

Note! If is changed,

If A is changed,

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Washing time,

= volume of wash water, = rate of washing

Rate of washing,
For Plate and Frame Filter Press,

For Leaf Filters,

Capacity of filters, y

To get the maximum capacity, , the right side of the above equation is expressed in
terms of the variable, , and y is differentiated with respect to and equated to
zero to get the , opt.

Equations for continuous filtration

Basis: 1 cycle or revolution
Effective filtration time per cycle,
where F = fraction of area immersed in slurry

N = number of revolution per unit time

Volume collected per cycle, at constant pressure,

where and

capacity of the filter,

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3. Filtration Equations for Constant-Rate Filtration

or

or where

4. Filtration Equations for Constant-Pressure Filtration preceded by Constant-Rate

Filtration

For constant-pressure filtration:

At end of constant-rate:

If is negligible,

and

PRACTICE PROBLEMS
1. A rotary drum filter with 35% of its filtering area submerged in the slurry, turns at 0.5
rpm. The filtrate production is 0.61 cubic meter per min. per square meter of filtering
area submerged when filtering lime slurry. Average production is 20.4 cubic meters of
filtrate per hour. The estimated area of the filter cloth in square meter is?

2. Referring to the problem #1, if the drum has a diameter of 1.0 m, the width of the drum,
in centimeters is?

3. A plate and frame filter press is used to filter a certain sludge for 2 hours at constant
pressure. Washing is done by using 10% of the filtrate volume collected. The time of
washing is?

4. A plate and frame filter press contains 24 frames, each 1 inch thick and has inside
dimensions of 2 ft x 2 ft. Filtering time is 2 hours. Wash water volume is 10% of the
filtrate volume per cycle. Filtering and washing are done at the same pressure. The
final cake is 0.05 ft3/ft3 of filtrate. If the time for cleaning and reassembling is 30
min/cycle, the capacity of the press is?