1

Bicol University
College of Engineering
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
Legazpi City, 4500, Philippines
ChE 518: Introduction to Particle Technology
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL

Filtration
*Villanea, Glyza Mae J.
BS Chemical Engineering 5
ABSTRACT

This experiment was made __________ for the ___________ . In order to

___________, an experiment was done to get the fictious volume of filtrate . Three
trials was done with 3 runs each. Each was done with 98.8%, 95% and 90% sulfuric
acid concetration, respectively. The rate constants acquired for the different
concentration
of
the
acid
are
5.7203(mol/L) 1.032(1/s)Ca-0.032,
2.838684(mol/L)1.112(1/s)Ca-0.112, and 2.025104(mol/L)1.224(1/s) Ca-0.224 while the mean
conversion are 0.932205, 0.68643 and 0.58899. The design for the reactor with the
highest conversion of graphite was choosen to represent this experiment to be
projected in an industrial scale with 80% conversion of sucrose to graphite. The
volume of the batch reactor for the different concetration of the sulfuric acid that
was determined to be 12.6272, 43.8131, and 131.738, respectively.
Keywords: filtration,

I.

Introduction

In the manufacturing industry, different

industries make use of different unit operations
or processes to make their products. Filtration is
an example of those unit operations that is
widely used in chemical engineering industry to
generate goods. The plan of these equipments is
done by a chemical engineer because certain
factors, such as rate of filtration, temperature,
pressure and others are to be considered to get
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the optimum design. To control such conditions,

one must have the knowledge of _____.
Filtration is the separation of a fluidsolids mixture involving passage of most of the
fluid through a porous barrier which retains
most of the solid particulates contained in the
mixture. Filtration is the term for the unit
operation. A filter is a piece of unit-operations
equipment by which filtration is performed. The
filter medium or septum is the barrier that lets
the liquid pass while retaining most of the

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solids; it may be a screen, cloth, paper, or bed of
solids. The liquid that passes through the filter
medium is called the filtrate.[1]
Filtration is used to recovery solid
particles or the liquid substance of a certain
material to make use in another process or step
in making the product. It can be done by
centrifugal filtration or by hydrostatic
head(gravity) using different mechanism either
by cake filtration which stops the solid at the of
a filter medium and pile upon one another to
form a cake of increasing thickness, the
separation or by clarifying filtration which traps
solids within the pores or body of the medium.[2]
It can be done by batch or continuous filtration.

Figure 1. Prepared Materials

2.1.1. Preparation of Calcium Carbonate

2.5 g of calcium carbonate was weighed
using an analytical balance. It was dissolved in
500 ml of water.

II. Materials and Methods

2.1 Preparation of Materials
The reagent used for the experiment is
5% w/w calcium carbonate powder. The
materials used were Erlenmeyer flask, stirring
rod, analytical balance, iron stand, iron ring,
funnel, filter paper, air pump and hot plate with
a stirrer. Timer was used to measure the time
when the reaction occurs.

Figure 2. Calcium Carbonate Solution

2.2. Set-up Preparation

The Erlenmeyer flask was weighted to
get the tare weight using the top loading
balance. The iron stand is prepared by putting
the ring elevated to avoid contact between the
funnel and the flask. Filter paper is placed into
the funnel as the septum for filtration. A rubber
stopper with a hole is placed into the erlenmeyer
flask connected in the funnel. The pump is
connected in the flask with rubber tubing.
2.2.1. Gravity Filtration
The solution was homogenized and
slowly poured into the Erlenmeyer passing
through the funnel with filter paper. The height

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3
of the solution was maintained in the funnel.
The mass of the filtrate was recorded every
minute.
2.2.2. Vacuum Filtration
Another set up was prepared with
constant pouring of solution into the funnel, 4
different time periods were assigned. Every
period of time the volume of the filtrate was
measured using the graduated cylinder. The time
was recorded until the filtration was done.
2.3. Collection of data
The time was recorded according to the
need in each set up using a stopwatch. The mass
needed was measured using the top loading
balance. The temperature was evaluated using a
temperature.

Figure 4. Vacuum Filtration Set-up

III. Results and Discussion

3.1 Collected data
3.1.1 Gravity Filtration Data

Figure 3. Gravity Filtration Set-up

t(min
)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

mass
(g)
7.23
17.11
27.74
38.86
50.07
61.29
73.03
84.79
96.51
107.9
9

dv
7.23
9.88
10.63
11.12
11.21
11.22
11.74
11.76
11.72
11.48

dt

dt/dv
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

0.138313
0.101215
0.094073
0.089928
0.089206
0.089127
0.085179
0.085034
0.085324
0.087108

Table1. Data collected from Gravity Filtration

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4
0.2
0.15

0.09
0.09
0.09
0.09

0.09

f(x) = 0x + 0.08
R = 0.65

0.1
f(x) = 0x + 0.08
R = 0

0.05
0

0.09

50

100

0.08

150

200

250

0.08
0.08
70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110

Figure 6. Graph of vacuum filtration data

Figure 5. Graph of gravity filtration data

2Ve
d 2
=
= V+
dV V K
K
m= 5x10-5

m= 5x10-5

y-int=0.081

0.00
5.18

Mass(
g)
0
41

dv

dt

y-int=0.081

3.2 Determination of filtration constant(K) and

fictitious volume of filtrate
3.2.1. Gravity Filtration
2
m= =5 x 105
K

3.1.1. Vacuum Filtration Data

t(min)

2Ve
d 2
=
= V+
dV V K
K

dt/dv

K=40000m6/s
41

7.12

97

56

9.23

168.5

14.56
667

204

71.
5
35.
5

5.1
8
1.9
3
2.1
2
5.3
3

0.126423
0.034524
0.029604

2V e
=0.081
K

V e =181022

0.150235
32.2. Vacuum filtration

Table2. Data collected from Vacuum FIltration

m=

2
5
=5 x 10
K

K=50000m6/s
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5
y

2V e
=0.081
K

V e =1995

3.3 Determination of the final concentration

and fractional conversion
.4 Determination of the rate of reaction
Equation 6:

3.5.2. Production on industrial scale

If it is desired to produce 500 kg of
graphite from a 1500 kg of the sucrose per 1
hour operation, the volume of the reactor for an
industrial scale can be calculated. Basis of 1
hour of operation.
3.5.3 Solving for the initial
concentration of the sucrose

and

final

Using a basis of 1 hour, to acquire the

initial moles of carbon and initial concentration
use equation 3 and 4, respectively.
1.5 million g sucrose

1
( 342.3
)=4382.121mol

Table8. Rate Law with the values of n and k

Cao=4382.121
With this given data, it can be concluded
that the higher concentration of the acid, the
higher the conversion and faster the rate of
reaction.
3.5 Reactor design
A batch reactor was used for the reaction
since it will yield a high conversion of sucrose.
The reactants were allowed to react in the
reactor. Nothing else was added or taken away
in the process until the desired product is
achieved.
3.5.1 Mass balance on a batch reactor

mol
L

For the mole of sucrose converted:

12 mol graphite
1 mol sucrose

1 mol graphite
NaoXa=5E5 g graphite(
)
12 g graphite
NaoXa=3472.222mol sucrose

Na=4382.1213472.222mol sucrose
Na=909.9 mol sucrose

Equation 8:
dCa
rAV =
dt

The final concentration of the sucrose

is909.9 mol/L for every 1L of the solution,
3.5.4. Volume of the reactor

Where: V = volume of reactor

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6
To acquire higher concentration, higher
conversion and faster reaction rate, use the rate
law of the 98.8% sulfuric acid. Using equation 7
with the values of k and n for the 98.8% of the
acid:
ln (r A ) =ln 5.7203010.032533 ln 909.9

r A =4.5830

mol
Ls

Solving the value of the volume using equation8:

909.9

60

4382.121

dCa=r A V dt
0

V =12.6272 L
Using equation 5, the conversion is:

Xa=

moles racted 3472.222 mol

=
initial moles 4382.121 mol

Xa=0.8
For different concentration, the volume of
the reactor can be solved in the same manner but use
its respective rate law. The results are tabulated as
follows:
Table9.Volume of reactors for different acid
concentration

The results for each concentration show a

discrepancy of 71.18% for 98.8% vs. 95%, 66.74%
for 95% vs. 90% and 90.41% for 98.8% vs. 90%.

IV. Conclusion
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A change in volume can be easily noticed as

graphite is produced and expands in the beaker.
The effect of the concentration with respect with
the rate of reaction, conversion, and the rate
constant is very observable. The fastest reaction
of the all the concentration of acid used is the
98.8% wt/wt sulfuric acid reacted with sucrose.
This experiment showed the optimum
concentration of the acid that should be used to
achieve high conversion and faster rate of
reaction.
The volume of the reactor varies with the same
conversion. The difference in the reactor
volumes are shown and it can be observed that
the higher the concentration the lesser the
volume needed to produce graphite.
As chemical engineers, the process of designing
the reactor is not only focused on the viability of
the reaction but also the economic aspect of the
production is also required to minimize the cost,
maximize the income, and also achieving high
conversion.
The results of this study shows that since one of
the aim in a n industry is a high conversion with
the minimum cost, the reactor volume for the
reaction is good.

Documentation
The following pictures were taken
before and during the experiment:

Figure 2

Figure 1

Figure 3
Figure 4

Figure 5
Figure 6
Acknowledgment
The author would like to extend her sincere
and deepest gratitude to these several people who
contributed a lot to make this journal possible:
To Engr. Marco Angelo Dejucos for sharing
his expertise in the field of Particle Technology.
To Sir Joel Ilagan, our laboratory technician
for preparing the materials and reagents needed the
experiment.
To my teammates for cooperating during the
experiment and to the leader of the team, Rianne
Alipio for leading the team so well.
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8
To the authors family for the moral and
financial support given.
And above all, to God Almighty for the
unending guidance and for motivating the author to
finish this journal effectively.

References
[1],[2] Perry., Chemical Engineering Handbook 7th
edition
Tables

[1] Data for the preparation of the acid

[2] Table2. Data of the produced graphite
[3] Table3 Moles of sucrose reacted
[4] Table4. Data of the produced graphite
[5] Table5. Fractional conversion of sucrose to
graphite
[6] Table6. Data of the reaction rate (mol/L*s)
[7] Table7. ln(-ra) vs. lnCa
[8] Table8. Rate Law with the values of n and k
[9] Table9.Volume of reactors for different acid
concentration

Figures
[1 Preparation of Materials

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[2] Calcium carbonate dissolved in water

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[3] Waiting until the reaction is completed
[4] Fresh from the oven
[5] Pounded produced graphite
[6] Weighing of the graphite

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