Chapter 7

Filtration (Part 1)

Instructor: Dr. Mohammad Al-Harahsheh

Department of Chemical Engineering
Jordan University of Science and Technology
 Definition
Filtration is the removal of solid particles from a fluid by passing the fluid
through a filtering medium on which the solids are deposited

Filter medium
Solution Cake

Suspended solid
in a fluid

Filtrate

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 Introduction

Various types of equipment are available for
filtration but each produces a filter cake, which
gradually builds up on the medium.

Main factors to be considered when selecting
equipment and operating conditions are:

1. The properties of the fluid (viscosity, density and

corrosive properties)
2. The nature of solid (particle size, shape, size
distribution and packing characteristics)
3. The concentration of solids in suspension
4. The quantity of material to be handled and its value
5. Whether the valuable product is solid or fluid or both
6. Whether it is necessary to wash the filtered solid
 - Fluid: Gas or Liquid
- Desired product:
Cake
Filtrate
Both
Neither (when waste solids must be separated from waste liquid prior to disposal)

- Filtration is essentially a mechanical operation and is less demanding in

energy than evaporation or drying where the high latent heat of the liquid,
which is usually water, has to be provided.

Factors affecting the rate of filtration include:

The pressure drop from the feed to the far side of the filter medium.
The area of the filter surface
The viscosity of the filtrate
The resistance of the filter cake.
The resistance of the filter medium and the initial layers of cake.
In mineral processing applications, filtration normally follows thickening.

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 Laboratory Filtration

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 Types of Filters

Pressure filters

Vacuum filters P = 1 atm P = vacuum

Using vacuum pump

Centrifugal filters

Can be continuous or intermittent (discontinuous):
 Discontinuous flow of fluid through device is continuous, but must be
interrupted periodically to discharge accumulated solids
 Continuous discharge of solids and fluid is uninterrupted as long as
equipment is operating

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 Types of Filters

Cake filters separate large amounts of solids as a cake of crystals or sludge
 Include provisions for washing cake and removing some of liquid from
solids
 %solids>1%

 Particle size larger than medium pores

Clarifying filters remove small amounts of solids to produce clean gas or

sparkling clear liquids (e.g. beverages)
 Solid particles trapped inside filter medium or on external surfaces

 Pore of medium are much larger in diameter than particles being removed

 Recovery of particles not important

 %solids <1%

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 Types of Filters

Crossflow filters feed suspension flows under pressure at high velocity

across filter medium

 Thin layer of solids may form on surface, but high velocity keeps layer
from building up
 Medium is ceramic, metal, or polymer with pores small enough to
exclude most of suspended particles
 Some liquid passes through as clear filtrate, leaving more concentrated
suspension behind

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 Types of Filters

Ultrafilter crossflow unit containing a membrane with extremely small
openings

 Used for separation and concentration of colloidal particles and large molecules
such as proteins or drugs.
 Used in waste treatment and water purification.

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 Discontinuous Pressure Filters

Apply large P to give economically rapid filtration with viscous liquids or
fine solids

Filter Press (Plate & Frame Filters)

 Set of plates designed to provide a series of chambers or compartments

in which solids collect
 Filtration continues until liquid no longer flows out of discharge, or until
pressure suddenly rises

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Filter press animation
 Discontinuous Pressure Filters

Shell-and-leaf Filters
 For filtration under higher pressures

 Each leaf is a hollow wire framework covered by a sack of filter cloth

 A number of these leaves are hung in parallel in a closed tank

 The slurry enters the tank and is forced under pressure through the filter

cloth, where cake deposits on the outside of the leaf

 The filtrate flows inside the hollow framework and outside the header

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Discontinuous vacuum filters
Typical Leaf Filter
 Continuous Vacuum Filters

Rotary-drum Filter
 Horizontal drum that turns at 0.1-2 rpm in an agitated slurry trough
 Filter medium covers face of drum, which is partially submerged
 Vacuum and air are alternately applied as the drum rotates
 As panel leaves slurry zone, a wash liquid is drawn through filter, then
cake is sucked dry with air, and finally cake is scraped off
 From 30% up to 60-70% of filter area can be submerged
 Cakes usually 3-40 mm thick
 Drum sizes range from 0.3 m in diameter to 3 m in diameter
 P: 250 500 mm Hg

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 Continuous Vacuum Filters

Horizontal Belt Filter

- Used when the feed contains coarse fast-settling particles,

- A rotary drum filter works poorly in this case. The coarse particles cannot
be suspended well in the slurry trough, and the cake that forms will not
adhere the surface of the filter drum.
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 Centrifugal Filters

Slurry is fed to a rotating basket with slotted or perforated walls covered
with filter medium

Pressure from the centrifugal action forces liquid through the filter leaving
solids behind

Typical speed
600-1800rpm

Suspended batch centrifuge

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 Centrifugal Filters

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Continuous filtering centrifuge

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 Filter Media
The choice of filter medium is often the most important consideration in
assuring efficient operation of a filter. Its function is generally to act as a
support for the filter cake, while the initial layers of the cake provide the
true filter.
Requirements:
 must retain the solids to be filtered clear filtrate
 must not plug
 chemically resistant (corrosive liquids)
 strong
 offer as little resistance to flow of filtrate as possible
not expensive
Examples:
Canvas cloth, woven cloth, ceramic, paper, nylon, polypropylene

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 Filter Aids
Function:

Used to speed up filtration: increases the porosity of the cake to permit passage
of the liquid at a reasonable rate

Examples:

Diatomite, perlite, or other inert porous solids

Methods of application:

Precoating
Prevents gelatinous solids from plugging the filter medium

Mixing with the slurry to increase porosity

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 Industrial Applications

 Clarify juices
Separation of gypsum from
 Vegetable and fish oils. phosphoric acid

 Fermented beverages. Separation of silica from AlF3

solution at 60-70C
 Recirculated cooking oil
Separation of AlF3 precipitate after
 Milk, and soy milk. its crystallization

 Separate potato starch from Phosphate recovery after washing

potato fruit water from Cl and after flotation

 Crystals from mother liquors.

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 Principles of Cake Filtration
 Filtration is a special example of flow through porous media

 Quantities of interest: 1. Flow rate through the filter

2. P across the unit

As time filter cake builds up flow resistances

1. Constant-pressure filtration: P = constant flow rate with time

2. Constant-rate filtration: flow rate = constant P with time

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 Pressure Drop Through Filter Cake

P = Pa Pb = (Pa P) + (P Pb ) = Pc + Pm (1)
cake
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Where P = overall pressure drop

Pc = pressure drop over cake
Pm = pressure drop over filter medium

In filtration:

1. Particles forming the cake are small

2. Flow through the bed is small

dP 150u (1 )
2
Laminar Flow = (2)
dL g cs2D p23

u: linear velocity of filtrate based on filter area

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 But s D p = 6 ( v p / s p )

dP 4.17u (1 ) ( s P / v P )
2 2
= (3)
dL g c 3

The linear velocity of filtrate is given by:

dV dt (4)
u=
A
V: total volume of filtrate collected up to time t
A: filter area

Volume of solids in the layer dL = (1 ) AdL

Mass of solids in the layer = dm = (1 ) AdL P (5)

Eliminating dL from (3) and (5):

k1u (1 )( s P / v P ) dm
2
dP = (6)
g c P A 3

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 In filtration under low P of slurries containing rigid uniform particles all factors
on the r.h.s. of eqn (6) except m are independent of L incompressible cake .

k1u (1 )( s P / v P )
Pa 2 mc
(7)
dP = g cP A 3 dm
P 0

mc: total mass of solids in the cake

k1u (1 )( s P / v P ) mc
2
Pa P = Pc = 3
(8)
gc P A

A specific cake resistance, is defined:

Pc Agc (9)
(m/kg)
umc

k1 (1 )( s P / v P )
2
where: = (10)
P 3
k 2 (1 )
or: = (11)
( s D P ) 2
P 3

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 Specific cake resistance
Copressible cake: = f ( Pc )
Incopressible cake: f ( Pc )

= o ( Pc )
s (12)

o: specific cake resistance at zero compression

s: cake compressibility factor
Get o and s from simple lab experiments or for some materials from tables

Another equation can be used:

s
= o 1 + ( Pc ) (13)

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 Pc Ag c
(9): specific-cake resistance, (m/kg)
um c

m c Pcg c
Cake resistance: = (m -1 ) (14)
A u

By analogy, a filter-medium resistance, Rm can be defined:

Pmg c
Rm (m-1 ) (15)
u

From (14) and (15):

(14 )
u mc
(15 )

P = Pc + Pm = + Rm (16)
gc A

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 m = Vc (17)
c

mc: total mass of solids in the cake

V: total volume of filtrate collected up to time t
c: mass of particles deposited in the filter per unit volume of filtrate

Substituting u from eqn (4) and mc from (17) into (16):

dV dt Vc
P = + R m
gc A A

dt cV
=
dV APg c A
+ R m

(18)

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 Constant Pressure Filtration
dt cV
(18) : = + R m
dV APg c A

When P = constant, the only variables are V & t

When t = 0: V = 0 and P = Pm

dt 1 R m (s/m3 )
@ t = 0 : (18) = = (19)
dV o q o APg c

dt c R dt 1 1 (20)
(18) can be written as: = 2 V+ m or = = K c V +
dV A Pg c APg c dV q qo

c (s/m6 ) (21)
Where Kc = 2
A Pg c

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 dt 1 1
(20): = = KcV +
dV q qo
t 1V
Kc 2 V
Integrate at constant pressure: dt = (K c V + )dV t = V +
0 0 qo 2 qo
t Kc 1
Divide by V: = V + (22) constant-pressure filtration
V 2 qo

K c K = c
slope = c
2 A2 Pgc
1 1 R m
intercept = = Rm
qo q o AP

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 Example 29.1:

- Laboratory filtration at constant pressure drop

- Slurry: CaCO3 in H2O @ T = 25 oC
- Filter area = 440 cm2
- c = 23.5 g/L Evaluate and Rm as a function of P

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 Solution:
t Kc 1
= V +
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V 2 qo

1 R m APgc
= Rm = (1/q o )
q o APg c

A = 440 cm2 = 0.474 ft2

c = 23.5 g/L = 1.47 lb/ft3
= 5.95 10-4 lb/ft.s

R m = 2.56 104 P(1/q o )

c A 2 Pgc K c
Kc = 2 =
A Pg c c

= 8.26 103 PK c

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 R m = 2.56 104 P(1/q o ) = 8.26 103 PK c

= 2.9 1010 P 0.26

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 Example:
Laboratory filtration of CaCO3 slurry in water at 298.2 K at a constant
pressure (p) of 338 kN/m2. The filter area of the laboratory plate-and-frame
press is A = 0.0439 m2 and the concentration is c = 23.47 kg/m3

= 1.863 10 m/kg11 R m = 10.63 1010 m 1

The same slurry is to be filtered in a plate-and-frame press having 20 frames

and 0.873 m2 area per frame. The same pressure will be used in constant-
pressure filtration. Assuming the same filter-cake properties and filter cloth,
calculate the time to recover 3.37 m3 filtrate.

Solution:
Kc 2 V
(22) : t = V +
2 qo
c
Kc = A= 20 0.873 = 17.46 m2 K c = 37.93 s/m 6
A 2 Pg c

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 1 R m 1
= = 16.1 s/m3
q o APg c qo

Kc 2 1 37.93
t= V + V= 3.37 2 + 16.1 3.37
2 qo 2

t = 269.65 s 4.5 min

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