Drained Cakes

Figure 9.2 Concentration ration vs time or wash ratio. Curve (a), drained cake curve (b), saturated cake...

The main development of the filter press from the simpler versions just described has been to include an impervious elastomeric sheet in each plate compartment (one for each plate on the feed side of the filter medium, butting up against the corresponding sheet of the next plate). These flexible sheets can be inflated pneumatically so as to press down on the drained cake, once filtration is complete, and so dewater it by compression. This type of filter press is then known as the diaphragm filter press (as shown in Figure 3.72). (Initially this sheet was referred to as a membrane, and the term membrane filter press became quite confusingly well-known. 

A variation of the same principle is the DDS-vacuum pressure filter which has a number of small disks mounted on a shaft which rotates discontinuously. The cake is formed on both sides of the disks when they are at the bottom position, dipped into the slurry. When the disks come out of the slurry and reach the top position, hydrauhcaHy driven pistons squee2e the cake and the extra Hquid then drains from both sides of the cake. The cake is removed by blowback with compressed air. 

The products of reaction are pumped to a filter press for separation into a sodium sulfate solution and a filter cake having a low moisture content. The filter cake is then ready to be processed for the recovery of lead. The filtrate from the process contains an excess of sodium carbonate, and can be neutralized using the sulfuric acid drained from the batteries. 

There are three types of Hquid content in a packed bed (/) in a submerged bed, there is Hquid filling the larger channels, pores, and interstitial spaces (2) in a drained bed, there is Hquid held by capillary action and surface tension at points of particle contact, or near-contact, as weU as a zone saturated with Hquid corresponding to a capillary height in the bed at the Hquid discharge face of the cake and (3) essentially undrainable Hquid exists within the body of each particle or in fine, deep pores without free access to the surface except perhaps by diffusion or compaction. 

For cakes of high permeabihty, the capillary drain height may be an insignificant fraction of cake thickness, and film drainage becomes the controlling factor in a centrifugal field (7). Under unsteady-state conditions, equation 18 represents the drainable Liquid left in the cake as a function of the centrifugal filtration parameters ... 

A pressure filter is a plate-and-frame press which operates on an intermittent time cycle. Drier cakes are generally attainable from a filter press. Sludge drying beds are usually used for smaller sludge volumes, which drain and dry rapidly. Thein appHcation is usually restricted to the more arid climates. 

Remove the leaf from the slurry at the end of the cake-formation period and note the time. If the slurry is particularly thick and viscous, the leaf may be gently shaken to remove excess slurry and prevent the dam from scooping up extra material. Maintain the leaf in an upright position (cake surface on top) and elevated so that hquid within the drainage passages may pass to the receiver. Tilt and rotate the leaf to help the filtrate reach the drain outlet. Continue this dewatering period until ... 

For the purpose of washing, the filter cake on the funnel is covered with ice water. After being allowed to remain in contact for a few seconds, the liquid is quickly drained under reduced pressure. The second portion of washing water should no longer be acid to Congo red. 

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