Filter media selection criteria

Due to the wide variety of filter media, filter designs, suspension properties, conditions for separation and cost, selection of the optimum filter medium is complex. Filter media selection should be guided by the following rule a filter medium must incorporate a maximum size of pores while at the same time providing a sufficiently pure filtrate. Fulfilment of this rule invokes difficulties because the increase or decrease in pore size acts in opposite ways on the filtration rate and solids retention capacity. 

The difficulty becomes accentuated by several other requirements that cannot be achieved through the selection of a single filter medium. Therefore, selection is often reduced to determining the most reasonable compromise between different, mutually contradictory requirements as applied to the filter medium at a specified set of filtration conditions. Because of this, some problems should be solved before final medium selection. For example, should attempts be made to increase filtration rate or filtrate purity Is cost or medium life more important In some cases a relatively more expensive filter medium, such as a synthetic cloth, is only suitable 

the choice may only be made after consideration of all requirements. It is, however, not practical to analyze and compare each requirement with the hope of logically deducing the best choice. There is, unfortunately, no generalized formula for selection that is independent of the details of the intended application. Each cake requires study of the specific considerations, which are determined by the details or the separation process. 

One can to outline a general approach for medium selection along with a test sequence applicable to a large group of filter media of the same type. There are three methods of filter media tests laboratory- or bench-scale pilot-unit, and plant tests. The laboratory-scale test is especially rapid and economical, but the results obtained are often not entirely reliable and should only be considered preliminary. Pilot-unit tests provide results that approach plant data. The most reliable results are often obtained from plant trials. 

Different filter media, regardless of the specific application, are distinguished by a number of properties. The principal properties of interest are the permeability of the medium relative to a pure liquid, its retention capacity relative to solid particles of known size and the pore size distribution. These properties are examined in a laboratory environment and are critical for comparing different filter media. 

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