Filtering medium

Films, anodic oxide Films, passivating Films, plastic Film theory Film wrappers Filter Filter aid Filter aids Filter fabrics Filtering centrifuges Filter media Filters... 

Solution Filtration. The polymer solution, free of unacetylated ceUulose, rigid particle contaminants, and dirt, must pass through spinnerets with holes of 30—80 ]lni diameter. Multistage filtration, usuaUy through plate-and-frame filter presses with fabric and paper filter media, removes the extraneous matter before extmsion. Undesirable gelatinous particles, such as the hemiceUulose acetates from ceUulose impurities, tend to be sheared into smaller particles rather than removed. The solution is also aUowed to degas in hoi ding tanks after each state of filtration. 

Filter media for plate-and-frame presses include various cloths, mats, and paper. Paper filter media usually must be provided with a backing cloth for support. 

Mechanisms of Leukocyte Adsorption. The exact mechanism of leukocyte adhesion to filter media is not yet fuUy understood. Multiple mechanisms simultaneously contribute to the adhesion of cells to biomaterials, however, physical and biological mechanisms have been distinguished. Physical mechanisms include barrier phenomenon, surface tension, and electrostatic charge biological mechanisms include cell activation and cell to cell binding. 

Surface Tension. Interfacial surface tension between fluid and filter media is considered to play a role in the adhesion of blood cells to synthetic fibers. Interfacial tension is a result of the interaction between the surface tension of the fluid and the filter media. Direct experimental evidence has shown that varying this interfacial tension influences the adhesion of blood cells to biomaterials. The viscosity of the blood product is important in the shear forces of the fluid to the attached cells viscosity of a red cell concentrate is at least 500 times that of a platelet concentrate. This has a considerable effect on the shear and flow rates through the filter. The surface stickiness plays a role in the critical shear force for detachment of adhered blood cells. 

Cell Activation. Several studies have shown that platelets and white cells undergo shape changes when adhering to filter media. The cells are activated by contact with the filter media and form pseudopods which attach to the filter media. The cells membranes may need a certain degree of viabihty to be able to actively attach to the filter media. When white cells are treated with metaboHc inhibitors, the capabiUty of leukocyte reduction by the filter is reduced. 

In 1992, as much as two-thkds of all spunlace fabrics were used in medical products other appHcations included wipes, industrial apparel, intedinings, absorbent components, filtration, and coating. Medical product appHcations also accounted for about one-thkd of all wet-laid nonwovens other appHcations included tea bags, meat casings, filter media, battery separators, and wipes. Most bonded-pulp fabrics were used as wipes or absorbent components. 

Polyolefin—ceUulose composites also are used in nonasbestos flooring felts, waUpapers, filter media, labels, embossable papers, and other nonwoven fabrics that are made on paper machines. Use of synthetic fibers in paper has been reviewed (103,104). 

PPS fiber has excellent chemical resistance. Only strong oxidising agents cause degradation. As expected from inherent resia properties, PPS fiber is flame-resistant and has an autoignition temperature of 590°C as determined ia tests at the Textile Research Institute. PPS fiber is an excellent electrical iasulator it finds application ia hostile environments such as filter bags for filtration of flue gas from coal-fired furnaces, filter media for gas and liquid filtration, electrolysis membranes, protective clothing, and composites. 

Common names have been given to sodium sulfate as a result of manufacturiag methods. In rayon production, by-product sodium sulfate is separated from a slurry by filtration where a 7—10-cm cake forms over the filter media. Thus rayon cake was the term coiaed for this cake. Similarly, salt cake, chrome cake, phenol cake, and other sodium sulfate cakes were named. Historically, sulfate cakes were low purity, but demand for higher purity and controlled particle size has forced manufacturers either to produce higher quaUty or go out of busiaess. Sodium sulfate is mined commercially from three types of mineral evaporites thenardite, mirabilite, and high sulfate brine deposits (see Chemicals FROMBRINe). 

Textiles are among the most ubiquitous materials ia society. They provide shelter and protection from the environment ia the form of apparel, as weU as comfort and decoration ia the form of household textiles such as sheets, upholstery, carpeting, drapery, and wall coveting, and they serve a variety of iadustrial functions, eg, as tire reinforcement, tenting, filter media, conveyor belts, iasulation, and reinforcement media ia various composite materials. 

Materials made of siHcon nitride, siHcon oxynitride, or sialon-bonded siHcon carbide have high thermal shock and corrosion resistance and may be used for pump parts, acid spray nozzles, and in aluminum reduction ceUs (156—159). A very porous siHcon carbide foam has been considered for surface combustion burner plates and filter media. It can also be used as a substrate carrying materials such as boron nitride as planar diffusion source for semiconductor doping appHcations. 

Panel filters may use either viscous or dry filter media. Viscous filters are so called because the filter medium is coated with a tacky liquid of high viscosity (e.g., mineral oil and adhesives) to retain the dust. The filter pad consists of an assembly of coarse fibers (now usually metal, glass, or plastic). Because the fibers are coarse and the media are highlv porous, resistance to air flow is low and high filtration velocities can be used. 

Dry filters are usually deeper than viscous filters. The dry filter media use finer fibers and have much smaller pores than the viscous media and need not rely on an oil coating to retain collected dust. Because of their greater resistance to air flow, dry filters must use lower filtration velocities to avoid excessive pressure drops. Hence, dry media must have larger surface areas and are usually pleated or arranged in the form of pockets (Fig. 17-64), generally sheets of cellulose pulp, cotton, felt, or spun glass. 

Automatic filters are made with either viscous-coated or dry filter media. However, the cleaning or disposal of the loaded medium is essentially continuous and automatic. In most such devices the air passes horizontally through a movable filter curtain. As the filter loads with dust, the curtain is continuously or intermittently advanced to expose clean media to the air flow and to clean or dispose of the loaded medium. Movement of the curtain can be provided by a hand crank or a motor drive. Movement of a motor-driven curtain can be actuated automatically by a differential-pressure switch connected across the filter. 

These methods of classification are not mutually exclusive. Thus filters usually are divided first into the two groups of cake and clarifying equipment, then into groups of machines using the same land of driving force, then further into batch and continuous classes. This is the scheme of classification underlying the discussion of filters of this subsection. Within it, the other aspects of operating cycle, the nature of the sohds, and additional factors (e.g., types and classification of filter media) will be treated explicitly or implicitly. 

In cake or surface filtration, there are two primary areas of consideration continuous filtration, in which the resistance of the filter cake (deposited process solids) is veiy large with respec t to that of the filter media and filtrate drainage, and batch pressure filtration, in which the resistance of the filter cake is not veiy Targe with respect to that of the filter media and filtrate drainage. Batch pressure filters are generally fitted with heavy, tight filter cloths plus a layer of precoat and these represent a significant resistance that must be taken into account. Continuous filters, except for precoats, use relatively open cloths that offer little resistance compared to that of the filter cake. 

In the filtration of small amounts of fine particles from liquid by means of bulky filter media (such as absorbent cotton or felt) it has been found that the preceding equations based upon the resistance of a cake of solids do not hold, since no cake is formed. For these cases, in which filtration takes place on the surface or within the interstices of a medium, analogous equations have been developed [Hermans and Bredee, J. Soc. Chem. Ind., 55T, 1 (1936)]. These are usefully summarized, for both constant-pressure and constant-rate conditions, by Grace [Am. In.st. Chem. Eng. J., 2, 323 (1956)]. These equations often apply to the clarification of such materials as sugar solutions, viscose and other spinning solutions, and film-casting dopes. 

Fabrics of Woven Fibers For cake filtratiou these fabrics are the most common type of medium. A wide variety of materials are available some popular examples are listed in Table 18-10, with ratings for chemical and temperature resistance. In addition to the mate-ri of the fibers, a number of construction characteristics describe the filter cloth (1) weave, (2) style number, (3) weight, (4) count, (5) ply, and (6) yarn number. Of the many types of weaves available, only four are extensively used as filter media plain (square) weave, twill, chain weave, and satin. 

Granular Beds of Particulate Solids Beds of solids like sand or coal are used as filter media to clarify water or chemical solutions containing small quantities of suspended particles. Filter-grade grains of desired particTe size can be purchasea. Frequently beds will be constructed of layers of different materials and different particle sizes. 

Various types of filter media and the materials oi which they are constructed are surveyed extensively by Purchas Industrial Filtration of Liquids, CRC Press, Cleveland, 1967, chap. 3), and characterizing measurements (e.g., pore size, permeabihty) are reviewed in detail by Rushton and Griffiths (in Orr, op. cit., chap. 3). Briefer summaries of classification of media and of practical criteria for the selec tion of a filter medium are presented by Shoemaker (op. cit., p. 26) and Purchas [Filtr Sep., 17, 253, 372 (1980)]. 

The advantages of the tubular filter are that it uses an easily replaced filter medium, its filtration cycle can be interrupted and the shell can be emptied of prefilt at any time without loss of the cake, the cake is readily recoverable in dry form, and the inside of the filter is conveniently accessible. There is also no unfiltered heel. Disadvantages are the necessity and attendant labor requirements of emptying by hand and replacing the filter media and the tendency for neavy solids to settle out in the header chamber. Applications are as a scavenger filter to remove fines not removed in a prior-filtration stage with a different land of equipment, to handle the runoff from other filters, and in semiworks and small-plant operations in which the filter s size, versatility, and cleanliness recommend it. 

Plate pr esses. Sometimes called sheet filters, these are assemblies of plates, sheets of filter media, and sometimes screens or frames. Thev are essentially modified filter presses with practically no cakeholding capacity. A press may consist of many plates or of a single filter sheet between two plates, the plates may be rectangular or circular, and the sheets may lie in a horizontal or vertical plane. The operation is similar to that of a filter press, and the flow rates are about the same as for disk filters. The operating pressure usually does not exceed 138 kPa (20 psig). The presses are used most frequently for low-viscosity liqmds, but an ordinaiy filter press with thin frames is commonly used as a clarifier for 100-Pa s (1000-P) rayon-spinning solution. Here the filtration pressure may be 6900 kPa (1000 psig). 

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