Pressure filter

In the precoat and body feed mode, filter aids allow appHcation of surface filtration to clarification of Hquids, ie, filtration of very dilute suspensions of less than 0.1% by volume, such as those normally treated by deep bed filters or centrifugal clarifiers. Filter aids are used in this mode with pressure filters. A precoat is first formed by passing a suspension of the filter aid through the filter. This is followed by filtration of the feed Hquid, which may have the filter aid mixed with it as body feed in order to improve the permeabiUty of the resulting cake. The proportion of the filter aid to be added as body feed is of the same order as the amount of contaminant soHds in the feed Hquid this limits the appHcation of such systems to low concentrations. Recovery and regeneration of filter aids from the cakes normally is not practiced except in a few very large installations where it might become economical. 

The most important feature of the pressure filters which use hydrauHc pressure to drive the process is that they can generate a pressure drop across the medium of more than 1 x 10 Pa which is the theoretical limit of vacuum filters. While the use of a high pressure drop is often advantageous, lea ding to higher outputs, drier cakes, or greater clarity of the overflow, this is not necessarily the case. Eor compressible cakes, an increase in pressure drop leads to a decrease in permeabiUty of the cake and hence to a lower filtration rate relative to a given pressure drop. 

This reduction in permeabiUty due to cake consoHdation or coUapse may be so large that it may nullify or even overtake the advantage of using high pressures in the first place and there is then no reason for using the generally more expensive pressure filtration hardware. While a simple Hquid pump may be cheaper than the vacuum pump needed with vacuum filters, if air displacement dewatering is to foUow filtration in pressure filters, an air compressor has to be used and is expensive. 

The fundamental case for pressure filters may be made using equation 10 for dry cake production capacity Y (kg/m s) derived from Darcy s law when the filter medium resistance is neglected. Eor the same cycle time (same speed), if the pressure drop is increased by a factor of four, production capacity is doubled. In other words, filtration area can be halved for the same capacity but only if is constant. If increases with pressure drop, and depending how fast it increases, the increased pressure drop may not give much more capacity and may actually cause capacity reductions. 

Pressure filters can treat feeds with concentrations up to and in excess of 10% sohds by weight and having large proportions of difficult-to-handle fine particles. Typically, slurries in which the sohd particles contain 10% greater than 10 ]lni may require pressure filtration, but increasing the proportion greater than 10 ]lni may make vacuum filtration possible. The range of typical filtration velocities in pressure filters is from 0.025 to 5 m/h and dry sohds rates from 25 to 250 kg nY/h. The use of pressure filters may also in some cases, such as in filtration of coal flotation concentrates, eliminate the need for flocculation. 

In apphcations where the fraction of fine particles in the soHds of the feed slurry is low, a simple and relatively cheap vacuum filter can yield cakes with moisture contents comparable to those discharged by pressure filters. Vacuum filters include the only truly continuous filters built in large sizes that can provide for washing, drying, and other process requirements. 

The pressure filter with tubular elements has also been used as a thickener, when the cake, backwashed by intermittent reverse flow, is redispersed by an agitator at the bottom of the vessel and discharged continuously as a slurry. In some cases the filter cake builds up to a critical thickness and then falls away without bio whack. 

Horizontal vessel filters with vertical rotating elements have been under rapid development with the aim of making truly continuous pressure filters, particularly for the filtration of fine coal. 

The pressure versions of the nutsche filter, which falls into this category, are either simple pressurized filter boxes or more sophisticated agitated nutsches, much the same in design as the enclosed agitated vacuum filters described eadier. These are extremely versatile, batch-operated filters, used in many industries, eg, agrochemistry, pharmaceuticals, or dyestuff production. 

Membrane plate and tube presses are dealt with here belt and screw presses are included in the discussion of continuous pressure filters. 

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. 

A continuous pressure filter may be defined as a filter that operates at pressure drops greater than 100 kPa and does not require intermption of its operation to discharge the cake the cake discharge itself, however, does not have to be continuous. There is Htfle or no downtime involved, and the dry soHds rates can sometimes be as high as 1750 kg/m h with continuous pressure filters. 

Most continuous pressure filters available (ca 1993) have their roots in vacuum filtration technology. A rotary dmm or rotary disk vacuum filter can be adapted to pressure by enclosing it in a pressure cover however, the disadvantages of this measure are evident. The enclosure is a pressure vessel which is heavy and expensive, the progress of filtration cannot be watched, and the removal of the cake from the vessel is difficult. Other complications of this method are caused by the necessity of arranging for two or more differential pressures between the inside and outside of the filter, which requires a troublesome system of pressure regulating valves. 

Despite the disadvantages, the advantages of high throughputs and low moisture contents in the filtration cakes have justified the vigorous development of continuous pressure filters. 

Horizontal or vertical vessel filters, especially those with vertical rotating elements, have undergone rapid development with the aim of making truly continuous pressure filters, particularly but not exclusively for the filtration of fine coal. There are basically three categories of continuous pressure filters available, ie, disk filters, dmm filters, and belt filters including both hydrauHc and compression varieties. 

There are many technical problems to be considered when developing a new commercial and viable filter. However, the filtration hardware in itself is not enough, as the control of a continuous pressure filter is much more difficult than that of its equivalents in vacuum filtration the necessary development may also include an automatic, computerized control system. This moves pressure filtration from low to medium or even high technology. Disk Filters. 

The KHD Pressure Filter. Another development of the disk filter has been reported (KHD Humboldt Wedag AG, Germany). A somewhat different system, probably a predecessor, was patented (15). 

Drum Filters. The rotary dmm filter, also borrowed from vacuum filtration, makes relatively poor use of the space available in the pressure vessel, and the filtration areas and capacities of such filters cannot possibly match those of the disk pressure filters. In spite of this disadvantage, however, the pressure dmm filter has been extensively developed. 

The BHS-Fest Filter. A different approach to the use of a dmm for pressure filtration is made in the BHS-Fest filter (Fig. 24). This permits a separate treatment of each filter section, in which the pressure may vary from vacuum to a positive pressure pressure regulation is much less difficult than in the conventional enclosed dmm-type pressure filter. 

The Flat-bed pressure filter (Hydromation Engineering Co. Ltd.) (19) is based on the above principle. The pressure compartment consists of two halves, top and bottom. The bottom half is stationary while the top half can be raised to allow the belt and the cake to pass out of the compartment, and can be lowered onto the belt during the filtration and dewatering stage. The filter can be considered as a horizontal filter press with an indexing cloth in comparison with a conventional filter press, however, this filter allows only the lower face of the chamber to be used for filtration. 

The vertical recessed plate automatic press, shown schematically in Figure 15 and described previously, is another example of a horizontal belt pressure filter. Cycle times ate short, typically between 10 and 30 minutes, and the operation is fully automated. The maximum cake thickness is about 35 mm washing and dewatering (by air displacement) of cakes is possible. Apphcations include treatment of mineral slurries, sugar, sewage sludge, and fillers like talc, clay, and whiting. 

Thickening Pressure Filters. The most important disadvantage of conventional cake filtration is the declining rate due to the increased pressure drop caused by the growth of the cake on the filter medium. A high flow rate of Hquid through the medium can be maintained if Httle or no cake is allowed to form on the medium. This leads to thickening of the slurry on the upstream part of the medium filters based on this principle are sometimes called filter thickeners. 

Dislodging of Cake by Reverse Flow. Intermittent back-flushing of the filter medium can also be used to control cake growth, leading to filtration through thin cakes in short cycles. Conventional vacuum or pressure filters can be modified to counter the effects of the forces during the back-flush (23,24). 

In the propane process, part of the propane diluent is allowed to evaporate by reducing pressure so as to chill the slurry to the desired filtration temperature, and rotary pressure filters are employed. Complex dewaxing requires no refrigeration, but depends on the formation of a soHd urea—/ -paraffin complex which is separated by filtration and then decomposed. This process is used to make low viscosity lubricants which must remain fluid at low temperatures (refrigeration, transformer, and hydraulic oils) (28). 

A 95% yield of pure anthraquinone was obtained. This is an almost quantitative yield based on the 100% content of the anthracene used. The cmde anthraquinone was then purified. To a jacketed steel kettie, provided with an agitator, was added cmde anthraquinone and nitrobenzene. Under agitation, the charge was heated at 130—140°C until a complete solution resulted. Under slow agitation, the solution was cooled to 30 °C and the resulting slurry of anthraquinone was filtered on a pressure filter. The cake was washed twice with nitrobenzene, then was reslurried on the filter with nitrobenzene, sucked dry, and transferred to a vacuum dryer where the nitrobenzene was distilled. The dried anthraquinone was discharged to suitable containers. A 99% yield of pure anthraquinone was obtained equal to a recovery of approximately 90% based on the cmde anthraquinone. 

Theoretical studies (30) comparing the abihty to dewater compressible sohds by sedimenting and filtering centrifuges to pressure filters, have shown that at high G levels, scroU decanters produce drier cakes than pressure filtration. 

Filtration. Any type of clarification is foUowed by filtration through leaf-type vertical or horizontal pressure filters. Carbonatated Hquors, containing calcium carbonate, may require addition of diatomaceous earth as a filter precoat. Phosphatated Hquors are generally filtered with the addition of diatomaceous earth as precoat and body feed. 

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. 

Both vacuum and pressure filters are used. Turbidity is more easily removed by vacuum filters, usually at 85% efficiency. Flow rates are low, ca 4 mL/(cm -min) [1 gal/(ft -min)] these filters are not practical for treating large volumes. 

Following carbonation, the product can be further purified by screening. This screening, also used to control the maximum size of the product, is followed by dewatering (qv). Rotary vacuum filters, pressure filters, or centrifuges are used in the mechanical removal of water. Final drying is accompHshed as with natural calcium carbonate in either a rotary, spray, or flash dryer. Products having mean particle sizes from submicrometers (- O-OS fiTo) to several micrometers are available. 

In a study on dewatering methods for peat, displacement dewatering was done using acetone, a polar solvent having a lower heat of vapori2ation than water. Dewatering was improved in terms of both the pressure filtering step and the quantity of heat required. Less heat was required to dry the cake and recover the acetone from the filtrate by distillation (31). 

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