Solid/liquid separation cross-flow filters

In situations where a low concentration of suspended solids needs to be separated from a liquid, then cross-flow filtration can be used. The most common design uses a porous tube. The suspension is passed through the tube at high velocity and is concentrated as the liquid flows through the porous medium. The turbulent flow prevents the formation of a filter cake, and the solids are removed as a more concentrated slurry. 

Figure 4.15. Solid-liquid separation in industrial scale using centrifugation in continuous mode (A) or passage of the suspension through manifolds such as those shown in (B) mounted with filter cartridges (C) designed for tangential or cross-flow of liquid suspension. Panel A NIH Fredrick facility, with permission Panels B and C Milipore, MA, with permission.

The concept of a circulating flow reactor was further developed in the Buss reactor technology (Figure 1.26). Large quantities of reaction gas are introduced via a mixer to create a well dispersed mixture. This mixture is rapidly circulated by a special pump at high gas/liquid ratios throughout the volume of the loop and permits the maximum possible mass transfer rates. A heal exchanger in the external loop allows for independent optimisation of heat transfer. For continuous operation, the product is separated by an in-line cross-flow filter which retains the suspended solid catalyst within the loop. Such a system can operate in batch, semi-continuous and continuous mode. 

A basic appreciation of slurry rheology, or flow behaviour, is in oitant in many solid-liquid separations, e.g. when feeding pressure filters, punq)ing thickener underflow, hydrocyclone feed and exit streams and during cross-flow filtration. This Appendix is designed to introduce some of the terminology and basic concepts. A more thorough text such as Wilkinson [1960] should be referred to for further details, if necessary. 

In conclusion to cross-flow filtration as a unit operation, it is probably the most exciting development in solid-liquid separation yet to be fuUy explored. Its advantages are in high filtration rates due to minimized particle deposition on the medium without a strong effect of particle size on performance, and in the absence of chemical additives or filter aids in the products. 

The driving force for filtration in pressure filters is usually the liquid pressure developed by pumping or by the force of gas pressure in the suspension feed vessel. Alternatively, or in addition, the liquid may be squeezed through and out of the cake by the mechanical action of an inflatable membrane, a piston or a porous medium pressed on top of the cake. Pressure filtration is, therefore, defined here as any means of surface filtration where the liquid is driven through the medium by either hydraulic or mechanical pressure, greater than atmospheric. The solids are deposited on top of the filter medium (as in all surface filters), with the possible exception of some cartridge filters which also use a certain amount of depth filtration. In this chapter, the suspension is assumed to approach the medium at 90° and this excludes the so-called dynamic fUter/thickeners or cross-flow filters (also driven by pressure) which are dealt with in a separate chapter (11). 

Pharmaceutical Removal of suspended matter is a frequent application for MF. Processes may be either clarification, in which the main product is a clarified liquid, or solids recovery. Separating cells or their fragments from broth is the most common application. Clarification of the broth in preparation for product recovery is the usual objective, but the primary goal may be recovery of cells. Cross-flow microfiltration competes w l with centrifugation, conventional filtration by rotary vacuum filter or filter press and decantation. MF delivers a cleaner permeate, an uncontaminated, concentrated cell product... 

Ultrafiltration (UF) refers to the removal of high molecular weight colloids (10,000 MW) up to particles less than 0.05 pm in diameter [10]. Like MF, UF places a mechanical barrier into the flow stream to separate the solid and liquid phases. The most common UF is a cross-flow hollow fiber type whereby a UF module contains hundreds of hollow microfibers. Whether or not the medium to be filtered flows inside or outside, the microfibers depends on the characteristics of the waste stream. UF is different from MF not only because UF can filter very small particles and some colloids, but also because of the cross-flow dynamics inside the UF module that keeps the surface of the hollow libers clean. Because of the cross flow, UF modules require a reject stream as well as a permeate stream. In other words, 100% of the liquid that enters the UF module does not exit as permeate. Figure 19.1 shows the differences between the UF and microlilters with respect to flow path. 

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