Table of Content

1. Introduction to Filtration
1.1 Theory of Filtration
1.2 Basic Types of Filtration

2. Selection of Filtration Equipment

2.1 Vacuum Filters
2.2 Rotary Drum Vacuum Filter (RDVF)
2.2.1 Introduction
2.2.2 Working of RDVF
2.2.3 Components of RDVF
2.2.4 Applications and Limitations
1. Introduction to Filtration
Filtration is a mechanical separation process in which solid particles are separated
from a suspension in a liquid with the help of a porous medium, on which the solid
particles are retained and the liquid passes through it.

In filtration operation, the pore-size of the filter medium are generally large than the
solid particles that are to be removed, and the efficiency of the filter generally increases
only when an initial deposit has been trapped in the medium. A typical filtration
operation is shown in figure 1.

In general, filtration is less

demanding in energy than other
mechanical separation processes
like, evaporation and drying Slurry
where the high latent heat of the
liquid (which is normally water), Cake Filter
has to be provided. [4] Filter medium
Support for filter medium

In figure 1, as the cake

gradually builds up on the
medium; the resistance to flow
gradually increases. During the Filtrate
period of initial filtration, solid
FIGURE 1: Principle of Filtration
particles deposit inside the
surface layer of the cloth that forms a true filtering medium. The most important factors
on which filtration depend are: [4]

a) The pressure difference above and below the filter medium.

b) The available area of the filtering surface.
c) The viscosity of the filtrate.
d) The resistance of the filter cake.
e) The resistance of the filter medium and initial layers of cake.

1.1 Theory of Filtration

If the filtration pressure is constant, the rate of flow progressively diminishes
whereas, if the flow-rate is to be maintained constant, the pressure must be gradually
increased.

In a batch operation, if the pressure is kept constant then the flow-rate diminishes,
and if the flow-rate is kept constant then pressure must be gradually increased. Because
the particles forming the cake are small and the flow through the bed is slow, streamline
conditions are almost invariably obtained, and at any instant, the flow rate may be
presented by the following form of equation.
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uc = 1 dV = 1 ℮ -∆P (1)
A dt 5 (1- ℮)2 S2μl

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 Where V is the volume of the filtrate which has passed in time t, A is the cross-
sectional area of the filter cake, uc is the superficial velocity of the filtrate, l is the cake
thickness, S is the specific surface area of the particle, ℮ is the voidage, μ is the viscosity
of the filtrate, and ∆P is the applied pressure difference.

For the above equation (1), it was assumed that the cake is uniform and the voidage
is constant throughout. But in filtration, voidage, ℮, depends on the nature of support, its
geometry, surface structure, and on the rate of deposition. Therefore in the initial stages
of cake formation, special attention must be given due to following reasons. [4]

a) For any filtration pressure, the flow rate is greatest at the start of process, due to
low resistance.
b) At high initial rates of filtration, plugging of the pores of filter cloth occurs that
causes high resistance to flow.
c) The orientation of the solid particles in the initial layers may considerably
influence the structure of the whole filter cake.

Depending on the physical nature of the cake, it can be either compressible or in-
compressible. For in-compressible cakes a term specific resistance (r), is incorporated,
that depends on voidage ℮, and specific surface area of particle S.

the term ℮3 / 5 (1 - ℮)2 S2 is constant, thus

1 dV - ∆P (2)
1.2. =
A dt r μl
1.3.
Here equation (2), represent the basic equation of filtration, and if;
v = volume of cake deposited by unit volume of filtrate, than
1.4.
v = lA / V
So equation (2), becomes

1 dV = A2 (- ∆P) (3)
A dt rμvV
Here equation (3), gives basic relationship between - ∆P, V and t. In filtration two modes
of operations are involved, (a): Filtration at constant rate; and, (b): Filtration at constant
pressure. Normally the second mode is more frequently adopted in continuous filtration
operation. The two equations can be derived from equation (3), by assuming filtration at
constant rate and than at constant pressure, as given below;

t
=
rμv V (4) t
=
rμv V (5)
V A2 (- ∆P) V 2A2 (- ∆P)
1.5.
Filtration at constant rate Filtration at constant pressure
2
V A (- ∆P)

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 1.6.1.2Basic Types of Filtration
There are two basic types of filtration, though there are some cases in which the two
types are seen combined to one another. In the first type that is called cake filtration, the
solid particles from the suspension, which generally has a high proportion of solids, are
deposited on the surface of a porous septum, which in ideal case, offers only a small
resistance to the flow. As the solids starts to accumulate up on the septum, the initial
layers prevents the particles from embedding themselves in the filter cloth, and ensures
that the filtrate obtained is free from solid particles.

In the second type of filtration called the depth or deep-bed filtration, the particles
penetrate into the pores of the filter medium, where impact forces between the particles
and the surface of the medium are basically responsible for there removal and retention.
This type of configuration is commonly used for the separation of fine particles from very
dilute suspensions, where the recovery of solid particles is not of primary importance.
Such type of filtration include; air and water filtration. [4]

2. Selection of Filtration Equipment

Most Industrial filters employ vacuum, pressure, or centrifugal force to drive the
liquid (filtrate) through the deposited cake of solids. Filtration is essentially a
discontinuous process. With batch filters, such as plate and frame presses, the equipment
has to be shut down to discharge the cake; and even with those filters designed for
continuous operation, such as rotating-drum filters, periodic stoppages are necessary to
change the filter cloths. Batch filters can be coupled to continuous plant by using several
units in parallel, or by providing buffer storage capacity for the feed and product. [4][5]

The principal factors to be considered when selecting filtration equipment are:

1. The nature of the slurry and the cake formed.

2. The solids concentration in the feed.
3. The quantity of material to be handled.
4. The nature and physical properties of the liquid: viscosity, flammability, toxicity,
corrosiveness.
5. Whether cake washing is required.
6. The cake dryness required.
7. Whether contamination of the solid by a filter aid is acceptable.
8. Whether the valuable product is the solid or the liquid, or both.

1.7.2.1Vacuum Filters
If the pressure beneath the filter is reduced below atmospheric, the unit than
operates as a vacuum filter and the driving force is again substantially greater than that
available with a gravity filter.

The various types of vacuum filters may be grouped as follows:

Note
All Filters except for the
Nutsche are continuous 3
 1.8.2.2Rotary Drum Vacuum Filter (RDVF)
1.8.1. 2.2.1 Introduction
A multi-component drum type vacuum filter consists of a rotating drum connected
about a horizontal axis, arranged so that the drum is partially submerged in the trough
into which the material is to be filtered is fed. The periphery of the drum is divided into
compartments, each of these compartments is provided with a number of drain lines.
These tubes pass through the inside of the drum and terminate as ring of ports covered by
a rotary valve, through which vacuum
Figure 2:is applied.
Types The surface
of Vacuum Filters [1]of the drum is covered with
a filter fabric, and the drum is arranged to rotate at low speed, usually in the range of (0.1
– 0.25 rpm) up to (3 rpm) for very free filtering materials. [1][4]

1.8.2. 2.2.2 Working of RDVF

As the drum rotates, each compartment undergoes the same cycle of operation and
the duration of each of these is determined by the drum speed, the submergence of the
drum and the arrangement of the valve. The normal cycle of operation consists of
filtration, drying and discharge. It is also possible, however, to introduce other operation
into the basic cycle, including: [4]

a) Separation of initial dirty filtrate (which may be an advantage if a relatively open

filter fabric is used).
b) Washing of the filter cake.
c) Cloth cleaning.

Figure 3 (a & b) shows typical layout of a rotary drum vacuum filter.

(a) (a) (b)

FIGURE 3: Rotary Drum Vacuum Filter
a) The drum is partially submerged in the feed slurry, as it starts rotating.
b) The suspension to be filtered is fed continuously to the filter trough.
c) A special pendulum agitator prevents sedimentation of solids inside the trough.

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 d) The upper surface of the filter drum is divided into cells and is covered by a filter
cloth.
e) Approximately 40 percent of the filter area is submerged in the suspension and
the drum rotates at 6 – 180 rph.
f) The vacuum drum filter builds up vacuum with a liquid seal pump which is
connected to the drum cell via the control head and filtrate pipes.
g) Vacuum draws liquid through the filter medium (cloth) on the drum surface where
the solid particles are retained.
h) The vacuum draws air (or gas) through the cake and continues to remove moisture
content from the cake, as the drum rotates.
i) If required, the cake can be washed to remove impurities or to extract more
product. Additional drying of the cake follows washing.
j) Finally, the cake is discharged from the drum to a conveyor to the next process
step.
k) The filtrate and air pulled through the medium flow through internal filtrate pipes
and pass though the rotary valve and into the filtrate receiver.
l) The liquid stream is separated from the vapor stream in a vapor separator.
m) Liquid filtrate is then pumped to the next step in the process.

1.8.3. 2.2.3 Components of RDVF

The Drum is supported by a large diameter trunion on the valve end and a bearing
on the drive end. The drum face is divided into circumferential sectors each forming a
separate vacuum cell.

The Valve with a bridge setting controls the sequence of the cycle so that each
sector is subjected to vacuum, blow and a dead zone. As shown in Figure 4.

1. Vacuum and Blow Zone Separating

Bridge. This bridge cuts off the vacuum
so it is slightly wider than the internal
pipe port.
2. Dead Zone Bridge. This bridge starts up
vacuum again once the compartment
submerges.
3. Start-up Assist Bridge. At start-up the
upper vacuum zone is open to
atmosphere and a cake may be formed
only when closing the valve that controls
this zone. Once the cake starts to emerge
from the tank the valve is gradually FIGURE 4: RDVF Valve with three bridges
opened and fully opened when the entire
drum face is wrapped with the cake. [1]

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 The drum deck is divided into separately isolated compartments each subjected to
vacuum or blow while the drum is in rotation. The timing of vacuum or blow depends on
the bridge setting of the main valve.

An agitator keeps on agitating the slurry in suspension and reciprocates between the
drum face and tank bottom.

The tank that houses the drum and agitator, has baffled slurry feed connections; an
adjustable overflow box is used to set the desired drum submergence and a drain
connection.

The scrapper or knife used to peal-off the solid particles from the drum surface.

The filter cloth winds around the drum and as the drum rotates, the slurry is sucked
into the cloth. Most filter cloths are made up of synthetic material such as polypropylene
or polyester.

The internal piping manifold can be of two types, trail pipes, handling the mother
filtrate on the ascending side of the drum. And the lead pipes handle the wash filtrate on
the descending side. The trail pipes are always connected to the outer row and have a
bigger diameter than the lead pipes that are connected to the inner row. The reason for
this arrangement is that the trail pipes handle more liquid than the lead pipes so require a
bigger cross section to avoid vacuum losses.

1.9.2.3Experimental Design of Rotary Drum Vacuum Filter (RDVF)

In the experimental design of RDVF a lab scale separation process is conducted to
separate solid calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from its slurry in water. Equipment
specification is briefly described as under:

Technical Data

Operating Principle → Vacuum Filtration

Type of Operation → Continuous
Material of Construction → Stainless Steel, Carbon Steel

Length or Width of Rotary Drum = 8 inches = 0.203 m

Diameter of Rotary Drum = 36 inches = 0.914 m
Radius of Rotary Drum = 18 inches = 0.457 m
Submergence of Drum inside the Trough = 40%
Area of Filtering Surface, (A) = (0.914π × 0.203)
= 0.186 π = 0.584 m2

Range of Particle Size → 1 – 300 μm

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Objective 1 “To Study the Effect of Constant Pressure on the Efficiency of
Rotary Drum Vacuum Filter at different Drum Speed (rph)”

Objective 2 “To Study the Effect of Constant Speed (rph) of Drum on the
Efficiency of Rotary Drum Vacuum Filter at Different Pressure
inside the Drum”

Objective 3 “To Study the Relationship between Cake Resistance and Applied
Pressure at Constant Drum Speed (rph)”

Analysis of Solid Particles (CaCO3)

To calculate the average particle size, screening was carried out using a number of
sieves.
Average particle diameter of dry solid = dp = 120 μm
Surface Area of one particle = Sp = πdp2
= 4.5 × 10-8 m2
Volume of one particle = Vp = πdp3 ÷ 6
= 9.037 × 10-13 m3
Specific surface area of particles = S = 6 ÷ dp
= 50000 m-1
Density of CaCO3 = ρp = 2703.6 kg/m3
Number of particles for 10 kg sample = N = m ÷ ρp Vp
= 4.09 × 109
Total surface Area of Particles = A = N × Sp
= 184.05 m2
[4]
Fractional voidage of particles = ℮ = 0.38

Sphericity of particles = φp = (6 / dp) ÷ (Sp / Vp)

= 1
(Note: Sphericity = 1, shows that solid particles are spherical in shape)

Observation and Calculations

Weight of solids in slurry = ws = 10 kg
Weight of slurry prepared = w = 200 kg

Density of water = ρ = 1000 kg/m3

Viscosity of water, at 20 °C = μ = 1 × 10-3 kg/m.s
Slurry concentration; mass of solids
per unit volume of water = c = 52.6 kg/m3

Efficiency of RDVF = η = weight of dry solid out × 100

weight of dry solid in

Since cake of CaCO3 is compressible so its specific resistance is the function of the
pressure difference across the cake. Can be calculated as [5]:

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 Specific Resistance of Incompressible Cake, α = (-ΔP) A2 gc Kc
cμ
Here
Kc is ratio of time per liter per liter of filtrate, and is equal to the slope of filtration
curve. [5]

Specific Cake resistance at 53.3 kPa (400 mmHg) and 80 rph

The first step to calculate specific resistance of cake is to prepare plot between
volume of filtrate (V) and t / V, which is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Volume-Time Data, at 7.74 psi (400 mmHg)

Volume of
Time, t (s) t / V (s/L)
Filtrate, V (L)
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5

Evaluation at constant pressure

Solids Dry Sample Rate of Specific

Drum Cake Vol. of
Sr. in Solid Taken filtration Cake η
Speed Out Filtrate
No. Slurry Out in time V/t resistance (%)
(rph) (g) V (ml)
(g) (g) (s) (ml/s) (m/kg)
1
2
3

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Evaluation at constant drum speed (rph)

Pres- Solids Dry Sample Rate of Specific

Cake Vol. of
Sr. sure in Solid Taken filtration Cake η
Out Filtrate
No. applied Slurry Out in time V/t resistance (%)
(g) V (ml)
(kPa) (g) (g) (s) (ml/s) (m/kg)
1
2
3

Conclusions

1.9.1. 2.2.4 Application and Limitations

Applications

• In Chemicals like (Barium Sulphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Calcium Carbonate

etc)
• In Minerals like (Frothed Coal (fine), Copper Concentrates, Lead Concentrates,
Zinc Concentrates etc)
• In Paper Effluents and Bleach Washer
• In foodstuff like (Starch, Sugar Cane Mud, Glucose etc)
• In Effluents like (Primary Sewage, Neutralized H2SO4 Pickle etc)

Limitations

• Slurries with solids that tend to settle rapidly and will remain at the bottom of
suspension under gentle agitation.
• Cakes which require long drying times to reach asymptotic moisture values.
• Cakes when a single washing stage is not sufficient to remove residual
contaminants from the cake.
• Not designed to handle gas-solid mixtures

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 References

[1] www.solidliquid-seperation.com
[2] www.petersonfilters.com
[3] www.komlinesanderson.com
[4] Coulson & Richardson’s, Particle Technology & Separation Process, V-2,
Fifth Edition.
[5] Warren L. McCabe, Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering, Seventh
Edition.

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