MODULE 4:

FILTRATION

09/04/2025
DISCLAIMER

• This content provided herein are simply for educational

purposes and not for any commercial purpose. Every
effort has been made to ensure that the content provided
on this course is accurate and helpful to the readers.
However, this is not an exhaustive treatment of the
subjects. No liability is assumed for losses or damages
due to the information provided. You are responsible for
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material used herein. If missed, it is inadvertently.
SYLLABUS
• Theory of solid-liquid filtration, principle
of filtration, constant pressure and
constant rate filtration, compressible and
incompressible cakes, Filter aids,
Equipment of liquid solid filtration, Batch
and continuous pressure filters. Theory of
centrifugal filtration, Equipment for
centrifugal filtration.
INTRODUCTION

• Filtration is a process whare solids are removed from

fluid by passing the solid-liquid mixture through a
filtering medium or septum.
• After the process solids are collected on the septum and
fluid are passes through the filter medium and collected
at the bottom.
• The filtration process may be continuous or batch.
• Pressure filter, vacuum filter, centrifugal filter are
different industrial filter.
• The fluid may be gas or liquid and a wide range of solid
particles can be separated in this process.
 APPLICATIONS

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2Fblogs%2Fblog%2Fwhat-is-reverse-osmosis&psig=AOvVaw03BfMFmQ0gp3KM6H7x3m
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MECHANISM OF
FILTRATION
• The driving for filtration is pressure difference across the medium.
• Generally the pressure at upstream (above filter medium is at
atmospheric pressure and that at the down stream (below filter
medium) is vacuum.
• The pressure above atmospheric pressure can be created by
using pump, blower or centrifugal force to increase the efficiency
of the separation process.
• The filter medium offers the resistance to flow. Therefore as the
solids deposited on the filter medium forms cake and the
resistance starts increasing. The solid particles block the opening
of filter medium.
TYPES OF FILTER

1. Cake filter
2. Clarifying filter
3. Crossflow filter
CONSTANT RATE &
PRESSURE
FILTRATION
Sesame oil
cake
PRINCIPLE OF CAKE FILTRATION

• Cake filtration is a process like

flow through porous medium.
• During the process, the thickness
of solid deposited on the filter
medium will start increasing.
• Therefore, flowrate of filtrate will
start decreasing.
• The overall pressure drop is the
sum of pressure drop across the
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• The pressure drop must be

increased to keep the flow rate
constant.
PRESSURE DROP
THROUGH FILTER
CAKE
• The flow rate through the small
thickness dL is very low to ensure
laminar flow.
• The flow is assumed to flow through
porous medium and pressure drop is
given by Kozney-Carman equation:

• Where
• V is the volume of filtrate
• A is filter area normal to the
direction of flow.

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PRESSURE DROP
THROUGH FILTER
CAKE
• The filtrate is passing through the entire cake and V/A is
constant through all layers and u is independent of L.
• The volume of solids in the layer is and mass becomes

•
• Therefore the pressure drop can be written as
PRESSURE DROP
THROUGH FILTER
CAKE
• Total pressure drop across the cake:

• For incompressible cake

• Cake resistance
• The above expression shows that the cake resistance is
independent of pressure drop and position in the cake.
PRESSURE DROP
THROUGH FILTER
CAKE
• Most cakes encountered industrially are not made up of
individual rigid particles.
• Practically the slurry contains agglomerates of fine particles
and cake properties depend on the properties of those
agglomerates.
• The individual geometric shape of particles not affect the cake
resistance significantly.
• The presence of flocs makes the flow channel complicated and
unpredictable.
• Therefore, such cakes are compressible in nature.
• In compressible cake, the cake resistance varies with distance
from the septum. The cake nearest to septum is subjected to
greatest compressive for and has lowest void fraction.
PRESSURE DROP
THROUGH FILTER
CAKE
• Filter medium resistance
• Total pressure drop is )

• Filter medium resistance varies with higher liquid

velocity. It also changes after long operational time.
• But it can be assumed constant during early stages of
filtration.
DESIGN EQUATION
OF FILTRATION
• Rate of filtration if defined as:
• Let us assume and
• Therefore:
DESIGN EQUATION
OF FILTRATION

Where &
At constant pressure filtration ??

The equation is useful to

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experimental data.
DESIGN EQUATION
OF FILTRATION
• For compressible sludge or cake
the cake resistance is
independent of pressure drop but
all cakes formed are compressible
at least to some extent.
• Let us assume
• Where is the compressibility
coefficient of the cake.
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(0.2-0.8)
CONTINUOUS
FILTRATION

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ROTARY DRUM FILTER

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CONTINUOUS
FILTRATION
• Continuous filtration in the rotary-drum filter
• Assumptions: feed rate, filtrate rate & cake movement
at steady constant rates.
• If t is actual time of filtration then
• Or
• Where &
CONTINUOUS
FILTRATION

Where is rate of filtrate collection and A is submerged

area of filter.
CONTINUOUS
FILTRATION
• If the cycle time is , drum speed , total filter area and
fraction of the drum submerged is .
• Then actual filtering time .
• The fraction of drum submerged .
• Rate of cake production
• By substituting with &
CENTRIFUGAL
FILTRATION
• Centrifugal filtration works
on the principle of
centrifuge.
• It is constant pressure
filtration process.
• the treatment applies
after the cake has been
deposited and clear filtrate
pass through the cake.
CENTRIFUGAL
FILTRATION
• Assumptions in centrifugal filtration
1. The gravity force effect is neglected.
2. The pressure drop from centrifugal action is equal to
the drag force of liquid through the cake.
3. The flow is laminar, and filter medium resistance is
constant.
Therefore, total pressure drop due to centrifugal action is
equal to total pressure drop in filtration.

Now,
By replacing u by q in 1st equation
 CENTRIFUGAL
FILTRATION
• In the above equation the thickness
of cake is very small and the area
of filter medium and cake (normal to
the direction of flow) is constant.
• For significant cake thickness the
area will vary with radius.
• Therefore,

𝜌 𝜔 2 ( 𝑟 22 − 𝑟 21 )
∴ 𝑞=

( )
𝛼 𝑚𝑐 𝑅
2𝜇 + 𝑚
𝐴𝐿 . 𝐴𝑎 𝐴2
WASHING OF FILTER
CAKES
• During filtration,
some soluble ab= displacement wash
material may retain
by the filter cake .
• A solvent miscible
with the filtrate may
be used as wash.
Generally, water is
used as wash.
PLATE & FRAME
FILTER PRESS

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sig=AOvVaw32v8QdHEduqpp-0U-oO1qi&ust=1604745957278000&source=images&
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 PLATE & FRAME
FILTER PRESS

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TYPES OF FILTERS
Filters

Discontinuous
Vacuum filters Centrifugal filter
Pressure filters

Buchner funnel
Plate & frame filter (discontinuous) Suspended batch
press (used for corrosive centrifuge
metal separation)

Shelf & leaf filter Rotary drum filter Automatic batch

(High pr) (continuous) centrifuge

Horizontal belt filter

(continuous)
Continuous filtering
Automatic belt filter (used for fast & centrifuge
coarse solid
separation)
FILTER MEDIUM

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Medium
1. Common filters
(canvas cloth)
2. Chemically resistant
filters (Synthetic fiber)
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cloth, Glass cloth)

FILTER AIDS

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FILTER AIDS

• Filter aids are slimy or very fine solid that form an

impermeable & dense cake. It increases the porosity of
cake and filtration occurs at reasonable rate. Example:
diatomaceous silica, perlite, purified wood cellulose or
other inter porous solid.
• Precoating of filter are also used on medium and
scraped off in regular interval. It prevents the plugging
of medium by gelatinous solids.
STEPS OF FILTRATION

1. Draining the liquor

2. Filtration
3. Filling with wash water
4. Washing
5. Draining if wash water
6. Opening, dumping & reassembling
7. Filling with slurry
NUMERICAL
• A constant pressure filtration test gave data that can fit an expression dt/dV =
9.3 V + 8.5; (t in seconds, V in liters). If the resistance of the filter medium is
assumed unaffected with pressure drop and the compressibility coefficient of
the cake is 0.3, what will be the time taken for the collection of 3.5 liters of
filtrate at a filtration pressure twice that used in the test.
• Solution:

And
therefore
NUMERICAL

Now, if pressure drop is doubled

NUMERICAL

• A pressure filter is operated in the constant rate mode

to yield 10 m3 in the first ten minute, as the pressure
increases from zero. In the next 20 minutes the filtration
was continued at constant pressure, after which it was
stopped. Assume filter medium resistance is negligible
and the cake is incompressible.
• a) Estimate the total volume of filtration obtained.
• b) Determine washing time if the volume of wash liquid
equals the volume of filtrate obtained.
NUMERICAL
• Solution: (a)
Solution: (b)
The volume of wash liquid = the
In 1st 10mins V=10m3 volume of filtrate obtained=
Washing rate = rate of filtration
=
ans

In next 20mins

ans.
NUMERICAL
• A filtration is carried out for 10 min at a constant rate in a
leaf filter and thereafter it is continued at constant pressure.
This pressure is that attained at the end of the constant rate
period. If one quarter of the total volume of the filtrate is
collected during the constant rate period, what is the total
filtration time? Assume that the cake is incompressible, and
the filter medium resistance is negligible.
• Solution:
At constant rate

In 1st 10mins V
NUMERICAL

At constant Pressure
NUMERICAL

• It is required to design a rotary filter with 30% submergence fed

with 3.3 m³/h of a slurry containing 236 kg solids per m³ of
filtrate. The absolute pressure maintained during filtration is 68
kPa and the mean specific cake resistance is 5× 1010 m/kg . The
speed of rotation of drum = 0.2 rpm. Calculate the rate of dry
cake production.
• Solution:
• The fraction of drum submerged .
• Drum speed

• Actual filtering time .

• Where (rate of dry cake production)