Evaluate filtration feasibility in ANFD

What is Permeation ?

Permeation is type of passage through a resistive medium

What is Permeative flux ?
Usually flux is defined as amount / quantity of material passing through an area in specified time. Coming
to Permeative flux, it can be defined as amout / quantity that is permeated through a material medium of
unti area in specified time.
Usually given units as Liters/min.Sq.m.
What is Specific Cake resistance ?

During filtering slurries, cake will be formed on the filtration barrier, and as on filtration going the cake
thickness will increase depending upon the retained volume. The retained cake will add some excess
resistance to the slurry which is being filtered along with the filter. The excess added resistance is Specific
cake resistance. will hold units as m / Kg.
What is cake Concentration ?
Cake concentration in terms of filtration denotes the solids concentration in slurry., will have units like
density i.e., Kg/Cu.m.
The above mentioned are the most used terms to describe / distinguish the nature of filtration.
Now let’s jump into the topic and based on the preliminary evaluation we can conclude whether the
reaction mass can be filtered or not, out of those i can mention some here
If reaction mass is Sticky / slimy / free flowing ANFD is not preferred,
If the material nature is Crystalline, ANFD is preferred,
If the reaction mass is acidic in nature, ANFD can be preferred, if its basic then the mass would be sticky, so
ANFD is not preferred,
If the nucleation is better i.e., coarser, ANFD is preferred, if its finer ANFD is not preferred.
That's it..!!! This is preliminary evaluation, if i've missed out something just go ahead and comment, i'll add
those in the above listing.
Sometimes we can’t decide whether we need to select an ANFD or not, and at that time we need to consider
experiment with a buckner filter and performing an experiment is an easy task, but evaluating that and
generating a systematic data is vital.
What sort of input need to be recorded from the performed experiment?
1. Pore Size of the filter cloth,
2. Filter Dia,
3. Reaction mass volume,
4. Applied vacuum,
5. Filtrate volume,
6. Filtration time,
7. Weight of wet cake,
8. Cake height.
So, in a total the above 8 parameters need to recorded perfectly, so in case of any miss recording / wrong
recording, it may lead to faulty results.
So now, Lets start the calculation,
Permeation flux = Filtrate volume / ( Filter area x Filtration duration ),
Filter Area = 0.785 x ( Filter Dia ^ 2 ),
Cake Concentration = ( Wet cake wt. x 0.2 / Reaction mass volume ) x 1000,
( 2 x (Filter Area^2) x 133.32 x Filtration time x applied vacuum)
Specific Cake Resistance = _______________________________________________________________________________
( Cake Concentration x Rxn. mass viscosity x (Rxn. mass vol.^2))

Now lets know about the limits of the above discussed to distinguish the filtration,
If the permeation flux is greater than 45 Lts / mins. Sq.m, then it would be good filtration and you can go
ahead with ANFD,
If it is between 15 and 45, it would be moderate filtration and while scaling up we can’t assure that the
filtration will be good enough and even we can’t assure consistent filtration rate, so we have to prefer an
trial in pilot plant,
If the rate below 15, it’s better to move with centrifuge or filter press.
Like Permeation flux we are also having Specific cake resistance, below is the classification to distinguish
the filtration nature,
If cake resistance is,
10 ^ 7 to 10^8 - Good filtration,
10^8 to 10^10 - Moderate filtration,
above 10^10 - Slow filtration
That's it.......!! This post is done here itself,
Let’s suppose, now here i'll give one case study / sample calculation with some input data,
Filter cloth size : 5 µ,
Buckner filter dia : 5 cms,
Slurry volume : 1000 ml,
Viscosity : 0.3 cP,
Applied Vacuum : 500 mmHg,
Filtrate volume : 650 ml,
Filtration time : 20 minutes,
Wet cake weight : 230 grams,
Cake thickness : 150 mm,
Now the result is,
Permeation flux - 16.56 Lt/Sq.m. min,
Cake concentration - 46.00 Kg/Cu.m,
Specific cake resistance - 4.46 x 10^10 m/Kg.
So as per the above discussion, the filtration is poor, not good enough in ANFD.
How to Succeed in Mapping of Filtration Equipment ?
Mapping of filtration equipment's always remains as a difficult task for an engineer, as even if the pore size
of the filtration medium is of enough size, but the filtration won’t happen due to the nature of the slurry, it
may be of different reasons like pH, low temperatures etc., if the pH of the reaction mass is high then the
mass will be sticky so the filtration rate will be low if a filtration equipment like ANFD is selected, and with
the same filter cloth that is used in ANFD, if used for a centrifuge then the filtration may happen
comfortably, so the Filtration equipment must be tested with our traditional method of Trail and Error
without any hesitation, and some of the mass won't create that much headache as mostly they will be
compatible with equipment like ANFD and Filter Press.

if a reaction mass is compatible with ANFD then mostly it will have compatibility with centrifuge also, but
being an engineer centrifuges should be avoided as they are of high hazard, and also the solvent loss during
handling will be more.
Also while mapping of the filtration equipment's like ANFD & PNF's, there should be some basic
considerations. Out of which the major one is cake height.
I'll show you how to select an ANFD / PNF.
The cake height in these filters should be 20% of the total height. If its ANFD the cake height shouldn't be
higher than the stoke height.
Let’s suppose the expected wet output will be 30 Kgs, so for this case we need to map an filtration
equipment, and let’s consider that the filtration is fast.
So we can go further with ANFD or PNF. Now we need the capacity of the filter.
Let the BD of the material is 0.3 Kg/L.
So the volume occupied by the wet cake will be 30/0.3 = 90 L.
We are having two PNF's and we need to select one outta those,
1st filter capacity is 0.25 Sq.m(0.8 m height), 2nd filter capacity is 0.5 Sq.m(1.0 m height).
Considering the 1st filter, the cake height would be 0.09/(0.25) = 0.36 m
The height percentage would be (0.36 / 0.8 ) x 100 = 45 %.
Considering the 2nd filter, the cake height would be 0.09/(0.5) = 0.18 m
The height percentage would be (0.18 / 1.0 ) x 100 = 18 %.
So, as in the 2nd filter case the height percentage is below 20%, we can comfortably proceed with it.
The reason behind the 20% is that the remaining empty space will attribute to the adequate press dry with
nitrogen pressure. Hence the expulsion of the ML's / filtrate would be good enough.
Here, Stoke means the length of the agitator shaft.