Dr Md Raihan sarkar

Filtration Definition:
FILTRATION may be defined as the separation of a solid from a fluid by means of a porous
medium that retains the solid but allows the fluid to pass.
The term fluid includes liquids and gases, so that both these may be subjected to filtration.
The suspension of solid and liquid to be filtered is known as the “slurry”. The porous medium
used to retain the solids is described as the filter medium; the accumulation of solids on the
filter is referred to as the filter cake, while the clear liquid passing through the filter is the
filtrate.
HEPA Filter / Laminar Air Bench
Membrane Filters
Production of Liquid Dosage
Waste water treatments
Inertial Impaction. If the mass of a contaminant particle is much greater than that of the carrier fluid, the particle
cannot follow the same trajectory as that of the fluid. The particles deviate from the streamlines as the fluid passes
around a fiber. The particle may therefore be "thrown" into a possible retention site. The effects of this transport
mechanism could be expected to increase with heavier particles and with increasing flow through the medium.
Although investigations have not shown whether inertial impaction is important in all filtration processes, the
mechanism may represent a significant aspect.
 P1+ P2-
A--

++++++++++++
P2- P2-

P1+ A-A-
Brownian Diffusion. Particles that are very small exhibit Brownian movement. These particles do not move along a
fluid streamline, but diffuse throughout the fiber matrix. They may reach a possible retention site and remain
there. The effect of Brownian motion would increase with smaller particles and decrease with higher fluid
velocities: at higher velocities, the particles have less time to diffuse and approach a capture site. Brownian motion
is usually neglected as a transport mechanism for particles above one micrometer in diameter, especially with
viscous liquids.
Brownian motion is the random, uncontrolled movement of particles in a fluid as they constantly collide with other molecules

Gravity. If the particles have a different density than the fluid, they are subject to gravity and therefore deviate
from the fluid streamlines. If the fluid velocity is low enough, the particles may possibly enter a retention site and
be captured. Heavier particles increase the gravitational effects while higher fluid velocity and viscosity decrease
the effects. Gravity effects are usually neglected in the flow of viscous fluid with particles less than 25 to 30
micrometers in diameter.
Pressure
The rate of filtration at any instant of time is directly proportional to the pressure difference
across the bed.
In cake filtration, deposition of solids over a finite period increases the bed depth. If, therefore,
the pressure remains constant, the rate of filtration will fall. Alternatively, the pressure can be
progressively increased to maintain the filtration rate.

Viscosity
The inverse relation between flow rate and viscosity indicates that, as expected, higher
pressures are required to maintain a given flow rate for thick liquids than that necessary for
filtering thin liquids. The decrease in viscosity with increase in temperature may suggest the use
of hot filtration. Some plants, for example, the filter press, can be equipped so that the
temperature of hot slurries can be maintained.
 Filter media is designed for a variety of performance ranges.
•Micro filtration can remove particles as small as 0.1 to 10 µm.
•Ultra filtration membranes can remove particles in the range of 0.001 to 0.1 µm.
•Nano filtration is a pressure-related process, which separates molecules based on size. It is used mainly in water
purification processes such as water softening, de-coloring, and micro-pollutant removal. Nano filtration is also used
to remove specific components such as coloring agents.
•Reverse osmosis is a membrane-separation process that uses synthetic membranes to extract purified water from
wastewater. These synthetic membranes are permeable to water molecules, but relatively non-permeable to
contaminants. Some filtration media is are reusable or disposable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b_JFsL2bXo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcxy6FpfSuw
Types of Filtration
 12
30/5=6
6
40/5=8
Pore 10

30/10=3
 Filters may be classed according to the nature of the driving force that causes filtration
Two filtration techniques are generally used in chemical separations in general chemistry lab: "gravity" filtration and
"vacuum" filtration
Gravity Filtration
Gravity filtration is the method of choice to remove solid
impurities from an organic liquid. The impurity can be a drying
agent or an undesired side product or leftover reactant. Gravity
filtration can be used to collect solid product, although
generally vacuum filtration is used for this purpose because it is
faster.

This is where the mixture is poured from a higher point to a

lower one. It is commonly done through simple filtration, using
filter paper in a glass funnel, where the insoluble solid particles
are captured by the filter paper and the liquid goes right
through by gravity’s pull. Depending on the volume of the
substance at hand, filter cones, or filtering pipets can be used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-De2VCoLEcc
Vacuum Filtration
Vacuum filtration is used primarily to collect a desired solid, for instance, the collection of crystals in a
recrystallization procedure. Vacuum filtration uses a Buchner funnel and a side-arm flask. Vacuum
filtration is faster than gravity filtration, because the solvent or solution and air is forced through the
filter paper by the application of reduced pressure.
Pressure or vacuum filters usually are used in industry in preference to gravity filters. The driving force
that can be supplied by pressure or vacuum is much greater than gravity, thus permitting higher
filtration rates.

In vacuum filtration, a vacuum pump is used to rapidly draw the fluid through a filter. Hirsch funnels and Buchner
funnels, which are the same kind of funnel in two different sizes, are used along with filter paper. The funnels have a
plate with holes in it, as we can see below, and they are usually used when the substance to be filtered is small in
volume.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvAT4C3-U7k
Asbestos is a naturally
occurring fibrous silicate
mineral
Sintering is the process
of fusing particles
together into one solid
mass by using a
combination of pressure
and heat without
melting the materials.
Common particles that
are sintered together
include metal, ceramic,
plastic, and other
various materials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UguqOosjrTc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eemVP8SswSg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEMon04JcWI
 cake
cake cake

P filter frame
P M F M P M F M P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAEcaCPDUpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV5Z1aMb3Vo
FILTER LEAF:
The filter leaf is probably the simplest form, of filter, consisting of a frame enclosing a drainage screen or grooved
plate, the whole unit being covered with filter cloth. The outlet for the filtrate connects to the inside of the frame.
The frame may be of any shape, circular, square or rectangular shapes being used in practice. In use, the filter leaf is
immersed in the slurry’ and a receiver and vacuum system connected to the filtrate outlet. The method has the
advantage that the slurry can be filtered from any vessel and the cake can be washed simply by immersing the filter,
in a vessel of water. Removal of the cake is facilitated by the use of reverse air flow.

The filter leaf is a versatile piece of equipment. Area can be varied by employing a suitable number of units, and the
pressure difference may be obtained with vacuum or by using pressures up to order of 8 bars. The leaf filter is most
satisfactory if the solids content of slurry is not too high, about 5 per cent being a suitable maximum. A higher
proportion, results in excessive non-productive time while the filter being emptied and, provided this is observed.
Labour costs for operating the filter are comparatively moderate·

The special feature of the leaf filter is the high efficiency of washing; in fact the cake can be dislodged and refiltered
from the wash water if desired.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkmB0VaACSI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pggFRWM_Zlk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQXe1EjH-g0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEXWd3_fM94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6wGj09CGzg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uUUYqIpI6U
Of all the various methods of purification, surface and depth filtration forms a basic type of filtration procedure.
Surface Filtration– As the name depicts, surface filtration is concerned with retention of particles mostly on the
surface itself. The particles retained forms a layer of material, commonly called “cake layer”, which helps increasing
the efficiency of filtration furthermore. If the rate of filtration initially is around 50-60% then after the layer of cake
is formed, it grows to 100%.
The filter medium is a permeable or semi-permeable membrane arranged in such a way to collect some or all of
the suspended material, across the flow of a suspension. Compared with the diameter of the smallest particle to be
filtered, if this sheath of filter is thin, then the filtration process is expected to take place on the upstream surface
of the medium. If the particles are considered solid, then the particles smaller than the diameter of the pore would
pass through it and the bigger ones would get stuck remaining on the upstream surface. However there would be
some larger particles that would settle on the surface blocking the pores. Gradually the medium surface would be
filled with these particles, posing a hindrance to the rate of filtration thus reducing to fluid flow beyond acceptable
limits. At this point, the filtration needs to be ceased and the medium surface has to be cleaned properly to
continue the process of purification.
As the above process works on the basis of the relation between the pore size of the medium and the particle size,
this mechanism of filtration is also known as Surface Straining. The straining separates solid units in the feed
suspension completely depending on the pore size of the filter medium; if at all particles are not easily deformable.
Here the working mechanism involves transmission through a perforated plate or a solitary sheet of woven wire or
plastic mesh of detailed weaves. Also relevant in the range of metal edge and analogous cartridges where the
pores are accurately formed slots between contiguous discs or turns of a helical strip.
Depth Filtration– Depth filtration forms a tortuous path with multiple layers that helps in holding back the particles
with larger ones at the surface and finer at inner layers. The medium here is thick. Thus particles can be confined in
the stratums of fibres by the mechanism of adsorption so as to arrest the finer elements on the meandering path
with irregular pores on the surface by the procedure of direct or inertial interception or diffusion. Also sometimes
blockage of the pores occurs due to the matters getting entrapped with one another and not particularly posing
obstacle to the minute openings, as the fluid can still flow through the gaps between the particles. However a
reverse flow of fluid is necessary to get the sheath rid of the clogged channels or needs to be thrown away
completely.
A majority of real media are definitely not noticeably thin. In fact they have a determinate or finite thickness in the
course of the fluid flow. Most of the pores through such material differ in diameter along the trail of the fluid. The
particles move through the layers to a point where they are obstructed by the finer pores and hence get trapped
due to its size. The pores get blocked in the process and hence needs to be cleaned for further usage through a
reverse flow of the fluid or the medium has to be discarded totally and replaced with a new one. This is known as
Depth Straining.
Practically and also effectively, the effects of both Depth Filtration and Depth Straining are the same. In both the
cases the filter medium gets choked due to accumulation of the particles in the pores and is challenging to isolate.
Hence they are generally grouped in the same title head of Depth Filtration.