UNIT OPERATIONS I

CHEE 220

(Dr. M. Jonas)
jonasm@biust.ac.bw

FILTRATION
 Filtration
Definition:

The separation of solids from a suspension in a liquid by means of a

porous medium or screen that retains the solid and allows the
liquid to pass.

Important to note
Slurry, filter cake, filter medium
support, and filtrate

Principle of filtration
 Basic Theory
• Various types of filters, but all rely on the same principle.
• Fluid is forced through a medium that solids cannot pass
through.
• Usually the filter medium is a cloth that is permeable to
the smallest particles, in which case the cake of solids
built up on the surface catches the smallest particles.
• At the beginning of a filtration run the feed rate may be
kept low to avoid forcing solids through the cloth.
• Sometimes filter aids are used to increase the porosity of
the cake and reduce the pressure drop through it.
 Factors to consider: when selecting equipment and operating
conditions

• Properties of the fluid (e.g. viscosity, density,

corrosiveness)
• Nature of solid – particle size and shape, size
distribution and packing characteristics
• Concentration of solids in suspension
• Quantity of material to be handled and its value
• Whether valuable product is the solid or fluid or both
• Whether washing is necessary
• Whether the feed liquor may be heated
• If any form of pretreatment helpful
 Factors governing the rate of filtration

• Drop in pressure from feed to the far side of the filter

medium
• Filtering surface area
• Resistance of filter cake
• Viscosity of filtrate
• Resistance of filter medium and initial layers of cake
NB: Filtration is a mechanical operation requiring less
energy compared to drying, evaporation and
distillation.
 Principles of cake filtration

Resistance to flow increase with time. Why?

• filter medium becomes clogged
• filter cake builds up
What is of interest?
• flow rate through the filter
• pressure drop across the unit
What happens with time during filtration?
Either flow rate diminishes, or pressure builds up
 Principles of cake filtration
Methods of operating batch filters
1. Constant Pressure Filtration (P Constant)
• The rate of flow will progressively diminish
2 Constant Flow Rate Filtration (R constant)
• Pressure must be gradually increased
Because particles forming the cake are small and flow through the
bed is slow, then streamline conditions are obtained.
The flow rate of the filtrate is then represented as follows:

uC 
1 dV

1 e3  P 
(1)
A dt 5 1  e  S l
2 2
 Principles of cake filtration

uC 
1 dV

1 e3  P 
(1)
A dt 5 1  e  S l
2 2

Where
V – volume of filtrate which passed through time, t
A – total cross-sectional area of filter cake.
l – cake thickness
S – specific surface of the particles
e - voidage
 - viscosity of filtrate
P - applied pressure difference
 Principles of cake filtration

Assumptions made in deriving equation (1)

1. cake is uniform
2. voidage e is constant throughout
However, in the deposition of the filter cake, this is unlikely
to be the case and the voidage, e will depend on the
nature of the support, geometry, surface structure and
rate of deposition.
 Principles of cake filtration
Initial stages in the formation of filter cake are therefore
very important because:
1. For any filtration pressure, the rate of flow is greatest at
the beginning of the process since the resistance is
minimum.
2. High initial rates of filtration may result in plugging of
the filter pores of filter cloth and cause a very high
resistance to flow.
3. The orientation of the particles in the initial layers may
appreciably influence the structure of the whole filter
cake.
 Filter Cakes
May be divided into two classes:
Incompressible cake – Resistance to flow of a given volume of cake
is not appreciably affected by either ∆P or rate of deposition of
material.
Compressible cake – Increase of ∆P or rate of flow causes the
formation of a dense cake with higher resistance.
For incompressible cakes, voidage e in equation (1) maybe
e3
taken as constant and 
51  e  S 2
2
 as a property of the particles

forming the cake and should be constant for a given

material.
1 dV P
 ( 2)
Thus: A dt rl
 Filter Cakes
5 1−𝑒 2 𝑆 2
Where 𝑟=
𝑒3

r is termed the specific resistance which depend on e and S

For incompressible cakes r is taken as constant but depends
on the rate of deposition, nature of particles and on forces
between the particles.
NB: dimension for r is L-2 and has units m-2.
Relationship between thickness of cake & volume of filtrate

1 dV P
 ( 2)
A dt rl

l (cake thickness) and V ( filtrate volume) are related:

- perform solids mass balance in slurry and cake
- Mass of solids in filter cake = 1  e Al s
Where ρs is the density of solids
- Mass of liquid retained in filter cake = eAl
Where ρ is the density of filtrate
Relationship between thickness of cake & volume of filtrate

If J is mass fraction of solids in the original suspension then:

 J 
1  e lA s  V  eAl   
1 J 
Or 1  J 1  eAl s  JV  AeJl
JV
So that: l ( 4)
A1  J 1  e  s  Je 

and: V
 s 1  e 1  J   eJ Al
(5)
J
Relationship between thickness of cake & volume of filtrate

If v is the volume of cake deposited by unit volume of filtrate,

then lA or vV
v l
V A
From equation (5)
J
v (7 )
1  J 1  e  s  Je
Substituting for l into (2)
1 dV  P  A or dV

A 2
 P 
 (8)
A dt ruvV dt rvV

Equation (8) is the basic relation between ∆P, V and t

 Filtration: Types of operation

Consider two important types of operation

(i) Filtration at constant rate
(ii) Filtration at constant pressure difference
 Filtration: Constant rate

dV V
  cons tan t
dt t
From eqn. (8)
V A  P 
2
 (9)
t rVv

OR
t rv
 2 V (10)
V A  P 

-∆P is directly proportional to V

 Filtration: Constant pressure difference
V2 A 2  P t t rv
  V (12)
2 rv
(11) V 2 A  P 
2

-more applicable in practice, but pressure difference tends to

build up to ultimate value
-if it takes time t1 for volume V1 of filtrate to pass, integrating
equation (12) gives (13).


1 2
V  V1 
2 A

2
 P 
t  t1  (13)
2 rv
OR
t  t1 rv
 V  V1   2
ruvV1
(14)
V  V1 2 A  P 
2
A  P 
Flow of filtrate through the cloth and cake combined
Suppose the cloth and initial layers of cake are together equivalent to
thickness L of cake as deposited at later stage in the process.

and if (-∆P) is the pressure drop across the cake and cloth
combined, then 1 dV

 P  (15)
A dt r l  L 
Equation (15) can be compared with equation (2).

dV A P  A 2  P 
Thus:   (16)
dt  Vv   LA 
r   L  rv v  
 A   v 
Flow of filtrate through the cloth and cake combined
Equation (16) can be integrated between limits

t = 0, V = 0 and t = t1 , V = V1 for constant rate filtration.

And t=t1, V=V1 and t = t, V = V, for a subsequent constant pressure
filtration
(i) For constant rate filtration

V1 A 2  P  t1 rv rl
 OR
 2 V1 
ti 
rvV1 
LA 
 V1 A (P) A P 
 v 
Flow of filtrate through the cloth and cake combined
OR
LA A2  P 
V 
2
V1  t1 (17)
rv
1
v

(ii) Constant Pressure Filtration

  V  V1    P  t  t1 
2
1 2 LA A
V  V12  (18)
2 v rv

OR

t  t1 rvV1 rL
 2
ruv
V  V1   2  (19)
V  V1 2 A  P  A  P  A P 
Flow of filtrate through the cloth and cake combined
Simplifying equation (19)
t  t1 rv rL
 2 V  V1   (21)
V  V1 2 A  P  A P 

Optimum thickness of the cake to be formed in a filter press depends

on the resistance offered by the filter cake and on the time taken to
dismantle and refit the press.

For filtration carried out entirely at constant pressure

t rv rL K1V K2

 V    ( 22)
V 2 A 2  P  A P  2 P   P 
Flow of filtrate through the cloth and cake combined
where rv
K1 
A2
ruL
K2 
A P 
Just writing - ∆P as P
K1V 2 K 2V
t 
2P P
Alternatively
K1V 2 K 2V
 
2P P

Where θ is time of optimum cycle

 Rate of washing
When filtration is complete wash water is often passed
through the cake to flash any remaining mother liquor.
The rate of water passage through the cake is calculated
using “packed bed” equation
 dV  A 2
Pwash
   (20)
 dt  wash r w vVF  AL 
Where:
∆Pwash = pressure differential used in
washing (constant pressure)

µw = water viscosity

VF = volume filtrate passed in solution.

 Rotary Filter

Rotary
Drum
Filter

Filter Surface Area – This will be

done in form of an example
 Class Example 1 - Rotary drum filter
An aqueous slurry of CaCO3 is to be filtered in a rotary
drum filter with 28% submergence (28% of area is
covered by slurry). The available pressure drop is 68kPa
and the cycle time is 5 minutes. The slurry contains 235kg
solids per cubic meters of slurry and density of solids is
2700kg/m3. The filter cake contains 50% moisture on wet
basis and the specific cake resistance is 1.23x1011m/kg.
Calculate the filter area required to filter 38litres/minute.
The resistance of the filter medium maybe neglected.

Take  slurry  0.001kg / ms

 Rotary drum filter
Defination of terms

q = filtrate flow rate

P = pressure
𝜌= density of the filtrate
𝜇𝑠𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦 = viscosity of slurry
𝑉𝑓 = volume of filtrate
𝜃𝑐 = cycle time
𝜃𝑓 = filtration time
s = weight fraction of solids in slurry
∝𝑎𝑣𝑒 = specific cake resistance
𝑘𝑓 = fractional submergence
 Rotary drum filter
Develop the following expression for the area in terms of filtrate flow
rate, V f = q
c

𝑉𝑓 𝑠𝜌𝜇𝛼𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝜃𝑐
𝐴=
𝜃𝑐 2𝑃𝑘𝑓 (1 − 𝑚𝑠)

 slurry  0.001kg / ms

Where θc is the cycle time and kf is the fractional submergence

 Rotary drum filter: Solution
𝐾1 𝑉𝑓2
Filtration time 𝜃𝑓 =
2𝑃
ρ - Density of filtrate usually water
s - Fraction of solids in the slurry
m is (1/fraction of solids in the cake)
M – Mass of solids in the slurry
αave is the specific cake resistance

Time per revolution = Time to filter

Fraction of filter area covered by slurry
Filter medium resistance maybe neglected
 Rotary drum filter: Solution
Vf
 q
c

But
1 − 𝑚𝑠
𝑞 = 𝑀𝑐
𝑠𝜌

Therefore 𝑉𝑓 = 𝑞𝜃𝑐

1 − 𝑚𝑠
𝑉𝑓 = 𝑀𝑐 𝜃𝑐
𝑠𝜌
 Rotary drum filter: Solution
𝐾1 𝑉𝑓2
Filtration time 𝜃𝑓 =
2𝑃

K 2  0 ,given that we ignore the resistance of the filter medium

rv 𝑠𝜌
K1  2 But 𝑟𝑣 = 𝛼𝑎𝑣𝑒
1 − 𝑚𝑠
A
𝑠𝜌 𝜇
Therefore 𝐾1 = 𝛼𝑎𝑣𝑒
1 − 𝑚𝑠 𝐴2

𝑠𝜌 𝜇 𝑉𝑓2
Giving → 𝜃𝑓 = 𝛼𝑎𝑣𝑒 ×
1 − 𝑚𝑠 𝐴2 2𝑃
 Rotary Filter: Solution
But 𝜃𝑓 = 𝑘𝑓 𝜃𝑐

Substituting θf and V f2 k f c 2P
rearranging 
A 2
 sp 
 ave  
 1  ms 
 s 
 ave   V f
2

A2   1  ms 
 c 2 Pk f

Therefore 𝑉𝑓 𝑠𝜌𝜇𝛼𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝜃𝑐
𝐴=
𝜃𝑐 2𝑃𝑘𝑓 (1 − 𝑚𝑠)
 Rotary Filter: Solution
- Slurry has 235kg solids/ m3of slurry
- Assume basis 1m3 of slurry
m
Vsolids 
 solids
235kg
 3
2700 kg / m
 0.087037037 m 3

Vliquid  1  0.087037037 m 3  0.9130m 3

 Rotary Filter: Solution
m solids
s
m slurry
235

235  0.9130X 1000kg / m 3
 0.2047

1 1
m  2
frac of solids in cake 0.5

P  68000Pa
 ave  1.23x1011 m / kg
  0.001kg / ms
 Rotary Filter: Solution
1 − 𝑚𝑠
𝑞 = 𝑀𝑐
𝑠𝜌

1 − 2 × 0.2047
𝑞 = 235 × 0.038
0.2047 × 1000

q =0.02576482 m3/min

𝑞 = 0.000429𝑚3 /𝑠
1
0.2047 × 1000 × 0.001 × 1.23 ×1011 × (5 × 60) 2
𝐴 = 0.000429
2 × 68000 × 0.28 × [1 − 2 × 0.2047 ]

A = 0.000429 × 18326.3895

A = 7.86 m2
 Example 2 - Tutorial question
An aqueous slurry of CaCO3 is to be filtered in a rotary
drum filter with 25% submergence. The available pressure
drop is 60kPa and the cycle time is 5 min. The slurry
contains 230kg of solids per cubic meter of slurry. And
density of solids is 2600kg/m3. Calculate the filter area
required to filter 30L slurry/minute.
The filter cake contains 45% moisture on wet basis and
the specific cake resistance is 1.23x1011m/kg. The
resistance of the filter medium maybe neglected.

 slurry  0.0012kg / ms
.