Filters

Filter cake resistance and permeability

Case to case basis
Variables (Driving force, filtration area)

Selection of filters
Costs (Fixed and operating)
Properties of fluids
Scale of filtration
Concentration, temperature and pressure
of slurry
Particulate characteristics
Washing requirements
Batch or Continuous

Rate of filtration
Pressure difference
Filtration area
Viscosity of filtrate
Resistance of cake
Resistance of filter medium

Rate of filtration

V = Volume of filtrate filtered in time

A = Filtration area
P = Pressure drop across filter
RK = Resistance of filter cake
RF = Resistance of filter medium
= Viscosity of fluid
Rk = C l
RF = C l F
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Rate of filtration

= C/ (Specific cake resistance)= a(P)s

s = compressibility exponent of cake
a = constant depending on the properties of solids

Batch Filtration

Experimental determination of a, s, V F

Theoretical determination of A, P, V, w, ,

Problems with upscaling

Perform experiments under similar conditions

of driving force, same filter material etc.

Continuous Filtration

Rotary drum/disk filters

General Design equations
A = Total area available
F = fraction of area immersed

in slurry
Effective area = AD F

Air suction rate in Rotary Vacuum Filters

Air suction rate for vacuum pump
Size of pump and power requirements

Other Processing Equipments

Centrifugal separators
Crystallizers
Crushing and grinding equipment
Electrostatic precipitators
Mixers

Absorption columns

Removal of one or more selected components from a mixture of gases

by using an appropriate solvent.

Major unit operation based on interphase mass transfer

Divided into two groups
- Physical absorption (governed by diffusion)
- Involving chemical reaction
Examples of physical absorption:
- Removal of acetone from acetone-air mixture by absorption in water
- Removal of ammonia from ammonia-air mixture by absorption in water

Examples of absorption process involving chemical reactions

- Absorption of oxides of nitrogen in water to give nitric acid
- Absorption of carbon dioxide in sodium hydroxide solution

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Packed column vs Plate column

Packed column

Plate column

Continuous contact b/w liq. And gas

Stage wise contact

Preferred for small diameter columns

(Liq. Distribution problems)

Preferred for large columns (High

fabrication costs)

Low pressure drop

Pressure drop depends on the no. of

plates

Low liquid hold-up (film diffusion)

Liquid hold-up depending on the no. of

plates

Preferred for diameters less than 3ft

Greater than 3ft

Only top and bottoms streams

Possibility to obtain streams of

different purity

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Continuous contactors

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Design of Packed Columns

Select the type and size of packing.

Determine the column height required for the
specified separation.
Determine the column diameter (capacity), to
handle the liquid and gas flowrates.
Select and design the column internal features:
packing support, liquid distributor, redistributors.

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Packing in a packed tower

Low pressure drop
High capacity
Low liquid holdup
Large active surface area
Large free volume
Resistance and stability

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Packing in a packed tower

Random or stacked (Costs vs Pressure drop)
Material of construction
Sizes

Structured Packing

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Height of packed bed

Fundamental understanding of absorption process

Basic fundamental equations

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Height of Packed bed

The number of transfer units (NTU) required is a

- measure of the difficulty of the separation.
- similar to number of theoretical trays required.
- Dimentionless

The height of a transfer unit (HTU) is a

- measure of the separation effectiveness of the particular packings for a
particular separation process.
- Involves the mass transfer coefficient
- The more efficient the mass transfer (i.e. larger mass transfer coefficient), the
smaller the value of HTU.
- Units of length.
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Equilibrium Relationship

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Height of Packed bed

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Height of packed bed

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Height of packed bed

Prediction of height of transfer unit

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Height of packed bed

Cornell method

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Column Diameter (Capacity)

Cross-sectional area
Optimum cost and pressure drop

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Column Diameter (Capacity)

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Column diameter
Area of column =A= G / Vw*
Diameter of column=D= [4/pi * A]

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Pressure drop
Fluid flow rate
Properties of fluid
Properties of packings
Loading point and flooding point

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