Mr.

Shivabasappa K
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Agril. Engg.
Agriculture College
Karekere, Hassan
➢In food processes engineering these operations are referred
to as Separation/Concentration/Extraction/Purification
process.

➢These operations are directed towards separating substances

into its component parts or concentrating a particular
substance from another.

Classification of separation processes:

1. Mechanical separation process and
2. Contact equilibrium process
Mechanical separation:
▪ It depends primarily on mechanical/physical forces to
accomplish the desired separation of components.

▪ Eg: Filtration, Sedimentation, Sieving and Centrifugation.

▪ Mechanical/physical forces affecting separation may be

gravitational and centrifugal, as well as kinetic forces
arising from flow.

Contact equilibrium process

▪ It is carried out by introduction of new phase to the system,
allowing the components of original raw material to
distribute themselves between the phases.
Sedimentation
Sieving
Centrifugation
▪ Eg: Gas absorption, Extraction, Distillation, Crystallization
and Membrane separation process.

Filtration
✓ Involves the separation of solids from a liquid and its
effect by using porous medium which retains the solids
and allows the liquid to pass through.

✓ Variable product may be clear filtrate from filtration (i.e.

deep bed filtration) or the solid cake (i.e. cake filtration)
Basic theory of filtration

✓ When the fluid passes through the filter medium the solid
being deposited in the filter medium.

✓ Removal of these solids from fluid results in a build up of

solids in the filter medium resulting in increase resistance
to flow in as the filtration process continues.

✓ Higher pressure difference is necessary to maintain the

flow rate of filtrate.
Rate of filtration can be written as:

▪ Driving force is the pressure required to maintain the flow

rate of filtrate through filter medium and resistance depend
on several factors.

Mathematically,
2
Where,
Q = Volume rate of flow of filtrate
A = Cross sectional area of filter
∆P = Pressure difference
t = Filtration time
R = Resistance to flow of filtrate

Assuming that the filter cake does not become compressed, R

can be described by following equation
3
Where,
Lc = Thickness of filter cake
µ = Fluid viscosity (Nsm-2)
L = Thickness of the filter material or medium (m)
r = Specific resistance of the filter cake (m-2)

▪ If the rate of flow of liquid and its solid content are known
and assuming that all solids are retained on the filter, the
thickness of the filter cake (Lc) can be expressed as:

4
Where,
S = Solid contents of fluid being filtered
V = Volume which has passed through the filter
A = Cross sectional area
By using equations 3 and 4 the total resistance can then be
written as:
5

Combining equation 2 and 5, an equation for rate of

filtration is obtained as:

6
 Equation 6 may be regarded as fundamental equation for
filtration and can be used for scale-up if converted to
appropriate forms.

In general filtration process may occur in two phases:

1. Constant rate filtration in which ∆P must be increased

continuously.

2. Constant pressure filtration in which the flow rate of

filtrate decreases as the operation proceed.
Constant rate filtration
▪ In the early stages of filtration cycle, it frequently happens
that the filter resistance is large relative to filter cake
because the cake is thin.

▪ Under these circumstances, the resistance offered to the

flow is virtually constant and so filtration proceeds at a
more or less constant rate.

▪ Constant rate filtration will be described by the following

integration form of equation 6.
7
 8

▪ From the equation 8, the pressure drop required for any

desired flow rate can be found.

▪ If in the equation 8 the thickness (L) of the filter medium

can be considered negligible. The following equation for
pressure drop is obtained.

▪ In many situations, equation 9 can be used to predict

pressure drop requirements for a filter during early stages of
the process.
Constant pressure filtration
▪ This is the most common mode of filtration operation. Once
the initial cake has been built up, the flow occurs under
constant pressure differential.
▪ Under these circumstances, the term ∆P is constant in
equation 6.
10

Integration leads to following design equation:

11

If filter media thickness (L) can be assumed negligible:

 12

Equation 12 indicates the time required to filter a given

volume of fluid when a constant pressure is maintained.
 Classification of filtration equipments
1. Based on desired product of filtration process.
a. Cake filtration (Where, solid in fluid is desired product)
b. Deep bed filtration (Where, clear filtrate is desired
product)

2. Based on operating cycle

a. Batch operated (Where, cake is removed after
completion of process)
b. Continuous operation (where, cake is continuously
removed)
3. Based on force applied in fluid being filtrated
a. Gravity filtration (Where, liquid simply flows by
hydrostatic forces)
b. Pressure filtration (Where, pressure applied to
fluid on feed side of filter bed to increase flow
rates of fluids)
c. Vacuum filtration (Where, vacuum created to
opposite side of filter bed)
d. Centrifugal filtration (Where, application of
centrifugal forces to provide driving force to
fluid flow through filter medium.)
Basic requirements for filtration equipment are:
1. Mechanical support for the filter medium

2. Flow accesses to and from the filter medium

3. Provision for removing the filter cake

 Equipments
Plate and frame filter press
• It consists of a series of ribbed or grooved plates covered on
both surface by a cloth or paper filters.

• Plates with their filter cloths may be horizontal, but they are
more usually hung vertically with a number of plates
operated in parallel to give sufficient area.

• Feed liquor is pumped into the press and liquid passes

through filter clothes.

• It flows down the grooved surfaces of the plates and drained

through an outlet channel in the base of each plate.
Fig: Plate and frame filter press
• As filtration is continued, filter cake builds up on the
upstream side of the cloth that is the side away from the
plate.

• In the early stages of the filtration cycle, the pressure drop

across the cloth is small and filtration proceeds at more or
less a constant rate.

• As the cake increases, the process becomes more and more

a constant pressure one and this is the case throughout most
of the cycle.

• When the available space between successive frames is

filled with cake, the press has to be dismantled and the cake
is removed and cleaned.
 Rotary filter
• Flow through a rotating cylindrical cloth from which the
filter cake can be continuously scraped.

• Either pressure or vacuum can provide the driving force, but

a particularly useful form is the rotary vacuum filter.

• In this, the cloth is supported on the periphery of a

horizontal cylindrical drum that dips intpo a bath of the
slurry.

• Vacuum is drawn in those segments of the drum surface on

which the cake is building up.
Fig: Rotary filter
• A suitable bearing applies the vacuum at the stage where the
actual filtration commences and breaks the vacuum at the
stage where the cake is being scraped off after the filtration.

• Filtrate is removed through trunnion bearings.

• Rotary vacuum filters are expensive, but they do provide a

considerable degree of mechanization and convenience.
 Centrifugal filters

• Centrifugal force is used to provide the driving force in

some filters.

• These machines are really centrifuges fitted with a

perforated bowl that may also have filter cloth on it.

• Liquid is fed into the interior of the bowl and under the
centrifugal forces, it passes out through the filter material.
Fig: Centrifugal filter

Cake