6.

5 Formation of Filter Cakes in Centrifuges 161

Figure 6.94 Single-stage pusher centrifuge.

Solids

Filtrate

One-stage Two-stage Four-stage

Feed Feed Feed

Not oscillating
Oscillating

Figure 6.95 One, two, and three stage baskets of pusher centrifuges.

In principle, the slurry is fed into the rear part of the basket on the rotating
screen. An axially oscillating pusher plate realizes the transport of the solids
toward the open end of the basket. As demonstrated in Figure 6.95, pusher
centrifuges are available not only in single stage but also in multistage design,
whereby two stages represent the mostly applied standard design.
More than three stages are principally possible, but seldom due to the
increasing complexity of the design and increasing costs. Here, as an extreme
example, a four-stage design is shown. In the one-stage design, only the pusher
plate is oscillating axially. During the forward stroke, the cake is transported
toward the open end of the basket. During the backward stroke, again the space
on the filter medium originates, which is filled up with fresh slurry. In the
two-stage design, the inner screen is oscillating but not the pusher plate. The
front edge of the inner screen now acts additionally as a pusher plate for the
outer screen. In the four-stage design, the inner first basket and the third basket
are oscillating, whereby the pusher plate and the second and the fourth basket
are not oscillating.
As mentioned before, the two-stage design is the standard design for pusher
centrifuges, although the design is more complicated and more costly than the
one-stage version. Because of the rearrangement of the cake at the transition
point from stage to stage, the danger of flooding is reduced. Furthermore, the
force to push the cake along the screen is divided into two portions. This mea-
sure reduces the stress on the particles, which could be in danger to be disin-
tegrated [56]. The second or last stage, respectively, can be designed cylindrical
or slightly conical. If the basket has a conical shape, one component of the cen-
trifugal force acts parallel to the screen and facilitates the solid transport. The
described advantages of two and more stages are particularly remarkable from
162 6 Filter Cake Formation

Slurry feed
Movement
Cake from the direction
previous pusher Transport
cycle direction
Pusher
plate
Initial
1 2 cake
Screen

Filtrate Rear stop

Movement direction

3 4

Final Stroke
cake Front length Rear
stop stop

Figure 6.96 Cake formation in pusher centrifuges.

stage 1 to stage 2 and decrease for more stages, although the design becomes
much more complicated and more costly. These are arguments for choosing the
two-stage design in most cases as standard version.
The cake formation in pusher centrifuges is a very complex process because of
the superposition of the cake formation and the axial stress. Figure 6.96 allows a
closer look to the filter cake formation and transport in the first stage of a pusher
centrifuge basket [57].
During the backward stroke between the previously formed filter cake and the
pusher plate, a gap is opening and fresh filter area appears, on which slurry is fed.
The slurry is normally fed permanently with constant flow rate. At the rear stop
of the pusher plate initial, new cake and slurry are present both in the gap. Now
the pusher plate again moves forward, deforms the still week cake, and further
cake formation takes place, while slurry is fed continuously. At a certain point,
the new cake is stable enough to withstand the pusher force without deformation,
and the total cake is transported toward the solid outlet, until the front stop of the
pusher plate has reached. This is the most critical point because the still flowing
feed slurry is spreading on the cake surface and the danger of flooding is maximal.
This is a limitation for the strategy of slurry feed with constant flow rate. There
can be found several proposals in the patent literature to avoid the feeding at the
front stop. One example is the pulsating feed. Here, slurry is only fed during the
backward stroke [58]. It had been demonstrated experimentally that remarkably
more slurry could be fed, and in the best case, a filter cake of sufficient thickness
and stability could be formed, which was no longer deformed during the forward
stroke and could be transported directly. The drainage capacity of the system in
case of increased feed flow during backward stroke is remarkably greater than
 6.5 Formation of Filter Cakes in Centrifuges 163

Figure 6.97 Double-acting pusher centrifuge.

Feed

Solids Filtrate Solids

that of continuous feeding with reduced flow rate. For the perfect realization, a
special measurement and control technology is required [59, 60].
This idea of pulsating feed can also be realized by a special design in the form of
slurry feed in the middle of a long screen basket and solid discharge to the right
and to the left end of the basket (cf. [51], p. 367–368). Figure 6.97 illustrates this
principle of double-acting pusher centrifuge.
In the middle of a comparatively long and single stage basket, a pusher plate
is oscillating, whereas the feed pipe is fixed. Depending on the position of the
pusher plate, the slurry is fed via a feed distributor alternately on the front and
on the back screen. By that, the centrifuge exhibits two feed zones, which are
fed alternating. The feed is filled in every case into the new opened gap and thus
the feed at the critical front stop of the pusher plate is avoided. Beside this effec-
tive protection against flooding, further advantages are given for this design. The
investment and footprint area are reduced because of increase of the through-
put. Secondly, the hydraulic system is more effectively utilized because the cake is
pushed actively during forward and backward stroke of the pusher plate. Thirdly,
if the screen is worn out, normally solids are getting behind the pusher plate and
increase the filtrate pollution. Here, the solids remain on the screen and mixed
again with fresh slurry.
Besides the discussed special operation mode or design of pusher centrifuges,
the limit of throughput is increased for greater slurry concentrations, a smaller
content of fine particles with diameters less than about 50 μm, and preferably
open filter media, such as robust slotted screens (wedge wire screens), which are
relatively stable against abrasion and exhibit a reduced danger to become clogged.
On the one hand, the cake, which is pressed by centrifugal forces at the screen,
can be transported along the screen bars with minimal friction. On the other
hand, particles have only two contact points to the screen bars instead of several
contact points in the pores of woven filter media. Figure 6.98 shows three types
of screen bar profiles.

Figure 6.98 Screen bar profiles.