Industrial Chemistry Department

Unit operations (ChEg 3106)

Chapter 4
Mechanical and hydro mechanical separations
 Introduction
Mechanical and hydro-mechanical separations are processes used in
various industries to separate mixtures based on their physical properties.
These separation techniques rely on;
• mechanical forces and

• particle size, density, or shape of a mixture.

Mechanical Separations:

• involves the use of mechanical energy to separate components of a

mixture.

• based on differences in phase fluidity, phase density, and mechanical

properties of particles such as shape, size, density, and viscosity.

• can be classified into four main groups: centrifugal

separation, sedimentation, filtration, and sieving.

• are widely used in various industries, including food

processing, chemical engineering, and

environmental engineering, to separate different

phases or components of a mixture.

– Sieving:
 is a method of separating particles based on their size.
 involves passing a mixture through a sieve or screen with defined
openings.
 smaller particles pass through the openings, while larger particles
are retained.
– Filtration:
 is a process that separates solids from liquids or gases using a
porous medium called a filter.
 The mixture is passed through the filter, and the solid particles are
retained while the liquid or gas passes through.
– Sedimentation:
 is the process of separating solid particles from a liquid by
allowing them to settle under the influence of gravity.
 solid particles, which are denser than the liquid, settle to the
bottom of a container, forming a sediment.
– Centrifugation:
 uses centrifugal force to separate components of a mixture
based on their density.
 denser components move towards the outer edge while lighter
components remain closer to the center.
Hydro-mechanical Separations:
 involves the use of both mechanical energy and

hydraulic forces to separate components of a mixture.

 Use water or other liquids to assist in the separation of

solid-liquid mixtures.
 utilize the combination of mechanical energy and fluid

flow to enhance the separation process.

 include techniques such as hydrocyclones, hydrofloats,

and hydraulic classifiers.

 used in mineral processing, wastewater treatment, and

oil and gas industries, where the separation of solid

– Hydrocyclones:
 are devices used to separate solids from liquids or other liquids of different
densities.
 introduced tangentially into a cyclone-shaped chamber, creating a swirling motion.
 The centrifugal force causes denser particles to move towards the outer wall of the
chamber, where they can be collected.

– Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF):

 separate suspended solids from a liquid phase.

 involves the introduction of fine bubbles of air into the liquid, which attach to the

solid particles, causing them to float to the surface where they can be skimmed off.
How hydro-mechanical separation differs from mechanical
separation?
Mechanical separation Hydro-mechanical separations
Role of relies primarily on mechanical fluids, typically water or other liquids are
Fluids: forces such as sieving, filtration, used as an integral part of the separation
sedimentation, or centrifugation process
fluids may be present to aid in fluids are employed to enhance the
the process (e.g., to facilitate separation efficiency by manipulating the
flow or cleaning). fluids not play flow patterns, particle behavior, or density
a significant role in the actual differences within the mixture.
separation mechanism.
Separation Rely on physical properties such Fluids play a more active role in the
Mechanism as particle size, shape, or density separation mechanism.
to separate the components of a They are used to create specific flow
mixture patterns or conditions that assist in
separating the components of the mixture.

sieving separates particles based hydrocyclones, the swirling flow of the

on size, while sedimentation liquid creates centrifugal forces, aiding in
separates them based on density. the separation of denser particles. In
dissolved air flotation, the introduction of
fine air bubbles helps in the flotation and
removal of suspended solids.
 Filtration
• Filtration is the separation of solid from a fluid
by means of a porous medium that retains the
solid but allows the fluid to pass. (e.g. filter
paper or cloth)
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.

The fluid flow through a filter medium by virtue of

a pressure differential across the medium.
• A pressure above atmospheric on the
upstream side of the filter medium and
atmospheric in the downstream.
• A pressure which is atmospheric on the
Most industrial filters are pressure and vacuum
filters.

They are also either continuous or

discontinuous, depending on whether the
removal of filtered solids is steady or intermittent.

The bed depth increase over the course of

filtration.

The cake voidage can stay constant

(incompressible cake) or decrease with
increasing bed depth (compressible cake)
The most important factors on which the rate of filtration then

depends will be:

 The drop in pressure from the feed to the far side of the filter

medium.

 The area of the filtering surface.

 The viscosity of the filtrate.

 The resistance of the filter cake.

 The resistance of the filter medium and initial layers of cake.

From a practical standpoint, Rm is empirical for the given filter

The flux through the filter cake is exactly the same as through

the medium.

After filtration gets started, Rm << Rc, usually.

Factors Affecting the Rate of Filtration

1. Permeability coefficient:

• The constant (K) represents the resistance of both the filter medium and

the filter cake.

As the thickness of the cake increase, the rate of filtration will decrease.

The surface area of the particles, the porosity of the cake, and rigidity or

compressibility of the particles could affect the permeability of the cake.

2. Area of filter medium:

The total volume of filtrate flowing from the filter will be proportional to the

area of the filter.

• The area can be increased by using larger filters.

• In the rotary drum filter, the continuous removal of the filter cake will

give an infinite area for filtration.

3. Pressure drop: The rate of filtration is proportional to the

• pressure difference across both the filter medium and filter cake.

The pressure drop can be achieved in a number of ways:

–Gravity: A pressure difference could be obtained by maintaining a head of

slurry above the filter medium. The pressure developed will depend on the
density of the slurry.

–Vacuum: The pressure below the filter medium may be reduced below
atmospheric pressure by connecting the filtrate receiver to a vacuum pump and
creating a pressure difference across the filter.

–Pressure: The simplest method being to pump the slurry into the filter under
pressure.

–Centrifugal force: The gravitational force could be replaced by centrifugal force

4. Viscosity of filtrate;

• It would be expected that an increase in the viscosity of the filtrate will

increase the resistance of flow, so that the rate of filtration is inversely

proportional to the viscosity of the fluid.

This problem can be overcome by two methods:

 raising the temperature of the liquid, which lowers its viscosity.

 Dilution.

5. Thickness of filter cake;

• The rate of flow of the filtrate through the filter cake is inversely

proportional to thickness of the cake. Preliminary decantation may be

Filters are divided into three main groups:-

• Cake filters: separates relatively large amounts of solid as a

cake of crystals or sludge, including provisions of washing the

cake and for removing some of the liquids from the solids

before discharge.

• Clarifying filters: remove small amounts of solids to produce

a clean gas or a sparkling clear liquids such as beverage.

• Cross flow filters: the feed suspension flows under pressure at

a fairly high velocity across the filter medium.

Two basic types of filtration processes may be identified:-

Cake filtration:-

• The particles from the suspension, which usually has a

high proportion of solids, are deposited on the

surface of a porous septum which should ideally
offer only a small resistance to flow.

• As the solids build up on the septum, the initial layers

form the effective filter medium, preventing the

particles from embedding themselves in the filter
cloth, and ensuring that a particle-free filtrate is
obtained.
Depth or deep-bed filtration,

• The particles penetrate into the pores of the filter medium, where
impacts between the particles and the surface of the medium are
largely responsible for their removal and retention.

• This configuration is commonly used for the removal of fine particles

from very dilute suspensions, where the recovery of the particles is not
of primary importance.

• The filter bed gradually becomes clogged with particles, and its
resistance to flow eventually reaches an unacceptably high level. For
this reason, the filter commonly consists of a bed of particulate solids,
such as sand, which can be cleaned by back-flushing, often
accompanied by fluidization.
 Principles of Cake Filtration
Cake filtration is a special example of flow through porous media in
which the resistances increase with time as the filter medium becomes
clogged or a filter cake builds up.

• The most important parameters are flow rate and pressure drop.

• As time passes during filtration, either the flow rate diminishes or

the pressure drop rises.

• Constant Pressure Filtration:- the pressure drop is held constant

and the flow rate allowed to fall with time. (less commonly used).

• Constant Rate Filtration:- the pressure drop is progressively

increased at constant flow rate.
In cake filtration, the liquid passes through two

resistances in series

• The cake &

• The filter medium

• The filter medium resistance is normally important

only during the early stage of cake filtration.

• The cake resistance is zero at the start and increases

• If the cake is washed after it is filtered, both resistances are

constant during the washing period and that of the filter medium is

usually negligible.

• The overall pressure drop at any time is the sum of the pressure

drops over medium and cake.

• If Pa is the inlet pressure, Pb is the outlet pressure, and P’ the

pressure at the boundary between cake and medium.

 Pressure Drop Through Filter Cake:-
First consider a thin layer of thickness dL lying in the cake
at a distance L from the medium
In a filter bed the velocity is sufficiently low to ensure
laminar flow. So, from the Ergun equation:-

Substituting
 Often the pressure drop is expressed as a function of the
surface-volume ratio instead of the particle size:

The linear velocity u is given by the equation,

The volume of solids in the layer is A(1 - ε)dL,
and if ρp is the density of the particles, the mass
dm of solids in the layer is:-

Elimination of dL from previous equation

Where k1 is used in place of 4.17

Compressible and Incompressible Filter Cakes:
• In the filtration under low pressure drops of
slurries containing rigid uniform particles, all
factors on the right hand side of the previous
equation except m are independent of L, and the
equation is integrable directly, over the thickness
of the cake. If mc is the total mass of solids in
the cake, the result is;

Where ∆pc= incompressible cake

Where

In terms of the particle size Dp and new coefficient K2

Filter Medium Resistance:

A filter medium resistance Rm can be defined by analogy with the
cake resistance the equation is:-
• The filter medium resistance Rm may vary
with:-
• The pressure drop, since the higher liquid
velocity caused by a large pressure drop may
force additional particles of solid into the filter
medium.
• Age and cleanliness of the filter medium.
• Finally we can obtain that:-
In using the above equation, it is convenient to replace u, the linear velocity of the filtrate and
mc, the total mass of solid in the cake, by functions of V , the total volume of filtrate collected
to time t.
 • Substituting u and mc:

Constant Pressure Filtration:-

When ΔP is constant, the only variables in the above equation
are V and t, when t=0, V=0 and ΔP= ΔPm; hence

From previous equation

Integrating between the limits (0,0)
and (t,V) gives:

• Thus a plot of t/V vs V will be linear,

with a slop equal to Kc/2 and an
intercept of 1/qo. From such a plot,
the values of alpha and Rm can be
obtained.
 Empirical equation for cake resistance
By conducting constant pressure experiments at varies pressure drops,
the variation of α with ΔP may be found.
If α is independent of ΔP, the sludge is incompressible.
Ordinarily α increases with ΔP, as most sludges are at least to some
extent compressible.

Where s=compressibility coefficient of the cake

= 0 (for incompressible sludges)
= +ve (for compressible cake)
Incompressible Cake

• Therefore, the pressure drop versus liquid flow relationship

is described by the Ergun equation.

• Since the particles forming the filter cake are normally

small and the rate of flow of filtrate low, we can safely

assume that the flow of filtrate through the cake is laminar.

• This implies that the turbulent term in Ergun equation will

vanish and the Ergun equation will reduce to Kozeny

So the above equation becomes
If V is the volume of filtrate passed in a time t
and dV/dt is the instantaneous volumetric flow
rate of filtrate at time t, then:

Each unit volume of filtrate is assumed to deposit a certain mass

of particles, which form a certain volume of cake. This is
expressed as ф, the volume of cake formed by the passage of
unit volume of filtrate.

By substituting equation, this equation can be expressed as,

 Constant rate filtration
If the filtration rate dV/dt is constant, then the
pressure drop across the filter cake will increase
in direct proportion to the volume of filtrate
passed V.
Constant Pressure drop filtration
If (-∆P) is constant then, integrating equation;

Where
 The total resistance to flow is the sum of the
resistance of the cake and the filter medium.
Hence,

If the medium is assumed to behave as a

packed bed of depth Hm and resistance rm
obeying the Carman–Kozeny equation, then
 The medium resistance is usually expressed as the
equivalent thickness of cake Heq

Rearranging the equation gives

Substituting these in to equation
Considering operation at constant pressure drop,
which is the most common case, integrating this
equation gives;

Considering operation at constant pressure drop, which is

the most common case, integrating Equation gives

the slope of

intercept of
 Problem
A leaf filter has an area of 0.5 m 2 and operates at
a constant pressure drop of 500 kPa. The
following test results were obtained for a slurry
in water which gave rise to a filter cake regarded
as incompressible:

Calculate the time need to collect 0.8m3 of filtrate at a constant pressure drop of 700 kPa
For filtration at constant pressure drop a plot of
t/V versus V a straight line;
Using the data given in the question:
 From the plot
slope= 4000 s/m6
intercept =1000 s/m

which, with A = 0:5 m2 and ∆P= 500× 103 Pa,

gives rcᲶμ = 1 × 109 Pa s.m2
and Veq = 0.125 m3

which applies to the filtration of the same slurry in the same filter at
any pressure drop. (a) To calculate the time required to pass 0.8 m 3
of filtrate at a pressure drop of 700 kPa, we substitute V = 0.8 m 3
and and ∆P= 700× 103 Pa in the above equation, giving t = 2400 s or
40 min
Washing the Cake
The solid particles separated by filtration often
must be washed to remove filtrate from the
pores. There are two processes involved in
washing. Much of the filtrate occupying the voids
between particles may be removed by
displacement as clean solvent is passed through
the cake. Removal of filtrate held in less
accessible regions of the cake and from pores in
the particles takes place by diffusion into