Filtration in a Centrifuge

The removal of a liquid from slurry by introducing the slurry into a rapidly rotating basket,

where the solids are retained on a porous screen and the liquid is forced out of the cake by the

centrifugal action is called Centrifugal filtration. Centrifugal Filtration tends to be used when

the solids content in the liquid-solid slurry is relatively low.

The filtration medium may be of woven screens, fabric, non-woven fabric, paper, or a porous

membrane. The configuration may locate the medium in a plate-and-frame apparatus, on

horizontal plates, as circular or flat cartridges, as a belt, as a rotary drum, or as the wall of a

centrifuge. Granular beds are also sometimes used for filtration.

There are three basic types of filtration.

1. Cake filtration. The solids build up on the surface of the filter medium and form a cake of

steadily increasing thickness. This cake actually becomes the filter. A filter aid (e.g.,

diatomaceous earth) may be added to enhance the filtration. However it must be removed from

time to time as the pressure drop becomes excessive (Hayes K, 2001).

2. Cross-flow membrane filtration. The feed is passed through a membrane or bed, where the

solids being trapped in the filter and the filtrate being released at the other end(Hayes K, 2001).

When filtration is carried out in a centrifuge, it is necessary to use perforated bowl to permit

remove of the filtrate. The driving force is the centrifugal pressure due to the liquid and

suspended solids. The resulting force must overcome friction caused by the flow of liquid

through the filter cake, the cloth and the supporting gauze and perforation. The resistance of the
filter cake will increase as solid or deposited but other resistance will remain constant through

the process.

It is important to know when to remove the filter cake thus a relationship between the filter cake

thickness and time must be establish. To do this consider a filtration in a bowl of radius R and

the suspension is introduced as such a rate that the inner radius of the liquid surface remaining

constant, then at some time t after the beginning of filtration, a filter cake of thickness l will have

been built up and the radius of the inter face between the cake and the suspension will be r`.

Filtration in a Centrifuge Retrieve from

Coulson Vol. 2
If dP’ is the pressure difference cross a small thickness dl of cake, the velocity of flow of a the

filtrate is given:
r = specific resistance of the filter cake µ=
viscosity of the filtrate dV =
Eq ........ volume of filtrate flowing through the filter cake

If the centrifugal force is large compared with the gravitational force, the filtrate will flow in an

approximately radial direction, and will be evenly distributed over the axial length of the bowl.

sub in Eq
If the resistance of the cloth is negligible, -ΔP’ is equal to the centrifugal pressure. More

generally, if the cloth (considered together with the supporting wall of the basket) is equivalent

in resistance to a cake of thickness L, situated at the wall of the basket, the pressure drop –ΔP``

across the cloth is given by:

Thus the total pressure across the filter cake and the cloth (-∆P) is given by:

Before this equation can be integrated it is necessary to establish the relation between r` and V. If

ν is the bulk volume of incompressible cake deposited by the passage of unit volume of filtrate:

Substituting for dV/dt in the total pressure equation and rearrange and integrate between the limit

r`=R and r`=r` as t goes from 0 to t. -∆P is constant because the inner radius r0 of the liquid is

maintained constant:

From the above equation the corresponding volume of cake is given by:
Hayes K Q (2001 July) ‘Process Filtration: Characterizing Fluids & Medium Selection’,

Chemical Engineering p.72-78.

Duffy J (2003 June) ‘Putting Crossflow Filtration to the Test’, Chemical Engineering p.35-41.