
The filter press is used for separation of liquids and solids. The main goals of the filter press technology is slurry dewatering – sludge dewatering or slurry purification depends on application by application. The filter press has ancient origins but is still a modern technology used on many industrial and environmental applications. Filter press technology has been improved over time due to the development of new technological materials and automation systems.
How does a filter press work?
The filter press working principle consists of feeding a slurry by pumps inside many filtration chambers. Every filtration chamber has two main elements consisting of filter press plates and cloths. These retain the solid phase inside the filter press filtration chambers and allow the liquid phase to be discharged outside from the filter press filtration chamber.
When the filter press filtration chambers are full of solids, the filter press filtration cycle is completed. Then the filter press opens all the filtration chambers in order to discharge the dry filtered cakes and begin a new filtration cycle.
However, if filter press membrane plates are installed it is possible to have more filtration steps. In this case the filter press is called a membrane filter press.
When membrane plates are installed on the filter press it is possible to make filtration step like cake washing, drying and squeezing. These additional filtration steps improve the filter press dewatering performance.
The complete filtration process can be managed by the filter press in fully automatic mode by a PLC or manually, depending on the filter press model selected.