There are lots of different filtration devices, and they all serve the same triple function. They separate liquids from solids, dry the solid for easier disposal, and clean the fluid for recycling or disposal. The drier the solid cake is, the cheaper it is to get rid of, so filtration systems cut costs while improving environmental protection.
Our vacuumatic filtration system operates under highvacumes. It’s a flatbed high flow filtration system, which means the machine is based on a level filtration surface for maximum filtration area and maximum flow. At the upper end of this flatbed filter, there’s a large open-air chamber coupled to our multi stage centrifugal exhausters. A conveyor belt supporting a filtration medium creates a liquid reservoir sealing the lower air vacume chamber, which sucks fluid through the belt at an incredible high flow rate into the collection plenum and gravity fed or pumped back to the process.
Liquids pass through the machine at a high flow rate of 6,000 litres per minute. Smaller systems as low as 100Lpm and larger systems 18,000Lpm are also available. The conveyor belt is made of a special section heavy duty stainless steel material and designed to maximise the open filtration area and also support the disposable filtration media as light as 100micron and heavy as 2micron. This membrane has an automated function. As soon as it’s saturated or blocked from particulate, the filter system indexes, advancing the membrane into a collection waste bin and replacing it with a clean length of filter media. To increase its efficacy, the new filter media is pre-coated with dirty liquid to build a filter cake and improve filtration down to 2 microns. This allows more open filter media at a cheaper cost to be used for finer filtration.
At the top of the Hoffman Flatbed Vacuumatic, the exhaust air passes over the liquid pond pushing floating contaminants to the dirty spent filter media before existing the filter. Ensuring unwanted floating oils and tramp oils etc. don’t float onto the clean filter media and bind up or blind the filter media causing inefficiency to occur with filtration. Below the filter, air is sucked at high pressure, created a vacuum that draws liquid through the filter medium and leaving solids on the filter belt as a cake.
The cake is further dried by a burst of air. This blows off as much liquid as possible so that the liquid isn’t wasted. The drier cake product is now easier to get rid of, because it can be dumped in a solid waste receptacle without worrying about liquid contamination. The cleaned liquid is also exposed to high-volumes of air reducing biological contamination forming in rancid environments.
If the filtered liquid isn’t exposed to air, bacteria can grow within the cleaned liquid, and this can turn it rancid. Air is therefore a crucial step when cleaning coolants. The flatbed contains a digital read-out to guide the process and determine when new filtration media should be introduced. And since the Vacuumatic filtration system is continuous, it minimises downtime.
Used media and dried cake are automatically ejected, so you don’t have to stop to extract the cake or replace the filter. Dirty liquid also flows into the machine automatically via a pump. This continuous movement is pressure based. When the chamber hits pre-set pressure, the filter is replaced, the cake is released, and more dirty water is drawn into the chamber.
Interfil vacuumatic filtration systems are fully local. They are designed, patented, and manufactured right here in Australia, so if you have any challenges using them, you can get in touch with our production and maintenance team. The equipment is built using either stainless steel or carbon steel. This ensures the machinery is sturdy, lightweight, rust-resistant, and immune to corrosion.
For more information about industrial filtration, wastewater disposal, and other industrial equipment, call Interfil today on 02 9533 4433.
Also Read This: