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Dewatering Equipment & Filter Presses

What is a Filter Press?

What is a Filter Press?

Filter Press History

A filter press is a piece of equipment that separates liquids and solids. Specifically, the filter press separates the liquids and solids using pressure filtration across a filter media. Afterwards, the slurry is pumps into the filter press and is dewaters under pressure.

Basically, the filter press design is based on the dewatering volume and type of slurry.  ChemREADY is an expert in liquid and solid separation and offers a wide range of filter press types and capacities to suit specific application needs for trouble-free, economical dewatering.

The four main components of a filter press:

  • Frame
  • Filter Plates
  • Manifold (piping and valves)
  • Filter Cloth (This is key for optimizing filter press operations.)

How does a Filter Press Work?

During the fill cycle, the slurry pumps into the filter press and distributes evenly during the fill cycle. Solids build up on the filter cloth, forming the filter cake in the void volume of the plate. The filtrate, or clean water, exits the filter plates through the ports and discharges clean water out the side of the plates.

Filter presses are a pressure filtration method. As the filter press feed pump builds pressure, the solids build within the chambers until they are completely full of solids. This forms the cake. The filter cakes release when the plates are full, and the cycle is complete. Also, many higher capacity filter presses use fast action automatic plate shifters which speeding cycle time. Matec specifically designs their filter presses for fully automatic, 24-hour operation in a harsh environment such as mines or chemical manufacturing plants for wastewater treatment.

How does a filter press work

Filter Press Applications

Filter presses can be built in a wide range of sizes, from small, lab-scale presses, to those with much larger capacities, such as those with 2000×2000 mm plates. Many industries use filter presses for liquid and solid separation, including:

  • food and beverage processing
  • chemical manufacturing
  • mining
  • power generation
  • aggregates
  • asphalt and cement production
  • steel mills
  • municipal plants

Customizing A Filter Press for Your Application Needs

The industry, application, and operational considerations will guide specifics such as:

  • the overall design
  • filtration capacity
  • number of chambers
  • filter plate size
  • materials of construction

The design of a filter press depends on a host of factors such as:

  • filtration cycle time
  • cake dryness required
  • cloth life
  • either manual or automated plate shifting
  • and many other factors

A customer is also able to add features/systems such as:

  • automatic plate shifters
  • cloth washing system
  • drip trays
  • cake shields
  • safety light curtains