Leaf Filter Press

Flores, Dharyl Martin, Alvin Mar Tagalog, Shaira

 Leaf Filter Press
• It consists of flat elements called
leaves, stacked inside a vertical
or horizontal pressure vessel.
• This was developed for larger
volumes of slurry and more
efficient washing.
• They are applied for slurries with
very low solids content of 1 to 5
%.
 Filter Elements
• Each leaf has a centrally located
neck at its bottom which is
inserted into a manifold that
collects the filtrate.
• The leaf is constructed with ribs
on both sides to allow free flow
of filtrate towards the neck and
is covered with coarse mesh
screens that support the finer
woven metal screens or filter
cloth that retain the cake.
 Operational Sequence

Precoating Heel Cake Cake

Filtration
(Optional) Removal Drying Discharge
 Operational Sequence
• When the contaminants are gelatinous
Precoating and sticky, the precoat layer forms a
barrier that avoids cloth binding.
• Slurry is pumped into the filter, the
forming cake is retained on the leaves
Filtration
and the filtrate flows to further
processing.
• Air or gas is blown into the vessel and
the slurry heel that surrounds the
Heel
leaves is pushed and displaced
Removal
downwards until it reaches the lowest
part of the leaf stack.
• The air then continues to pass through
Cake the cake until the captive moisture is
Drying reduced to a minimum and the cake is
in practical terms considered to be dry.

• Air pressure is released, the cake

Cake
outlet is opened and the leaf stack is
Discharge
vibrated to discharge the cake
Leaf Filter Press Equipment
Specifications
Pressure Vessel Configuration

Horizontal
Pressure Leaf
Filter (HPLF)

Vertical
Pressure Leaf
Filter (VPLF)
 Leaf Filter Press
(1) “Verti-jet” Pressure Leaf Filter

 Rectangular leaves fit

vertically into a discharge
manifold at the bottom of
the tank.
 Leaf Filter Press
(2) “Auto-jet” Pressure Leaf Filter
 the premium self-cleaning leaf filter designed for efficient filtration in
the most severe applications
 a horizontal pressure leaf filter with vertical leaves on a center filtrate
shaft
 Standard Sizes - ranging from 50-2000 ft2 for a variety of applications
including sanitary design
Materials of Construction steel, stainless, monel, nickel,
Hastelloy™, and other metals
Maximum Flow 3000 gallons/min
Minimum Flow 50 gallons/min
Maximum Pressure 500 psi
Minimum Pressure 50 psi
 Leaf Filter Press: Materials of Construction
(3) “Filtra Matic” Pressure Leaf Filter

 suited to filtration needs involving very large volumes of

liquid and heavy, bulky cakes that can be more easily
removed with a dry cake discharge operation
 Available options range from 100 to 3,000 ft2 of surface area
 has been successfully operating in many segments of the
food and beverage industry such as beer, sugar, gelatin,
sweeteners and edible oil production
Leaf Filters

Advantages
Easily accessible for manual
cleaning
Have lower operating costs
compared to plate and frame
presses
Cost Effective
Low retention of mother liquor in
dry cake.
Saves Manpower & Time.
When efficient washing is
required, a leaf filter is effective,
because very thin cakes can be
prepared and the risk of
channeling during washing is
reduced to a minimum.
well suited for handling
flammable, toxic and corrosive
materials
Leaf Filters

Advantages Disadvantages
No spillage or loss of • High headroom is required for
filtering liquid due to dismantling the leaves on
completely closed filter vertical vessels.
body. • Large floor space is required for
discharging the cake on
AND safe operating horizontal vessels.
condition at higher
temperature • Requires close monitoring.
(emptying in between cake
filtration, washing and drying.)
 Applications
Oil Winterizing
• The oil is precooled in heat exchangers
• Filter aid is added just before the first
crystallizer, and the oil is cooled very slowly, in a
minimum of 6 hours, a prerequisite for gentle
crystallization;
• The crystallized oil stays 6 hours in the
maturator, at final cooling temperature;
• The oil is then filtered in horizontal hermetic leaf
filters, generally precoated with filter aid. The oil
temperature is often raised just before filtration,
to reduce viscosity and hence facilitate filtration.
 Applications

FRUIT JUICES
- Done after crushing frozen or
fresh fruit.
- A clarification step
 Applications

 DYE AND PLASTICIZER

PRODUCTION
- high-quality dyes and pigments
are used in the pharmaceutical
and cosmetics industries.
- The production of these
materials requires efficient filter
systems for essential process
steps such as filtration, washing
and pre-drying
 Applications
• EDIBLE OIL INDUSTRY: Bleached
,winterized , Deodorized , Hydrogenated
Fractionized oils, Dewaxing, Catalyst,
Mineral oil, Sulphur.  Esterification
• BEVERAGE INDUSTRY : For Glucose,
 Herbal Extraction Plants
fruit Juices, cold drinks, sugar, vinegar.  Micronutrient Recovery
• CHEMICAL INDUSTRY : For Organic &  Essential Oil Distillation
Inorganic salts , dyes, chemicals,  High Vacuum Separation by
plasticizers Molecular Distillation
• PHARMA INDUSTRY : For  Lube Oil Refining
Pharmaceutical intermediates, syrup,
bulk drugs, antibiotics, intravenous
solutions.
• PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY : Crude
oil, LPG, lubricating oil, sulphur.