Larox DS Series Automatic Pressure Filter Is Totally Enclosed And Hygenic
02 March 2005
The Larox DS Series filter is a totally enclosed design of automatic pressure filter that utilizes a unique polypropylene plate design to enable filtration of difficult materials in a contained cleanable environment. The success of the filter is a result of the design of the filter chamber. Each chamber has a filtrate collector plate on both sides, each covered with a section of the endless PP or PES filter cloth. This allows double sided (DS) filtration as the filter cake forms on both the upper and lower sides of the chamber as the slurry is fed into the chamber between the cloth. After successful filtration, the cake washing and subsequent squeezing and blowing can be configured to provide the optimum product.
Several different washing options are available with the Larox DS Series including slurry channel washing, corner channel washing and counter-flow washing. This ensures the best wash result with the least amount of wash liquid and is optimized to the product. The most difficult washing requirements can therefore be carried out at low cost.
The high squeezing pressures used after washing lead to lower residual moistures compared to other filtration processes. Combined with high pressure blowing air during the squeezing the residual moisture can be reduced even further.
The filtration chamber design is also perfectly suitable for slurries that filter slowly. By using both chamber sides to build up the cake it reduces the plate requirement as thinner cakes build on double the surface area. The horizontal alignment of the filter plates ensures an even cake build-up and, thanks to this even cake structure, optimum conditions are created for subsequent process steps.
The filter cloth discharges all the cakes to the same side of the filter. At the same time, the integrated cloth-washing device cleans the filter cloth with high-pressure water preventing the cloth from blinding and ensuring consistent filtration conditions.
The Larox DS Series filter can be configured for hygienic processes and can also be made totally Gas Tight to operate under an inert nitrogen atmosphere for solvent wetted processes. For foodstuffs and pharmaceutical intermediates a full CPI (clean-in-place) systems is a standard feature and ensures total cleaning of all parts of the filter, including both sides of the filter cloth.
Applications include intermediate pharmaceuticals, fermentation broths, enzymes, yeasts, foodstuffs and fine & specialty chemicals.
