Ecc International Limited

Lawrence E Broxton

Gary L Cobb

Michael W Ginn

Kelly R McNeely

Apparatus for filtering mineral slurries

Method for filtering mineral slurries

An improvement is disclosed which is applicable to the method for filtering an aqueous mineral slurry by flowing the slurry through a ceramic filter plate which is characterized by a porous support layer and an overlying porous filtration layer, the pore sizes in said filtration layer being in the range of from about 1 to 3 .mu.m, and the flow through the filter plate being from the filter layer side toward the base layer, and being effected by establishing a fluid pressure differential across the said filter plate by applying suction to the the porous support layer. The improvement facilitates effective discharge of the filter cake from the plate which accumulates upon the porous filtration layer. According to such improvement the suction is extinguished and the support layer side of the plate is subjected to one ore more positive water pressure pulses to effect a transient reverse flow through the plate. Via the uniform pore structure this generates a uniform back pressure and a lubricating film of water at the interface between the filtration layer and the filter cake. Oscillations or vibrations are applied to the surface of the porous filtration layer to facilitate separation of the filter cake.

An apparatus for filtering slurries of minerals or other fine particles is disclosed. The apparatus includes a ceramic filter plate and a fluid flow device for drawing a partial vacuum across said filter plate and to supply a pulsed liquid to the filtrate side of said filter plate. The apparatus also includes an oscillating device that facilitates removal of cake which accumulates on the filter plate when sued simultaneously with or successively with said pulsed liquid.

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Sandersville, GA, United States of America

Lawrence E Broxton