One improvement over the standard design of ceramic vacuum filter is to use serialized pore size distributions of non-fibrous porous ceramic filters. The porosity of this type of ceramic can be varied from 20% to 60% by volume, which allows a low-pressure drop of liquid and gas flow. Custom sizes from 1 mm diameter/0.5 mm bore of porous ceramic filters are available for a range of designs. A non-fibrous porous ceramic filter is more resistant in alkaline and acidic conditions compared to fibrous ceramic filters. Thus, it has a longer service life as it has good wearing and erosion resistance as well as being able to withstand high temperatures.
Another improvement is applied at the regeneration stage when the residual filter cake is removed by back-flushing the clean plant water to wash the internal ceramic filter. Filter cake dewatering of ceramic filters produces low final cake moistures at minimum operation and maintenance costs. The residuals moisture are removed from the filter cake due to capillary action within the ceramic elements, which rotate above the slurry level. This process gives maximum filtration, and the final cake can be maintained at the lowest moisture content due to the effective cleaning of both ceramic sectors. In addition, performance can be optimized by using an ultrasonic cleaning system to achieve efficient operation conditions for regeneration of plates. The use of filtrate in looped water cycle in the design operation can reduce the water consumption up to 30-50%. High filtrate purity can be obtained, as there is only 0.001-0.005 g/L solids in the filtrate produced from this process. This eventually results in the reduction of polymer flocculant consumption in thickeners.
Ceramic scraper knives have been introduced to this design as they are able to shave through the mass formed in filter cake dewatering. The remaining layer of solid residue on the filter provides protection from mechanical abrasion. Therefore, the maintenance costs can be reduced while the service life of the ceramic filter increases.