Customer Case: Upgrade of High-Viscosity Material Filtration System for a Large Chemical Enterprise
Project Background
A large-scale fine chemical enterprise in East China mainly engages in the research and production of special resins and polymer materials. On one of the core production lines of this enterprise, the intermediate material - a polymer solution in a high-temperature molten state - needs to be filtered precisely before entering the next reaction process. This material is in a semi-solid state at room temperature, with extremely high viscosity and a freezing point of approximately 75℃. The actual filtration temperature needs to be maintained between 85-90℃.
Before the renovation, the enterprise used a common bag-type filter combined with external heating pipes for processing. However, this solution had a series of long-term unresolved problems: the uneven external heating led to lower temperatures in some parts of the filter, causing the material to crystallize and clog on the filter surface frequently. The filtration pressure difference rose rapidly, and the equipment usually needed to be shut down and the filter bags replaced within less than 2 hours; each time the filter bags were replaced, workers had to open the top cover of the filter, clean the lumpy filter cake in a high-temperature environment, which was labor-intensive and posed a risk of burns; frequent shutdowns for replacement not only led to low production efficiency but also caused a large amount of material waste. The daily downtime due to the filtration process on a single production line accumulated to over 4 hours.
Solution
After conducting technical research, the enterprise introduced one of our jacketed candle-type filters. The key configurations are as follows:
During the installation and commissioning stage, our engineers connected the jacketed inlet and outlet to the existing heat transfer oil circulation system of the customer to ensure uniform heating of the inner wall of the cylinder. At the same time, the bottom pneumatic discharge valve was linked to the PLC system in the customer's central control room to achieve automatic discharge and backwashing functions at regular intervals. The filter element adopts a duplex structure - the inner layer is a SS304 metal mesh cylinder providing rigidity support, and the outer layer is wrapped with polyester filter cloth as the main filtering layer, balancing mechanical strength and filtration accuracy.
Operation results
After the equipment was put into operation, immediate effects were achieved:
The jacketed constant temperature structure ensures that the internal temperature of the cylinder is always stable at 87±2℃, completely eliminating local cold areas, and the material maintains good fluidity throughout the filtration cycle. The reasonable layout of the filter spacing of 140mm ensures uniform material distribution and balanced load on each filter element. As of now, the single filtration cycle has been extended from the original less than 2 hours to over 48 hours, and the rise rate of the filtration pressure has significantly slowed down.
The 5μm filtration accuracy effectively removes catalyst residues, gel particles, and mechanical impurities from the polymer solution, and the transmittance of the filtered liquid has increased from the original 78% to over 95%, fully meeting the strict requirements of the downstream reaction process for the purity of raw materials.
Since there is no need to frequently shut down for filter bag replacement, the effective production time of this production line has increased by 4.5 hours per day, and the monthly output has increased by approximately 18%. At the same time, the automatic pneumatic discharge valve realizes the fully automated discharge process, and each discharge only takes 30 seconds to complete, with thorough discharge and no residue.
The SS304 stainless steel filter element has high mechanical strength and corrosion resistance, and the replacement cost of the filter material is much lower than the frequent consumption of bag-type filter bags. According to statistics, the cost of filter material consumption has decreased by approximately 65% compared to before the renovation. Workers no longer need to manually dismantle and clean the hot materials. The operational safety has been fundamentally improved. The number of on-site operators has been reduced from 3 per shift to 1 (acting as a supervisor).
Customer feedback
The production manager of the enterprise stated during the project acceptance: "The introduction of this jacketed candle-type filter has completely solved the problem of filtering high-viscosity materials that has plagued us for many years. Previously, we had to spend a lot of manpower and time dealing with clogged filter bags and replacing them every day. Now the equipment runs automatically, and the workers only need to monitor the parameters in the control room. The most crucial point is that production no longer stops due to the filtration process, and the continuous operation level of the entire production line has reached a new high."
Summary
This case fully demonstrates the outstanding advantages of the jacketed candle-type filter in the filtration scenarios of high-viscosity and easily-crystallizing materials. The jacketed constant-temperature design ensures the fluidity of the materials, combined with the large filtration area, the high-strength support of the stainless steel filter element, and the automated discharge system, this equipment can achieve long-term stable operation under harsh conditions, helping customers significantly improve production efficiency, reduce operating costs, and improve working environment. Currently, this enterprise has planned to replicate and promote this solution in another two similar production lines.