Fiber Filter II

February 5, 1999                                                                                                                                                                                                    ISSUE #90

After a year of testing, Vincent Corporation has gained a great deal of confidence in the Fiber Filter. It is a unique filtering machine that has broader market application than our traditional screw presses, dryers, and shredders. Once the newness is overcome, it is easier to sell.

The best place to test a Fiber Filter is where a centrifuge is being used. If the Fiber Filter works, it is a sure sale because its total cost is less than the routine maintenance of a centrifuge. There are applications in both fruits and meats where the performance of the Fiber Filter beats that of a centrifuge.

Another ready market for Fiber Filter is where the flow to be filtered tends to blind existing static or rotary drum screens. These traditional screens are very economical to acquire and operate. However they have been put into many applications where they are only marginal performers. The Fiber Filter not only features non-blinding characteristics but it also offers finer filtration.

Here is how a Fiber Filter works. A flow containing suspended solids is pumped into a fabric sleeve. The sleeves offered have hole sizes ranging from 0.001 to 0.006", which is finer than is available in metal screens. Normally a fabric with holes this small would rapidly become blinded by the solids being filtered from the liquid stream. This problem is overcome in the Fiber Filter by vibrating the fabric at high frequency. The vibration is induced by (a) tensioning the filter sleeves with a pair of springs and (b) a high speed rotor inside the sleeve induces pulse waves in the fluid being filtered. These pulses of liquid make the filter sleeve vibrate.

The whirling rotor also has flights to push the solids toward the sludge discharge end of the machine. At the same time the pulsing forces filtered liquid through the fabric.

Applications which promise success include:

• Cleaning press liquor from a screw press.
• Filtering waste water ahead of a treatment plant at vegetable, meat and fish processors.
• Concentrating a dilute flow of suspended solids so that the solids can be further dewatered in a screw press.
• Filtering a flow ahead of an evaporator so as to reduce evaporator fouling and to improve heat transfer efficiency.
• Removing water from spent grain at breweries, distilleries, and ethanol plants.
• Separating whey from milk in a cheese factory.
• Finishing fruit juices.
• Thickening good fiber by filtering out the ink, ash (clay) and water in a paper recycling operation.
• Removing fiber from black liquor ahead of the evaporators in a virgin fiber paper mill.

Because of the newness of this technology, we do not expect a firm to buy a Fiber Filter without first testing it. For that purpose a rental fleet is available. The small FF-6 rents for $200/week; the FF-12 for $350. The customer must also pay the freight to and from the test site.