Patent ID: 6165365
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: B01D

Abstract:
A method for operating a rotary filtration apparatus which includes rotating about an axis, a stack of membrane packs that have rotating pack surfaces and that lie within a container, while maintaining a stack of substantially stationary separator elements so each of said separator elements lies between a pair of said membrane packs, and with each element having element surfaces, with said packs and elements leaving gaps between said rotating pack surfaces and said element surfaces, including a first gap between a first rotating pack surface of a first of said membrane packs and a first element surface of a first of said elements, and feeding a feed fluid that is to be separated into permeate and concentrate into said container to lie in said gaps, comprising:flowing some of said feed fluid at least partially radially inwardly along inward paths that lie in said first gap and that lie adjacent to locations on said first element, with substantially all of the feed fluid that lies adjacent to said first element and in said first gap flowing with a radially inward directional component rather than radially outwardly;flowing some of said feed fluid at least partially radially outwardly along outward paths that lie in said first gap and that lie adjacent to said rotating pack surface of said first membrane pack, with substantially all of the feed fluid that lies adjacent to said rotating pack surface and in said first gap flowing with a radially outwardly directional component rather than radially inwardly, while flowing some of the permeate from said feed fluid into said first membrane pack and from it into a permeate conduit, where at least some of said inward and outward paths lie at substantially the same locations over said first element; andflowing a portion of said feed fluid that has flowed both radially inwardly and radially outwardly along said inward and outward paths within said first gap, into a feed conduit that connects to a plurality of said gaps.