Patent ID: 6416665
Filing Date: 2002-07-09
Classification: B01D

Abstract:
A filtration apparatus comprising:a hollow body defining a chamber; a filter element concentrically housed in the chamber, said filter element including a support and a membrane attached to said support, said filter element having a cross flow side and a filtrate side; a space between said hollow body and said filter element; a drive mechanism coupled to said filter element and causing rotation thereof; at least one inlet port communicating with the chamber for ingress of suspension to be filtered and at least one outlet port communicating with the chamber for egress of concentrate; a turbulent flow path from the inlet port across the cross flow side of the filter element to the outlet port such that filtrate from the suspension passes through the filter element to the filtrate side and remaining concentrate passes out the outlet port; and a filtrate port communicating with the filtrate side of the filter element for removal of filtrate from the apparatus; wherein the space and rotation are selected to produce turbulent flow in the chamber, said membrane is formed as a composite structure having a number of layers, and a pore size of each layer increases from the cross flow side of the membrane to the filtrate side.