Louisiana Chemical Equipment Company is one of the nation's largest dealers of used, unused and reconditioned filtration equipment for the basic chemical, fine and specialty chemical, pharmaceutical, polymer, fertilizer, dyes and pigments, food and beverage, food processing, dairy, brewing, wine and spirits, coffee, beef and poultry processing, edible oils, sugar, fishmeal, rendering, waste water, and environmental remediation. LCEC has an extensive inventory of vacuum, alloy (stainless, hastelloy, titanium, monel, alloy 20, and inconel) or poly, continuous or batch filtration equipment. Inventory is available around the world and is ready for fast delivery.We can supply auto-jet, basket, belt press, cartridge, DAF, hydrosieve, nutsche, reverse osmosis, plate & frame (filter press), pressure leaf, screw press, strainer, vacuum belt, vacuum pan, vacuum rotary disc, and vacuum rotary drum types.


Manufacturers including: Alloy Fab, Ametek, AMF, Aquafine, Ashbrook, Augerot, Baker Hughes, Beckart, Bethlehem, BHS Fest Filter, Cambridge, Carter Day, Chemap Ltd, CMR, Delaval, Dorr Oliver, Durco, Enzinger, Ecopree Roedigger, Edward & Jones, Eimco, Envirex, Ertel, Filter Specialists, Filterite, Filtratec, Filtration Eng., Filtration Systems, Forma Scientific, Frantz, Ferro, Funda, Great Lakes, Haviland, Hoechst, Hycor, Ideal Electric, Idrex Industrial Filter, JWI Koch Hollow, Komline Sanderson, Kuno, Larox, Leader Iron Works, Lenzer Mechanical Mfg Corp, Netzsch, Niagara, Nutsche, Oberlin, Pacific Press, Pall Trinity, Pannevis, Parkson, Parr, Perrin, Poly Process Efficiency, Rosedale, Rosenmund, Schenk, Seitz Enzinger, Seitz Orion, Shriver, Sietz Enzinger Noll, Sparkler Filter, Sperry, Stainrite, Sydvet Ross Co, Triton, US Autojet Filter, US Filter, Vevey, Von Roll, Westech, William Sprinkman, and Zwag.

Filter Descriptions:


AUTO-JET

Auto-Jet is the premium, self-cleaning leaf filter designed for efficient filtration in the most severe applications. Due to a superior, patented sluicing design, Auto-Jet maintains its fully rated capacity even when heavy, sticky or unusually tenacious cake is encountered. Its efficient sluicing system assures thorough cleaning of every square inch of filter surface area each cycle. Engineered for filtration efficiency, Auto-Jet features uniform leaf construction for leaf interchangeability, and to provide uniform precoating, filtration and cake buildup. Access for inspection and maintenance is simplified by the quick-opening Auto-Lok door. By removing a single nut on the filtrate shaft, leaves can be slipped off the cantilevered shaft without entering the filter. The Auto-Jet is available in standard sizes ranging from 50-2000 square feet, and can be manufactured in various construction materials including steel, stainless, monel, nickel, Hastelloy? and other metals.

BELT PRESS


What Is It
  • A double belt dewatering press designed to dewater biological sludge.
  • Uses progressive pressure between two permeable synthetic belts.
  • Specifically designed for dilute, high volatile, and unstable sludge.
  • Unique radial wedge design for superior performance.

How It Works
Feed sludge is conditioned by adding polymers to agglomerate the solids (flocculation). This operation can be performed with a venturi type mixer or a conditioning tank with a variable speed agitator.


The Radial Wedge Belt Press (BPR) is comprised of three dewatering zones:

  • gravity zone
  • wedge zone
  • high pressure zone
Once flocculated, the sludge passes through a feed box and is distributed onto a gravity belt (gravity zone). On the gravity belt, free water is allowed to drain from the sludge and migrate through the belt where it is collected on stainless steel drainage pans. The gravity belt is supported by high-density polyethylene (HDPE) strips, which also serve to break the surface tension on the bottom of the belt and assists in releasing the water from the belt.


Rows of plows mounted over the gravity belt continuously turn the sludge, which further assists the release of free water. The plows are constructed of HDPE and are mounted on transverse bars that are used to lift and lock the assembly into place for cleaning.


The upper and lower belts converge and encapsulate the sludge and are then wound around a large 1200 mm perforated stainless steel drum. This creates a radial wedge zone, which gently applies both shear and pressure to the sludge.


Low pressure, combined with shear, gently removes water from the sludge before small particles have a chance to blind the belts. The radial wedge is a unique design feature that provides superior performance and operation over a standard belt filter press.


After the radial wedge zone, the belts are routed around a series of rollers. The high-pressure zone begins with a series of decreasing diameter pressure rollers, which steadily increases the pressure on the sludge between the belts. This is followed by a series of small, equal diameter rollers, which exert the highest pressure on the sludge.


The large number of high pressure dewatering rolls provides maximum dewatering area for the highest possible cake solids.


NUTSCHE FILTER


The Nutsche Filter is the industrial version of the well known laboratory scale Buchner Funnel except that it is designed to operate under either on vacuum or pressure. In their modern version they were developed in the early 80's and the majority operates, usually under pressure, in batch oriented industries such as fine chemicals, dyes, pharmaceutics and pesticides.

Present day Nutsche Filters are constructed to perform a multitude of tasks including reaction, filtration, cake washing and thermal drying on a single unit. As such these are very sophisticated machines with tight process control on parameters such as pressure, temperature and pH. Nutsche Filters are well suited for handling flammable, toxic, corrosive and odor-noxious materials since they are autoclaved and designed for use in hazardous and ex-proof environments when extremely safe operation is required.

Nutsche Filters are available in almost any size with the larger machines for a slurry filling batch of 25 m3 and a cake volume of 10 m3. Such filters have a filtration area of 15 m2 and are suitable for fast filtering slurries that produce readily 0.5 m thick cakes.


The Nutsche in its full configuration consists of four major components:

  • The vessel
  • The filter floor and cloth, woven mesh screen or sintered metal plate medium
  • The re-slurry arms for cake washing and smoothing
  • The cake discharge mechanism

All these components may be constructed from exotic materials of construction and heated to meet the process requirements.


PLATE & FRAME


USFilter Dewatering Systems' filter press, called the J-Press, is among the most widely used liquid/solids filtration and separation device obtainable. It is a very cost effective way of producing high solids filter cake, along with an extremely high degree of clarity in the liquid effluent. All units are easy to operate and maintain with minimal operator attendance.


The USFilter Dewatering Systems' J-Press is highly versatile and adaptable to a long list of processes and applications (see our applications page), some of which include:

  • Municipal water and wastewater
  • Industrial process
  • Industrial wastewater
  • Food and beverage

USFilter Dewatering Systems' technical representatives will recommend the proper J-Press for your specific needs, based upon prior experience or actual testing of the material.


A filter press utilizing sidebar construction features has several advantages that distinguish it from the other common style of construction known as overhead suspension. Both styles offer certain advantages to the user. In either case the term sidebar or overhead refers to the method of supporting the filter plates.


When a filter press is built as a sidebar design, the filter plates, which are usually plastic or steel, are suspended from the side rails that form the connecting members of the press. The side rails are often capped with a smooth, non-corrosive material such as stainless steel or plastic and provide a smooth surface for the filter plates to slide on. The ability of a plate to move freely makes it easier for the operator to discharge material from the press. These rails connect the head end of the press (the end where the liquid slurry enters and exits the press) and the cylinder bracket end (the end that contains a hydraulic cylinder to keep the press closed when subjected to the high pressures produced by the feed slurry pump). Side rails may be of tubular material, either rectangular or round, and are often produced from solid steel, usually with a rectangular cross section.


Sidebar construction is typically used to manufacture smaller size presses. The cost of manufacturing is usually less and many pieces of optional equipment such as plate shifters, cloth washers, or safety devices may easily be mounted to the side rails. On automatic style presses the space between the support legs is often utilized to house a hydraulic control cabinet. Oil reservoirs, hoses, pumps and filters are conveniently located for service but are also protected from accidental damage.


USFilter Dewatering Systems offers a 250mm, .15 ft?(2.8L) portable, pilot filter press for field testing purposes. These units include a double diaphragm feed pump, interconnecting piping and air blowdown manifold, all mounted on a skid with casters. Tests can be performed to produce different cake thicknesses, utilizing a variety of filter cloth types and feed pressures. When testing is completed a complete report is provided that shows what a J-Press can accomplish for you.


Lightweight polypropylene plates are standard on most sidebar J-Presses. They are generally accepted by the industry as the worldwide material of choice for most applications because they exhibit good chemical resistance, and provide long service life under a broad range of temperatures and pressures.


Filter cloths are made of polypropylene, polyester, cotton and other materials and come with a variety of weave patterns depending on application and desired results.


PRESSURE LEAF


The Sparkler Horizontal Plate Filter is designed for polishing and for security filtration of liquids with limited solid contents. Design features include: Maximum cake stability due to horizontal position of filter plates, Ability for intermittent operation, Complete recovery of product by the scavenger plate, No unfiltered hold-over, and Perfect sealing of filter media by tie rod compression at center and periphery of all filter plates.

The Standard Horizontal Plate Filter is compatible with any kind of filter media (fabric, metallic wire cloth, or filter paper) and all types of filter aids. Due to the position of the plates, only a very thin precoat of filter aid is necessary. The cake is evenly distributed, assuring economical operation and uniform clarity. All Horizontal Filter Plate Vessels can be supplied with a heating or cooling jacket.


REVERSE OSMOSIS


Reverse osmosis, also known as hyperfiltration, is the finest filtration known. This process will allow the removal of particles as small as ions from a solution. Reverse osmosis is used to purify water and remove salts and other impurities in order to improve the color, taste or properties of the fluid. It can be used to purify fluids such as ethanol and glycol, which will pass through the reverse osmosis membrane, while rejecting other ions and contaminants from passing. The most common use for reverse osmosis is in purifying water. It is used to produce water that meets the most demanding specifications that are currently in place.

Reverse osmosis uses a membrane that is semi-permeable, allowing the fluid that is being purified to pass through it, while rejecting the contaminants that remain. Most reverse osmosis technology uses a process known as crossflow to allow the membrane to continually clean itself. As some of the fluid passes through the membrane the rest continues downstream, sweeping the rejected species away from the membrane. The process of reverse osmosis requires a driving force to push the fluid through the membrane, and the most common force is pressure from a pump. The higher the pressure, the larger the driving force. As the concentration of the fluid being rejected increases, the driving force required to continue concentrating the fluid increases.


Reverse osmosis is capable of rejecting bacteria, salts, sugars, proteins, particles, dyes, and other constituents that have a molecular weight of greater than 150-250 daltons. The separation of ions with reverse osmosis is aided by charged particles. This means that dissolved ions that carry a charge, such as salts, are more likely to be rejected by the membrane than those that are not charged, such as organics. The larger the charge and the larger the particle, the more likely it will be rejected.


ROTARY VACUUM DRUM


The rotary vacuum drum filter (RVDF) is one of the oldest filters applied to industrial liquid filtration. A rotary drum filter resembles a large drum on its side. Half of the drum is submerged in the slurry, with the other half above it. The filter cloth winds around the drum and as the drum rotates, the slurry is sucked into the cloth. As the drum rotates out of the slurry, the cake is dried. This drying is caused by the vacuum continuously being drawn through the cake in the exposed section of the drum. At the end of the rotation cycle, at approximately a three o'clock position, the filter cake will be discharged and the process repeats itself. The filters may incorporate a drum cloth that is caulked onto the drum itself, or they may utilize an endless belt which tracks off and discharges away from the drum.


Typical Applications:

  • Kaolin clay
  • Titanium dioxide
  • Alumina (red mud)
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Chemical Processing
  • Food processing (starches)

The filter drum cover media selection is of great importance to maintain filtration quality while taking care of the rigorous cleaning done through scrapping. Menardi provides the best quality filters in polyester, nylon, and polypropylene for varied applications. We also develop speciality fabrics for difficult applications based on process requirements. Options include side envelopes for cords or springs, raw edge blankets, and clipper, Velcro?and Velcro fishmouth closures.


Discharge Methods:

  • Belt Discharge
  • Precoat Discharge
  • Roller Discharge
  • Scraper Discharge
  • String Discharge

VACUUM BELT


Horizontal Belt Filters are, in broad terms, the most commonly used vacuum filters in the industry due to their flexibility of operation, adaptation to corrosive slurries and suitability to handle large throughputs.

The development of the Horizontal Belt Filters for the chemical process industries was closely associated with the progress in rubber technology since they incorporate an endless and thick rubber belt of a complex design to support the cake retained by the filter cloth.


The first known filters were the Landskrona and Lurgi built in the 20's and the Giorgini which was a belt filter but with attached trays. The belts were very narrow and short, with a 30 cm wide by 4-5 meters length, and were primarily applied to the washing of phosphate rock. Later, being top feed filters that facilitated multi-washing stages, they were applied in phosphoric acid plants to replace the chains of 3 or 4 internal feed rubber covered Drum Filters used for gypsum washing. As the demand for area has gone up filters were manufactured with three and four 30 cm wide belts running in parallel since the rubber manufacturers were unable to catch-up with the growth of the chemical plants. For this reason the main rivals over the years to belt filters were the Tilting Pan and Table Filters so when rubber belts were the constraint to filtration area growth these filters were in demand and vice versa. Nowadays it is high time for belt filters since rubber technology has made a big step forwards in the past 10 years. Belts 4 meter wide for 120 m2 filters weigh more than 10 ton and are manufactured in one piece from sophisticated rubber compounds.


Belt speed is another parameter that sets forth a race among the designers of filters since for many applications a short cycle time is essential. The constraining factor on belt speed is purely mechanical and depends largely on the supporting method of the heavy belt with its cake on it. Belt filters are the fastest filters available today and the speed of modern filters can reach over 50 m/min and yield very short cycle times.