Polypropylene Plate and Frame Filter Press: High-Efficiency Filtration in Acidic Pesticide Intermediate Solutions
Overcoming Challenges in Corrosive Chemical Filtration
In the demanding landscape of pesticide intermediate manufacturing, efficient solid-liquid separation is paramount for product purity, raw material utilization, and continuous production. A major agrochemical enterprise faced significant challenges in filtering highly acidic organic solutions (pH 1.5, 10% solids content) containing sulfonic acid and carboxylic acid groups. Traditional filtration equipment proved inadequate, leading to severe corrosion, frequent downtime, and compromised product quality.
The Problem: Corrosion, Inefficiency, and High Costs
Previously, the company utilized stainless steel plate filter presses, which corroded within three months, causing perforations and requiring 1-2 days of downtime monthly for plate replacement, incurring tens of thousands in maintenance costs. Centrifugal filters, while temporarily handling the acidic environment, failed to achieve sufficient filtration precision, resulting in filtrate transparency of only 80%. This led to co-distillation of solvents and impurities during subsequent rectification, product purity falling below standards, and a rework rate exceeding 15%. Crucially, solvent recovery rates for both methods were below 75%, leading to over 2 million USD in raw material waste annually.
To address these critical issues, the enterprise conducted extensive testing and ultimately selected a specialized polypropylene plate and frame filter press designed for pesticide intermediates. This equipment’s core design directly meets the stringent requirements for filtering strong acidic materials.
Key Design Features:
Enhanced Polypropylene Filter Plates:
The filtration core features 300 m² of enhanced polypropylene filter plates. Unlike ordinary polypropylene, this material is modified with glass fiber, retaining its excellent resistance to strong acids (tolerating hydrochloric acid below 30%, sulfuric acid below 20%, and various organic acids) and low temperatures (-20℃ to 80℃). This enhancement also boosts its compressive strength to 1.2 MPa, perfectly suiting the 0.8 MPa operating pressure and preventing plate deformation or cracking under high pressure.
Acid-Resistant Polyester Filter Cloth:
Paired with a specialized acid-resistant polyester filter cloth, precisely controlled to a 5μm pore size. This ensures thorough retention of solid impurities (including fine suspended particles) while allowing smooth filtrate flow, reducing filter cloth clogging frequency.
Automatic Feeding Regulation System:
The equipment includes an automatic feeding regulation system that adjusts feeding speed in real-time based on fluctuations in solids content (within 5%-15%), preventing efficiency drops due to sudden material concentration changes.
Technical Specifications:
- Filtration Area: 300 m², supporting large-scale continuous production.
- Core Material: Enhanced polypropylene filter plates, molded in one piece, offering superior acid and alkali corrosion resistance.
- Filter Cloth Selection: Dedicated acid-resistant filter cloth with excellent tensile strength and micropore stability.
- Working Pressure: 0.8 MPa, enabling efficient pressing and low-moisture filter cake formation.
- Control System: Integrated PLC automatic control for fully automated pressing, feeding, dewatering, and discharge processes.
Remarkable Results and Benefits
Since the implementation of the polypropylene plate and frame filter press, the operational performance has far exceeded expectations, demonstrating significant advantages in durability, filtration precision, and cost control:
1. Durability and Corrosion Resistance: 6 Years Without Filter Plate Replacement, 90% Maintenance Cost Reduction The polypropylene filter plates have continuously operated for six years in the pH 1.5 strong acidic organic solution without any signs of corrosion or leakage. Only routine quarterly cleaning of the filter cloth is required, eliminating the need for downtime to replace core components. Maintenance downtime has been reduced to 6 days annually, increasing production efficiency by approximately 5% and indirectly boosting output value.
2. Filtration Precision: Transmittance ≥95%, Product Qualification Rate 99.5% The precise filtration capability of the polypropylene plate and frame filter press consistently maintains filtrate transmittance above 95% (third-party testing confirmed impurity content below 0.05%). This fully meets the purity requirements for subsequent rectification and crystallization processes. The production manager stated, “After implementation, product purity increased from 92% to 99.2%, and the rework rate dropped from 15% to 0.5%. We no longer face batch scrap due to excessive impurities.” Additionally, the need for secondary filtration and the original diatomaceous earth filter aid process was eliminated.
3. Solvent Recovery: Over 90% Recovery Rate. Through high-compression pressing and a sealed operating design, the synergistic effect of the polypropylene filter plates and acid-resistant filter cloth enables the equipment to achieve over 90% organic solvent recovery.
4. Multi-Dimensional Application Advantages: Wide Adaptability, Enhanced Safety, Easy Maintenance. Beyond its core performance benefits, this polypropylene plate and frame filter press offers strong adaptability across various scenarios. It can handle not only pH 1.5 strong acidic materials but also pH 1-14 acidic and alkaline materials (such as alkaline hydrolysates and neutral extraction liquids in pesticide intermediate production) by adjusting filter cloth pore size and operating pressure, fulfilling multi-stage filtration needs with a single unit. In terms of safety, the equipment operates in a fully sealed manner and is equipped with an acid mist collection device, preventing harm to operators from volatile, strong acidic solutions. After implementation, workshop acid mist concentration decreased from 0.8 mg/m³ to 0.1 mg/m³, far exceeding national occupational health standards. For maintenance, the intelligent system displays real-time parameters such as filter plate pressure, filtrate flow, and filter cloth resistance, with automatic alarms for anomalies. Maintenance personnel can remotely monitor operating conditions via a mobile app, eliminating the need for 24-hour on-site supervision.
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A Strategic Investment for the Chemical Industry
“Choosing the polypropylene plate and frame filter press was one of our best decisions. It not only solved years of filtration challenges but also achieved a win-win in terms of cost, safety, and environmental protection,” stated the enterprise’s production director during our follow-up visit. This application validates the core value of polypropylene plate and frame filter presses in filtering strong acidic materials in pesticide intermediates and provides a standardized “durable + efficient + energy-saving” solution for similar conditions in the chemical industry (e.g., acidic filtration in pharmaceutical intermediates, dye intermediates). It further highlights the irreplaceable nature of high-quality polypropylene plate and frame filter presses in special operating conditions.
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