➃  A New Separation Technology with Ice Filter

      ( Fusible Filter )

 

  

     This technology uses centrifugal filtration with fusible materials, such as ice crystals, to separate emulsions. It removes stable surfactants (e.g., proteins) from oil droplets in emulsions (e.g., fish livers) and promotes the coalescence of the oil droplets. The collected oils are then recovered by melting the ice filter. In addition, the fusible filter medium described above can be reused. ​(Pat.)

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Principle of This Technology:      Fusible filter media, such as ice crystals, are charged into the basket of the centrifugal filter. The charged fusible filter media are compressed against the supporting wall surface of the rotating basket by centrifugal force. The mixture to be separated is then fed onto the surface of the filter layer formed in the rotating basket. At this point, after instantaneously reaching the supporting wall surface from the filter layer surface, the mixture is forced to move along the supporting wall surface through the compressed narrow gaps — both between the supporting wall surface and the crystalline filter medium, and between the crystalline filter media adjacent to the supporting wall surface — causing the surfactant to be stripped from the surface of the oil droplets.
Furthermore, the viscosity difference between the oils and the aqueous solution in the mixture increases with decreasing temperature, thereby improving separation efficiency.

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 　This technology also has the potential to both disrupt the membranes of microalgae and separate the oil and solution from them.

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