Aries Designs, Builds And Installs A Rotary Drum Vacuum Filter (RDVF) For A Specialty Paper Mill

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A specialty paper mill needed to replace an aging Rotary Drum Vacuum Filter (RDVF) that filtered its wastewater prior to discharge to the local municipal treatment plant. The paper mill produced specialty paper that contained dyes, pigments and latex saturant. The mill also coats specialty paper with a variety of coatings. A RDVF was used to filter treated wastewater, because it was best suited to handling the adhesive laden wastewater.

Aries was selected to supply and install a new RDVF with a 6 ft x 6 ft drum that was the same size as the existing filter. The new RDVF was built at Aries Fabrication Facility.
rotary drum vacuum filter at paper mill

The new Aries RDVF was installed and started up at the paper mill. The new RDVF is able to filter the treated wastewater at flow rates ranging from 40 to 70 gpm which provides substantial capacity increase for the paper mill. The paper mill’s wastewater is treated with coagulants prior to filtration with Aries 700 perlite Filter Aid.

rotary drum vacuum filter at paper mill

The PLC programming includes chemical feed and controls along with data logging features. The HMI reads out the average filtrate flux over the prior 0.5 hours to guide operators in adjusting variables such as chemical dosages, pH’s, drum speed and knife advance rate. This real time control program is ideal for maximizing filtration rate while dealing with a highly variable raw water characteristic.