What is it about?

This paper reports the development of nonwoven fabric by needle punching technique for filter press application in textile effluent treatment plant. For filter press development, the nonwoven fabric was reinforced with the nylon scrim as the central layer in order to withstand the filtration pressure. The nonwoven fabrics were developed by using different denier polyester fibers and changing punch density. The influence of fiber fineness and punch density on the properties of nonwovens was investigated. The filtration parameters such as filtration efficiency, dewatering efficiency, blinding tendency and cake discharge properties of the developed nonwoven filter were evaluated and compared with existing woven fabric filter media. The influence of calendering on the filtration properties of the nonwovens was also studied. The results showed that bursting strength of the developed nonwovens increased with increase in fiber fineness and decrease in punch density. It was also found that the air permeability of the developed nonwovens varied inversely in relation to punch density and the proportion of fine fibers. It was observed that developed nonwovens had 8% higher filtration efficiency and 6% higher dewatering efficiency compared to the existing woven fabric filter media. The blinding resistance and cake discharge properties were slightly lower than that of woven fabric filter. It was found that calendering improves filtration properties of the developed nonwoven fabrics.

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Why is it important?

In this work, woven scrim reinforced needle punched nonwoven fabrics were developed for filter press application to dewater the textile effluent sludge. The effect of fiber denier and needle punching density on the filtration performance has been investigated. The nonwovens developed using finer fibers and higher punch density had better filtration performance compared to that of nonwovens developed using coarser fibers and lower punch density. The developed nonwoven fabrics had slightly higher blinding tendency compared to the commercial woven filter fabric because of their porous structure and rough surface. Blinding occurs in almost any cake filtration process using filter fabrics. This should not be neglected in the design of filtration media. It is difficult to avoid blinding entirely, but it is possible to reduce this unwelcome side effect by using special membrane coatings. The developed nonwoven fabrics had poor cake discharge properties compared to woven fabric filter because of their irregular surface. Calendering was found to improve cake discharge properties of the nonwoven fabrics.

Perspectives

This work focused on to develop scrim reinforced needle punched polyester nonwoven fabrics for filter press application. The filtration parameters such as filtration efficiency, dewatering efficiency, blinding tendency and cake discharge properties of the developed nonwoven filter fabrics were investigated and the results were compared with the commercial woven filter fabric. The effect of calendering process on the filtration properties of the developed nonwoven filter fabrics was also studied.

Dr MUTHUKUMAR N
PSG College of Technology

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This page is a summary of: Development of polyester needle-punched nonwoven fabrics for filter press applications, Journal of Industrial Textiles, April 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1528083718769929.
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