Belt filter systems are very versatile and are used in the chemical industry, in pharmacy, the food industry and environmental engineering. They are furthermore ideally suited for the separation of solids from liquids in the manufacturing process of paints and pigments, in the mineral industry as well as in mining and metalworking. The filter media are either continuous filter belts made of different plastic/stainless steel fabrics or filter nonwovens as rolled goods. The filter medium can be arranged horizontally,
inclined or semicircular. Belt filters in basic designs work with gravity. More complex versions can also work with overpressure or reduced pressure/vacuum. There are very small belt filters with filter surfaces of less than one square meter as well as variants with more than 250 m². Best filtration performances are achieved in applications with a solids content of 3 to 40 % at particle sizes between 1 and 100 µm. Here is a short overview of the different variants with filter fleece and filter nonwoven recommendations.
Gravity belt filters are the easiest and cheapest version of industrially used belt filter systems. They are easy to operate and, because of their low mechanical requirements for the nonwovens, flexible in regard to their selection. Despite their fully automated function they are very robust and due to low acquisition costs and low-maintenance construction, they are cost-efficient for many applications. Because only small water columns with low pressure can form, the filter nonwovens are not ideally used. Resulting in a large space requirement we recommend them mainly for water-based applications.