DESIGN & SELECTION OF STRAINERS

ELL ESS ENGINEERING PVT. LTD

Dear Readers, Having completed 25 years successfully in the liquid solid separation field as a solution provider both for process & utility industries we have practically come across various types of problems the client encounters in a filter. It is also a fact that least importance is given in the industry for filtration application without realizing it also drains out profitability, if not solved. It is also true, when it comes to usage of Strainers & Filters, without realizing the design importance & unforeseen consequences it can create on the usage, people either install a wrong Strainer or altogether eliminates the same. Majority of the plant people do not realize the importance of Strainer and the various parameters to be considered in selection of Strainer in a pipe line. In the last 25 we have seen in number of plants, due the various difficulties the operator & maintenance people encounters with the Strainer, they either eliminate Strainer or remove the Strainer element from the body so that it acts only as a pipe. Even the filter manufacturers have only concentrated on high value critical filters & Strainers have been the most neglected ones as they are generally supplied by companies whose core products are either pumps, valves or metering devices & Strainers are just a complimentary product supplied to protect these devices. We are giving below the various parameters to be considered in selection, installation & design of a Strainer one has to study & consider. Should you replace the wiremesh elements of your existing strainers by RIPBAC TM Screen? You should, if 1. you find your operators all the time carrying out repair job on the wiremesh filter element. 2. the process gets disturbed every now & then due to rupture of the wire mesh filter elements & need to reprocessing of slurry is quite frequent. 3. you observe that the need for wire mesh replacement in the strainer is quite often & resultant shutdown is a common feature in the plant. 4. you regularly hear that the strainer is off line because the wire mesh element is still under cleaning. 5. you find the wiremesh strainers lead to messy surroundings. 6. you find that the operators get so bugged by the strainer elements that they remove it once for all & retain only the housing on line & live happily thereafter.

In any process & utility industry the first preliminary filter installed for protection of the equipment are called strainer or filters. Normally the following questions are frequently asked in selecting the strainer. Frequently Asked Questions in selecting a Strainer * How Strainers Can Improve a Process? * What is a Basket Strainers? * The Difference Between Strainers and Filters * Why Open Area Ratio is Important? * How to Choose the Right Strainer Basket? * Selection of a Basket Strainer * Selection and Sizing of Basket Strainers * A Good Rule of Thumb * Dont Be Misled By Pipeline Size * Application Considerations * Watch Out for Pressure Differential * When to Clean Baskets How Strainers Can Improve a Process The problem of unwanted material in pipelines is a never ending one. Whether the flowing material is seawater, oil, paint or a variety of food or chemical products, there is often something present that can cause trouble. Dirt, foreign matter, or even clumps of the product itself can clog or damage pumps, spray nozzles, condensers, and similar equipment. Sometime a finished product has to be rejected because of the presence of undesirable solid matter. Basket strainers remove unwanted particles. Furthermore they are relatively inexpensive compared to the equipment they protect. What is a Basket Strainer? A closed vessel with cleanable screen element designed to remove & retain foreign particles down to 0.001 inch diameter from various flowing fluids. Note the term foreign particles. Strainers do not necessarily remove only dirt. They take out material which is not wanted in the fluid and this can sometime be a valuable product which may be saved. The Difference Between Strainers and Filters What is the difference between a strainer and a filter? Actually there isnt any since a strainer is, in reality, a coarse filter. Generally it is assumed that if the particle to be removed is not visible to the naked eye, the unit is filtering, and if the particle is visible, the unit is straining. The average human eye can detect a specific particle between 50 & 70 . Since 200 mesh is equivalent to 70 microns, a general rule would be that if the screening device is coarser than 200 mesh, it is a strainer & if it is finer than 200 mesh it is a filter.

Why Open Area Ratio is Important The open area ratio in a basket strainers is the ratio of the open area through the strainer basket to the cross sectional area of the pipeline. A well designed basket strainer should have an open ratio of at least 4 to 1. Anything less may cause excessive pressure drop. The ratio is calculated with a clean basket and as the basket begins to clog the ratio will drop. This will reduce flow through the strainer and necessitate very frequent cleaning. How to Choose the Right Strainer Basket The basket is the heart of a strainer since this is where the unwanted material is trapped. Having already explained about surface filtration & CIP process & the advantages of RIPBAC TM Screen it is preferable the Strainer basket should be made of RIPBAC TM Screen & a wide range of opening sizes in the element are available. Self-supporting RIPBAC TM Screen does not require a perforated metallic backing like the normal basket filter at present in the industry. Also at present majority of the basket strainer used in India uses a wire mesh with backing perforated sheet & they are to be opened, taken out & cleaned for further use. By using a RIPBAC TM Screen in majority of the cases the strainer need not to be opened for cleaning & they can be CIP cleaned either by blow back or by back wash arrangement whereby liquid containing unfiltered solid in the form of slurry will be drain out of the drain pipe. Even though the basket filter/strainer is available from 50 slot opening for practical application filters with RIPBAC TM Screen are preferred from 100 & above. All the RIPBAC TM Screen are metallic in construction. Even though all the basket filter/strainers using metallic RIPBAC TM Screen can be cleaned with CIP technology if the same cannot be used for any reason these filters/ strainers also can be used in the conventional duplex filter. By this one filter will be in operation and the other will be in standby mode. The cleaning of the RIPBAC TM Screen basket is very easy and very fast if it has to be cleaned manually. Because of its V wire construction. Take out the basket from the body and using the nonmetallic brush surface of the filter element can be cleaned within no time. It is a good idea to clean baskets immediately on removal from the body. It will prevent the product from drying & hardening. As a result the slot opening getting clogged can be prevented. Since the life of the RIPBAC TM Screen is quite long as compared to conventional wire mesh backed perforated element,

in the normal circumstances spare basket is not necessary. Also in the existing conventional basket the wire mesh will have a habit of breaking at any time which will be difficult for the client to visualize & this can be detected in majority of the cases only after opening the strainer/ filter. As a result unfiltered suspended particles which normally are to be filtered will be passing into the equipment &damage the equipment as well as product. This will never happen with RIPBAC TM Screen product due to its construction as explained earlier. Selection of a Basket Strainer The following items to be considered while selecting the proper strainer for an application : Material of construction. Designing and working pressures. Designing and working temperatures. Service of liquid Flow rate and viscosity Particle size to be retained. Debris loading. Seal material (o-ring or gasket). Whether the line flow can be interrupted or not for basket/screen cleaning. - Clean start up pressure. - Location of the strainer Also please consider while selection not to overstrain the opening in the basket or element. The slot opening should never be smaller than half the size of the largest particle whose presence in the system is harmful. Selection and Sizing of Basket strainers When installing basket strainers, it is sometimes a good idea to use two of them in tandem. This is especially true when there is a great deal of material to be taken out of the line and the particles vary in size. If a single strainer with a fine slot opening were used alone, it would fill quickly and necessitate very frequent cleaning. By using two strainers in series, the first with larger opening to trap the large particles and the second with a fine slot opening, the load is spread out and time between cleanings is also spread out. A Good Rule of Thumb Selecting the proper size basket strainer for a particular application is most important. Most reliable manufacturers have pressure drop information for all sizes. A general rule of thumb is that pressure drop

through the strainer should not be greater than 2 psi. If it is, the strainer selected is too small. Factors such as viscosity, specific gravity, and mesh lining size all influence pressure drop through the unit and they must be taken into account. Dont Be Misled By Pipeline Size The strainer size is not automatically the same as the pipe size. It may be larger. In the case of highly viscous liquids, for instance, where pressure drop through a mesh lined basket can reduce flow considerably. It is sometimes necessary to use a strainer several sizes larger than the pipeline in order to insure adequate flow. However, this is often desirable because aside from the slightly larger initial investment there are no subsequent added costs. Basket strainers with RIPBAC TM Screen last almost indefinitely and there is almost nothing to wear out. If there is an unusually large amount of material to be taken out of the line, then a larger strainer is almost certainly called for. Too small a unit will fill too quickly for adequate straining and will require frequent basket changing. This can be expensive in the long run. If a basket has to be cleaned once in every 4 hour then, the strainer is probably too small. Application Considerations The nature of the product also has an influence on the strainer size. Soft, gummy materials like tars and resins are more difficult to remove and clog baskets more quickly than hard crystalline materials. In these cases, a larger strainer size is recommended. The size of a basket strainer, therefore, is a function of the job to be done. There are no industry standards on face to face dimensions for flanged basket strainers, such as there are for gate valves. For this reason, the strainer of one manufacture may not fit in a space designed for a different brand of strainer. Watch Out for Pressure Differential While strainer housings are designed to withstand pressures far in excess of their rated maximum operating pressures, this is not true of baskets. Very few strainer baskets will stand high pressure differentials through them. In a strainer rated at 150 psi, for example, if used with a line pressure of 150 psi & if the basket is completely logged, the pressure differential across it is equal to the full line pressure, in this case 150 psi

Under these conditions, the basket will probably break. Generally the amount of pressure the baskets will withstand when they are fully plugged is considerably less than the maximum strainer rated operating pressure. The larger the basket, the less differential pressure it will take. This is one of the advantage of using RIPBAC TM Screen basket as compared to perforated lined wire mesh basket since the RIPBAC TM Screen construction will withstand more pressure because of its construction& also this can be very quickly back washed / blow back by in-situ operation unlike conventional perforated sheet lined with wire mesh. When to Clean Baskets Strainer baskets should be cleaned on a regular basis, not when they become clogged, to insure that they are not damaged by too high a differential pressure. Another reason for frequent cleaning is a phenomenon known as runaway buildup. As dirt in a strainer basket accumulates and as the mesh or perforations plug up, pressure drop increases. The curve of this pressure difference is not a straight line. It starts out as a low slope, but as the basket clogs more and more it turns upward faster and faster. As the dirt builds up the free open area in the basket gets smaller and smaller. All conditions in the basket are now working faster and faster to decrease the flow passage and to increase drag on the liquid flowing through the basket. Dirt is being brought faster to the passages that are open and they are being shut faster. Liquid velocity and pressure inside the basket build up faster and the whole thing keeps accelerating. It is similar to a fire in that it progresses with increasing speed. It means that a good flow of liquid can reduce to a trickle or stop quickly. It also means that full line pressure is now brought to bear across the basket, and as pointed out before, if this is high, breakage can occur. Good maintenance procedure dictates that basket be cleaned or changed before they can become clogged. Most strainer users do this at standard intervals, whether the basket are ready for cleaning or not. Of course, the most obvious indication that a basket need changing is a drop in flow through the line. In closed system this will not be easy to notice. In these cases installation of a pressure gauge on the downstream side of the strainer will point out drop in flow or pressure. Better yet, two gauges, one on either side of the strainer, will indicate pressure drop through the unit and show whether the basket needs cleaning.