Closed Candle Filters: Safer Catalyst Recovery After Hydrogenation

7 hours ago

2 min read

At a glance. Hydrogenation is one of the most common steps in medicine and fine-chemical plants. After the reaction, the catalyst, often palladium on carbon or Raney nickel, must be separated from the product. Open filtration exposes operators to solvent and to catalyst that can ignite in air. The Tech Inc. Closed Catalyst Candle Filter Skid does the job inside a closed vessel under nitrogen. It is one of the best safety upgrades such a plant can make.

How it works

The reaction mixture is fed to a vessel fitted with filter candles.
Filtrate passes through the candles; the catalyst builds up as a cake.
The cake is washed in place.
A nitrogen blowback releases the cake, which is discharged as a slurry to a closed catalyst receiver.

Versions

Version	Use
Single candle filter	Batch filtration
Twin filters	Continuous operation
Pilot size	Kilo-lab and pilot plants
With the hydrogenation bay	Supplied with gas panels and samplers

Why it is one of the best things to happen to a hydrogenation bay

Operator safety. Catalyst and solvent stay inside a closed vessel.
Catalyst recovered. Precious-metal catalyst is collected for reuse or refining.
Less handling. The filter is not opened between batches.
One supplier for the bay. It fits our hydrogenation bay kit and closed reactor samplers.