click here for
a printable chapter

MILLER FILTER

MILLER UNIVERSAL MULTI-PRODUCT
ROBOTIC SYSTEMS

Contents of this chapter:

• SUITED FOR MULTI-PRODUCT AND MULTI-PROCESS OPERATIONS / APPLICATION AREAS
• EXAMPLE FROM THE PRACTICE
• LARGE SIZE ROBOTIC SYSTEM

SUITED FOR MULTI-PRODUCT AND MULTI-PROCESS OPERATIONS

This innovative robotic system opens up new opportunities for the production of a large number of entirely disparate products with a single plant especially suited for supplying clusters of small communities with the whole gamut of their special local liquid processing requirements.
A multiplicity of products are produced on an ever increasing scale in to-days liquid processing, industries.
However these production facilities are beset by a large number of varying types of manually operated filtration, purification and ancillary equipment that are a main cause of the present serious pollution of the global fresh water resources.

The robotic system depicted below eliminates manual intervention in the production process as well as solving the problem of contaminated effluent of both liquid and gaseous origin.
For smaller throughputs the ROBOT itself handles the supplementary requirements for effluent and gas recycling.
For medium size capacities separate EFFLUENT and GAS RECYCLING facilities are recommended. 

The above depicted liquid processing plant illustrates the essential features of a plant capable of functioning in a ROBOTIC manner:

1. Monoplanar contacting Filter Chamber
2. Movable extended surface filter element(s)
3. Movable packed bed element(s)
4. Movable monofilament and membranous sheets
5. Regenerative deep bed media facility
6. Single disposable sheet feeding facility
7. Media regeneration facilities

Application areas of a liquid purification robot:

• WATER
• BEVERAGES
• PHARMACEUTICALS
• CHEMICALS
• FOODS
• EFFLUENT
• METAL WORKING
• METALLURGY

EXAMPLE FROM THE PRACTICE

Below is the schema of a typical multi-product chemical plant. Based on the raw materials phenol and chlorine a group of chlorinated organic herbicides are produced in manual operation.
All the various derivatives are highly toxic to humans. The operators in the internal environment of the plant who empty, clean and renew the media of the various filters inevitably come into both external and internal physical contact with the toxins. Added to this the external environment is subjected to serious pollution from the untreated liquid effluents and solids disposal.

It is imperative that technology is devised to

1. completely seal this type of equipment both from the INTERNAL and EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
   and
2. fully automate the functioning of the entire plant.

Improved apparatus and systems must be devised to comply with more stringent environmental regulations if global fresh water resources are to be saved.
Below the schema of an envisaged innovative chemical process illustrating how this can be achieved:

The above schema illustrates how a single sealed MILLER ROBOT-LIKE FILTER carries out ALL the solids recovery and liquid purification operations. All effluent is purified and recycled.
In operation all apparatus are sealed and can only be opened after all necessary precautions are taken to protect the operating staff and the environment.

LARGE SIZE ROBOTIC SYSTEM

In the above depicted small scale robot-like MILLER PLANT the process filter itself cleans and recycles the effluent produced.
Below is the schema of a ROBOT-like operating plant suitable for larger size capacities provided with extra facilities for

1. TREATING AND CLARIFICATION OF LIQUID EFFLUENT  (CLARIFICATION)
2. FILTRATION OF RESIDUE SOLIDS and
   PURIFICATION AND RECYCLING OF SUPERNATANT LIQUIDS (LIQUID RECYCLING)
3. GAS PURIFICATION AND RECYCLING (GAS RECYCLING).

GAS RECYCLING

In state-of-the-art liquid processing plants little if any provision is made for protection of the internal and external environment concerning the escape of vapours, odours, volatiles, etc. from the processing equipment. In fact, it is well known that many such escapes occur under the cover of darkness or the plants are located on or near the sea with the prevailing wind heading out to sea.
In addition to the goal of total recycling of liquid effluent, gaseous effluents should be treated in the same way. Shuttle filters (D), depicted above, fitted with multi-layered adsorbent beds containing, for example, granular activated carbon, Bentonite, molecular sieves, silica gel remove the unwanted components of the gaseous phase of the process after which the beds are regenerated by various means including heat input indicated above. The output from the regeneration is condensed or incinerated to either recover or destroy the removed substances. The cleaned gases are compressed and recycled to the process.