Filtration

Filtration is commonly the mechanical or physical operation which is used for the separation of solids from fluids (liquids or gases) by interposing a medium through which only the fluid can pass. Oversize solids in the fluid are retained, but the separation is not complete; solids will be contaminated with some fluid and filtrate will contain fine particles (depending on the pore size and filter thickness). Filtration is also used to describe some biological processes, especially in water treatment and sewage treatment in which undesirable constituents are removed by adsorption into a biological film grown on or in the filter medium.

Diagram of simple filtration: oversize particles in the feed cannot pass through the lattice structure of the filter, while fluid and small particles pass through, becoming filtrate.

Procedure for standard gravity filtration

1) Select and fold the filter paper

Select the size of filter paper that, when folded, will be a few millimeters below the rim of your glass funnel. Fold the paper into a cone by first folding it in half, and then in half again, as shown.

     

2) Filter the solution

Support the glass funnel in a ring or place it in the neck of an Erlenmeyer flask. Wet the filter paper with a few milliliters of the solvent to be used in the following procedure. Wetting the paper holds it in place against the glass funnel. Pour the mixture to be filtered through the funnel, in portions if necessary.