Consultancy

Independent technical assessment

Undertaken as standalone assignments or as the front end of an equipment enquiry.

1

Project Reports

Scope

Process description and material balance across the separation step; equipment selection with the reasoning stated; sizing calculations against the governing filtration parameters; layout and area requirement; utility loads for vacuum, compressed air, power and wash liquid; ancillary equipment schedule; and an indicative capital and operating cost estimate.

Deliverables

Report issued with process flow diagram, typical P&ID, general arrangement and area requirement drawing, equipment datasheets and utility summary — to a level that engineering, management and lenders can each work from.

2

Site Visits

Scope

Assessment at the plant against operating conditions rather than design conditions: slurry behaviour in service, including settling rate, viscosity, temperature and solids variation through the shift; performance of installed equipment and the reasons for any shortfall; available installation area, headroom, access and structural constraints; and a review of upstream pumps, piping, agitation and utility availability that bear on the separation duty.

Why it matters

Design assumptions that hold on paper frequently fail against actual feed variability. Constraints identified at this stage do not become redesign during erection.

3

Feasibility Reports

Scope

Comparison of candidate technologies against the duty; filterability assessment from trial or sample data; achievable cake moisture, wash efficiency and recovery for each option; materials of construction implied by the process chemistry; utility and consumable demand; and a clear statement of what each route can and cannot deliver.

Deliverables

Technical comparison, recommendation with the basis recorded, and identification of the risks that remain open — prepared before capital is committed.

Basis of Selection

Technical parameters first, commercial terms after

Equipment is selected against the data below. Price, delivery and terms are settled once the machine and its scope are technically fixed, so that offers are compared on the same basis.

Feed & slurry data

Established from your data and confirmed by trial.

  • Solids concentration by weight and volume, and its variation in service
  • Particle size distribution, including the fines fraction that governs blinding
  • Specific gravity of solid and liquid phases
  • Viscosity and temperature at the filter, and the range over the batch or shift
  • Settling characteristics and the feed arrangement required to hold suspension
  • pH and chemical composition, including trace species affecting MOC

Separation targets

The duty the machine is designed to meet.

  • Throughput as dry solids per hour and slurry volume per hour
  • Residual cake moisture, and whether an MRS stage is required to reach it
  • Wash requirement — impurity to be displaced, wash ratio, number of stages, co- or counter-current
  • Filtrate quality, and whether mother liquor and wash filtrate must be segregated
  • Recovery of product, solvent or wash liquid
  • Cut point where classification rather than filtration is the duty

Filtration & machine parameters

Derived at the trial stage and used for sizing.

  • Cake formation rate and specific cake resistance
  • Form-time to dry-time ratio, which fixes zone lengths or drum submergence
  • Vacuum level, allowing for cake compressibility and the risk of cracking ahead of wash
  • Cake thickness, and whether the cake discharges cleanly or requires a blade
  • Filter medium — material, weave, single or double layer, air permeability, blinding tendency
  • Filtration area and machine configuration following from the above

Materials, area & utilities

Fixed before drawings are released for manufacture.

  • MOC for wetted parts against chemical and thermal duty and hazardous area rating
  • MOC for frame and structure, with coating or lining where required
  • Enclosure — open, hooded or vacuum-sealed, per solvent, vapour or dust considerations
  • Area and headroom available, and access for cloth change and maintenance
  • Utilities — vacuum pump duty, compressed air, power, wash liquid supply
  • Instrumentation and control — thickness and tracking sensors, vacuum and pressure measurement, PLC, SCADA or DCS integration

Commercial terms follow: scope and battery limits, delivery schedule, terms of payment, guarantees against the agreed performance figures, spares and post-commissioning support.

How We Work

From enquiry to commissioned machine

1
Questionnaire

Slurry data, existing installation, filtrate and cake targets, operating conditions and site constraints recorded against a standard format.

2
Laboratory & Pilot Trials

Filterability established on your sample. Permutations of medium, vacuum level, cake thickness and wash arrangement are run, cake and filtrate are sent for analysis, and the results fix the design parameters.

3
MOC Finalisation

Wetted parts, frame, gaskets and medium concluded against process chemistry, temperature and hazardous area classification.

4
Layout Planning

Installation area defined, elevations and headroom checked, and piping, pumps, receivers and vacuum system routing agreed.

5
Machine Design & Specifications

Filtration area, zone lengths, drive arrangement and ancillary sizing calculated from the trial data and issued as specifications and drawings.

6
Proposal

Equipment specification, typical P&ID, process flow diagram, area requirement drawing, ancillary schedule, price, terms of payment and conditions of supply.

7
Techno-Commercial Review

Technical clarifications settled first, followed by commercial discussion and order finalisation.

8
Erection & Commissioning

Erection supervision, cold and hot commissioning against the agreed parameters, and handover with the machine in operation and operators trained.

Turnkey Execution

Complete scope under one order

Beyond supply of the filtration machine, IPTSC undertakes the installation in full, so that responsibility for the process result sits with one party rather than being divided across separate vendors.

Civil & Layout

Civil layout, foundation and plinth requirements, elevations, drainage and access, developed around the constraints of the existing plant.

Sourcing & Tendering

Specification, tendering and procurement of ancillary equipment — feed and filtrate pumps, vacuum pumps or blowers, seal pots and receivers, tanks, piping and valves — bought to the duty rather than to a price point.

Electricals & Cabling

Power and control cabling, panels, drives and field electricals, engineered to the area classification and installed to serve the complete package.

Instrumentation & Electronics

Field instruments for vacuum, pressure, level, flow and cake thickness, with interlocks and alarms for plant conditions and parameter deviation.

DCS / SCADA / PLC

Control system supply and configuration, or integration of the package into an existing plant DCS, covering sequencing, monitoring, trending and alarm handling.

Discharge Handling

Downstream cake and solids handling by conveyor, screw or collection arrangement, engineered within the same scope rather than left at the machine boundary.

Erection & Commissioning

Erection supervision, alignment and cloth fitting, cold and hot commissioning, and performance demonstration against the agreed figures.

Single-Point Responsibility

One order, one set of battery limits, and one party accountable for the plant reaching its rated output.

Why Us

Manufacturer's data, consultant's objectivity

We design and build the equipment ourselves, so the advice comes from filtration performance recorded in service rather than from published curves. Where the honest answer is that a different technology suits the duty better, we say so at the feasibility stage instead of at commissioning.

Start with the data

Send your slurry details and separation targets and we will advise on the practical route forward.

Contact Us