What is filtration? Filtration is separating a solid from a fluid through a porous material that holds the solid and fluid passes through. It is important to note that the fluid includes both liquids and gases. The filter may be chemical, biological, or physical.

Additionally, the objective of the filtration process is to collect liquid or solid; whether the solids have to be washed frees from the liquid also influences the whole filtration process, selection of filtration method, and rate of the filtration.

Water purification is an example of multilayer filtration wherein water is passed through different layers of filters (sand, gravel, or charcoal etc.) to remove impurities. The filtering water passes through different medium layers. Depending on the particle size, impurities are filtered out at each stage of the filtration. Filtration through additional layers of filters increases the filtration efficiency and ensures clean water.

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Gravity filtration is the simplest form of filtration technique wherein the driving force for the filtration is the gravitational force. Filtration under gravitational force is the most commonly used filtration technique. In this method, filter paper is placed in a funnel that has been fixed on an iron clamp. The liquid is then poured over the filter paper. Due to gravitational force, the liquid travels in a downward direction.

The hot filtration method is used for the liquid that tends to crystallize rapidly. Crystals grow rapidly in such cases and block the filtration assembly. For such cases, the temperature of the liquids is raised to avoid crystal formation. Therefore, the whole filtration process is carried out rapidly and at high temperatures to reduce crystal formation.

This process is opposite to cold filtration, and crystallization is desirable. Widely used in the beer industry, the protein clump formation is initiated by lowering the temperature and eventually separating the crystals from the remaining liquid.

The porous medium used to retain the solids is known as filter medium. The accumulation of solids on the filter is the filter cake. The clear liquid obtained through the filter is the filtrate. A most simple example to understand this can be seen during tea making. We filter out prepared tea from the tea leaves using a sieve. The tea, along with dissolved sugar, will easily pass through the pores of the sieve, while tea leaves would be retained over the sieve. Removal of dust particles from the air in the air conditioner is another example of filtration.

In the filtration process, a heterogeneous mixture is dispensed over a filter membrane. The filter membrane or the filter medium has pores of a specific size. The particles with size and dimension larger than the pores of the membrane cannot pass through the membrane and are retained over the filter membrane.

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Vacuum filtration is quite similar to gravity filtration. In vacuum filtration, the liquid passes through a filter paper placed in a funnel. However, the filtration driving force is the applied vacuum. Therefore, the application of vacuum makes this a faster process in comparison to gravity filtration.

At the same time, particles of smaller size will pass through the membrane pores along with the fluid. The oversized particles will get deposited as a residue over the filter membrane, and liquid will pass through the filter membrane. Thus, separating the solids and fluid from the heterogeneous mixture. The suspension of the solid and liquid to be filtered is known as the slurry.

Centrifugal filtration utilizes centrifugal force as the driving force for the filtration process. Centrifugal force is the inertial force experienced by an object moving in a circular path. Centrifugal force pushes the material outward or away from the centre of the rotation when it is moving in a circular orbit.

So, anatomically and physiologically, filtration is a process wherein waste and toxins are removed from the body through glomerulus filtration, which results in urine production. Where does this filtration occur? The filtration occurs in the kidney, particularly, in the renal corpuscle. Biologically, cell filtration occurs passively through the epithelial membrane, wherein cells flush the undesirable substance out of the cell.

The instrument consists of a rotating drum through which the slurry is passed. Due to centrifugal force, the liquid is pushed out of the drum while the filtrate is retained on the walls of the drum.

Thus, it gets collected in the beaker placed below the funnel as filtrate. At the same time, the residue gets deposited over the filter paper. See figure below.

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Vacuum filtration setup consists of a Buchner flask and funnel and a vacuum pump to create a vacuum. Buchner’ flask is used for carrying out vacuum filtration. The Buchner’ flask is connected to a vacuum, which forces the liquid to pass through the filter paper into the flask when turned’ ON’.

Stemless filter funnel and Fluted filter papers are required to carry out the hot filtration. Hot filtration carried under the gravitational driving force is referred to as hot gravity filtration. It is generally carried out in an Erlenmeyer flask, filter paper, a stemless funnel, and a hot plate (see Figure 4). The purpose of hot gravity filtration is to remove insoluble impurities from a hot solution.

Filtration can be a physical process or a biological process. The physical application of filtration can be seen routinely all around our daily life—purification of water to remove impurities, coffee filters, automotive filters, belt filters during mining, etc. Filteration is also a sterilization technique that filters out the microbes out of the product without applying heat.

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On the other hand, an example of filtration occurs in the kidney, and kidneys are biological filters that filter out the toxins out of the body and retain the essential nutrients in the body. Here we can conclude that the filtration process occurs biologically as well.

What is filtration medical definition? Filtration is the removal or filtering of the toxins and waste products from the blood by the kidney. They are excreted from the body through urine. In general, filtration refers to the passing of a liquid through a filter. In the human body, the kidney functions as a filter.