Appeal No. 2002-0952
Application No. 08/929,108
of beer.” Further details of this appealed subject matter are
recited in representative claim 45, the only independent claim
on appeal, reproduced below:
45. A method for raising the filtrate throughput
in a crossflow membrane filter in a filter module of a
filtration plant during the filtration of beer by
releasing a covering layer built up on a filter
membrane from the filter membrane, wherein beer is
passed through the filter membrane from an unfiltrate
side of the membrane to a filtrate side of the
membrane thereby building up a cake of materials on
the unfiltrate side of the membrane and thereby
creating a transmembrane pressure over the filter
membrane, the method comprising the steps of:
a) interrupting the flow of beer through the
filter membrane;
b) separating the filter module from the
filtration plant;
c) removing the beer from the filter module
while maintaining circulation of the beer in the
plant;
d) introducing into the filter module an agent
for dissolving chemical bonds between the cake of
materials and the membrane;
e) maintaining said agent within the filter
module in a concentration, at a temperature and for a
time sufficient to loosen the cake of materials from
the membrane without completely dissolving the cake of
materials;
f) back flushing the membrane with rinsing
liquid from the filtrate side to the unfiltrate side
of the membrane to remove the cake of materials from
the membrane and into the filter module;
g) removing the cake of materials from the
filter module;
h) connecting the filter module with the
filtration plant;
i) resuming the flow of beer through the filter
membrane; and
j) repeating steps a) to i) in the same
filtration run.
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