How Does Vacuum Filtration Work?

Vacuum filtration is an operation of evacuating the air below the filter paper to maintain the pressure differential across the filter medium. It increases the rate of filtration through the force on the solution over gravity.

When setting vacuum filtration, the first step is fitting the Buchner funnel to a suction flask. After that, we can connect the side arm of the flask to our vacuum pump which is of high quality, advanced design, and high efficiency.

Next step is to put the filter paper into the funnel and wash it with the solution. Don't forget to get the right filter paper which has the right material, pore size, and the right size to your funnel. After that, you can decant the liquid phase into the funnel first and then add the precipitate.

To get the better result, you'd better add a little bit of wash liquid over the surface of the precipitate to wash it. The force of vacuum will draw the liquid through the solid slowly. At the same time, the precipitate will be dry out by drawing a current of air through it.