The effect of particle sedimentation on gravity filtration

Abstract

Simulation of cake formation of mono-sized and dual-sized particles under gravitational sedimentation and filtration was carried out. A dynamic analysis was used to examine the local cake properties formed under a falling head by considering the hindered settling effect of particles in the slurry and the variation of the pressure drop across the filter septum. Theoretical and experimental results show that the uniformity of particle size distributions in the filter cake will be much better when the relative settling velocity between large and fine particles is reduced.Simulation of cake formation of mono-sized and dual-sized particles under gravitational sedimentation and filtration is presented. The dynamic analysis proposed by Lu and Hwang in 1993 is applied to examine the local cake properties formed under a falling head by considering the hindered settling effect of particles in the slurry and the variation of the pressure drop across the filter septum. Results of this study show that, at a given position in a cake, the solid compressive pressure reaches a maximum value and then decreases for a gravity filtration due to the decrease in the driving head. A cake constructed with dual-sized particles has a more compact structure than does one with mono-sized particles, and larger particles will form looser packing than will smaller ones for mono-sized particles. A dual-dispersed suspension with a lower fraction of large particle will result in the lowest cake porosity and the highest specific infiltration resistance of cake. Comparison of the porosity distribution in filter cake formed by means of gravity filtration and constant head filtration shows that the porosity near the filter septum of gravity filtration has a convex behavior while that of constant head filtration has a tendency toward concavity. This discrepancy is mainly due to the change in the driving head during the filtration process. Both theoretical and experimental results show that the uniformity of particle size distribution in the filter cake will be much better when the relative settling velocity between large and fine particles is reduced.