Analysis of Cake Growth in Cake Filtration: Effect of Fine Particle Retention

Abstract

Equations were derived that describe the dynamics of cake growth in cake filtration, and methods for their solutions were developed. In deriving the equations, the moving boundary nature of the cake formation process and the effect of fine particle retention were considered. It was shown that fine particle retention may contribute significantly to the decrease of cake permeability and thus alters the performance of cake filtration even if the amount of fine particles involved is small. Through numerical examples, it was also demonstrated that fine particle retention in filter cakes may cause serious errors in determining the constitutive relationships from filter test data.