A CROSS-FLOW MICROFILTRATION MODEL-BASED ON INTEGRATION OF THE MASS-TRANSPORT EQUATION

The two opposite fluxes which lead to the build-up of a filtration cak e have been studied in the case of the cross-flow microfiltration proc ess. The back transport of particles was estimated according to the me chanism of shear induced diffusion. Mass balancing, associated with th e resistance in series model, gave a differential equation which was i ntegrated formally versus time. The result was an expression for the p ermeate flow that takes into account the operating parameters (transme mbrane pressure and tangential flow velocity) and the suspension prope rties (the radius of particles, the concentration of the solution and the specific resistance of the cake). Experiments have been performed with baker's yeast suspended in a saline solution in order to validate this model.