Effect of particle shape on crossflow filtration flux

In an effort to further increase the understanding of crossflow filtration, experiments were performed on the influence of particle shape on permeatio n flux. Five particles of similar density and size distribution but of diff erent shapes were used to test the influence of particle shape, while varyi ng experimental parameters such as crossflow velocity, filtration pressure, solids concentration, membrane morphology and pore size. Particle shape wa s found to influence the equilibrium flux by the structure of the cake laye r formed. Irregularly shaped particles such as branched carbon particles pr ovided higher fluxes due to the high voidage cakes. More regularly shaped p articles such as glass spheres resulted in lower fluxes. Platelet aluminium particles had relatively high filtration rates due to the gaps between the plates. The effects of the other experimental parameters typically showed results consistent with previous publications. Using the measured cake mass , a theoretical model based on D'Arcy and Kozeny gave reliable filtration f lux compared to the experimental results. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.