Physical meaning of specific cake resistance and effects of cake properties in compressible cake filtration

Using the traditional filtration-rate equation and the modified permeation theory that takes into account the effect of particle polydispersity and pa rticle shape, the physical meaning of the specific cake resistance is consi dered theoretically. As a result, the specific resistance is expressed as a function of particle shape, mean particle size, polydispersity, cake poros ity and particle density. The equation is useful for the filtration calcula tion as an alternative to the Kozeny-Carman equation. For non-spherical par ticles, with a wide size distribution, the effects of particle shape and po lydispersity on the specific resistance are not negligible. The effect of c ake porosity on the specific resistance is discussed on the basis of previo usly obtained experimental results.