6.

2 Filtration Mechanisms During the Initial Phase of Cake Filtration 89

If the particles are much smaller than the pores of a filter medium and the solid
concentration of the slurry is quite very low, depth filtration takes place, and the
particles are captured inside the filter mediums structure if it shows a certain
three-dimensional structure.
Last but not least particles in low concentrated slurries can be larger than the
pores of the filter medium. In this case, single particles approach the surface of
the filter medium, and following the liquid flow, they block the single pores com-
pletely. This mechanism is called sieve or blocking filtration.
In cake filtration processes, only the cake filtration mechanism should be
relevant and dominant, but this is, especially at the beginning, only a theoretical
idealization. During the initial stage of a cake filtration process, the particle
bridges across the filter medium pores have to be formed, and during this time,
simultaneously intermediate, depth, and blocking filtration can take place. For
cake filtration applications, this complicated situation can be held normally very
short in the range of a few seconds down to a part of a second. The cake filtration
mechanism can be assumed here, as valid with adequate accuracy, from the
very beginning. If in practical applications turbid filtrate can be observed for
longer times, the reason is often not an incomplete formation of particle bridges
but particle deposits in the filtrate piping system, which are flushed out over
longer times. However, in any case, if a certain turbidity of the filtrate cannot be
accepted, the filtrate has to be recycled, until sufficient filtrate clarity is reached.
In any case, a reduction of the bridge formation time is desirable and improves
filtrate clarity. Rushton suggested some measures to achieve that [3].
Flocculation supports the spontaneous start of cake filtration and thus pro-
motes filtrate clarity because the flocs are acting as preformed bridge elements
(cf. Section 5.3).
The preconcentration of slurry to be filtered leads to faster bridge formation
and improved filtrate clarity, as is demonstrated in Figure 6.3, for the filtration of
a flotation coal slurry.
The solid mass, which is getting into the filtrate per square meter filter area and
during one filtration cycle, is plotted against the pore diameter of several plain

Solid content in the filtrate ms,F (g m–2)

300
Flotation coal/plain weave
cv = 10%
Δp = 2 bar, hc = 10 mm,
x50.3 = 75 μm, xmin ≈ 1 μm, xmax ≈ 200 μm
200

cv = 45%
Membrane
100 d = 0.2 μm

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Pore size d (μm)

Figure 6.3 Filtrate pollution depending on filter medium pore size and slurry concentration.
90 6 Filter Cake Formation

weave fabrics with open square-shaped pores (cf. Section 9.2) and a microporous
membrane with a pore diameter of 0.2 μm.
As expected, the filtrate pollution increases with increased pore diameter of
the fabrics. If the solid content of the slurry is increasing from 10 to 45 vol%, a
remarkable decrease of filtrate pollution can be observed. This is due to the fact
that the particle bridges are formed much faster for greater solid concentrations.
For a constant filtrate pollution of about 170 g m−2 for the diluted slurry, a fil-
ter medium pore size of about 62 μm is necessary, whereas for the concentrated
slurry, 100 μm pores can be chosen. The obvious advantage is that the much more
open fabric tends much less to clog and is much easier to regenerate.
If these findings are transferred to rotary filters, such as drum, disc, belt, or pan
filters, the remarkable reduction of filtrate pollution for increasing slurry concen-
tration becomes obvious. This is demonstrated in Figure 6.4 on the example of
lab-scale experiments, which are transferred to the conditions of a rotary filter.
If a constant solid mass throughput, Qm,s , has to be handled and the filter rotates
with a constant speed, n (constant cake formation time t 1 ), the increase of slurry
solid volume concentration, cv , leads to increased cake height, hc , and reduced
necessary filter area, A. In Eq. (6.1), the cake height is given as a proportional to
the square root of the concentration parameter 𝜅 (cf. Eq. (2.36)), which includes
cake porosity 𝜀 and slurry concentration cv
√
√ cv
hc ∝ 𝜅 = (6.1)
1 − 𝜀 − cv

Solid mass
flow into
filtrate
(g h–1) A = 1 m2
hc = 11.4 mm Drum filter
4000
magnetite/water
x50.3 = 22 μm
Qs = 394 kg h–1
Δp = 100 kPa
3000 α1 = 85°

2000

A = 0.72 m2
1000 hc = 15.9 mm A = 0.5 m2
hc = 22.5 mm A = 0.36 m2
hc = 31.9 mm
A = 0.4 m2 A = 0.33 m2
hc = 27.6 mm hc = 34.7 mm
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Solid volume concentration of slurry (vol%)

Figure 6.4 Filtrate pollution of a drum filter, depending on slurry concentration.

 6.2 Filtration Mechanisms During the Initial Phase of Cake Filtration 91

The solid mass throughput of a rotary filter, Qm,s , is according to Eq. (6.2) pro-
portional to the filter area A, the square root of the concentration parameter 𝜅,
and the square root of the rotation speed n (cf. Eq. (6.47))
√ √
Qm,s ∝ A ⋅ 𝜅 ⋅ n (6.2)
If the rotation speed is held constant, an increased concentration must be com-
pensated by an area reduction to get constant throughput. If the filter area is held
constant, an increase of slurry concentration must be compensated by a speed
reduction.
In other words, because of an increase in the slurry concentration less number
of particles “see” the filter medium and the bridge formation takes place faster.
The pore bridging not only exerts influence on the filtrate pollution but is also
a decisive factor for the practical relevant filter medium flow resistance Rm . The
diagram in Figure 6.5 explains this more in detail.
The filter medium resistance is plotted against the pore diameter of several
twill weave fabrics (cf. Section 9.2) as well as of polypropylene and polyamide
microporous membranes. For the filtration tests, particle-free water, flotation
coal slurry, hematite iron ore slurry, and glass bead slurry had been used. For
the permeation of the filter media with particle-free water, the expected result
of great pore size influence on the filter medium flow resistance can be observed
clearly. The filtration of slurries shows a completely different behavior. Now,
the filter medium resistance increases for all media approximately to a similar
value of resistance and remains more or less constant for all medium pore sizes.
The reason for this phenomenon is that the practically relevant filter medium
resistance for cake filtration is influenced not only by the pore geometry of the
clean filter media but also by particles, which are intruded in the filter medium

10
Filter media
resistance
Rm (1010 m–1)

Polyamide membranes

Polypropylene fabrics (twill weave)

0.01 Particle-free water

Flotation coal x50.3 = 93 μm
(high content of fines)
Hemat. iron ore x50.3 = 28 μm
Glass beads x50.3 = 7 μm
(mono size)

0.1 1 10 100
Pore diameter d (μm)

Figure 6.5 Filter medium flow resistance.