44

2 Filtration Fundarnenfals

2.5 Forms of Cake Filtration Equation

Substituting Equation (2.16) into Equation (2.12) gives:
dV
A'AP
dt
pcVa

(2.19)

Equation (2.19) contains three variables and four constants: time, filtrate volume and
pressure; and filtration area, viscosity, concentration and specific resistance. The last two
are constant only if the filter cake is incompressible. The equation can be solved
analytically only if one of the three variables is held constant. This reflects the physical
mode of operation of industrial filters; vacuum filtration tends to be at constant pressure
and pressure filtration is oRen under constant rate, at least until some predetermined
pressure has been achieved. Thus the following mathematical models are very relevant to
these filtrations.

2.5.1 Constant Pressure Filtration

Under these conditions Equation (2.19) can be rearranged and integrated as follows:

the limits are given by: zero filtrate volume at zero time, V volume filtrate after time t,
thus:
(2.20)

In deriving Equation (2.20) any pressure loss due to the flow of filtrate through the
6lter medium has been neglected. This assumption can be removed by assuming that the
pressure drop in the medium APmcan be added to the pressure drop over the filter cake
h p ,to give the total or overall pressure drop:

AP

APc + APm

(2.21)

Darcy's law can then be applied to both terms:

(2.22)

2.5 Forms of Cake Filtration Equation

45

where Lm and k, are the medium ,depth and permeability, respectively. If the medium
resistance and depth remains constant during filtration these two constants can be
replaced by a single constant known as the medium resistance&, with units of m- :

This expression can be substituted into Equation (2.22), which can then be rearranged
and integrated:

After integration and rearrangement the following equation, known as the linearised
parabolic rate law results:
t

2A2AP

v+- @m

AAP

(2.23)

Equation (2.23) is a straight line, where t/V is the dependent and V is the independent
variable. Thus a graph of the experimental data points of t/Y against V permits
calculation of the gradient and intercept of Equation (2.23) muth, 19351:
The gradient and intercept are as follows:
Gradient

Clca

= ___

(2.24)

PRm

(2.25)

2AZAP

and
Intercept

= ___

AAP

Thus if the liquid viscosity, filter area, fitration pressure and mass of dry cake per unit
volume of filtrate, either fiom Equation (2.17) or (2.18), are known, the graphical values
can be used to calculate the cake specific resistance and filter medium resistance.
Worked Example: the data shown in Figure 2.7 were obtained from the constant
pressure period of a pilot scale plate and .frame filter press. Calculate the cake
resistance given: filter area 2.72 m, viscosity 10 Pa s, mass of dry cake per unit
volume filtrate 125 kg m-3 and filtrate pressure 3 bar. The specific resistance by
Equation (2.24) is 5 . 4 ~ 1 0 m kg-. The apparent medium resistance is 2 . 9 ~ 1 0 m-
by Equation (2.25). However, in this instance the medium resistance is a composite
term including the resistance to filtrate flow due to the cake formed during the

2Filtration Fundamentals

46

preceding constant rate filtration period on the filter press, in addition to the true
medium resistance.

3E
*

6000

20

5000

$?

4000

+k
0

.r(

c,

a2
c.,

2.
CI

0.024
0.039

3000

2000
+
0
.+
I&

327
418
472
538

0.071

0.088
0.096
0.106

0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12

0.14

Volume Filtrate Collected, m3

Wgure 2.7 Linearised parabolic rate law plot

It is important to realise that the above equations are applicable to both small-scale
laboratory test data and to fdl-scale industrial filters operating under conditions of
constant pressure filtration. Thus specific resistance and medium resistance are regarded
as two design variables which can be used to optimise filter throughput, or to scale up
laboratory data, as will be discussed fhther in Chapter 11. Further important details
regarding the filter medium resistance are discussed in Section 2.9, and these should be
read before any further conclusions are made regarding this variable.
There are various forms of the parabolic rate law in common use. One alternative is to
plot (t Hl )/ (V-VI) against Vl where tl and Vl are some arbitrary datum values of time and
filtrate volume. This is usefid if a long time has been taken in reaching the h a 1 and
constant value of pressure across the cake and cloth. It is also usefd in the analysis of
data in which a step change of the filtration pressure was performed, such as detailed in
Section 2.6. The value of the medium resistance calculated fkom Equation (2.25) under
these circumstances, has dubious meaning, however, as it represents both the medium
resistance and the resistance due to the cake deposited prior to the datum. Some
investigators work with the differential form of Equation (2.23), plotting the reciprocal
of the instantaneous filtrate rate q against volume of filtrate, which again produces a
straight line in accordance with equations (2.26) and (2.27):

(2.26)

2.5 Forms of Cake Filtration Equation

47

i.e.:
1

_ = -

AA?

v+-1
go

(2.27)

where 40 is the filtrate rate at the start of the filtration when no cake is present. It is not,
however, the same as the medium resistance in the total absence of slurry to be atered, as
will be discussed in Section 2.9. Use of Equations (2.26) and (2.27) presents some
practical difEculties as the instantaneous filtrate flow rate usually has to be determined by
graphical merentiation (i.e taking tangents) of the filtrate volume-time curve. Such a
procedure is notoriously inaccurate.
Finally, one method which is readily applied to computer spreadsheet use is to consider
the incremental version of Equation (2.23). The sltration data is arranged into equal
volumes of filtrate, and the corresponding time for each increment is calculated. The
filtration starts at to and YO, the next increment is tl and Vl, and subsequent times are
measured after equal volumes of filtrate ( A v ) have been collected. The incremental
equation for the first increment can be represented as:
t,

a(AV) + b ( A V )

subsequent increments occur at (2AY), (3AV), etc.

If the difference between consecutive increments is taken then the resulting, and general,
&st Werence equation is:
At,

(212- l)a(AV)+ b(AY)

The second-Werence equation is obtained &om the difference between two

consecutivefist Werence equations, this will be:
2a(AV)

Thus the second difference in the times required to achieve the filtrate volumes can be
equated with the above, and rearranged to provide values of a and ultimately specific
resistance. This technique is best illustrated by the application of a Mereme table, which
is given below.
is more complex, but again does not require any
The equation or b, and hence R,,,,
graphical construction.

The advantage of the above procedure is that values of both specific resistance and
medium resistance can be calculated for each data point (or at least n-2 data points where
n is the total number of points). This helps to highlight any erroneous data points, and
provides some indication of the spread of experimental values for specific and

48

2 Filtration Fundamentals

medium resistances. Clearly, the mean value of specific and medium resistance can be
used in further computations, possibly combined with the lowest and highest values
taken fi-omthe differencetable as an indication of this measure of spread on these values.
The routine appears very complex on first viewing but lends itself to computer
spreadsheet application with, therefore, the minimum amount of repetitive calculation
once set up.
Table 2.1 Difference table for constant pressure filtration
Incremental equation

First difference

Second difference

tl= a(Av2+b(AV)

tz = a(2AQ2+b(2AV)

At2= 3a(Aq2+bAV

t3= a(3AV2+b(3AV)

At3= 5a(AV)+bAV

A(At) = 2a(A V)2

...

...

...
tn-l = (n-l)2a(AV)2+(n-1)b(AV)

At,,-l = (2n-3)a(AV)+b(AV

t,, = na(A V)+nb(A V )

= (2n-l)a(AV)2+b(AV)

A(At) = 2a(AV)
A(At) = 2a(Av2

2.5.2 Constant Rate Filtration

This type of filtration commonly occurs when an efficient positive displacement pump
is used to feed a pressure filter. The pump delivers a unifoim volume of slurry into the
filter; hence the filtration rate remajns constant when filtering an incompressiblematerial.
In order to achieve this constant rate the pressure delivered by the pump must rise, to
overcome the increasing resistance to filtration caused by cake deposition. It is usual for
such a pumping system to include a pressure relief valve; if the filtration cycle is long
enough, the constant rate period wiU be followed by a constant pressure period after the
pressure relief valve opens.
Constant rate filtration is easily observed on a plot of filtrate volume against time, as
illustrated in Figure 2.8.
Under these circumstances:
dV - Y
dt
t

Constant