J Aerosol SoL \';31. 31, Suppl. 1, pp.

S458-$459, 2000

Pergamon
www.elsevier.com/locate/jaerosci

Poster Session I. Filtration

LOADING OF MECHANICAL FIBROUS FILTERS WITH SOLID POLIDYSPERSE
AEROSOLS: MATHEMATICAL MODELAND EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
ALBERT PODGORSKI, PIOTR GRZYBOWSKI
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology,
Waryfiskiego 1, 00-645 Warsaw, Poland. e-mail: Podgorski@ichip.pw.edu.pl
Keywords: fibrous filter; filter loading; polidysperse aerosol

INTRODUCTION AND MODEL DESCRIPTION

A two-stage model to describe the time variation of a mechanical fibrous filter efficiency during its
continuous loading with solid aerosol particles was recently proposed, Podg6rski, 1998 (note that
equation (6) in that paper contained an editorial error: the minus sign was omitted before (l+a) in the
exponential term). It was shown that the model works correctly for filtration of solid monodisperse
aerosols; The results obtained may be summarised by the following dependence of the momentary filter
penetration, P, on the filtration time, t:
1 =l+exp(i)[exp(NL)_l]

e(t)
~=

P(t)

for t<ic

exp(NL) 1- . a o ' ~ - l , l _ ( l + o ~ ) ~ . . e x p _ ( l + a ) i
(1 + a)~,: JL

(1)

~'-'-1 x

(2)
x a~c-l_~
[ l+a

exp[(l+a)t]

for t->to

(l+a)(l+oc)"

Dimensionless time, t, is given by: i = t/t*, where t*=a*/Uco~,, the time of the second stage beginning
equals: t c = t*ln(1 +ac),dimensionless critical loading (volume of deposited particles per filter volume)
at the beginning of the second stage, which is reached first in the front layer of the filter, is: ~c = t~c/o*,
and the clean filter coefficient ~, is related to the initial filtration efficiency E0 by: ~, = -ln(1-Eo)/L.
Superficial gas velocity is depicted by U, the filter thickness by L, the inlet aerosol concentration
(volume of particles per volume of aerosol) is denoted by Co and NL=LL. The model contains four
independent phenomenological parameters: E0 - initial (for a clean filter) collection efficiency,
characteristic time constant t* for the first stage (or, alternatively, the characteristic loading a* during the
first stage), ac - the critical loading when the second stage begins (or, equivalently, the time of the first
stage duration, to), and a - dimensionless factor of the deposition rate acceleration for the second stage
(for a more detailed description see Podg6rski, 1998). Applicability of this model for filtration of
polidysperse aerosol particles is not so obvious, however. First, one has to decide what kind of aerosol
concentration (e.g., number, mass) should be used to calculate the overall filter penetration. Since the
filter characteristics varies with the degree of the filter filling by deposits, we consequently use the
volumetric fraction of particles in the aerosol stream to express the total concentration and to the such unit
the filter penetration will be referred thereatter.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The aim of this study was to verify experimentally the appropriateness of the presented model in the case
of a continuous loading of a fibrous filter with solid, polidysperse aerosol particles. For this purpose, three
samples of a commercial, polyester fibrous filter composed of the fibres with diameters in the range 10-80

$458

Abstracts

of the 2000 European Aerosol Conference

$459

~tm were exposed to the air containing a polidysperse silica dust. The aerosol had a wide size distribution
(0.1-10 gin). Particles were neutralised before the filter with the Kr s5 source. Aerosol samples were taken
isokinetically upstream and downstream the filter and the corresponding number size distributions were
determined using the laser particle counter (A3 GmbH). Simultaneously, the pressure drop on the filter
was measured by the electronic differential manometer. Aerosol flow rate was measured and controlled
by the standard float flowmeters. Having determined the momentary inlet and outlet particle number
density distributions, n(dp, t), the momentary overall filter penetration, P(t), was calculated as:

P(O =

n(dp,t)d~ddp
La'"

n(dpj)d~ddp
Jo.,

(3)

L ap~'

Ji.

Experimental conditions were as follows: sample 1 - superficial gas velocity U=0.119 m/s, filter porosity
e=53.6%, sample 2 - U=0.119 m/s, e=95.4%, sample 3 - U=0.058 m/s, e=95.4%. The results obtained are
summarised in Fig. 1, where experimentally measured momentary penetration is shown together with the
curves obtained from the equations (1)-(2). Determined model parameters are listed in the plots' legends.

o-e

a=3,5

3o

o0/o'=7 1

E;oo,,, I

~o

Sample 2:

so ~

a=3,e

,o I

Oo/O.o4,9
,

3o . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.......

Eo=O,32

: ...........

3
2
I

~
10

100

200

300
400
Time, t [rain]

500

600

100

200

300
400
. Time, t [min]

5(]0

600

70
60

i
'
,-~..

Sa~nple3:
a=2,25
a la*=1,5

J ~0=0,33

E"

._o
Q.

40

30

........

j ---

Experimentaldata
Mod~t

100

"~ !

-~

200
Time,

300

400

Fig. 1. Experimental data of the nonsteady-state

penetration of the polidysperse aerosol in
fibrous filters and the model calculations.

500

t[min]

It may be concluded that the proposed model behaves properly when applied to describe the nonsteadystate filtration of the polidysperse, solid aerosols. The experimental results obtained suggest that the filter
porosity has a significant influence on the kinetic parameters for the first stage of the process, t* and
~do*, while the gas velocity can seriously affect the kinetic constant a for the second stage. Further
experimental studies are necessary to formulate the more detailed quantitative conclusions.
REFERENCES
Podg6rski, A., 1998, d. Aerosol Sci. 29 (Suppl. 1), $929.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) under grant T09C060 18