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Abstract The principle underlying expression basically relationship between product quality, competitiveness and
involves the separation of a solid from the liquid in which it the environment (Tien, 2002).
is suspended by passing the mixture through a porous The handling and disposal of this sludge is one of the
medium with pore sizes too small to allow the passage of greatest challenges facing the environmental engineer. The
the solid particles at an applied pressure. The analytical sludge has high water content and compressibility attribute
method of the finite element method has been used to and as such it is expedient to dewater it to reduce its volume
determine the relationship between pressure distribution and prevent environmental health hazard. The dewatering of
and displacement distribution along sludge cake height in a sludge using the filter press method has been in existence
filter press expression process. The finite element far back as in the 1920s. Since then, a number of equations
formulation basically involves the properties of the sludge have been presented by various contributors aimed at
in question as distinguished from other solution. The improving the performance of the sludge
solution domain was idealized as a one-dimensional filtration/expression process, Carman, (1934), (1938);
quadratic shape function for the purpose of this analysis Grace, (1953); Coackley, (1956); Ademiluyi and others,
and the displacement function formulation method were (1983), (1987); Gale, (1975); Anazodo, (1974); Ademiluyi,
employed in solving the pressure distribution. It was (1986). However, their research was limited to experimental
discovered that pressure increases with an increase in work which could not provide an insight into the interactive
displacement of the cake at different time of expression. It nature of sludge filterability. As previously sighted in
was also discovered that pressure increases simultaneously literature (Anazodo, 1974; Ademiluyi, 1986) the
with displacement as the time of expression increases. The inapplicability of Darcys law of fluid flow to the
ranges of displacement in a sludge cake height with dewatering process stems from the fact that Darcys law is
increase time of expression increases with a decrease in only applicable to rigid materials where porosity is constant.
sludge depth, hence impacting positively of the effective This uniformity in porosity implies a corresponding
pressure. The displacement increases continuously with uniformity in pressure throughout the cake height. This is
increase time of expression. not true with compressible or deformable materials in for
Keywords Expression, Sludge cake, Compressive sludge cake. Porosity decreases from sludge to the cake
pressure. height closest to the septum (Hemant, 1981; Bear et al,
1991; Lee et al, 2000; Svarosky, 2000; Challeppah et al,
I. INTRODUCTION 2009; Challeppah et al, 2010). In the course of this porosity
Cake filtration is an important and widely used separation variation, pressure also varies as a result of solid
process in many areas in which the objectives may be to compaction displacement along the sludge height. Even
either recover a clear filtrate, or to recover the suspended though the direction of porosity and pressure variation will
solids, or both. The aforementioned areas include the be intuitively assessed, there is still the need to provide a
chemical and petrochemical, mineral, food, pharmaceutical theoretical base for such assessment. It is in the light of the
and water treatment industries. In the process industries, foregoing that finite element method of analysis was used in
separation and purification of the product stream is this study to evaluate the effect of displacement distribution
probably the stage where most value is added. Also, on effective pressure along the expressed cake height. It is
increasing environmental awareness has resulted in ever hoped that the study will find practical application in the
more stringent legislations to control liquid discharge evaluation of models necessary to describe cake expression
compositions. These two factors have led to separation phenomenon.
science and technology playing a pivotal role in the
Pressure (kg/cm)
1.2
250000
1
200000
0.8
150000
0.6
0.4 100000
Displacement Distribution at 10 Minutes
0.2 Pressure Distribution at 10 Minutes 50000
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Height (cm)
Fig.1: Plot of Heights of sludge cake versus pressure and displacement at 10 minutes
4.5
350000
4
300000
3.5
Displacement (cm)
3
250000 Pressure (kg/cm)
2.5 200000
2
150000
1.5
100000
Displacement Distribution at 30 Minutes
1
50000
0.5 Pressure Distribution at 30 Minutes
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Height (cm)
Fig.2: Plot of Heights of sludge cake versus pressure and displacement at 30 minutes
Pressure (kg/cm)
6 250000
5 200000
4 150000
3
100000
2 Displacement Distribution at 60 Minutes
1 50000
Pressure Distribution at 60 Minutes
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Height (cm)
Fig.3: Plot of Heights of sludge cake versus pressure and displacement at 60 minute
Pressure (kg/cm)
250000
6 200000
150000
4
100000
2 Displacement Distribution at 70 Minutes
50000
Pressure Distribution at 70 Minutes
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Height (cm)
Fig.4: Plot of Heights of sludge cake versus pressure and displacement at 70 minutes
Height (cm)
Height 1.0
Height 0.8
0 Height 0.6
Height 0.4
Height 0.2
-2
Axial Strain Deformation (cm)
-4
-6
-8 Height 0.2
Height 0.8
Time (Minutes)
Height 1.0
Height (cm)
Height 1.0
0 Height 0.6
Height 0.2
-50000
Effective Stress (kg/cm)
-100000
-150000
Height 0.2
-200000 Height 0.4
Height 0.6
-250000 Height 0.8
Height 1.0
-300000
-350000
-400000
Time (Minutes)
At the beginning of the expression the whole pressure drop particle compaction (displacement) thus leading to a gradual
available is across the medium itself since as yet no cake is drop in the filtrate flow rate in constant pressure expression.
formed. As the pores of the medium are normally small and
the rate of filtrate flow is slow, the flow conditions are III. CONCLUSION
almost invariably laminar (Tiller, 1974, Svarovsky, 2000). 1) It has been demonstrated that the expression
When the particles are retained at the surface of the mechanisms under constant pressure consist of two flow
medium, they form a cake. As soon as the first layer of the phenomenon; of filtration and consolidation, and these
cake is formed, the subsequent expression takes place on phenomena, though occurring progressively from
the top of this cake and the medium provides only a filtration, changes at a transition stage with increased
supporting function. A greater proportion of the available time of filtration, with no visible flow of filtrate, but
pressure drop is taken up by the cake itself. This results in with evidences of displacement in the sludge cake
an effective increase in the bed resistance as a result of solid height as a result of solid settlement. A process called
consolidation.