Applicability of Colloid Filtration Theory in Size-Distributed, Reduced Porosity, Granular Media in the Absence of Energy Barriers

The vast majority of colloid transport experiments use granular porous media with narrow size distribution to facilitate comparison with colloid filtration theory, which represents porous media with a single collector size. In this work we examine retention of colloids ranging in size from 0.21 to 9...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2011-12, Vol.45 (24), p.10401-10407
Main Authors: Pazmino, Eddy F, Ma, Huilian, Johnson, William P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Chemical engineering
Chemical vapor deposition
Chemistry
Colloids - chemistry
Environmental Processes
Exact sciences and technology
Filtration
Filtration - instrumentation
Filtration - methods
Grain size
Kinetics
Liquid-liquid and fluid-solid mechanical separations
Models, Chemical
Particle Size
Porosity
Retention
Simulation
Tomography
Water Pollutants - chemistry
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Summary:The vast majority of colloid transport experiments use granular porous media with narrow size distribution to facilitate comparison with colloid filtration theory, which represents porous media with a single collector size. In this work we examine retention of colloids ranging in size from 0.21 to 9.1 μm in diameter, in columns packed with uniform and size-distributed borosilicate glass bead porous media with porosity ranging from 0.38 to 0.28. Conditions were favorable to attachment (absent a significant energy barrier). The goal was to determine the applicability of colloid filtration theory to colloid retention in these media. We also directly observed deposition at the pore scale in packed flow cells. The pore domain was characterized via high resolution computerized X-ray micro tomography (HRXMT). The flow field was examined using Lattice-Boltzmann flow simulation methods (LBM). The influence of preferential flow paths on colloid retention in the lowest porosity media was accounted for by correcting the fluid velocity. Straining in pore throats too small to pass was not a significant contributor to colloid retention despite colloid-to-collector size ratios up to 0.05. Mechanistic simulations via the Ma-Pedel-Fife-Johnson correlation equation (MPFJ) for colloid filtration predicted the experimentally observed trends in deposition with porosity when a number-based mean grain size was used.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/es202203m