Influence of Wall Effects on Filter Upscaling during Solid‐Liquid Filter Tests

Abstract

Industrial solid-liquid filtration units are upscaled based on laboratory tests, often by a resistance meter. Wall or boundary effects are more pronounced during lab tests compared with full-scale units where these effects might be negligible. Thus, simply using area-specific rates from lab tests may lead to a significant upscaling error. Intentional alterations of wall lengths and filtration areas are performed to allow quantitative description of this effect. Smaller area and longer wall length result in faster cake buildup as well as higher air consumption during subsequent cake drying. This indicates that the permeability close to the walls is different. Extrapolation towards negligible specific wall areas is used to improve upscaling calculations.