Separation Science and Technology, Vol.36, No.12, 2693-2706, 2001
A method to determine the cake properties in centrifugal dewatering
A method for determining the cake properties in centrifugal dewatering is proposed in this study. By substituting experimental data of cake saturation versus time into the proposed procedures, the values of capillary pressure and filter cake permeability under various cake saturations can be estimated. Two kinds of particulate samples, CaCO3 and polystyrene powder, were used in the centrifugal dewatering experiments. The results show that both cakes exist in their funicular state for most times of dewatering. The value of capillary pressure increases while the permeability of cake decreases during the course of centrifugal dewatering. The regression functions relating the capillary pressure and permeability to the cake saturation are in agreement with the empirical equations used in previous work. A program was also designed to simulate the variation of cake saturation during centrifugal dewatering. A good agreement between the simulated results and the experimental data was obtained. The optimum operating condition for a given sample can be found by using the simulation method.