- In cake filtration processes, where particles in a suspension are separated by forming a filter
cake on the filter medium, the resistances of filter cake and filter medium cause a specific pressure
drop which consequently defines the process energy effort. The micromechanics of the filter cake
formation (interactions between particles, fluid, other particles and filter medium) must be considered
to describe pore clogging, filter cake growth and consolidation correctly. A precise 3D modeling
approach to describe these effects is the resolved coupling of the Computational Fluid Dynamics with
the Discrete Element Method (CFD-DEM). This work focuses on the development and validation of a
CFD-DEM model, which is capable to predict the filter cake formation during solid-liquid separation
accurately. The model uses the Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) to directly solve the flow equations
in the CFD part of the coupling and the DEM for the calculation of particle interactions. The developed
model enables the 4-way coupling to consider particle-fluid and particle-particle interactions. The
results of this work are presented in two steps. First, the developed model is validated with an
empirical model of the single particle settling velocity in the transition regime of the fluid-particle
flow. The model is also enhanced with additional particles to determine the particle-particle influence.
Second, the separation of silica glass particles from water in a pressurized housing at constant pressure
is experimentally investigated. The measured filter cake, filter medium and interference resistances
are in a good agreement with the results of the 3D simulations, demonstrating the applicability of the
resolved CFD-DEM coupling for analyzing and optimizing cake filtration processes.
