Contrasting Clogging in Granular Media Filters, Soils, and Dead-End Membranes
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 5
Abstract
Clogging in porous media is a problem in environmental engineering, hydrogeology, soil science, and petrology. However, a comparison of the literature reveals qualitatively different clogging behavior in different porous media: in granular media filters, increasing clogging is associated with slower flow, more flocculated conditions, and smaller fractal dimensions. In soils and dead-end membranes, increasing clogging is associated with faster flow, more dispersed conditions, and larger fractal dimensions. This paper documents these differences, discusses them in light of two key intermediate variables, colloid accumulation and deposit morphology, then presents a new conceptual model that explains the reported clogging phenomena as a function of specific deposit, fractal dimension, and a new variable, deposit location. Testing this model is possible using recently introduced experimental techniques.
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Acknowledgments
The writer wishes to thank two anonymous referees for their insightful and constructive comments. Stephan Durham provided the reference to ASTM C33. DataThief was used to digitize data from the literature.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 5 • May 2010
Pages: 475 - 480
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 26, 2008
Accepted: Oct 8, 2009
Published online: Oct 9, 2009
Published in print: May 2010
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