Pore cross-talk in colloidal filtration

Olivier Liot (1) , Akash Singh (1) , Patrice Bacchin (2) , Paul Duru (3) , Jeffrey Morris (4) , Pierre Joseph (1)

1 LAAS-MILE - Équipe Micro-Nanofluidique pour les sciences de la vie et de l’environnement
2 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique
3 IMFT - Institut de mécanique des fluides de Toulouse
4 CCNY - The City College of New York

Blockage of pores by particles is found in many processes, including filtration and oil extraction. We present filtration experiments through a linear array of ten channels with one dimension which is sub-micron, through which a dilute dispersion of Brownian polystyrene spheres flows under the action of a fixed pressure drop. The growth rate of a clog formed by particles at a pore entrance systematically increases with the number of already saturated (entirely clogged) pores, indicating that there is an interaction or “cross-talk” between the pores. This observation is interpreted based on a phenomenological model, stating that a diffusive redistribution of particles occurs along the membrane, from clogged to free pores. This one-dimensional model could be extended to two-dimensional membranes.

Mots clés: Clogging; Microfluidic; Colloid; Pore; Channel; Filtration

Domaines: Génie chimique; Génie logiciel [cs.SE]

Olivier Liot, Akash Singh, Patrice Bacchin, Paul Duru, Jeffrey Morris, et al.. Pore cross-talk in colloidal filtration. Scientific Reports, 2018, 8 (12460), pp.1-7. ⟨10.1038/s41598-018-30389-7⟩. ⟨hal-01865363⟩