Modelo Estocástico para bloqueio de poros e redução de permeabilidade

Modeling transport of particulate suspensions in porous media is essential for understanding various processes of industrial and scientific interest. During these processes, particles are retained due to mechanisms like size exclusion (straining), adsorption, sedimentation and diffusion. In this thesis, a mathematical model is proposed and analytical solutions are obtained. The obtained analytic solutions for the proposed model, which takes pore and particle size distributions into account, were applied to predict the particle retention, pore blocking and permeability reduction during dead-end microfiltration in membranes. Various scenarios, considering different particle and pore size distributions were studied. The obtained results showed that pore blocking and permeability reduction are highly influenced by the initial pore and particle size distributions. This feature was observed even when different initial pore and particle size distributions with the same average pore size and injected particle size were considered. Finally, a mathematical model for predicting equivalent permeability in porous media during particle retention (and pore blocking) is proposed and the obtained solutions were applied to study permeability decline in different scenarios

Modelo Estocástico para bloqueio de poros e redução de permeabilidade

Modeling transport of particulate suspensions in porous media is essential for understanding various processes of industrial and scientific interest. During these processes, particles are retained due to mechanisms like size exclusion (straining), adsorption, sedimentation and diffusion. In this thesis, a mathematical model is proposed and analytical solutions are obtained. The obtained analytic solutions for the proposed model, which takes pore and particle size distributions into account, were applied to predict the particle retention, pore blocking and permeability reduction during dead-end microfiltration in membranes. Various scenarios, considering different particle and pore size distributions were studied. The obtained results showed that pore blocking and permeability reduction are highly influenced by the initial pore and particle size distributions. This feature was observed even when different initial pore and particle size distributions with the same average pore size and injected particle size were considered. Finally, a mathematical model for predicting equivalent permeability in porous media during particle retention (and pore blocking) is proposed and the obtained solutions were applied to study permeability decline in different scenarios