Simulation of electrical-conduction and filtration processes in porous media with two-phase saturation

Results of simulating electrical-conduction and filtration processes in porous media with two-phase saturation have been presented. A three-dimensional cubic lattice of capillaries has been used as a model porous medium. The sizes and amount of capillaries in the model are selected according to a preset pore-size distribution. The results obtained enable one to establish the general regularities of the influence of the pore structure on transfer processes at two-phase saturation, analyze the dependence of the electrical-conduction and filtration processes on the features of porous-medium saturation, and illustrate the potential of the capillary-lattice model for describing the properties of porous media with two-phase saturation.     

Simulation of electrical-conduction and filtration processes in porous media

Results of simulation of electrical-conduction and filtration processes in porous media have been reported. For better visualization and simplification of the analysis of the results obtained, simple model distributions of pore sizes with the patterns of a triangle, rectangle, semiellipse, etc., have been used. The porous medium has been simulated in terms of a capillary lattice model, which represents a three dimensional cubic lattice of capillaries the sizes and number of which are selected according to a preset pore size distribution. The data obtained reflect the general regularities of the influence of the pore structure on the transfer processes, show the interrelation between the parameters characterizing these processes, and illustrate the potential of the capillary-lattice model for describing the properties of porous media.     

Review on penetration and transport phenomena in porous media during slot die coating

A distinctive field in the coatings industry is coating of porous media, which has broad applications including paper, textiles, electronics, filtration, and energy sectors. Fluid penetration is an important issue during direct coating of a liquid bead on porous media, which is driven by the pressure from an external flow field and the surface tension in the porous media. Generally, during the coating process, some level of penetration is desirable to obtain specific material properties, but inadequate or excessive penetration is detrimental. To help control the level of penetration, understanding relationships between operating parameters and penetration are highly desirable. In this article, the current state of academic research on modeling penetration in porous media during common coating processes, especially the slot die coating process, is reviewed. Specifically, the challenges, basic ideas, advantages, and disadvantages of macroscale, microscale, and pore-network models on penetration in porous media are discussed. This article concludes with some recommendations for future work. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 1669–1680     

Tunable filtration media employing alternating current electrokinetics

Separation of colloidal particles from aqueous media by barrier filtration is typically dictated by sieving mechanisms. Here, we demonstrate that colloid filtration by porous membranes can be considerably augmented by suitably superimposing an alternating current (AC) electric field on the membrane. The combined steric-dielectrophoretic filtration can result in very high rejection of the particles compared to solely steric rejection.     

Kinetic adhesion of bacterial cells to sand: cell surface properties and adhesion rate

Correlation between microbial surface thermodynamics using the extended DLVO (XDLVO) theory and kinetic adhesion of various bacterial cells to sand was investigated. Two experimental setups were utilized. Adhesion tests were conducted in batch reactors with slow agitation. Also, bacteria were circulated through small sand columns in a closed loop and the results were analyzed with a simple model which accounted for the rate of the adhesion phenomena (omega in h(-1)) and adhesion percentage. Cells surface properties were derived from contact angle measurements. The wicking method was utilized to characterize the sand. Zeta potentials were measured for the sand and the cells. Kinetic of bacterial retention by the porous media was largely influenced by the electrostatic interactions which are correlated with omega from the model (R(2)=0.71). Negative zeta potentials resulted in electrostatic repulsions occurring between the sand and the bacterial cells which in result delayed bacterial adhesion. While no correlation was found between the adhesion percentage and the total interaction energy calculated with the XDLVO theory the respective behavior of hydrophobic and hydrophilic bacteria as well as the importance of electrostatic interactions was evidenced. All the bacterial strains studied adhered more in the column experiments than in the adhesion tests, presumably due to enhanced collision efficiency and wedging in porous media, while filtration could be ignored except for the larger Bacillus strains. Approximate XDLVO calculations due to solid surface nanoscale roughness, retention in a secondary minimum and population heterogeneity are discussed. Our results obtained with a large variety of different physicochemical bacterial strains highlights the influence of both surface thermodynamics and porous media related effects as well as the limits of using the XDLVO theory for evaluating bacterial retention through porous media.     

Colloid filtration theory and the Happel sphere-in-cell model revisited with direct numerical simulation of colloids

The transport of colloids and bacterial cells through saturated porous media is a complex phenomenon involving many interrelated processes that are often treated via application of classical colloid filtration theory (CFT). This paper presents a numerical investigation of CFT from the Lagrangian perspective, to evaluate the role of some of the classical assumptions underlying the theory and to demonstrate a means to include processes relevant to bacterial transport that were inadequately characterized or neglected in the original formulation, including Brownian diffusion and potentially hysteretic potential functions. The methodology is based on conducting a Lagrangian trajectory analysis within Happel's sphere-in-cell porous media model to obtain the collection efficiency (eta), the frequency at which colloids or bacteria make contact with the solid phase of the porous medium. The Lagrangian framework of our model lends itself to mechanistic modeling of the biological processes that may be important in subsurface bacterial transport. The numerical study presented here focuses on the size range of bacterial colloids and smaller (down to 10 nm). Results of our model runs are in good agreement with the deterministic trajectory analysis of Rajagopalan and Tien (when diffusion is neglected) and in excellent agreement with the analytical solution to the Smoluchowski-Levich approximation of the convective-diffusion equation (when external forces and interception are neglected). Simple addition of our result for the deterministic eta to our result for the Smoluchowski-Levich eta matches the overall Rajagopalan and Tien eta to within 5% error or less for all cases studied. When we simulate diffusion and the deterministic forces together, our results diverge from the Rajagopalan and Tien eta as the particle size decreases, with discrepancies as large as 73%. These results suggest that accurate prediction of eta values for bacteria-sized (and all submicrometer) colloids requires simultaneous consideration of the primary transport mechanisms.     

Resolving the coupled effects of hydrodynamics and DLVO forces on colloid attachment in porous media

Transport of colloidal particles in porous media is governed by the rate at which the colloids strike and stick to collector surfaces. Classic filtration theory has considered the influence of system hydrodynamics on determining the rate at which colloids strike collector surfaces, but has neglected the influence of hydrodynamic forces in the calculation of the collision efficiency. Computational simulations based on the sphere-in-cell model were conducted that considered the influence of hydrodynamic and Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) forces on colloid attachment to collectors of various shape and size. Our analysis indicated that hydrodynamic and DLVO forces and collector shape and size significantly influenced the colloid collision efficiency. Colloid attachment was only possible on regions of the collector where the torque from hydrodynamic shear acting on colloids adjacent to collector surfaces was less than the adhesive (DLVO) torque that resists detachment. The fraction of the collector surface area on which attachment was possible increased with solution ionic strength, collector size, and decreasing flow velocity. Simulations demonstrated that quantitative evaluation of colloid transport through porous media will require nontraditional approaches that account for hydrodynamic and DLVO forces as well as collector shape and size.     

Mathematical Model of Foam Flowing Characteristics by Snap-Off Mechanisms at Steady State in Porous Media

Flow characteristics and regeneration processes of foams were influenced by lamella properties and pore-throat structure in porous media. In this article, porous media was simplified as a bunch of constricted capillary tubes according to grain size, pore-throat radius, and immobile water saturation in porous media. Based on an analysis of forces upon liquid lamella, a mathematical model of foam migration and regeneration at steady state was established according to the mass conservation law and the momentum conservation law in porous media. The model could be used to calculate some important parameters in porous media, such as pressure distribution, shearing stress, lamella morphology, liquid-layer thickness, regeneration bubble size, etc. A series of flow experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of liquid properties and pore-throat structure on flow characteristics and resistance behavior of foams in porous media. The experimental results showed that pressure distribution monotonously decreased along porous media. The theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental results. Foam structure, that is, foam quality was an important factor upon foam resistance behavior in porous media. The strongest resistance ability of foams was achieved at foam quality of 85% in porous media.      

Flow of non‐newtonian fluids in porous media

The study of flow of non‐Newtonian fluids in porous media is very important and serves a wide variety of practical applications in processes such as enhanced oil recovery from underground reservoirs, filtration of polymer solutions and soil remediation through the removal of liquid pollutants. These fluids occur in diverse natural and synthetic forms and can be regarded as the rule rather than the exception. They show very complex strain and time dependent behavior and may have initial yield‐stress. Their common feature is that they do not obey the simple Newtonian relation of proportionality between stress and rate of deformation. Non‐Newtonian fluids are generally classified into three main categories: time‐independent whose strain rate solely depends on the instantaneous stress, time‐dependent whose strain rate is a function of both magnitude and duration of the applied stress and viscoelastic which shows partial elastic recovery on removal of the deforming stress and usually demonstrates both time and strain dependency. In this article, the key aspects of these fluids are reviewed with particular emphasis on single‐phase flow through porous media. The four main approaches for describing the flow in porous media are examined and assessed. These are: continuum models, bundle of tubes models, numerical methods and pore‐scale network modeling. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2010     

Filtration in Nonuniform Capillary–Porous Media: Equations of the Statistical Theory

Relationships between the statistical distribution of the filtration coefficient in a nonuniform capillary–porous medium and its total value for a filter layer are obtained. A closed set of equations where higher-order correlation moments of statistical fields serve as transferable entities is derived. The approach developed in this study makes it possible to study detailed laws of filtration in a nonuniform capillary–porous medium using the data on the filtration coefficient statistics, which is determined by the structure of the porous space.