Abstract
Filtration of liquid suspensions is a widely practiced process in many industries. In recent years, membrane filtration of colloidal solutions has attracted a considerable amount of attention. The appropriate control of both the filtration rate and the rejection (or the transmission) of the particles and/or the macromolecules in the filtration process is of great interest in both industry and academia. Such filtration behaviors are strongly affected by the properties of the filter cake formed by the accumulation of the particles and/or the macromolecules on the surface of the filter medium or the membrane. This paper overviewed the author’s own contributions on the recent developments on the behaviors of the filter cake in cake filtration and membrane filtration. The paper will mainly deal with measurements and analysis of the internal structures of the filter cake, the role of the solution environment in the properties of the filter cake, and filtration and fractionation mechanism of mixtures.
