Effect of microwave irradiation on the flow of micro-particle suspension (TiO2/H2O) in micro-Scale porous Structure

Abstract

The mass flow and transport phenomenon in porous media widely exists in nature and engineering applications. Membrane separation is a typical material transfer process in the porous medium. The objective of the present study is to estimate the effect of microwave irradiation on transport of micro-particle suspension through porous structure, using the flowing of TiO2/H 2O micro particle suspension through 0.45μm mixed cellulose micro porous membrane as an example. The work mainly compared the filtration behavior of suspension through membranes during microwave assisted filtration and conventional filtration. The particle size distribution of suspension was also characterized by using laser particle size analyzer. As the results, it is measured that the processed volume of suspension during microwave assisted filtration is considerable higher than that during conventional filtration. It is also observed that the average size of particles in suspension is 3.80 μm (10 g/L), and the volume percentage of particles smaller than micro-pore size 0.45μm in micro-filtration membrane is about 11.5%. It is indicated that microwave assisted filtration could considerably enhance the processed volume of suspension with micro-particle, which might be able to give some inspiration to the optimization of some processed technology of suspension chemical industry, food industry and water treatment industry.