Pressure drop and filtration efficiency of a ceramic filter and its optimal design*

The pressure drop and the filtration efficiency of a ceramic filter (CF) are investigated. The ceramic filter is a monolithic honeycomb-like structure with a porosity. To analyze the flow characteristics of the CF, the Navier-Stokes-Brinkman equations are numerically solved. The numerical results indicate that the pressure drop of the CF is mainly due to the viscous drags at the channel surfaces and the Darcy's drag at the porous ceramic wall. Also, we find that the pressure drop at the entrance and the pressure recovery at the exit are relatively small. To predict the pressure drops of the CFs, we use a one-dimensional pressure drop model (Konstandopoulos & Johnson 1989). Also, the filtration theory of a spherical packed bed combined with the pressure drop model is used for the prediction of the filtration efficiency of the CF. The predicted pressure drops and filtration efficiencies are in a good agreement with the numerical and experimental results, respectively. Finally, we find the optimal shape of a CF that provides a large filtration efficiency with minimum pressure drop by using the models and an optimizer. The present method may be a guideline for the design of a CF with high performance.