DETERMINATION OF THE COMPRESSIBILITY

EXPONENT IN LEWIS' EQUATION FOR

DEWATERING WASTE WATER PRECIPITATES

V. F. Karpukhin UDC 628.336.4.001.24

Cakes formed by filtering waste water are highly compressible. The limiting (critical) filtration
pressure, at which cake compression and the increase in its specific resistance become proportional to
pressure, is often quite low. This means that filtration pressure selection should be based on the most
exact experimental data available.
The i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p of f a c t o r s which affect the f i l t r a t i o n r a t e (filtration p r e s s u r e and s p e c i f i c
r e s i s t a n c e of the c o m p r e s s e d cake) and the e x p e r i m e n t a l m e t h o d f o r t h e i r d e t e r m i n a t i o n have been pub-
l i s h e d [1]. This method u s e s equations r e l a t i n g change in s p e c i f i c cake r e s i s t a n c e to f i l t r a t i o n p r e s s u r e
v a r i a t i o n . The s i m p l e s t of t h e s e is L e w i s ' equation:

r = top s,

w h e r e r is s p e c i f i c cake r e s i s t a n c e , r 0 is a c o n s t a n t , p is a f i l t r a t i o n p r e s s u r e , and s is the cake c o m -

p r e s s i b i l i t y exponent.

This f o r m u l a can be used to c o n s t r u c t l i n e a r g r a p h s in l o g a r i t h m i c c o o r d i n a t e s r e l a t i n g r and p.

Exponent s is a c o n s t a n t for the given cake equal to the g r a d i e n t of the s t r a i g h t l i n e .
V a l u e s of r a r e e x p e r i m e n t a l l y d e t e r m i n e d for s e v e r a l p r e s e l e c t e d v a l u e s of p, and s is then d e t e r -
m i n e d by plotting log r = f ( l o g p ) .

H o w e v e r v a l u e s of s g r e a t e r than unity a r e s o m e t i m e s obtained [2] in p r a c t i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n of this

m e t h o d . This can only be t r u e in the u n l i k e l y event that c a k e r e s i s t a n c e i n c r e a s e s f a s t e r than p r e s s u r e .

,2 //
rI

!~gO 2,2 2,z/ 2.6 2,8 lg p 0 Pcr

Fig. 1 Fig. 2
Fig. I. Specific cake resistance r as a logarithmic
function of filtration pressure p: I) s = 0.94 and 2) s
= I.I0.

Fig. 2. General shape of specific resistance r as a

function of filtration pressure p for highly compres-
sible cakes.

T r a n s l a t e d f r o m K h i m i c h e s k o e i Neftyanoe M a s h i n o s t r o e n i e , No. 4, p. 17, A p r i l , 1972.

9 1973 Consultants Bureau, a division of Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York,
] N. Y. 10011. All rights reserved. This article cannot be reproduced for any purpose whatsoever without
l permission of the publisher. A copy of this article is available from the publisher for $15.00.

333
 TABLE 1
Coagulant as wt. % of dry Compressibility expo-
solids in the sludge ~ nent of the cake at
Activated sludge o~ various filtration
~ . pressures

FeC13 CaO o K "~ 100-400 100-600

Aeration station:
Kuntsev - - m
98.8 0.84 1.00
98.9 0.82 1.07
98.9 0.89 1.01
98.8 0.83 1.20

Lublin 13.8 - 97.4 0.94 1.10

15.4 - 97.7 0.89 1.27
8.6 19,1 95.7 0.79 1.03
8.0 20.0 96.5 0.79 0.82
9,1 117.5 93.4 0,73 0.84
15.8 - 98,1 0.74 0.90
17.8 - 98.3 0,88 1.09
9.8 24.0 96.8 0.97 0.98
7.8 - 98,1 0.73 1.00
7.8 40.2 97.3 0.97 1,08
7.8 201.2 94.2 0.74 0.90

Kur'yanov 7.8 20.4 96.4 0.80 0,92

7.8 42.0 96.3 0.78 0.82
5.4 15.4 95.5 0.80 0.87

Kozhukhov 11.7 28.8 97.1 0.97 1.05

6.4 19.0 97.0 9.95 1.05
6.8 13.7 97.3 0.96 1.28

Synthetic rubber plant 5.3 - 96.9 0.92 0.98

5,4% - 94.4 0.94 0.98
A12(SO4)3

Formed during biochemical 1.5 0.89

purification of waste water from 1, 5% o. 90
antibiotics production A12(SO4)3
5% 0.s9
Fe(SO4)s

A s e r i e s o f e x p e r i m e n t a l o b s e r v a t i o n s ( T a b l e 1) w a s c a r r i e d out b y t h e A c a d e m y o f M u n i c i p a l A f f a i r s to
d e t e r m i n e c o n d i t i o n s u n d e r w h i c h s h a s a v a l u e > 1.

T h e d a t a in t h e t a b l e s h o w t h a t in a l l c a s e s of o p e r a t i o n w i t h a c t i v a t e d s l u d g e s is g r e a t e r in t h e r a n g e
o f 1 0 0 - 6 0 0 m m H g t h a n at 1 0 0 - 4 0 0 m m H g . T h i s i s t r u e o f s l u d g e t a k e n f r o m d i f f e r e n t a e r a t i o n s t a t i o n s ,
t r e a t e d w i t h d i f f e r e n t c o a g u l a n t s , and w i t h a w i d e r a n g e ( 9 3 . 4 - 9 8 . 9 % ) o f m o i s t u r e c o n t e n t s in t h e r a w s l u d g e ,

I t w a s e x p e r i m e n t a l l y d e t e r m i n e d t h a t t h e c r i t i c a l v a c u u m f o r a c t i v a t e d s l u d g e i s 400 m m H g . F i g u r e
1 s h o w s t h a t t h e f u n c t i o n l o g r = f (log p) c a n b e a d e q u a t e l y r e p r e s e n t e d b y a s t r a i g h t l i n e in t h e v a c u u m
r a n g e o f 1 0 0 - 4 0 0 m m H g , T h i s s e c t o r c o r r e s p o n d s to s e g m e n t a c in F i g . 2. E x p o n e n t s = 0.94 o v e r t h i s
r a n g e . I n c r e a s i n g v a c u u m to m o r e t h a n 400 m m H g r e s u l t s in a s h a r p i n c r e a s e in r and t h e f u n c t i o n l o g
= f ( l o g p) c a n o n l y b e a p p r o x i m a t e d b y a s t r a i g h t l i n e . T h e v a l u e o f s i n c r e a s e s and f o r t h i s p a r t i c u l a r
s l u d g e r e a c h e s 1.1.

T h e s e o b s e r v a t i o n s i n d i c a t e t h a t s s h o u l d n o t b e d e t e r m i n e d in t h e p r e s s u r e r a n g e w h o s e u p p e r l i m i t
exceeds the critical pressure for the given precipitate. T h e c o r r e c t m e t h o d to a v o i d p o s s i b l e e r r o r s in
d e t e r m i n i n g s is to f i r s t d e t e r m i n e P c r b y c o n s t r u c t i n g t h e n o r m a l c u r v e r = f (p) ( F i g . 2). T h e v a l u e o f
P c r is t h e p o i n t w h e r e t h e c u r v e b e c o m e s a s t r a i g h t l i n e .

334
 LITERATURE CITED

1~ V. A. Zhuzhikov, Filtration [in Russian], Khimiya, Moscow (1968).

2. I. S. Turovskii, Dewatering Waste Precipitates on Drum Vacuum Filters [in Russian], Izd-vo
literatury po stroitel'stvu, Moscow (1966).

335