Análise e simulação da fluidodinâmica de um filtro cerâmico para suportes domésticos

Abstract

Filtration is one of the most important separation methods for the chemical industry and for human health. Despite being a matter of basic health, the concern with the quality of water intended for human consumption only became systematic in Brazil in the 19th century with the popularization of domestic utensils for filtration. Currently, the ceramic candle, sometimes combined with the traditional clay filter, is still in use by many Brazilians, either for its low price or for its functionality. The objective of this work is to analyze the fluid dynamics of a ceramic candle for domestic supports using an experimental apparatus and computational simulation. Thus, for the present work, the porosity and permeability of the ceramic candle was determined experimentally, as well, it was investigatad how filtration behaves over time. In addition, a computational simulation of the ceramic candle was proposed, aiming at its fluid dynamic study in comparison to the experimental data. The results provided just over 20 minutes of flow in the simulation with a difference of 8.99% of accumulated filtered mass compared to the experimental one for the same period of time. The methodology of this work showed that it is possible to obtain important properties of porous objects in a relatively simple way and that computational simulation in CFD is a good alternative for the study of filtration and of porous media.