The need for correctly predicting filtration and separation processes is greater than ever. New legislation, new materials, globalization and short development cycles require deeper understanding than before. Computer Simulations are a recent and efficient way to gain knowledge regarding filtration. But modeling and simulation efforts face serious difficulties in their quest to complement experiment / observation and theory. Filtration is a phenomenon determined by multiple scales. They range from the flow regime around a moving vehicle to the atomic regime of adhesion forces between dust particles and an electrically charged filter medium. Fortunately, powerful computers, sophisticated models and new experimental equipment are available. Desktop computers with lots of memory and several fast CPUs, three-dimensional filter media models combined with SEM and µCT images are some of the exciting developments that allow work today that was unthinkable in the past. We present examples how filter media models, filter process models, CFD and statistics can provide insights into filtration from the practical and the academic point of view.
Toward Predicting Filtration and Separation: Progress & Challenges