Pressure and concentration profiles in filter cake consisting of core/shell latex particle

Poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid) latex particles with different acrylic acid contents have been synthesized and used for filtration studies. Effective pressure and dry matter concentrations were measured at different positions in the filter cakes during the filtration processes, and dry matter concentration was not found to change significantly with effective pressure. Nevertheless, the local dry matter concentration did increase with time for latex particles containing 1 and 3%, w/w acrylic acid, which indicate that filter cake comprising latex particles with a high acrylic acid content will creep during the filtration stage. The filter cakes were examined using stepped-pressure filtration experiments as well, and an almost instantaneous deformation of the filter cake was observed after the pressure step. Furthermore, a minor deformation was observed over the following 2 h for latex particles both containing and not containing acrylic acid. This is thought to be due to the rearrangement of particles in the filter cake. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.