Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.78, No.6, 1065-1075, 2000
Deposition of magnetite particles from flowing suspensions under flow-boiling and single-phase forced-convective heat transfer
The deposition rate of colloidal magnetite particles was measured under both single-phase forced-convective and flow-boiling conditions. All measurements were made at alkaline pH where both the heat transfer surface and the surface of the magnetite particles appear to be negatively charged. For single-phase forced convection, the deposition rate constant is lower than the mass transfer coefficient for colloidal particles, and the difference is attributed to the force of repulsion between the negatively charged surfaces of the particle and substrate. The deposition rate measured under flow-boiling conditions is lower than that reported for the deposition of colloidal particles at neutral pH. The difference is, again, attributed to the force of repulsion between the particle and substrate. Particle removal rates were significantly lower than deposition rates; analysis using the theory of turbulent bursts suggests a removal efficiency of only 10(-9)% for each turbulent burst. The low removal efficiency is consistent with the particle diameter being significantly smaller than the thickness of the laminar sublayer in these tests.