Water filtration through wood with helical cross-flow

AbstractThe use of wood as a filter element for water treatment can be an efficient, low-cost alternative because wood is a renewable material. Therefore, pioneering a study to examine the possibility of filtering water through wood was advantageous. In 2002, the first experiments with wood filtration in the perpendicular direction of fibers were conducted (Correa and Sens [1]). With the continuation of this study, a new research developed as presented in this article. This study was conducted in two steps by the construction of pilot systems. The first step studied dead-end filtration and the second step studied helical cross-flow. The three species of wood studied were: caixeta (Tabebuia cassinoides Lam P. DC.), garapuvu (Schizolobium parahyba Vell. Blake), and pine (Pinus elliottii). The images obtained in the scanning electron microscope had the same approximations for all the three samples in the pores’ direction as well as in the direction of fibers. The porosity of the wood fits within the size of ...