The trapping of colloid particles in porous media: Mechanisms and applications, review

Abstract

This review paper will serve to explain how a particle is trapped on a porous media, and describe the mobility of those particles when passing through a media. It also presents the different parameters that play an important role on the trapping mechanism and the role of biofilm formation. The deposition and trapping mechanism of particles in porous media is governed by the action of different mechanisms such as interception, sieving, diffusion, gravitational and Van Der Waals forces, Brownian diffusion, and inertia. The particle retention through the porous media leads to the formation of a biofilm and the clogging of the media. The understanding of particle retention, clogging, and biofilm formation is interesting because it plays a major role in soil recovery process such as bioremediation, biosorption and filtration (on sand and activated carbon) used for degradation of particles (colloids and microorganisms) and harmful contaminants (heavy metals, drugs) by microorganisms.