The study analyses application possibilities of filtration and thickening models in evaluation of papermaking suspension drainage rate. The authors proposed their own method to estimate the drainage rate on the basis of an existing Ergun capillary model of liquid flow through a granular material. The proposed model was less sensitive to porosity changes than the Ergun model. An empirical verification proved robustness of the proposed approach. Taking into account discrepancies in the published data concerning how the drainage velocity of papermaking suspension is defined, this study examines which of the commonly applied models matches experimental results the best.

Gravity dewatering of fibrous suspension is one of basic technological operations in paper production process. Although there are numerous methods to determine dewatering of such suspensions, none of them can measure undisturbed flow of removed water. In the paper the idea and design of a new apparatus for the determination of drainage rate of fibrous suspensions is presented. The apparatus differs from other known devices by minimisation of filtrate flow resistance in the outlet part of the equipment. In the second part of the paper measurements of the drainage rate have been presented. The flow resistance of the fluid through the bottom wire screen in the device was determined. The calculated flow resistance will be used in the developed model of dynamic drainage of fibrous suspensions, which will be discussed in our following paper (Przybysz et al., 2014).