Concentration polarization in reverse osmosis

In any process, if one component is enriched at the membrane surface, then mass balance dictates that a second component is depleted at the surface. By convention, concentration polarization effects are described by considering the concentration gradient of the minor component. In Figure 4.3(a), concentration polarization in reverse osmosis is represented by the concentration gradient of salt, the minor component rejected by the membrane. In Figure 4.3(b), which illustrates dehydration of aqueous ethanol solutions by pervaporation, concentration polarization is represented by the concentration gradient of water, the minor component that preferentially permeates the membrane. 

Marinas, B.J. and Urama, R.I., Modeling concentration-polarization in reverse osmosis spiral wound elements, J. Environ. Eng., 122(4), 292, 1996. 

Brian, P. L. T., Concentration Polarization in Reverse Osmosis Desalination with Variable Flux and Incomplete Salt Rejection, Ind. Chem. Fund., 4 438-445 (1965)... 

In Chap. 26, concentration polarization in reverse osmosis was treated using a simple mass-transfer equation, Eq. (26.48), which is satisfactory where the surface concentration is only moderately higher than the bulk concentration. For UF, the large change in concentration near the surface requires integration to get the concentration profile. The basic equation states that the flux of solute due to convection plus diffusion is constant in the boundary layer and equal to the flux of solute in the permeate ... 

Explain and quantify the effect of concentration polarization in reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration. 

B Concentration Polarization in Reverse-Osmosis Diffusion Model... 

Doshi,M.R., Dewan,A.K.,Gill,W.N., 1971. Theeffect of concentration dependentviscosity and diffiisivity on concentration polarization in reverse osmosis flow systems. AIChE Symp. Ser. Water 68,323 339. 

Figure 4.21 shows the concentration polarization of a reverse osmosis channel with complete rejection membrane. It shows how the concentration polarization increases in the streamwise direction of the reverse osmosis channel flow. Let us investigate an example to understand the effect of concentration polarization on reverse osmosis channel flow. 

Useful PRO membranes do not require the very high permselectivity necessary in reverse osmosis, and a trade-off between flux and salt rejection in conventional RO membranes is possible. If the salt rejection is too low, however. Internal concentration polarization due to excessive salt leakage can limit the water flux. 

In reverse osmosis, where the solutes retained are relatively low in molecular weight and have a significant osmotic pressure, concentration polarization can result in osmotic pressures considerably higher than those represented by the bulk stream concentration. Higher pressures are required to overcome the osmotic pressure (Figure 6). 

Two other major factors determining module selection are concentration polarization control and resistance to fouling. Concentration polarization control is a particularly important issue in liquid separations such as reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration. In gas separation applications, concentration polarization is more easily controlled but is still a problem with high-flux, highly selective membranes. Hollow fine fiber modules are notoriously prone to fouling and concentration polarization and can be used in reverse osmosis applications only when extensive, costly feed solution pretreatment removes all particulates. These fibers cannot be used in ultrafiltration applications at all. 

The layer of solution immediately adjacent to the membrane surface becomes depleted in the permeating solute on the feed side of the membrane and enriched in this component on the permeate side. Equivalent gradients also form for the other component. This concentration polarization reduces the permeating component s concentration difference across the membrane, thereby lowering its flux and the membrane selectivity. The importance of concentration polarization depends on the membrane separation process. Concentration polarization can significantly affect membrane performance in reverse osmosis, but it is usually well controlled in industrial systems. On the other hand, membrane performance in ultrafiltration, electrodialysis, and some pervaporation processes is seriously affected by concentration polarization. 

The final parameter in Equation (4.9) that determines the value of the concentration polarization modulus is the diffusion coefficient A of the solute away from the membrane surface. The size of the solute diffusion coefficient explains why concentration polarization is a greater factor in ultrafiltration than in reverse osmosis. Ultrafiltration membrane fluxes are usually higher than reverse osmosis fluxes, but the difference between the values of the diffusion coefficients of the retained solutes is more important. In reverse osmosis the solutes are dissolved salts, whereas in ultrafiltration the solutes are colloids and macromolecules. The diffusion coefficients of these high-molecular-weight components are about 100 times smaller than those of salts. 

The effect of concentration polarization on specific membrane processes is discussed in the individual application chapters. However, a brief comparison of the magnitude of concentration polarization is given in Table 4.1 for processes involving liquid feed solutions. The key simplifying assumption is that the boundary layer thickness is 20 p.m for all processes. This boundary layer thickness is typical of values calculated for separation of solutions with spiral-wound modules in reverse osmosis, pervaporation, and ultrafiltration. Tubular, plate-and-ffame, and bore-side feed hollow fiber modules, because of their better flow velocities, generally have lower calculated boundary layer thicknesses. Hollow fiber modules with shell-side feed generally have larger calculated boundary layer thicknesses because of their poor fluid flow patterns. 

In coupled transport and solvent dehydration by pervaporation, concentration polarization effects are generally modest and controllable, with a concentration polarization modulus of 1.5 or less. In reverse osmosis, the Peclet number of 0.3-0.5 was calculated on the basis of typical fluxes of current reverse osmosis membrane modules, which are 30- to 50-gal/ft2 day. Concentration polarization modulus values in this range are between 1.0 and 1.5. 

Concentration polarization can dominate the transmembrane flux in UF, and this can be described by boundary-layer models. Because the fluxes through nonporous barriers are lower than in UF, polarization effects are less important in reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), pervaporation (PV), electrodialysis (ED) or carrier-mediated separation. Interactions between substances in the feed and the membrane surface (adsorption, fouling) may also significantly influence the separation performance fouling is especially strong with aqueous feeds. 

S. Jain, S.K. Gupta, Analysis of modified surface pore flow model with concentration polarization and comparison with Spiegler-Kedem model in reverse osmosis system, J. Membr. Sci. 232 (2004) 45-61. 

Sablani S.S., Goosen M.F.A., Al-Belushi R., and Wilf M., Concentration polarization in ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis A critical review. Desalination 141 2001 269-289. 

Chung, K.-Y. Brewser, M.E. Belfort, G. Dean vortices with wall flux in a curved channel membrane system. 3. Concentration polarization in a spiral reverse osmosis slit. Chem. Eng. J. Japan 1998, 31, 683-693. 

It seems therefore, that the established procedures involving high feed velocity across the membrane surface, additional turbulence promotion, etc., need to be applied and optimized. There is a need for a model for fouling in reverse osmosis which incorporates such factors as the added concentration polarization caused by the fouling layer, and Donnan exclusion effects due to charged foulants. Clearly there is scope for more detailed experimental work in this area. 

The effect of osmotic pressure in macromolecular ultraflltra-tlon has not been analyzed in detail although many similarities between this process and reverse osmosis may be drawn. An excellent review of reverse osmosis research has been given by Gill et al. (1971). It is generally found, however, that the simple linear osmotic pressure-concentration relationship used in reverse osmosis studies cannot be applied to ultrafiltration where the concentration dependency of macromolecular solutions is more complex. It is also reasonable to assume that variable viscosity effects may be more pronounced In macromolecular ultra-filtration as opposed to reverse osmosis. Similarly, because of the relatively low diffuslvlty of macromolecules conqiared to typical reverse osmosis solutes (by a factor of 100), concentration polarization effects are more severe in ultrafiltration. 

Figure 4.4.3 Concentration polarization in a parallel membrane reverse osmosis channel with fully developed laminar flow and complete solute rejection (after Sherwood et al. 1965).

Since the solute is rejected by the membrane, it accumulates and starts to build up at the surface of the membrane. As pressure drop is increased and/or concentration of the solute is increased, concentration polarization occurs, which is much more severe than in reverse osmosis. This is shown in Fig. 13.11-la, where cj is the concentration of the solute in the bulk solution, kg solute/m, and is the concentration of the solute at the surface of the membrane. 

Concentration polarisation is not generally severe in dialysis and diffusion dialysis because of the low fluxes involved (lower than in reverse osmosis) and also because the mass transfer coefficient of the low molecular solutes encountered is of the same order of magnitude as in reverse osmosis. In carrier mediated processes and in membrane contactors the effect of concentration polarization may become moderate mainly due to the flux through the membrane. Finally, the effect of concentration polarisation may become ver severe in electrodialysis. In the following sections concentration polarization will be described more in detail. In some module configurations such as plate-and-frame and spiral wound spacer materials are used in the feed compartment (see chapter VIII). These spacers effect the mass transfer coefficient and can be considered as turbulence promoters. 

Figure 3.4.7. Transport in reverse osmosis with concentration polarization.

A phenomenon that is particularly important in the design of reverse osmosis units is that of concentration polarization. This occurs on the feed-side (concentrated side) of the reverse osmosis membrane. Because the solute cannot permeate through the membrane, the concentration of the solute in the liquid adjacent to the surface of the membrane is greater than that in the bulk of the fluid. This difference causes mass transfer of solute by diffusion from the membrane surface back to the bulk liquid. The rate of diffusion back into the bulk fluid depends on the mass transfer coefficient for the boundary layer on feed-side. Concentration polarization is the ratio of the solute concentration at the membrane surface to the solute concentration in the bulk stream. Concentration polarization causes the flux of solvent to decrease since the osmotic pressure increases as the boundary layer concentration increases and the overall driving force (AP - An) decreases. 

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