Hollow fine fiber membrane modules

Hollow fine fiber RO modules are membranes formed into very small-diameter tubes, with an outside diameter of about 85 microns and an inside diameter of about 42 microns. The fibers resemble human hair and can be as flexible. See Figiue 4.29 The membrane skin or thin film is 

Characteristics of hollow fine fiber modules are described below. 

As discussed in Chapter 4.2.2.1, DuPont introduced linear aromatic polyamide membranes in hollow fine fiber form as the B-9 (brackish water) and B-10 (seawater) Permeators. These Permeators were available in 4-, 8-and 10-inch diameter models. The 4-, 8-, and 10- inch B-9 Permeators were capable of producing 4,200,16,000, and 25,000 gallon per day of permeate, respectively, at 75% recovery (standard test conditions 1,500 ppm NaCl at 

400 psig and 25°C). Permeators ranged from about 47 inches to 53 inches in length. DuPont discontinued these modules in 2001. 

Currently, Toyobo markets the Hollosep cellulose triacetate hollow fine fiber for RO applications (Hollosep is a registered trademark of Toyobo Company, Ltd, Osaka, Japan). 

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Figure 4.30 shows a hollow fine fiber membrane module. The fibers are folded in half and the open end of each fiber is "potted" in epoxy "tube sheet," while the folded end is potted in an epoxy, non-porous block. Feed to the module is outside in, which requires less strength on the part of the fiber than inside-out flow would. Also, the pressure drop on the outside of the fibers is much less than would be in the inside of the fiber (which is known as the lumen). 

Because membranes appHcable to diverse separation problems are often made by the same general techniques, classification by end use appHcation or preparation method is difficult. The first part of this section is, therefore, organized by membrane stmcture preparation methods are described for symmetrical membranes, asymmetric membranes, ceramic and metal membranes, and Hquid membranes. The production of hollow-fine fiber membranes and membrane modules is then covered. Symmetrical membranes have a uniform stmcture throughout such membranes can be either dense films or microporous. 

Spiral-wound modules are much more commonly used in low pressure or vacuum gas separation appHcations, such as the production of oxygen-enriched air, or the separation of organic vapors from air. In these appHcations, the feed gas is at close to ambient pressure, and a vacuum is drawn on the permeate side of the membrane. Parasitic pressure drops on the permeate side of the membrane and the difficulty in making high performance hollow-fine fiber membranes from the mbbery polymers used to make these membranes both work against hollow-fine fiber modules for this appHcation. 

As Figure 5.12 shows, Toray s PEC-1000 crosslinked furfuryl alcohol membrane has by far the best sodium chloride rejection combined with good fluxes. This explains the sustained interest in this membrane despite its extreme sensitivity to dissolved chlorine and oxygen in the feed water. Hollow fine fiber membranes made from cellulose triacetate by Toyobo or aromatic polyamides by Permasep (Du Pont) are also comfortably in the one-stage seawater desalination performance range, but the water fluxes of these membranes are low. However, because large-surface-area, hollow fine fiber reverse osmosis modules can be... 

Hollow fine fiber membranes are extremely fine polymeric tubes 50-200 micrometers in diameter. The selective layer is on the outside surface of the fibers, facing the high-pressure gas. A hollow-fiber membrane module will normally contain tens of thousands of parallel fibers potted at both ends in epoxy tube sheets. Depending on the module design, both tube sheets can be open, or as shown in Figure 8.1, one fiber end can be blocked and one open. The high-pressure feed gas flows past the membrane surface. A portion of the feed gas permeates the membrane and enters the bore of the fiber and is removed from the open end of the tube sheet. Fiber diameters are small because the fibers must support very large pressure differences feed-to-permeate (shell-to-bore). 

A second factor determining module selection is resistance to fouling. Membrane fouling is a particularly important problem in Hquid separations such as reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration. In gas separation appHcations, fouling is more easily controlled. Hollow-fine fibers are notoriously prone to fouling and can only be used in reverse osmosis appHcations if extensive, costiy feed-solution pretreatment is used to remove ah. particulates. These fibers caimot be used in ultrafiltration appHcations at ah. 

A third factor is the ease with which various membrane materials can be fabricated into a particular module design. Almost ah membranes can be formed into plate-and-frame, spiral, and tubular modules, but many membrane materials caimot be fabricated into hollow-fine fibers or capihary fibers. Finahy, the suitabiHty of the module design for high pressure operation and the relative magnitude of pressure drops on the feed and permeate sides of the membrane can sometimes be important considerations. 

In reverse osmosis, most modules are of the hollow-fine fiber or spiral-wound design plate-and-frame and tubular modules are limited to a few appHcations in which membrane fouling is particularly severe, for example, food appHcations or processing of heavily contaminated industrial wastewater. 

Hollow fiber modules, or permeators, are precisely machined units containing bundles of hollow fine fibers positioned parallel to and around a perforated center feed-water tube, with only one or two bundles per pressure vessel. They are widely used for brackish and seawater applications. Hollow fiber modules exhibit a low flux rate (permeate flow per unit membrane per unit time) and can foul easily but tend to have high conversion factors (the percentage of feed flow converted to permeate), typically 50 to 55%. This makes them suitable for both small and large RO systems. They are easy to troubleshoot, and bundles are easy to change in the field. 

Hollow fine fiber modules made from cellulose triacetate or aromatic polyamides were produced in the past for seawater desalination. These modules incorporated the membrane around a central tube, and feed solution flowed rapidly outward to the shell. Because the fibers were extremely tightly packed inside the pressure vessel, flow of the feed solution was quite slow. As much as 40-50 % of the feed could be removed as permeate in a single pass through the module. However, the low flow and many constrictions meant that extremely good pretreatment of the feed solution was required to prevent membrane fouling from scale or particulates. A schematic illustration of such a hollow fiber module is shown in Figure 3.47. 

Capillary membrane modules are not as inexpensive or compact as hollow fine fiber modules, but are still very economical. Their principal drawback is the limited pressure differential the fibers can support, typically not more than 10 to 15 bar. This limitation means capillary modules cannot be used at the high pressures needed for hydrogen or natural-gas processing applications. However, capillary modules are ideally suited to lower-pressure separations, such as nitrogen from air or air dehydration. In these applications, capillary modules have essentially the entire market. 

Each membrane/module type has advantages and disadvantages [2,7]. Hollow fine fibers are generally the cheapest on a per-square-meter basis, but it is harder to make very thin selective membrane layers in hollow-fiber form than in flat-sheet form. This means the permeances of hollow fibers are usually lower than flat-sheet membranes made from the same material. Also, hollow fine fiber modules require more pretreatment of the feed to remove particulates, oil mist and other fouling components than is usually required by capillary or spiral-wound modules. These factors offset some of the cost advantage of the hollow fine fiber design. 

The investment in time and equipment to develop a new membrane material in a high-performance hollow fine fiber or capillary form is far larger than that required to develop flat-sheet membranes, and many materials cannot be formed into fiber modules at all. For this reason, flat-sheet membranes, formed into spiral-wound modules, are used in many niche applications which cannot support the development costs associated with fiber modules. Spiral-wound modules are also competitive in the natural-gas processing area, where their general robustness is an asset. 

There are four basic forms for RO membrane modules Plate and frame, tubular, spiral wound, and hollow fine fiber. These four configurations are summarized in Table 4.3 and discussed below. Additionally, some manufacturers have developed other module configurations that are briefly discussed in Chapter 4.3.5. 

Figure 4.30 Simplified cross section of a hollow fine fiber RO membrane module.

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