Membrane flux pressure

Membrane Characterization Membranes are always rated for flux and rejection. NaCl is always used as one measure of rejection, and for a veiy good RO membrane, it will be 99.7 percent or more. Nanofiltration membranes are also tested on a larger solute, commonly MgS04. Test results are veiy much a function of how the test is run, and membrane suppliers are usually specific on the test conditions. Salt concentration will be specified as some average of feed and exit concentration, but both are bulk values. Salt concentration at the membrane governs performance. Flux, pressure, membrane geome-tiy, and cross-flow velocity all influence polarization and the other variables shown in Fig. 22-63. 

Figure 8.8. Dependence of membrane flux J on (a) Applied pressure difference AP, (b) Feed solute concentration Cf, (c) Cross-flow velocity (u) for ultrafiltration...

In trials at different feedwater concentrations, the FT-30 membrane showed single-pass seawater desalting capabilities at up to 6.0 percent synthetic seawater. Basically, any combination of pressure and brine concentration at room temperature that gave a membrane flux of 15 gfd also resulted in a 99 percent level of salt rejection. 

In these experiments, the measured helium flux through the membrane was less than the flux predicted on the basis of the average bulk concentrations. Consequently, the helium permeability coefficients calculated from observed membrane flux and the bulk partial pressures are lower than the pure gas values obtained by the membrane supplier or independently by us. At the same time, observed nitrogen coefficients are higher than predicted. 

Figure 6.7 The effect of pressure on ultrafiltration membrane flux and the formation of a secondary gel layer. Ultrafiltration membranes are best operated at pressures between p2 and p3 at which the gel layer is thin. Operation at high pressures such as p4 leads to formation of thick gel layers, which can consolidate over time, resulting in permanent fouling of the membrane...

Experience has shown that the best long-term performance of an ultrafiltration membrane is obtained when the applied pressure is maintained at or just below the plateau pressure ps shown in Figure 6.7. Operating at higher pressures does not increase the membrane flux but does increase the thickness and density of retained material at the membrane surface layer. Over time, material on the membrane surface can become compacted or precipitate, forming a layer of deposited material that has a lower permeability the flux then falls from the initial value. 

Figure 6.8 The effect of pressure on membrane flux for styrene-butadiene polymer latex solutions in a high-turbulence, thin-channel test cell [13]...

The most important effect of concentration polarization is to reduce the membrane flux, but it also affects the retention of macromolecules. Retention data obtained with dextran polysaccharides at various pressures are shown in Figure 6.12 [17]. Because these are stirred batch cell data, the effect of increased concentration polarization with increased applied pressure is particularly marked. A similar drop of retention with pressure is observed with flow-through cells, but the effect is less because concentration polarization is better controlled in such cells. With macromolecular solutions, the concentration of retained macromolecules at the membrane surface increases with increased pressure, so permeation of the macromolecules also increases, lowering rejection. The effect is particularly noticeable at low pressures, under which conditions increasing the applied pressure produces the largest increase in flux, and hence concentration polarization, at the membrane surface. At high pressure, the change in flux with... 

Equation (9.1) is the preferred method of describing membrane performance because it separates the two contributions to the membrane flux the membrane contribution, P /C and the driving force contribution, (pio — p,r). Normalizing membrane performance to a membrane permeability allows results obtained under different operating conditions to be compared with the effect of the operating condition removed. To calculate the membrane permeabilities using Equation (9.1), it is necessary to know the partial vapor pressure of the components on both sides of the membrane. The partial pressures on the permeate side of the membrane, p,e and pje, are easily obtained from the total permeate pressure and the permeate composition. However, the partial vapor pressures of components i and j in the feed liquid are less accessible. In the past, such data for common, simple mixtures would have to be found in published tables or calculated from an appropriate equation of state. Now, commercial computer process simulation programs calculate partial pressures automatically for even complex mixtures with reasonable reliability. This makes determination of the feed liquid partial pressures a trivial exercise. 

To illustrate the dependence of the membrane flux on the equilibrium constant K and the pressure gradient across the membrane, the flux, yRA, when the permeant pressure is close to zero, that is, [A] 0, can be written as... 

Membrane distillation offers a number of advantages over alternative pressure-driven processes such as reverse osmosis. Because the process is driven by temperature gradients, low-grade waste heat can be used and expensive high-pressure pumps are not required. Membrane fluxes are comparable to reverse osmosis fluxes, so membrane areas are not excessive. Finally, the process is still effective with slightly reduced fluxes even for very concentrated solutions. This is an advantage over reverse osmosis, in which the feed solution osmotic pressure places a practical limit on the concentration of a salt in the feed solution to be processed. 

Membranes for pressure and flux testing were mounted, using a brazing process developed at ANL, within four inch long, 0.75 in. O.D., heavy-wall, Iconel 600 tubing which had been machined to form a small seat to accommodate the membrane. Typically, the membrane diameter was 0.69 in. (17.5 mm.). Unmounted membranes of the same composition, as well as membranes of varying Ni content, were also available for characterization studies. Because the pressure tested membranes had to be pre-mounted, the before-and-after characterization studies refer to membranes of the same composition and fabrication, but not the same physical membranes. 

Figure 4.2 Polyamide membrane flux and rejection as a function of applied pressure. Test conditions 5,000 ppm NaCl solution at 25°C.4...

Figure 9.1 Reverse osmosis membrane flux as a function of feed water total dissolved solids. Assumes constant applied feed pressure.

Successful performance of inorganic membranes depend on three types of variables and their interactions. The first type is related to the characteristics of the feed stream such as the molecular or particulate size and/or chemical nature of the species to be separated and concentration of the feed to be processed, etc. The second type is membrane dependent Those factors are the chemical nature and pore size of the membrane material and how the membrane and its accessory processing components are constructed and assembled. The third type is processing conditions such as pressure, transmembrane pressure difference, temperature, crossflow velocity and the way in which the membrane flux is maintained or restored as discussed earlier in this chapter. 

Alumina and other ceramic membranes of various microfiluaiion pore sizes have been used for the separation of yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) from the broth and the clarification of thin stillage [Cheryan, 1994]. A typical flux of 110 L/hr-m can be obtained with a crossflow velocity of 4 m/s and a transmembrane pressure of 1.7 bars. The crossflow velocity is found to markedly affect the membrane flux. Concenuation factors (ratios of final to initial concentrations) of 6 to 10 for both the broth and the stillage can be achieved. Backflushing with a frequency of every 5 minutes and a duration of 5 seconds helps maintain the flux, particularly in the initial operating period. The permeate flux for both types of separation reaches steady state after 30 to 90 minutes. 

The permeate is continuously withdrawn through the membrane from the feed sueam. The fluid velocity, pressure and species concentrations on both sides of the membrane and permeate flux are made complex by the reaction and the suction of the permeate stream and all of them depend on the position, design configurations and operating conditions in the membrane reactor. In other words, the Navier-Stokes equations, the convective diffusion equations of species and the reaction kinetics equations are coupled. The transport equations are usually coupled through the concentration-dependent membrane flux and species concentration gradients at the membrane wall. As shown in Chapter 10, for all the available membrane reactor models, the hydrodynamics is assumed to follow prescribed velocity and sometimes pressure drop equations. This makes the species transport and kinetics equations decoupled and renders the solution of... 

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