Membrane interfacial area

This expression gives the membrane interfacial area as a function of L (or as a function of y- or x, since all are related by the material balances). 

Membrane Extraction. An extraction technique which uses a thin Hquid membrane or film has been introduced (80,81). The principal advantages of Hquid-membrane extraction are that the inventory of solvent and extractant is extremely small and the specific interfacial area can be increased without the problems which accompany fine drop dispersions (see Membrane technology). 

The general criteria for an experimental investigation of the kinetics of reactions at liquid-liquid interfaces may be summarized as follows known interfacial area and well-defined interfacial contact are essential controlled, variable, and calculable mass transport rates are required to allow the transport and interfacial kinetic contributions to the overall rate to be quantified direct interfacial contact is preferred, since the use of a membrane to support the interface adds further resistances to the overall rate of the reaction [14,15] a renewable interface is useful, as the accumulation of products at the interface is possible. Finally, direct measurements of reactive fluxes at the interface of interest are desirable. 

A high specific interfacial area and a direct spectroscopic observation of the interface were attained by the centrifugal liquid membrane (CLM) method shown in Fig. 2. A two-phase system of about 100/rL in each volume is introduced into a cylindrical glass cell with a diameter of 19 mm. The cell is rotated at a speed of 5000-10,000 rpm. By this procedure, a two-phase liquid membrane with a thickness of 50-100 fim. is produced inside the cell wall which attains the specific interfacial area over 100 cm. UV/VIS spectrometry, spectro-fluorometry, and other spectroscopic methods can be used for the measurement of the interfacial species and its concentration as well as those in the thin bulk phases. This is an excellent method for determining interfacial reaction rates on the order of seconds. 

Application of Eq. (15.1) to the liquid membrane process highlights one of the main advantages of the process, i.e., the high solute distribution coefficient that can be obtained between phases 3 and 1. However, another factor that must be considered when evaluating a separation process performance is the kinetics of transfer, which is given in a general form by Eq. (15.4). This equation indicates that the transfer rate in the contactor increases with both the interfacial flux and the specific interfacial area. 

The emulsion liquid membrane (Fig. 15.1b) is a modification of the single drop membrane configuration presented by Li [2] in order to improve the stability of the membrane and to increase the interfacial area. The membrane phase contains surfactants or other additives that stabilize the emulsion. 

The quantity couples the two equations. For a membrane reactor this is simply the area of the membrane, but for other multiphase reactors the interfacial area may vary with conditions. 

In the membrane reactor a wall of area separates the phases, and this area is generally fixed by the geometry of the reactor using planar or cylindrical membranes. However, most multiphase reactors do not have fixed boundaries separating phases, but rather allow the boundary between phases to be the interfacial area between insoluble phases. This is commonly a variable-area boundary whose area wiU depend on flow conditions of the phases, as shown in Figure 12-7. 

The immense interfacial area separating dispersed globules from the dispersion phase is of critical Importance in determining their stability. For example, it is estimated that a typical emulsion has approximately 7 X 10 cra interfacial area per liter (3 ). Thus, those factors controlling the properties of the interfacial membrane are extremely Important in determining the stability of the emulsion. 

A membrane is usually seen as a selective barrier that is able to be permeated by some species present into a feed while rejecting the others. This concept is the basis of all traditional membrane operations, such as microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofil-tration, reverse osmosis, pervaporation, gas separation. On the contrary, membrane contactors do not allow the achievement of a separation of species thanks to the selectivity of the membrane, and they use microporous membranes only as a mean for keeping in contact two phases. The interface is established at the pore mouths and the transport of species from/to a phase occurs by simple diffusion through the membrane pores. In order to work with a constant interfacial area, it is important to carefully control the operating pressures of the two phases. Usually, the phase that does not penetrate into the pores must be kept at higher pressure than the other phase (Figure 20.1a and b). When the membrane is hydrophobic, polar phases can not go into the pores, whereas, if it is hydrophilic, the nonpolar/gas phase remains blocked at the pores entrance [1, 2]. 

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