Membrane separation permeate

Cassettes Cassette is a term used to describe two different cross-flow membrane devices. The less-common design is a usually large stack of membrane separated by a spacer, with flow moving in parallel across the membrane sheets. This variant is sometimes referred to as a flat spiral, since there is some similarity in the way feed and permeate are handled. The more common cassette has long been popular in the pharmaceutical and biotechnical field. It too is a stack of flat-sheet membranes, but the membrane is usually connected so that the feed flows across the membrane elements in series to achieve higher conversion per pass. Their popularity stems from easy direct sc e-up from laboratoiy to plant-scale equipment. Their hmitation is that fluid management is inherently veiy hmited and inefficient. Both types of cassette are veiy compact and capable of automated manufacture. 

Possible applications of MIP membranes are in the field of sensor systems and separation technology. With respect to MIP membrane-based sensors, selective ligand binding to the membrane or selective permeation through the membrane can be used for the generation of a specific signal. Practical chiral separation by MIP membranes still faces reproducibility problems in the preparation methods, as well as mass transfer limitations inside the membrane. To overcome mass transfer limitations, MIP nanoparticles embedded in liquid membranes could be an alternative approach to develop chiral membrane separation by molecular imprinting [44]. 

Non-porous, dense membranes consist of a dense film through which permeats are transported by diffusion under the driving force of a pressure, concentration or electrical potential gradient. The separation of various components of a mixture is related directly to their relative transport rates within the membrane, which are determined by their diffusivity and solubility in the membrane material. Thus, non-porous, dense membranes can separate permeats of similar... 

Spiral-wound modules consist of several flat membranes separated by turbulence-promoting mesh separators and formed into a Swiss roll (Figure 16.18). The edges of the membranes are sealed to each other and to a central perforated tube. This produces a cylindrical module which can be installed within a pressure tube. The process feed enters at one end of the pressure tube and encounters a number of narrow, parallel feed channels formed between adjacent sheets of membrane. Permeate spirals roward the perforated central tube for collection. A standard size spiral-wound module has a diameter of about 0.1m, a length of about 0.9 m and contains about 5 m2 of membrane area. Up to six such modules may be installed in series in a single pressure tube. These modules make better use of space than tubular or flat sheet types, but they are rather prone to fouling and difficult to clean. 

A limitation to the more widespread use of membrane separation processes is membrane fouling, as would be expected in the industrial application of such finely porous materials. Fouling results in a continuous decline in membrane penneation rate, an increased rejection of low molecular weight solutes and eventually blocking of flow channels. On start-up of a process, a reduction in membrane permeation rate to 30-10% of the pure water permeation rate after a few minutes of operation is common for ultrafiltration. Such a rapid decrease may be even more extreme for microfiltration. This is often followed by a more gradual... 

Gas separations by distillation are energy-consuming processes. The driving force for the gas permeation is only the pressure difference between two compartments separated by the membrane. The permeation is governed by two parameters—diffusion and solubility ... 

New results of multiple membrane separation are presented, which showed a possible feasibility for industrial application in the near future The NF permeate obtained (membrane NF90) could meet specifications for water reuse in the textile industry... 

In addition, the filament reactor can contain a membrane-separation function by grouping threads of filaments around an inner empty reactor core, that guides the permeate and may also increase permeation by reaction. Thus, the tube reactor constructed in such a way comprises two concentric zones, separated by a permeable Pd/Ag alloy membrane in the form of a tube. The reaction takes place in the filament zone. One product such as hydrogen is removed via the membrane and... 

UF is used to clarify various fruit juices (apple, grape, pear, pineapple, cranberry, orange, lemon) which are recovered as the permeate [Blanch et al., AlChE Symp. Ser. 82, 59 (1986)]. UF has also been used to remove pigments and reducing browning in wine production [Kosikowski in Membrane Separations in Biotechnology, McGregor (ed.), Marcel Dekker, New York, 1986]. 

Rules of Thumb With a few notable exceptions such as H2 through Pd membranes, membrane separations are not favored when a component is required at high purity. Often, membranes serve these needs by providing a moderate purity product which may be inexpensively upgraded by a subsequent process. Increasing the purity of N2 by the introduction of H2 or CH4 to react with unwanted O2 is a good example. Unless permeates are recycled, high product purity is accompanied by lower product recovery. 

Fig. 11.15. Gas chromatography interfaces (jet separator, top membrane separator, bottom). In the jet separator, momentum of the heavier analyte molecules causes them to be sampled preferentially by the sampling orifice with respect to the helium carrier gas molecules (which diffuse away at a much higher rate). In the membrane separator, the analyte molecules are more soluble in the silicone membrane material leading to preferential permeability. Helium does not permeate the membrane with the same efficiency and is vented away.

Membrane gas-separation systems have found their first applications in the recovery of organics from process vents and effluent air [5]. More than a hundred systems have been installed in the past few years. The technique itself therefore has a solid commercial background. Membranes are assembled typically in spiral-wound modules, as shown in Fig. 7.3. Sheets of membrane interlayered with spacers are wound around a perforated central pipe. The gas mixture to be processed is fed into the annulus between the module housing and the pipe, which becomes a collector for the permeate. The spacers serve to create channels for the gas flow. The membranes separate the feed side from the permeate side. 

Evapomeation is a new membrane-separation technique for liquids mixtures, which eliminates some disadvantages of the pervaporation technique such as the decreasing of membrane permselectivity, due to its swelling by the direct contact with the feed solution. In evapomeation technique the membrane is not in direct contact with the feed solution, only with the solution s vapors. In this way the swelling of the membrane could be suppressed and consequently, the permeation rates in evapomeation are smaller than those in pervaporation, but the separation factor is greater [83],... 

---