Submerged hollow-fiber membranes modules

FIGURE 8.37 Submerged hollow fiber membrane module, (a) Flat sheet and (b) hollow fiber. (From Figures 19a and 21b in Cui, Z.F., Chang, S., and Fane, A.G., J. Membr. Sci., 221, 1, 2003. With permission.)... 

Chang S and Fane AG, Filtration of biomass with lab-scale submerged hollow fiber membrane module Effect of operational conditions and module configuration, J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 2002 77 1030-2212. 

Chang, S., Fane, A. G., and Vigneswaran, S. (2002). Modeling and optimizing submerged hollow fiber membrane modules. AIChE J. 48(10), 2203-2212. 

Figure 16.8 Cross-sections of a (a) pressurized MF or UF hollow fiber membrane module and an (b) submerged hollow fiber MF membrane cartridge.

FIGURE 10.43 Effect of gas velocity on final flux in filtration with submerged membranes. (Reprinted from J. Membr. ScL, 184, Chang, S. and Fane, A.G., The effect of fiber diameter on filtration and flux distribution—Relevance to submerged hollow fiber modules, 221-231, Copyright 2001, with permission from Elsevier.)... 

The application of MF and UF technology in water treatment is still relatively new, as many full-scale plants are less than 10 years old. Consequently, the design of MF and UF systems varies from plant to plant as no single design has proved itself to be the best (see Table 6.2). For example, MF/UF systems may be positioned horizontally or vertically, operate in deadend or cross-filtration mode, the membranes may be immersed/submerged in a feed tank where permeate is sucked (via vacuum) into the inside of the hollow fiber (outside-in filtration) or the membranes may be housed in modules where pressurized feed water is forced through the fiber and permeate is collect on the outside (inside-out filtration). 

Capital Costs The capital costs have dropped for aU membrane systems. However, there is evidence that submerged hoUow-fiber modules have marginally lower costs, particularly for larger plants, due to the absence of pressure vessels, simpler plumbing and simplicity of the hollow-fiber bundle. 

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