Membrane Separations Technic PDF

Mass Transfer (ChE - 392)
Membrane Separation Processes
Saeed GUL, Dr.Techn, M.Sc. Engg.

Associate Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering,

University of Engineering & Technology Peshawar, PAKISTAN
Introduction
Whilst effective product separation is crucial to economic operation
in the process industries, certain types of materials are inherently
difficult and expensive to separate. Important examples include:
 Finely dispersed solids, especially those which are compressible,

and which have a density close to that of the liquid phase, have
high viscosity, or are gelatinous.
 Low molecular weight, non-volatile organics or pharmaceuticals
and dissolved salts.
 Biological materials which are very sensitive to their physical and
chemical environment.
The processing of these categories of materials has become
increasingly important in recent years, especially with the growth of
the newer biotechnological industries and with the increasingly
sophisticated nature of processing in the food industries.
27 December 2015 2
Dr. Saeed GUL, Department of Chemical Engineering, UET Peshawar, Pakistan
Introduction
When difficulties arise in the processing of materials of biological
origin, it is worth asking, how does nature solve the problem?
The solution which nature has developed is likely to be both highly
effective and energy efficient, though it may be slow in process terms.
Nature separates biologically active materials by means of membranes
As STRATHMANN has pointed out, a membrane may be defined as “an
interphase separating two phases and selectively controlling the
transport of materials between those phases”. A membrane is an
interphase rather than an interface because it occupies a finite,
though normally small, element of space.
Human beings are all surrounded by a membrane, the skin, and
membranes control the separation of materials at all levels of life,
down to the outer layers of bacteria and subcellular components.
27 December 2015 3
Introduction
 since the 1960s a new technology using synthetic membranes for
process separations has been rapidly developed by materials
scientists, physical chemists and chemical engineers.
 Such membrane separations have been widely applied to a range

of conventionally difficult separations.
 They potentially offer the advantages of ambient temperature

operation, relatively low capital and running costs, and modular
construction.
 In this chapter, the nature and scope of membrane separation

processes are outlined, and then those processes most frequently
used industrially are described more fully.
27 December 2015 4
Classification Of Membrane Processes
Industrial membrane processes may be classified according to the size

range of materials which they are to separate and the driving force
used in separation
Pressure Concentration Electric Potential Temperature

Driven Driven Driven Driven
Microfiltration Dialysis Electrodialysis Membrane
Distillation
Ultrafiltration Forward Osmosis
Nanofiltration Pervaporation
Reverse Osmosis Gas Separation
27 December 2015 5
Size of Materials Retained, Driving Force,
and Type of Membrane
Size of materials
Process Driving force Type of membrane
retained
0.1 - 10 µm Pressure difference
Microfiltration Porous
microparticles (0.5 - 2 bar)
1 - 100 nm Pressure difference
Ultrafiltration Microporous
macromolecules (1 - 10 bar)
0.5 - 5 nm Pressure difference
Nanofiltration Microporous
molecules (10 - 70 bar)
< 1 nm Pressure difference
Reverse Osmosis Nonporous
< 1 nm
Nonporous or
Dialysis molecules Concentration diff.
microporous
< 1 nm Electrical potential Nonporous or
Electrodialysis
molecules difference microporous
< 1 nm
Pervaporation Concentration diff. Nonporous
molecules
< 1 nm Partial pressure diff.
Gas Permeation Nonporous
Membrane < 1 nm
Partial pressure diff. Microporous
Distillation molecules
27 December 2015 6
Examples of Applications and Alternative
Separation Processes
Process Applications Alternative Processes
Sedimentation,
Microfiltration Separation of bacteria and cells from solutions
Centrifugation
Separation of proteins and virus,
Ultrafiltration Centrifugation
concentration of oil-in-water emulsions
Separation of dye and sugar, Distillation,
Nanofiltration
water softening Evaporation
Distillation,
Desalination of sea and brackish water,
Reverse Osmosis Evaporation,
process water purification
Dialysis
Dialysis Purification of blood (artificial kidney) Reverse osmosis
Crystallization,
Electrodialysis Separation of electrolytes from nonelectrolytes
Precipitation
Pervaporation Dehydration of ethanol and organic solvents Distillation
Absorption,
Hydrogen recovery from process gas streams,
Gas Permeation Adsorption,
dehydration and separation of air
Condensation
Membrane
Water purification and desalination Distillation
Distillation
27 December 2015 7
Examples of Applications
 This chapter is primarily concerned with the pressure driven
processes, microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration
(NF) and reverse osmosis (RO).
 These are already well-established large-scale industrial processes.
 For example, reverse osmosis is used world-wide for the
desalination of brackish water, with more than 1,000 units in
operation.
 Plants capable of producing up to 105 m3/day of drinking water are
in operation.
 it is now standard practice to include an ultrafiltration unit in paint
plants in the car industry.
 The resulting recovery of paint from wash waters can produce
savings of 10–30 per cent in paint usage, and allows recycling of
the wash waters.
27 December 2015 8
The Nature of Synthetic Membranes
 Membranes used for the pressure-driven separation processes,
microfiltration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, as well as those
used for dialysis, are most commonly made of polymeric
materials.
 Initially most such membranes were cellulosic in nature.
 These are now being replaced by polyamide, polysulphone,
polycarbonate and a number of other advanced polymers.
 These synthetic polymers have improved chemical stability and
better resistance to microbial degradation.
27 December 2015 9
Membrane Synthesis
Membranes have most commonly been produced by a form of phase
inversion known as immersion precipitation
This process has four main steps:
1. The polymer is dissolved in a solvent to 10–30 per cent by mass
2. The resulting solution is cast on a suitable support as a film of
thickness, approximately 100 µm
3. The film is quenched by immersion in a non-solvent bath,
typically water or an aqueous solution
4. The resulting membrane is annealed by heating
The third step gives a polymer-rich phase forming the membrane,
and a polymer-depleted phase forming the pores. The ultimate
membrane structure results as a combination of phase separation
and mass transfer, variation of the production conditions giving
membranes with different separation characteristics.
27 December 2015 10
Most microfiltration membranes

have a symmetric pore structure, and
they can have a porosity as high as
80 per cent.
Ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis
membranes have an asymmetric
structure comprising a 1–2 µm thick
top layer of finest pore size
supported by a ∼100 µm thick more Electron micrograph of a section
of an asymmetric ultrafiltration
openly porous matrix.
membrane showing finely porous
Such an asymmetric structure is “skin” layer on more openly porous
supporting matrix.
essential if reasonable membrane
permeation rates are to be obtained
27 December 2015 11
Another important type of polymeric

membrane is the thin-film composite
membrane.
This consists of an extremely thin

layer, typically ∼1 µm, of finest pore
structure deposited on a more openly
porous matrix.
The thin layer is formed by phase

inversion or interfacial polymerisation
on to an existing microporous
structure.
27 December 2015 12
Polymeric membranes are most commonly produced in the form of
flat sheets, but they are also widely produced as tubes of diameter
10–25 mm and in the form of hollow fibres of diameter 0.1–2.0 mm.
A significant recent advance has been the development of
microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes composed of inorganic
oxide materials. These are presently produced by two main
techniques:
1. deposition of colloidal metal oxide on to a supporting material
such as carbon, and
2. as purely ceramic materials by high temperature sintering of spray-
dried oxide microspheres.
Other innovative production techniques lead to the formation of
membranes with very regular pore structures. Zirconia, alumina and
titania are the materials most commonly used.
27 December 2015 13
The main advantages of inorganic membranes compared with the

polymeric types are their higher temperature stability, allowing
steam sterilization in biotechnological and food applications,
increased resistance to fouling, and narrower pore size distribution.
 The physical characterization of a membrane structure is

important if the correct membrane is to be selected for a given
application.
 The pore structure of microfiltration membranes is relatively easy
to characterize, atomic force microscopy and electron microscopy
being the most convenient methods and allowing the three-
dimensional structure of the membrane to be determined.
 The limit of resolution of a simple electron microscope is about 10
nm, and that of an atomic force microscope is <1 nm,
27 December 2015 14
AFM images of single pores in (a) microfiltration, (b) ultrafiltration

and (c) nanofiltration membranes
27 December 2015 15
Surface SEM of Geopolymeric membrane for pore size.

(B) Surface SEM micrograph of Ceramic membrane after curing and
hydrothermal Treatment
Cross sectional view SEM of Ceramic membrane

27 December 2015 16
A parameter often quoted in manufacturer’s literature is the nominal

molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of a membrane.
This is based on studies of how solute molecules are rejected by

membranes. A solute will pass through a membrane if it is sufficiently
small to pass through a pore, if it does not significantly interact with
the membrane and if it does not interact with other, larger solutes. It
is possible to define a solute rejection coefficient R by:
where Cf is the concentration of solute in the feed stream and Cp is

the concentration of solute in the permeate.
The nominal molecular weight cut-off is normally defined as the
molecular weight of a solute for which R = 0.95.
27 December 2015 17
General Membrane Equation
The general membrane equation is an attempt to state the factors
which may be important in determining the membrane permeation
rate for pressure driven processes. This takes the form:
 J is the membrane flux∗, expressed as volumetric rate per unit

area,
 |ΔP| is the pressure difference applied across the membrane, the
transmembrane pressure,
 |ΔΠ| is the difference in osmotic pressure across the membrane,
 Rm is the resistance of the membrane, and
 Rc is the resistance of layers deposited on the membrane, the filter
cake and gel foulants.
If the membrane is only exposed to pure solvent, say water, then the
equation reduces to:
27 December 2015 18
General Membrane Equation
For microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes where solvent flow
is most often essentially laminar through an arrangement of
tortuous channels, this is analogous to the Carman–Kozeny equation
used in conventional filtration
In the processing of solutes, General Membrane Equation shows that

the transmembrane pressure must exceed the osmotic pressure for
flow to occur.
The separation of a solute by a membrane gives rise to an increased

concentration of that solute at the membrane surface, an effect
known as concentration polarisation. This may be described in terms
of an increase in ΔΠ .
27 December 2015 19
The Concept of Cross-Flow Microfiltration
The concept of cross-flow microfiltration, described by BERTERA,

STEVEN andMETCALFE, is shown in Figure below which represents a
cross-section through a rectangular or tubular membrane module.
The particle-containing fluid to be filtered is pumped at a velocity in
the range 1–8 m/s parallel to the face of the membrane and with a
pressure difference of 0.1–0.5 MN/m2 (MPa) across the membrane.
The liquid permeates through the membrane and the feed emerges
in a more concentrated form at the exit of the module.
Such a process allows the removal of particles down to 0.1 µm or less,

but is only suitable for feeds containing very low concentrations of
particles as otherwise the membrane becomes too rapidly clogged
27 December 2015 20
Flow diagram for a simple
cross-flow Microfiltration system
This is the system likely to be used for batch processing or

development rigs and is, in essence, a basic pump recirculation loop.
The process feed is concentrated by pumping it from the tank and
across the membrane in the module at an appropriate velocity. The
partially concentrated retentate is recycled into the tank for further
processing while the permeate is stored or discarded as required.
27 December 2015 21
Diafiltration
In cross-flow filtration applications, product washing is frequently
necessary and is achieved by a process known as diafiltration in
which wash water is added to the tank at a rate equal to the
permeation rate
Diafiltration is an ultrafiltration membrane technique for completely

removing, replacing, or lowering the concentration of salts or
solvents from solutions containing proteins, peptides, nucleic acids,
and other biomolecules.
The process selectively uses permeable (porous) membrane filters to
separate the components of solutions and suspensions based on
their molecular size. Smaller molecules such as salts, solvents, and
water pass freely through the ultrafiltration membrane, which retains
the larger molecules
27 December 2015 22
Membrane Fouling
In practice, the membrane
permeation rate falls with
time due to membrane
fouling; that is blocking of
the membrane surface and
pores by the particulate
materials, as shown in
Figure. The time-dependence of membrane
permeation rate during cross-flow filtration:
The rate of fouling depends on (a) Low cross-flow velocity, (b) Increased
the nature of the materials cross-flow velocity, (c) Backflushing at the
bottom of each “saw-tooth”
being processed, the nature of
the membrane, the cross-flow
velocity and the applied
pressure.
27 December 2015 23
Membrane Fouling
Ideally, cross-flow microfiltration would be the pressure-driven
removal of the process liquid through a porous medium without the
deposition of particulate material.
The flux decrease occurring during cross-flow microfiltration shows
that this is not the case.
If the decrease is due to particle deposition resulting from incomplete
removal by the cross-flow liquid, then a description analogous to that
of generalized cake filtration theory, should apply. The general
Membrane Equation (GME) may then be written as:
where Rc now represents the resistance of the cake
27 December 2015 24
Membrane Fouling
If all filtered particles remain in the cake, may be written as:
where r is the specific resistance of the deposit, V the total volume

filtered, Vs the volume of particles deposited, Cb the bulk
concentration of particles in the feed (particle volume/feed volume)
and Am the membrane area.
The specific resistance may theoretically be related to the particle
properties for spherical particles by the Carman relationship as:
where e is the void volume of the cake and ds the mean particle diameter
27 December 2015 25
Membrane Fouling
Combing and
gives
Solution of this equation for V at constant pressure gives:
yielding a straight line on plotting t/V against V

SCHNEIDER and KLEIN have pointed out that the early stages of
cross-flow microfiltration often follow such a pattern although the
growth of the cake is limited by the cross-flow of the process liquid.
27 December 2015 26
Membrane Fouling
There are a number of ways of accounting for the control of cake
growth. A useful method is to rewrite the resistance model to allow for
the dynamics of polarization in the film layer .
Equation is then written as:
where Rsd is the resistance that would be caused by deposition of all

filtered particles and Rsr is the resistance removed by cross-flow.
Assuming the removal of solute by cross-flow to be constant and equal
to the convective particle transport at steady state (=JssCb), then:
where Jss can be obtained experimentally or from the film-model

27 December 2015 27
Membrane Fouling
In a number of cases, a steady rate of filtration is never achieved
and it is then possible to describe the time dependence of filtration
by introducing an efficiency factor β representing the fraction of
filtered particles remaining in the filter cake rather than being swept
along by the bulk flow.
Equation becomes:
where 0 < β < 1. The layers deposited on the membrane during

cross-flow microfiltration are sometimes thought to constitute
dynamically formed membranes with their own rejection and
permeation characteristics.
27 December 2015 28
Ultrafiltration
 Ultrafiltration is one of the most widely used of the pressure-
driven membrane separation processes.
 The solutes retained or rejected by ultrafiltration membranes are
those with molecular weights of 103 or greater, depending mostly
on the MWCO of the membrane chosen.
 The process liquid, dissolved salts and low molecular weight
organic molecules (500–1000 kg/kmol) generally pass through the
membrane.
 The pressure difference applied across the membrane is usually in
the range 0.1–0.7 MN/m2 and membrane permeation rates are
typically 0.01–0.2 m3/m2 h.
 In industry, ultrafiltration is always operated in the cross-flow
mode.
27 December 2015 29
Ultrafiltration
Concentration Polarization
The separation of process liquid and solute
that takes place at the membrane during
ultrafiltration gives rise to an increase in solute
concentration close to the membrane surface,
as shown in Figure.
This is termed concentration polarization and

takes place within the boundary film generated
by the applied cross-flow.
With a greater concentration at the

membrane, there will be a tendency for solute
to diffuse back into the bulk feed according to
Fick’s Law.
27 December 2015 30
Ultrafiltration
At steady state, the rate of back-diffusion will be equal to the rate of
removal of solute at the membrane, minus the rate of solute leakage
through the membrane:
Here solute concentrations C and Cp in the permeate are expressed as

mass fractions, D is the diffusion coefficient of the solute and y is the
distance from the membrane. Rearranging and integrating from C = Cf
when y = l the thickness of the film, to C = Cw, the concentration of
solute at the membrane wall, when y = 0, gives:
Or:
27 December 2015 31
Ultrafiltration
If it is further assumed that the membrane completely rejects the
solute, that is, R = 1 and Cp = 0, then:
where the ratio Cw/Cf is known as the polarization modulus. It may be

noted that it has been assumed that l is independent of J and that D is
constant over the whole range of C at the interface. The film thickness
is usually incorporated in an overall mass transfer coefficient hD, where
hD = D/l, giving:
The mass transfer coefficient is usually obtained from correlations for

flow in nonporous ducts.
27 December 2015 32
Ultrafiltration
One case is that of laminar flow in channels of circular cross-section
where the parabolic velocity profile is assumed to be developed at the
channel entrance.
where Sh is the Sherwood number (hDdm/D),dm is the hydraulic

diameter, L is the channel length, Re is the Reynolds number (udmρ/µ),
Sc the Schmidt number (µ/ρD), with u being the cross-flow velocity, ρ
the fluid density and µ the fluid viscosity. This gives:
27 December 2015 33
Ultrafiltration
or for tubular systems:
where γ˙ is the shear rate at the membrane surface equals 8u/dm.
For the case of turbulent flow the correlation will be like:
which for tubular systems gives:
and for thin rectangular flow channels, with channel height b:
27 December 2015 34
Ultrafiltration
 For both laminar and turbulent flow it is clear that the mass
transfer coefficient and hence the membrane permeation rate may
be increased, where these equations are valid, by increasing the
cross-flow velocity or decreasing the channel height.
 The effects are greatest for turbulent flow.
 For laminar flow the mass transfer coefficient is decreased if the

channel length is increased.
 This is due to the boundary layer increasing along the membrane

module. The mass transfer coefficient is, therefore, averaged along
the membrane length.
27 December 2015 35
Ultrafiltration
Gel Polarization
The boundary-layer theory applies to mass-transfer controlled systems
where the membrane permeation rate is independent of pressure, for
there is no pressure term in the model.
In such cases it has been proposed that, as the concentration at the
membrane increases, the solute eventually precipitates on the
membrane surface.
This layer of precipitated solute is known as the gel-layer, and the
theory has thus become known as the gel-polarization model proposed
by MICHAELS. Under such conditions Cw becomes replaced by a
constant CG the concentration of solute in the gel-layer, and:
30 December 2015 36
Reverse Osmosis
Osmosis is the spontaneous net movement of
solvent molecules through a semi-permeable
membrane into a region of higher solute
concentration, in the direction that tends to
equalize the solute concentrations on the two
sides.
Applying an external pressure to reverse the
natural flow of pure solvent, thus, is reverse
osmosis.
Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure
which needs to be applied to a solution to
prevent the inward flow of water across a semi-
permeable membrane. It is also defined as the
measure of the tendency of a solution to take in
water by osmosis.
30 December 2015 37
Reverse Osmosis
The phenomenon of reverse osmosis has been extensively developed

as an industrial process for the concentration of low molecular
weight solutes and especially for the desalination, or more generally
demineralization, of water.
Reverse osmosis was originally developed for the desalination of
brackish waters to produce potable water however, the improvements
in membrane materials, flux, rejection coefficients and energy
recovery techniques now make single pass extraction of potable water
from seawater an economic proposition.
Reverse osmosis is now used extensively in the food and dairy
industries to perform a wide range of separation tasks including the
concentration of fruit and vegetable juices, milk products and other
heat sensitive biological materials.
It is also employed in the micro-electronics and pharmaceutical
industries for the production of ultra-pure water.
30 December 2015 38
Transport Through RO & NF Membrane
 Several models on reverse osmosis ( RO) and Nanofiltration (NF)

transport mechanisms and models have been developed to
describe solute and solvent fluxes through RO/NF membranes.
 The general purpose of a membrane mass transfer model is to

relate the fluxes to the operating conditions .
 The power of a transfer model is its ability to pr edict the

performance of the membrane over a wide range of operating
conditions.
 To realize this objective, the model has to be integrated with

some transport coefficients often determined based on some
experimental results.
30 December 2015 39
 In both reverse osmosis and nanofiltration the solvent is

transported through the membrane by application of a pressure.
 Because the solutes to be separated are small, reverse osmosis
and nanofiltration membranes can be considered to be almost
non-porous.
 The separation mechanism is obviously not sieving, as the
molecular volume of water and salt ions are approximately the
same.
30 December 2015 40
From Fick’s law we can derive an expression for the flux of solvent
which can be expressed as follows
Ds is the diffusivity of the solvent in the membrane

cs is the concentration of the solvent in the membrane
V~s is the partial molar volume and
Δxm is the effective thickness of the membrane.
For a given system operating isothermally these quantities can be
taken as fixed and therefore the expression can be reduced to
Where A is called hydraulic permeability constant or permeability

coefficient
30 December 2015 41
By a similar analysis we can derive the flux for the solute. In this case
the partial molal volume of the solute is small and the difference in
activity or concentration across the membrane is significant Thus the
flux approximates to:
Dsol is the diffusivity of the solute in the membrane

Ksol is the solubility or distribution coefficient for the solute between
the solution and the membrane.
csolr and csolp are the solution concentrations in the retentate and
permeate.
For a given membrane solute system the term Dsol Ksol /Δx is constant
and thus the flux for the solute can be written as:
B is termed the permeation constant and the flux of the solute is

almost independent of pressure.
30 December 2015 42
The result of the pressure dependence of solvent flux is that the
rejection coefficient of the membrane for the solute is dependent on
pressure. The rejection coefficient for the solute is normally written
as:
30 December 2015 43
Membrane Modules and Plant Configuration
 Membrane equipment for industrial scale operation of

microfiltration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis is supplied in
the form of modules.
 The area of membrane contained in these basic modules is in the
range 1–20 m2.
 The modules may be connected together in series or in parallel
to form a plant of the required performance.
The four most common types of membrane modules are:
1. Tubular
2. Flat sheet
3. Spiral wound
4. Hollow fibre
30 December 2015 44
Membrane Modules and Plant Configuration
The membrane module must satisfy a number of mechanical and

economic requirements. The main issues to be satisfied can be
summarized as follows:
Hydrodynamic Optimization of solute transport and pressure drop.
Minimization of fouling and long-term flux reduction. Ensuring
properly distributed flow to avoid dead spots.
Mechanical Housing and membrane support designed to withstand
maximum anticipated working pressure. Design for reverse flow if
necessary (backflushing). Avoidance of cross-contamination between
retentate and permeate.
Economic Optimization of initial membrane costs and operating life.
Minimization housing costs and maximization of packing density.
Designed for of ease of maintenance and replacement of membranes.
30 December 2015 45
Tubular modules
 Tubular modules are preferred for solutions containing suspended
solids and were amongst the first industrial designs.
 The membranes are formed as tubes and are normally cast onto a
supporting porous substrate.
 The tubes are not self-supporting and are normally inserted in a
perforated tube. The tubes are typically housed in a shell and tube
configuration.
 The membranes are normally sealed by means of elastomeric
inserts at either end of the tube.
 The permeate is collected in the shell side of the module.
 Tubular modules are normally operated in the turbulent region
with a Reynolds number of >10,000 and fluid velocities in the
region of 2-6 m/s.
30 December 2015 46
Tubular modules
 The tubes are usually 8-12 ft in
length
 Tubular modules are preferred for
applications where sanitary
operation is of paramount
importance because the design
allows for easy cleaning and
sterilization
 The main drawbacks of tubular
systems are the low surface to
volume ratio and the high liquid
hold-up. This limitation restricts the
concentration factor that can be
achieved in batch operation.
30 December 2015 47
Flat-Sheet Modules
 Flat-sheet modules are similar in some
ways to conventional filter presses.
 This consists of a series of annular
membrane discs of outer diameter 0.3
m placed on either side of
polysulphone support plates which
also provide channels through which
permeate can be withdrawn.
 The sandwiches of membrane and
support plate are separated from one
another by spacer plates which have
central and peripheral holes, through
which the feed liquor is directed over
the surface of the membranes,
30 December 2015 48
Flat-Sheet Modules
 The flow is laminar.
 A single module contains 19 m2 of membrane area.
 Permeate is collected from each membrane pair so that damaged

membranes can be easily identified, though replacement of
membranes requires dismantling of the whole stack.
30 December 2015 49
Spiral-Wound Modules
 Spiral-wound modules consist of several flat membranes

separated by turbulence promoting mesh separators and formed
into a Swiss roll.
 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.
30 December 2015 50
Spiral-Wound Modules
 These modules make better use of space than tubular or flat-sheet
types, although they are rather prone to fouling and difficult to
clean. 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 towards the perforated central tube for
collection.
 A standard size spiral-wound module has a diameter of some 0.1
m, 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.
30 December 2015 51
Hollow-Fibre Modules
 Hollow-fibre modules, consist of bundles of
fine fibres, 0.1–2.0 mm in diameter, sealed in
a tube.
 For RO desalination applications, the feed
flow is usually around the outside of the
unsupported fibres with permeation radially
inward, as the fibres cannot withstand high
pressures differences in the opposite
direction.
 This gives very compact units capable of high
pressure operation, although the flow
channels are less than 0.1 mm wide and are
therefore readily fouled and difficult to
clean.
30 December 2015 52
Hollow-Fibre Modules
 The flow is usually reversed for biotechnological applications so
that the feed passes down the centre of the fibres giving better
controlled laminar flow and easier cleaning.
 This limits the operating pressure to less than 0.2 MN/m2 however,
that is, to microfiltration and ultrafiltration applications.
 A single ultrafiltration module typically contains up to 3000
fibres and be 1 m long.
 Reverse osmosis modules contain larger numbers of finer
fibres.
 This is a very effective means of incorporating a large membrane
surface area in a small volume.
30 December 2015 53
Comparison Between Several
Membrane Modules
30 December 2015 54
Membrane modules can be configured
in various ways to produce a plant of
the required separation capability. A
simple batch recirculation system is
most suitable for small-scale batch
operation, but larger scale plants will
operate either as feed and bleed or
continuous single-pass operations.
In Feed and bleed system,the start-up
is similar to that in a batch system in
that the retentate is initially totally
recycled. When the required solute
concentration is reached within the
loop, a fraction of the loop is
continuously bled off.
30 December 2015 55
 Feed into the loop is controlled at a rate equal to the permeate
plus concentrate flowrates.
 The main advantage is that the final concentration is then
continuously available as feed is pumped into the loop.
 The main disadvantage is that the loop is operating continuously at
a concentration equivalent to the final concentration in the batch
system and the flux is therefore lower than the average flux in the
batch mode, with a correspondingly higher membrane area
requirement.
30 December 2015 56
Continuous single pass. In such a system the concentration of the feed
stream increases gradually along the length of several stages of
membrane modules arranged in series as shown in Figure. The feed
only reaches its final concentration at the last stage. There is no
recycle and the system has a low residence time. Such systems must
however, either be applied on a very large scale or have only a low
overall concentration factor, due to the need to maintain high
cross-flow velocities to control concentration polarization.
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Membrane Separations Technic PDF

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Membrane Separations Technic PDF

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Mass Transfer (ChE - 392)

Membrane Separation Processes

Saeed GUL, Dr.Techn, M.Sc. Engg.

Department of Chemical Engineering,

 Finely dispersed solids, especially those which are compressible,

 Such membrane separations have been widely applied to a range

 They potentially offer the advantages of ambient temperature

 In this chapter, the nature and scope of membrane separation

Industrial membrane processes may be classified according to the size

Pressure Concentration Electric Potential Temperature

Most microfiltration membranes

Another important type of polymeric

This consists of an extremely thin

The thin layer is formed by phase

The main advantages of inorganic membranes compared with the

 The physical characterization of a membrane structure is

AFM images of single pores in (a) microfiltration, (b) ultrafiltration

Surface SEM of Geopolymeric membrane for pore size.

Cross sectional view SEM of Ceramic membrane

A parameter often quoted in manufacturer’s literature is the nominal

This is based on studies of how solute molecules are rejected by

where Cf is the concentration of solute in the feed stream and Cp is

 J is the membrane flux∗, expressed as volumetric rate per unit

In the processing of solutes, General Membrane Equation shows that

The separation of a solute by a membrane gives rise to an increased

The concept of cross-flow microfiltration, described by BERTERA,

Such a process allows the removal of particles down to 0.1 µm or less,

This is the system likely to be used for batch processing or

Diafiltration is an ultrafiltration membrane technique for completely

where Rc now represents the resistance of the cake

where r is the specific resistance of the deposit, V the total volume

Solution of this equation for V at constant pressure gives:

yielding a straight line on plotting t/V against V

Equation is then written as:

where Rsd is the resistance that would be caused by deposition of all

where Jss can be obtained experimentally or from the film-model

where 0 < β < 1. The layers deposited on the membrane during

This is termed concentration polarization and

With a greater concentration at the

Here solute concentrations C and Cp in the permeate are expressed as

where the ratio Cw/Cf is known as the polarization modulus. It may be

The mass transfer coefficient is usually obtained from correlations for

where Sh is the Sherwood number (hDdm/D),dm is the hydraulic

where γ˙ is the shear rate at the membrane surface equals 8u/dm.

For the case of turbulent flow the correlation will be like:

which for tubular systems gives:

and for thin rectangular flow channels, with channel height b:

 The effects are greatest for turbulent flow.

 For laminar flow the mass transfer coefficient is decreased if the

 This is due to the boundary layer increasing along the membrane

The phenomenon of reverse osmosis has been extensively developed

 Several models on reverse osmosis ( RO) and Nanofiltration (NF)

 The general purpose of a membrane mass transfer model is to

 The power of a transfer model is its ability to pr edict the

 To realize this objective, the model has to be integrated with

 In both reverse osmosis and nanofiltration the solvent is

Ds is the diffusivity of the solvent in the membrane

Where A is called hydraulic permeability constant or permeability

Dsol is the diffusivity of the solute in the membrane

B is termed the permeation constant and the flux of the solute is

 Membrane equipment for industrial scale operation of

The membrane module must satisfy a number of mechanical and

 A single module contains 19 m2 of membrane area.