Investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using CFD

Cross-flow membrane operations often experience material build-up on membrane surfaces leading to maintenance issues. Although several studies addressed the flow distributions and concentration patterns during membrane operations, the prediction of fouling propensities of top and bottom membranes ar...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Saeed, Asim, Vuthaluru, Rupa, Vuthaluru, Hari
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32590
_version_ 1848753704981757952
author Saeed, Asim
Vuthaluru, Rupa
Vuthaluru, Hari
author_facet Saeed, Asim
Vuthaluru, Rupa
Vuthaluru, Hari
author_sort Saeed, Asim
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Cross-flow membrane operations often experience material build-up on membrane surfaces leading to maintenance issues. Although several studies addressed the flow distributions and concentration patterns during membrane operations, the prediction of fouling propensities of top and bottom membranes are non-existent. Present study investigates the effects of dimensionless filament spacing of feed spacer on flow and concentration patterns on membrane surfaces. Comparisons of spacers in terms of a novel concept ‘Spacer Configuration Efficacy’, SCE (Sh/Pn)revealed that spacers with higher SCE values would lead to higher mass transport of the solute away from the membrane walls with moderate energy losses. Among the 16 spacer arrangements studied, spacer with filament spacing of 4 was found to be the optimal (Reh up to 200) with moderate pressure drop and higher values of mass transfer coefficient for the two membrane walls, further mass transfer coefficient values for the two membrane surfaces were found to be equal which leads to equal and lower fouling tendencies of the membrane walls.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T08:28:45Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-32590
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:28:45Z
publishDate 2014
publisher Elsevier
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-325902017-09-13T15:23:30Z Investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using CFD Saeed, Asim Vuthaluru, Rupa Vuthaluru, Hari Fouling Reverse osmosis Membranes Fluid dynamics Mass transport Cross-flow membrane operations often experience material build-up on membrane surfaces leading to maintenance issues. Although several studies addressed the flow distributions and concentration patterns during membrane operations, the prediction of fouling propensities of top and bottom membranes are non-existent. Present study investigates the effects of dimensionless filament spacing of feed spacer on flow and concentration patterns on membrane surfaces. Comparisons of spacers in terms of a novel concept ‘Spacer Configuration Efficacy’, SCE (Sh/Pn)revealed that spacers with higher SCE values would lead to higher mass transport of the solute away from the membrane walls with moderate energy losses. Among the 16 spacer arrangements studied, spacer with filament spacing of 4 was found to be the optimal (Reh up to 200) with moderate pressure drop and higher values of mass transfer coefficient for the two membrane walls, further mass transfer coefficient values for the two membrane surfaces were found to be equal which leads to equal and lower fouling tendencies of the membrane walls. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32590 10.1016/j.cherd.2014.07.002 Elsevier restricted
spellingShingle Fouling
Reverse osmosis
Membranes
Fluid dynamics
Mass transport
Saeed, Asim
Vuthaluru, Rupa
Vuthaluru, Hari
Investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using CFD
title Investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using CFD
title_full Investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using CFD
title_fullStr Investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using CFD
title_full_unstemmed Investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using CFD
title_short Investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using CFD
title_sort investigations into the effects of mass transport and flow dynamics of spacer filled membrane modules using cfd
topic Fouling
Reverse osmosis
Membranes
Fluid dynamics
Mass transport
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32590