Lab 9 PDF
Lab 9 PDF
Lab 9 PDF
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1.0 ABSTRACT
This Membrane Test Unit Model TR 14 has been designed to demonstrate the technique of
membrane separations which has become highly popular as they provide effective separation
without the use of heating energy as in distillation processes. Heat sensitive materials, such as fruit
juices, can be separated or concentrated by virtue of their molecular weights. The unit consists of
a test module supplied with four different pressure membranes, and also consists of four different
membranes, namely the reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF) and
microfiltration (MF) membranes, thus allowing students or researchers to carry out membrane
separation processes that are most widely used in the food, dairy, pharmaceutical and chemical
industries. This self-contained unit on a mobile epoxy coated steel framework, requires only
connection to a suitable electricity supply and a normal cold water supply to be fully operational.
It consists of a feed tank, a feed pump, a pressure regulator, a water bath, and a membrane test
module. All parts in contact with the process fluid are stainless steel, PTFE silicone rubber or nitrile
rubber. The unit comes with a high pressure feed pump for delivering the feed to the membrane
unit at the desired flow rate and pressure. The retentate line can be either returned to the feed tank
or straight to the drain. Appropriate sensors for flow, pressure and temperature are installed at
strategic locations for process monitoring and data acquisitions.
The unit is suitable for carrying out a wide range of experiments such as:
• Dewatering
• Concentration
• Demineralisation
• Sugar removal
• Clarification
It is also possible to study the effect of varying the following process parameters on separation
performance:
• Flow rate
• Pressure
• Temperature
In this experiment we need to study the characteristic on the 4 different pressures of membranes.
The pressure is set at 4 different pressures for the membranes, which are:
• Membrane 1: 18 bar
• Membrane 2: 12 bar
• Membrane 3: 10 bar
3.0 AIM
The selection of synthetic membranes for a targeted separation process is usually based on
few requirements. Membranes have to provide enough mass transfer area to process large amounts
of feed stream. The selected membrane has to have high selectivity properties for certain particles;
it has to resist fouling and to have high mechanical stability. It also needs to be reproducible and
to have low manufacturing costs. The main modeling equation for the dead-end filtration at
constant pressure drop is represented by Darcy’s law:
Where Vp and Q are the volume of the permeate and its volumetric flow rate respectively
(proportional to same characteristics of the feed flow), μ is dynamic viscosity of permeating fluid,
A is membrane area, Rm and R are the respective resistances of membrane and growing deposit of
the foulants. Rm can be interpreted as a membrane resistance to the solvent (water) permeation.
This resistance is a membrane intrinsic property and expected to be fairly constant and independent
of the driving force, Δp. R is related to the type of membrane foulant, its concentration in the
filtering solution, and the nature of foulant-membrane interactions. Darcy’s law allows calculating
the membrane area for a targeted separation at given conditions. The solute sieving coefficient is
defined by the equation:
Where Cf and Cp are the solute concentrations in feed and permeate respectively. Hydraulic
permeability is defined as the inverse of resistance and is represented by the equation:
Where J is the permeate flux which is the volumetric flow rate per unit of membrane area. The
solute sieving coefficient and hydraulic permeability allow the quick assessment of the synthetic
membrane performance.
There are two main flow configurations of membrane processes: cross-flow and dead-end
filtrations. In cross-flow filtration the feed flow is tangential to the surface of membrane, retentate
is removed from the same side further downstream, whereas the permeate flow is tracked on the
other side. In dead-end filtration the direction of the fluid flow is normal to the membrane surface.
Both flow geometries offer some advantages and disadvantages. The dead-end membranes are
relatively easy to fabricate which reduces the cost of the separation process. The dead-end
membrane separation process is easy to implement and the process is usually cheaper than cross-
flow membrane filtration. The dead-end filtration process is usually a batch-type process, where
the filtering solution is loaded (or slowly fed) into membrane device, which then allows passage
of some particles subject to the driving force. The main disadvantage of a dead end filtration is the
extensive membrane fouling and concentration polarization. The fouling is usually induced faster
at the higher driving forces. Membrane fouling and particle retention in a feed solution also builds
up a concentration gradients and particle backflow (concentration polarization). The tangential
flow devices are more cost and labor intensive, but they are less susceptible to fouling due to the
sweeping effects and high shear rates of the passing flow. The most commonly used synthetic
membrane devices (modules) are flat plates, spiral wounds, and hollow fibers.
Flat plates are usually constructed as circular thin flat membrane surfaces to be used in dead-end
geometry modules. Spiral wounds are constructed from similar flat membranes but in a form of a
“pocket” containing two membrane sheets separated by a highly porous support plate. Several such
pockets are then wound around a tube to create tangential flow geometry and to reduce membrane
fouling. Hollow fiber modules consist of an assembly of self-supporting fibers with a dense skin
separation layers, and more open matrix helping to withstand pressure gradients and maintain
structural integrity. The hollow fiber modules can contain up to 10,000 fibers ranging from 200 to
2500 μm in diameter; the main advantage of hollow fiber modules is very large surface area within
an enclosed volume, increasing the efficiency of the separation process.
5.0 APPARATUS
Membrane separation is based on separation mechanisms and size of the separated particles. The
membrane processes that have been widely used are microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration,
reverse osmosis, electrolysis, dialysis, electrodialysis, gas separation, vapour permeation,
pervaporation, membrane distillation and membrane contactors. Pervaporation is the only process
that involves phase change. All processes except electrodialysis are pressure driven.
This experiment is conducted to study the characteristics on 4 different types of membranes which
are AFC 99 (polyamide film), AFC 40 (polyamide film), CA 202 (cellulose acetate) and FP 100
(PVDF). From the graph that has been plotted, the slope of the membrane 4 is the steepest followed
by membrane 2, membrane 1 and membrane 3 respectively.
Based on the graph, we can see that the weight of permeates for membrane 3 has the lightest weight.
This is because membrane 3 is mainly used for reverse osmosis process. Reverse osmosis requires
the greatest operating pressure as it has the smallest pore-size range and has the ability to remove
solids as small as salts. Reverse osmosis also operates at very high pressure which is more than 20
bars. Only small amounts of very low molecular weight solute can pass through the membranes.
Other than that, an example of membrane process that used membrane 1 is nanofiltration. It does
not operate at the very high pressure as reverse osmosis. The driving force used in nanofiltration is
between 4 to 20 bars. Main application of nanofiltration is to separate small organic compounds
and multivalent ions. Nanofiltration is used for organic, colour and contaminant removal as well
as for softening. Nanofiltration is also applied in separation of amoxicillin from pharmaceutical
wastewater.
From the experiment that have been conducted, the results show that membrane 4 has the
heaviest weight of permeates (g) followed by membrane 2, membrane 1 and membrane 3. From
this result, we can identify which separation process is suitable for every membrane. As we can
see, membrane 4, which has the highest weight of permeates collected is mainly used in
microfiltration process. This is because membrane 4 it has the largest size of membrane pores
among those four membranes. The second highest is membrane 2. Membrane 2, is suitable to be
used in ultrafiltration because it has large membrane pores compare to membrane 1 and membrane
3. Next is membrane 1. This membrane usually used in nanofiltration process that usually operates
to remove contaminants. The driving force used in nanofiltration is between 4 to 20 bars. The last
is membrane 3. This membrane mainly used in reverse osmosis because it requires the greatest
operating pressure as it has the smallest pore-size range among those four membranes that suits
with membrane 3. So, we can conclude that every membrane have their own unique characteristics
and all membrane have their importance in various type of separation process.
11.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
In this experiment, there are some recommendations that can be done in order to get the best results
which are:
• During taking the weight of permeates by using digital weighing balance, the
reading should be taking in more significant figures so that the reading of the
actual weight of permeates are more accurate and the value of true error could
be minimized.
• When collecting the sample from permeates sampling port, make sure that we
used a big container to support the volume of the sample and to avoid the sample
from spill out in order to get more accurate weight of permeates.
• The system should be run in more than 5 minutes so that the system and
membrane maximum inlet pressure is more stabilized in order to get the accurate
value of weight of permeates.
• To collect the sample, the sampling valves should be open and close
simultaneously so that there is no interruption during collecting the sample from
permeates sampling port.
12.0 REFERENCES