Lecture 2: Introduction to membrane process

Slide 11:
Introduction to membrane process.
At first, let’s have a definition of membrane.
A membrane is a thin layer of semi-permeable material that is used for solute
separation as transmembrane pressure is applied across the membrane.
As a matter of facts, membranes divided by two parts: membrane filtration include
MF and UF, and membrane desalination include NF and RO
Let's look at the main advantages and disadvantages of membranes.
Some advantages:
High removal efficiency: Membrane technologies for water purification are
exceptionally attractive due to their high efficiency.
Physical separation (No chemicals): One of the particular advantages of the
membrane separation process is that it relies on a physical separation, usually with
no addition of chemicals in the feed stream and without phase change. Because
adding the chemicals may cause problems such as interactions with constituents,
or may residual removal is needed.
Selectivity: Membranes can have intensely high selectivity for the separation of
components. There can be a significant struggle of control over separation
selectivity by having a larger number of polymers and inorganic media usage as
membranes.
Flexibility: membrane can be used in the separation, concentration, and
purification of a huge variety of materials across wide range industries.
Small footprint: The compact footprint of many membrane systems is a big
advantage for a growing number of water treatment installations. Many
municipalities are struggling to increase water treatment capacity to keep up with
rising populations, but often they cannot expand the size of their existing facilities.
Relatively simple to scale-up: A final issue that needs to be addressed to widen the
use of membranes is scale-up, in terms of both the process application and the
fabrication of the membrane.

Some disadvantages:
High cost and energy consumption: Cost is one of the major barriers in membrane
technology. Higher energy consumption than the traditional granular filtration.
Capital costs, installation, maintenance, and membrane replacement or defouling
are also expensive.
Fouling problems and cleaning requirements: membrane separations can be
encountered with a significant problem of fouling of the membranes while
processing some type of feed streams. This fouling can inhibit the rate of
permeation through the membranes and that makes them incompatible for such
applications.
Slide 12:
In this slide you can see some of the applications of membrane processes.
World-wide the field of application of membrane technology is becoming more and
more broad. While its beginnings lay in the field of water purification in the
desalination of the sea and brackish water in arid zones, it is used for decades also
for the separation of valuable materials from small water volumes, e. g. in
biotechnology, in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, the metal-working
industry and in the food and beverage industry.
In addition, membrane technology got accepted as efficient and economic
procedure for the treatment of high- strength industrial wastewater. Membrane
technology has been tested and applied for the last ten years for the treatment of
comparably low-loaded and big water volumes in drinking water treatment as well
as in municipal wastewater treatment (membrane bioreactor process).
Membrane processes are used in drinking water treatment to improve the
retention of particles and to remove microorganisms. Ultrafiltration is
predominantly used in this field because not only germs but also viruses are safely
retained. Membrane processes for drinking water preparation are not treated in
detail in this publication.
The membrane processes microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse
osmosis are classified according to the size or molar mass of the separated
substances. Their different molecular separation sizes allow for the choice of the
suited process for the particular task. For more complex tasks, the combination
with other processes, e. g. biological or chemical processes is a possibility. In the
same way, two membrane processes may be combined.
Slide 13:
Different levels in membrane processes development.
There are some levels in membrane from membrane element to membrane stage
as you can see in this image. The smallest level is element and largest is stage and
I’m going to explain each of which in the next slides.
Slide 14:
Membrane elements are sheets in space that can carry membrane force. This is a
sheet of the membrane element. The feed channel is located between 2 permeate
spacers. Once feed discharge to the element, at first it flows to the feed channels
and then after pass through the membrane, goes to the permeate channel and then
discharge to the permeate tube.
There is also a pressure drop between feed and permeate sides that we will discuss
about it in section 4 (membrane design).
In the right picture, you see a spiral membrane element. In this element, feed
discharge to the feed channel spacers. Feed channel spacer is an essential part of
the spiral-wound module to separate membrane leaves. There are many different
types of feed spacers in the market, but the most commonly used feed spacers are
ladder and diamond type. Feed spacers are usually made of plastic polypropylene.
The operating mode in this type of the membrane is cross-flow, we will speak about
the operating mode at the end of this chapter. In this operating mode, a part of
feed pass through the membrane and goes to the permeate channel and then
discharge to the permeate tube. Other part of the feed, cross the membrane and
discharge as concentrate.
Slide 15:
A membrane module is a complete unit composed of the membranes, a housing,
feed inlet, concentrate outlet, and permeate outlet.
In this image the pipe that is located on the center of this pressure vessel is
permeate outlet and the other is concentrate outlet.
Membrane modules may contain different membrane configurations, including
hollow fiber, flat sheet or tubular membranes that we will discuss about them in
detail in this section.
Slide 16:
A series connection is used if the permeate yield from one module is not sufficient.
Several modules are connected in series so that according to Figure, the
concentrate flow of a module serves as feed for the next module and the permeate
of the single modules is brought together.
With a parallel connection, the feed is distributed to the individual modules
connected in parallel. The number of modules in parallel connection depends on
required the capacity of the membrane stage. The modules in parallel connection
are also called a block.

The membrane elements are enclosed in pressure vessels. A group of pressure

vessels operated in parallel is called a stage.
In this image there is a 3 stages membrane process in which the concentrate of the
first stage is the feed of second stage and the concentrate of second stage is the
feed of third stage that is most concentrated.

Slide 17:
Driving forces in membrane processes.
A schematic representation of the two-phase system separated by a membrane has
presented. the first phase is feed and the second phase permeate. Between these
phases, there are various driving forces such as pressure, Temperature,
Concentration, Electric potential that in this course the pressure-driven force has
focused.
Slide 18:
In this table you can see also these driving forces, aggregation state and membrane
type and As I said, the pressure difference driving force in this course has
considered. Feed and permeate sides are liquid and the membrane are RO, NF, UF,
MF. Electrical potential difference driving force such as Electrodialysis.
Concentration difference driving force, such as Reverse electrodialysis and Partial
pressure difference such as Pervaporation.
Slide 19:
Electrodialysis (ED) is a membrane in the separation process that is derived
electrically and is applied in order to separating, concentrating, purifying selected
ions and some organic solvents from an aqueous solution. This process rejects
anions and cations selectivity and is based on the property of the ion exchange
membrane. In this membrane, only cations or anions (ionic species) are transferred
directly and if the membrane is more permeable to cations than anions or anions
than cations, the increasing or decreasing of ionic solution concentration will be
observed, therefore, depletion or concentration of electrolyte solution is possible.
As you can see in the Electrodialysis membrane, there is an external power source
to create an electrical potential as a driving force. membranes are located between
the positive and negative charges. Feed as a salt solution in this image discharge to
the system. Sodium repulses the positive charge and attracts the negative charge
and chloride vice versa. But in the way, they remove by the membrane. product
and concentrate discharge from the outlets.

Slide 20:
The separation of liquid mixtures through a dense membrane by partial
vaporization is called pervaporation. Unlike the other membrane processes that
have liquid phase in both sides, in pervaporation the phase change from liquid to
vapor through a membrane during its transport. Pervaporation is a technique
similar to distillation but there are some differences.
Pervaporation is a non-porous membrane and energy-efficient technology that in
this process, the transmission of feed to the permeate side is derived by partial
vapor pressure, a gradient in the chemical potential of the substances on both sides
of the membrane.
One application of pervaporation technology is for alcohol dehydration, VOC
removal from contaminated water or wastewater and hydrocarbon separation due
to its energy-efficient and aimed removal without the addition of chemicals or new
pollutants in different forms (such as air stripping and carbon adsorption). This
technique is also applied in the chemical industry to break azeotropic mixtures.
The transport mechanism of PV is similar to RO and NF membranes and is based
upon the solution-diffusion model.

The solution-diffusion mechanism in PV:

1- In the feed side of the membrane diffusion takes place on the liquid
boundary layer.
2- Molecules of components are selective partitioning into the membrane.
3- Diffusion through the membrane matrix.
4- Desorption into vapor phase (permeate side)