Performance Characterization of Couette Flow Membrane Module Through Computational Fluid Dynamics
Keka Rana, Debasish Sarkar, [This article belongs to International Journal of Composite Materials and Matrices(ijcmm)]
Keywords
Concentration polarization, Fouling, Membrane, Couette flow, Taylor vortices
Abstract
Membrane-based separation has been in rigorous applications in health services since the last few decennia. Dynamic Shear Enhanced Membrane Filtration Pilots (DSEMFPs) is a promising membrane module. The first reported DSEMFPs was a Couette flow type module in 1985. It was used for collecting plasma from donors. This module consists of two concentric cylinders. The outer one is fixed while the inner one is rotating, having a membrane on the outer surface of it. High rotational velocities generate Taylor vortices. These Taylor vortices and small annular spaces easily create high shear on the membrane surface to efficiently control concentration polarization (CP), subsequent fouling and maintain the minimum decline of permeate flux. The exhaustive analysis of this DSEMFP required for large-scale applications. The absence of this instigates further detailed study of it. In particular, shear stress distribution on the membrane surface with varying transmembrane pressure and rotational velocity is vital. Moreover, for a clear understanding of the default interior, turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, velocity vector, strain rate and vortices are also studied. All the analyses suggest the positive effect of the high rotational speed of the inner cylinder for maximum permeate output.
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