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Membranes

Classification of membrane
separation process for liquid systems
MICROFILTRATION
Pressure gradient (driving force) , 0.1
to 10 micrometer , small particles ,
large colloids and microbial cells
ULTRAFILTRATION
Pressure gradient - <0.1micrometer to
5 nm emulsions, colloids,
macromolecules, proteins

Classification of membrane
separation process for liquid systems
NANOFILTRATION
Pressure driven- ~1nm removes
dissolved salts and organics
REVERSE OSMOSIS (HYPERFILTRATION)
Pressure driven - <1 nm removes
dissolved salts and small organics

Classification of membrane
separation process for liquid systems
Dialysis
Concentration gradient- <5nm
treatment of renal failure
ELECTRODIALYSIS
Electric field gradient - <5 nm <
dissolved salts

Nature of synthetic
membrane
Most of the pressure driven
membranes are made of polymers.
They were initially made of cellulose
acetate but now being replaced by
polyamide, polycarbonate and
polysulfone.
The synthetic polymers improved the
chemical stability and microbial
degradation.

Tubular Modules
Tubular modules are used where it is advantageous to have
a turbulent regime.
An example of this is a feed containing high conc. Of solids
The membrane is cast on inside a porous support tube
which is often housed in a perforated steel pipe.
Each module has a cluster of series tube held within a
permeate shroud.
The feed is pumped at high reynolds number
They can be easily cleaned and good deal of operating
data exist for them.
Low membrane surface area compared with the overall
dimensions

Spiral Wound Modules


It consists of several flat membranes with
turbulence promoting mesh separators and
made into a swiss roll
The edges of a membrane are sealed to
each other and to a center perforated
tubes.
The feed enters at one end of the tube and
encounters a series of narrow and paralle
feed channels formed between the
adjacent layers of the membrane.

Ultrafiltration
The solutes rejected by this method will be
of molecular weights 1000 or more
depending on the MWCO of the membrane.
The process liquid, dissolved salts and low
molecular weight organics pass through this
membranes
The pressure applied across is generally 0.1
to 0.7 MN/m2
In industry UF is always operated in cross
flow mode.

The separation of the process liquid


and the solute from the membrane
results in the increase in
concentration of the solute near the
surface, which is called concentration
polarization.
Due to high concentration at the
interface there will be tendency to
back flow according to Ficks Law.

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