TY - JOUR
T1 - Simulation of the transport phenomenon occurring in membrane pores during vacuum membrane distillation
AU - Xin, L.
AU - Jia, Liu
AU - Shuhua, Ren
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/1/23
Y1 - 2015/1/23
N2 - Basic knowledge regarding flow at conventional scales is relatively familiar to us. However, micro-scale flow is distinctly different. To explore the flow characteristics and mass transfer process in a membrane micro pore, a Knudsen-molecular diffusion mechanism with sliding boundary condition is used to simulate the treatment of ethyl acetate solution using vacuum membrane distillation. The diffusion coefficient is expressed by the Knudsen diffusion coefficient and molecular diffusion coefficient. The simulation results are consistent with the experimental data. The flow fields in the membrane pore are obtained, and the effects of the membrane structure parameters on the membrane pore separation performance are investigated. The results show that the increase in the porosity and pore diameter can enhance the membrane flux and increase the tortuosity and pore length against permeate flux. The optimal choice of the separation factors is presented as a function of the increase in the porosity, pore diameter, and tortuosity. Pore length does not enhance the membrane separation performance. The simulation of the phenomenon occurring in membrane pores should contribute to appropriate membrane preparation and improve membrane separation performance.
AB - Basic knowledge regarding flow at conventional scales is relatively familiar to us. However, micro-scale flow is distinctly different. To explore the flow characteristics and mass transfer process in a membrane micro pore, a Knudsen-molecular diffusion mechanism with sliding boundary condition is used to simulate the treatment of ethyl acetate solution using vacuum membrane distillation. The diffusion coefficient is expressed by the Knudsen diffusion coefficient and molecular diffusion coefficient. The simulation results are consistent with the experimental data. The flow fields in the membrane pore are obtained, and the effects of the membrane structure parameters on the membrane pore separation performance are investigated. The results show that the increase in the porosity and pore diameter can enhance the membrane flux and increase the tortuosity and pore length against permeate flux. The optimal choice of the separation factors is presented as a function of the increase in the porosity, pore diameter, and tortuosity. Pore length does not enhance the membrane separation performance. The simulation of the phenomenon occurring in membrane pores should contribute to appropriate membrane preparation and improve membrane separation performance.
KW - Ethyl acetate solution
KW - Membrane pore
KW - Numerical simulation
KW - Vacuum membrane distillation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922435838&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/19443994.2013.850744
DO - 10.1080/19443994.2013.850744
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84922435838
SN - 1944-3994
VL - 53
SP - 898
EP - 908
JO - Desalination and Water Treatment
JF - Desalination and Water Treatment
IS - 4
ER -