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1.1
INTRODUCTION
Semi permeable membranes are being used widely in the process separation of gaseous
or liquid as it promotes one or more constituents of the fluid to pass through the membrane. The
membranes usually are flexible films or synthetics polymers which they are supposedly to have a
high permeability for specific types of molecules. Besides, the membrane also could be thin
layers made up of stiff materials such as sintered metal.
1.2
OBJECTIVES
1.3
THEORY
There are several types of equipment for membrane processes. The membrane acts as a
semipermeable barrier and separation occurs by the membrane controlling the rate of movement
of various molecules between two liquid phases. The two fluid phases are usually miscible and
the membrane barrier prevents actual, ordinary hydrodynamic flow. (Geankoplis, 2003)
Nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes are mainly used for water purification
purposes. Reverse osmosis separates aqueous ionic solutions of different concentration where it
separates water from ions and low molecular weight organic compouds. Reverse osmosis prevent
the large molecules or ions pass through the pores, and only allow smaller molecules pass
through it. Meanwhile, nanofiltration is where the process is aimed to remove contaminates from
the water. Nanofiltration is is a form a reverse osmosis, that function to eliminate bivalent
hardness, calcium, and magnesium plus sulphate but leave in most of the single valent sodium
ion.
Ultrafiltration is a type of separation process mostly use by industry in order to remove
high molecular-weight substances, colloidal materials. Meanwhile, microfiltration is a membrane
technical filtration process which removes contaminants from a fluid by passage through a
microporous membrane. The range of the pore size is between 0.1 to 10 micrometers (m).
Microfiltration is different from reverse osmosis and nanofiltration because it uses a pressure as a
means of forcing water to go from low pressure to high pressure. It does not need higher pressure
to operate.
In membrane processes the feed stream will be divided into two streams, which is
retentate and permeate. The retentate can be defined as the part of the feed that could not be able
to pass through the pore of the membrane, while for the others that pass through the membrane is
called permeate. Some components are allowed passage by the membrane into a permeate
stream, whereas others are retained by it and accumulate in the retentate stream. Some benefits
of do not demand adsorbents or solvents, which may be expensive or difficult to handle and the
equipment simplicity and modularity, membrane separation are less energy-intensive, since they
do not require major phase changes.
The graph of the weight of permeates versus time that should be obtained is supposedly
proportional as in as the time goes by, the weight of permeates increases. Apparently at a specific
time, fouling will occur inside the membrane which causing increase in pressure drop and many
other factors which lead to lower effectiveness of the membrane, hence a curve shape will be
obtained if the separation time prolong.
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1.4
1.5
PROCEDURE
5. The system was allowed to run for 5 minutes. The sample was start to collect from permeate
sampling port and the sample was weight using digital weighing balance. The weight of
permeates was recorded every 1 minute for 10 minutes.
6. Step 1 to 5 was repeated for Membrane 2, 3 and 4. Open and close the respective sets of
valves and the membrane maximum inlet pressure was adjusted for every membrane.
Membrane
Open Valves
Sampling Valves
(Step 2)
Retentate
Membrane
Control Valve
maximum inlet
V15
pressure (bar)
18
and V15
V2. V5. V8, V12
close V11
Open V20 and
V16
12
and V16
V2, V5, V9. V13
close V12
Open V21 and
V17
10
and V17
V2, V5, V10,
close V13
Open V22 and
V18
8.5
close V14
RESULTS
Time (min)
Membrane 3
Membrane 4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Max P = 18 bar
38.10
63.45
86.29
111.28
135.20
167.38
203.48
236.06
267.18
303.59
1.7
CALCULATIONS
1.8
DISCUSSION
Max P = 12 bar
51.27
104.87
164.32
212.68
261.69
312.25
358.15
403.15
447.82
486.74
Max P = 10 bar
70.59
92.18
113.47
142.68
168.84
198.03
222.74
251.38
284.85
318.05
Membrane separation is based on separation mechanisms and size of the separated particles. The
membrane processes that have been commonly used are microfiltration, ultrafiltration,
nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, electrolysis, dialysis, electrodialysis, gas separation, vapour
permeation, pervaporation, membrane distillation and membrane contactors.
permeates is proportional with the time as shown in the graph. For all the membranes, the weight
is increasing as the time goes by.
Membrane 2 operates in ultrafiltration. Ultrafiltration defines a membrane separation
process which is driven by a pressure gradient, in which the membrane separates the components
of a liquid as a function of their solvated size and structure. The configuration of the membrane
is usually cross-flow. As for membrane 3, it operates in nanofiltration. Nanofiltration does not
require high pressure as in reverse osmosis. Each of one of the membrane has its own specific
characteristics which make them differ from one another. In industries, suitable membrane need
to be chose in order to produce the desired products or permeates.
1.9
CONCLUSION
The different weight of the permeates collected can be concluded that it is due to the different
types of membrane used and different maximum inlet pressure for each membrane. Membrane 4
has the highest weight of permeate which is 3811.81g and the lowest is Membrane 1, which is
303.59g. Based on the graph plotted, the weight of permeates collected increased as the time of
separation process prolong. This shows the same for every each of the membrane. Therefore,
based on the weight of permeates collected and the pressure inlet for each of the membrane, it
can be concluded that Membrane 1 is reverse osmosis, Membrane 2 is ultrafiltration, Membrane
3 is nanofiltration and Membrane 4 is microfiltration.
1.10
RECOMMENDATION
There a few recommendations that can be done in the experiment in order to obtain more
accurate data. While recording the reading of weight permeates by using digital weighing
balance, the reading of weight should be taking in more significant figures so that the result is
accurate and beside, true values could be minimized. Besides, the experiment also should be
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repeated in order to get average value for each run. This is because average value of the weight
of permeates can be calculated and produce more accurate result. The sampling valves also
should be opened and closed simultaneously and immediately so that there will be no
interruption while collecting the data.
1.11
REFERENCES/APPENDICES
1.
2.
3.
4.
Membrane
Filtration.
Retrieved
24th
March,
2016,
from
http://www.mrwa.com/WaterWorksMnl/Chapter%2019%20Membrane%20Filtration.pdf
5.
Ultrafiltration, Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis. Retieved 24th March, 2016, from
http://www.safewater.org/PDFS/resourcesknowthefacts/Ultrafiltration_Nano_ReverseOs
m.pdf
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