Advanced separation processes

SALIH RUSHDI| CHEM.E.503

Course Description

 course summary  Location: Class room 2 (in the main building)

 Lectures: Tusday at 8:30 am
 Prerequisites: Bsc. in chem. Eng.
 Credits: 2 units
 Lecture Time: 3 hours
 Required Materials

• Membrane Separation Processes by kaushik nath ,2008

• Separation Processes – C. J. King
• Synthetic membranes – P. M. Bungay, H. K. Lonsdale, M. N. de Pinho
Reading • MembraneTechnology and Applications, 2nd edition –Baker
• Reverse Osmosis – S. Sourirajan
• Ultrafiltration Handbook – M. Cheryan
• Principles of Mass Transfer and Separation Processes – B. K. Dutta
• Transport Processes and Separation Process Principles – C. J. Geankoplis
Syllabus
Assessment Criteria Monthly assignments
5%
Projects
5%

 Monthly assignments 20
 Projects 5 Quizzes
20%
 Quizzes 5
 Final Exam 70

Final Exam
70%
INTRODUCTION

Membrane
• Latin(membrana) - Skin.
• The membrane can be defined as a barrier which separates two phases and restricts
transport of various chemicals in a selective manner.
• In other words, a structure having lateral dimensions much greater than its thickness,
through which mass transfer may occur under a variety of driving forces.
o Selective barrier - It controls the exchange between the two regions adjacent to it in a very
specific manner
o Contacting barrier - Its function is mainly to contact the two regions between which the transport
occurs.
Membrane Separation Processes

 A membrane can essentially be defined as a barrier that separates two phases and
selectively restricts the transport of
various chemicals. It can be homogenous or heterogeneous, symmetric or asymmetric in
structure, solid or liquid, and can carry
a positive or negative charge, or be neutral or bipolar. Transport across a membrane can
take place by convection or by
diffusion of individual molecules, or it can be induced by an electric field or
concentration, pressure or temperature gradient.
The membrane thickness can vary from as little as 100 mm to several millimeters.
Principle of Membrane Separation
Types of Membranes
1. According to principles:

 Their are a wide variety of membranes that differ in chemical and physical composition and in
the way they operate
 a membrane is nothing more than a discrete, thin interface that moderates the permeation of
chemical species in contact with it.
 This interface may be molecularly homogeneous, that is, completely uniform in composition
and structure, or
 it may be chemically or physically heterogeneous, for example, containing holes
 or pores of finite dimensions or consisting of some form of layered structure.

As shown in Fig. below

Continued…
2. According to Material

 The more important attributes of a good membrane material are:

 Good permeability
 High selectivity
 Chemical Resistance to fouling and adsorption
 Amenability to casting of thin film
 Suitability for fabrication of module
The more important membrane type
membrane characterization

 Selecting of membrane for separation depends on membrane characteristics and

membrane material
 Characteristics are include
 Morphology (surface, porosity, pore structure, and pore size distribution)
 Membrane thickness
Membrane modules

 A membrane module is unit housing the membrane as abarrier between the feed and permeate
flow regions, and fitted with the inlet and outlet nozzles on both feed and permeate sides.
 Comparing's with other separation device, membrane modules has small size but a large packing
density
 Membrane area per unit volume called packed density
 Four types of Modules:
 Plate and frame
 Spiral- wound
 Hollow-fibre
 tubular
Continuo …….
Motion of molecules through membrane

 There are four different flow patterns for membrane separation processes :
 Complete mixing
 Concurrent flow
 Cross flow
 Countercurrent flow

Permeate or filtrate :the liquid passes through the membrane.

Retentate or concentrate : the fraction that does not pass through the membrane.
CLASSIFICATION OF MEMBRANE
SEPARATION PROCESSES (MSP)

 Pressure Driven Membrane Process:

 Reverse Osmosis (RO) (10-100 bar)
 Nanofiltration (NF) (10-70 bar)
 Ultrafiltration (UF) (1-10 bar)
 Microfiltration (MF) (0.5-2 bar)
 Pervaporation (PV)
 Membrane Gas Separation
Continued…

 Concentration Gradient Driven Membrane process:

 Dialysis
 Membrane Extraction
 Electrical Potential Driven Membrane Process:
 Electro Dialysis (ED)
 Reverse Osmosis (RO)

 Osmosis is  a  process   where  a  weaker  saline

 solution  will  tend  to  migrate  to  a  strong
 saline  solution.
  Examples  of  osmosis
 when  plant   roots absorb  water  from  the  soil
 our  kidneys  absorb  water  from  our  blood
 Continued…

• Reverse Osmosis  is  the  process  of  

Osmosis  in  reverse.

• A   reverse  osmosis  membrane  is  a  

semipermeable  membrane  that  allows  the  passage  of  water

 molecules   but  

not  the  majority  of  dissolved  salts, organics,  bacteria  and

Microfiltration (MF)

 Microfiltration is defined as a membrane separation process using membranes with a pore size of
approximately 0.03 to 10 microns, a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of greater than 1000,000
Daltons and a relatively low feed water operating pressure of approximately 100 to 400 kPa.
 Materials removed by MF include sand, silt, clays, Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium cysts, algae,
and some bacterial species.
 By physically removing the pathogens, membrane filtration can significantly reduce chemical addition,
such as chlorination.
Ultrafiltration (UF)

 Ultrafiltration is a selective separation step used to both concentrate and purify medium to high molecular
weight components such as plant and dairy proteins, carbohydrates and enzymes.
 Ultrafiltration has a pore size of approximately 0.002 to 0.1 microns, an MWCO of approximately 10,000
to 100,000 daltons, and an operating pressure of approximately 200 to 700 kPa (30 to 100 psi).
 UF will remove all microbiological species removed by MF (partial removal of bacteria) and humic
materials.
Nanofiltration (NF)

• Nanofiltration membranes have a nominal pore size of approximately 0.001 microns and
an MWCO of 1,000 to 100,000 daltons.
• Operating pressures are usually near 600 kPa (90psi) and can be as high as 1,000 kPa.
• These systems can remove virtually all cysts, bacteria, viruses, and humic materials.
• NF also removes hardness from water, which accounts for NF membranes sometimes
being called “softening membranes.”
REVERSE OSMOSIS (RO) ULTRAFILTRATION (UF)

NANOFILTRATION (NF) MICROFILTRATION (MF)

Applications of different Membrane separation Processes
Continued…

 Food & Beverage :Vegetable Products, Grain Products, Plant Extracts, Organic solvent
recovery, Animal Products, Fish & Seafood Products, Biofood
 Industrial: Bio-chemicals, Distillery Products, Enzymes, Pigments and dyes, Fine
Chemicals, Process Effluent Treatment, Mining Industry
 Pharmaceuticals, Water & Product Reclamation, Process Effluent Treatment, Recovery of
CIP solutions
Advantages of Membrane Processes

 Appreciable energy savings

 Clean technology with operational ease
 Replaces the conventional processes
 Recovery of high value products
 Greater flexibility in designing systems
 Hybrid process development
Disadvantages of Membrane Processes

• Membrane fouling

• Upper solid limits

• Expensive
Home work

• Chapter 14 (Dutta)
• Chapter 1&2 (Nath)
• Problems in the end of each chapter above.
 E-mail: salihchem@[Link]
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