Design and performance characterization of a new shear enhanced module with inbuilt cleaning arrangement

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Shear enhanced membrane modules are becoming popular as they enable high permeate flux in almost all membrane filtration processes due to the high shear rate they generate at the membrane surface. In this article, the design of a new shear enhanced module with unique hydrodynamic cleaning facility is proposed. The device, presently at laboratory scale was named the Spinning Basket Membrane (SBM) module because of its inherent structural similarity with the well known Spinning Basket Reactor. An aqueous solution of polyethylene glycol was chosen as test fluid for the present study. RESULTS: The module was characterized under different parametric conditions of transmembrane pressure (TMP), feed concentration (C0) and rotational speed of the basket (Ω). It was observed that with its inbuilt cleaning facility the module was able to restrict the flux decline to within 15% of its start up value, even after 21 h of continuous running, with a maximum initial flux as high as 612 L m−2 h−1. CONCLUSION: Based on the performance of the module, it may be concluded that this module could be scaled up for nearly uninterrupted industrial operation with reduced requirement for chemical cleaning, which is rare in the membrane industry to date. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry