Effect of shell‐side flows on hollow‐fiber membrane device performance

Abstract

Membrane-based separation processes are the preferred choice to accomplish many industrial separations. Among the numerous applications are filtration, dialysis, reverse osmosis, and gas separations. Modules utilizing hollow-fiber membranes are efficient contractors. For design purposes, analyses of how these devices perform require knowledge of the membrane mass-transfer properties and the nature of the flow in both the lumen and shell. Such analyses typically assume that all fibers possess the same size and mass-transfer characteristics. Additionally, most analyses assume that the shell and lumen flows are concurrent, countercurrent, or cross-current to one another. No work exists that addresses fluid distribution across the fiber bundle. The authors present a theoretical analysis of shell-side flows and their influence on mass transfer. The general problem is computationally quite complex. They consider only the simplest, nontrivial effects here, but within a framework that is readily modified to allow examination of other issues associated with shell-side flows.