Investigation of an Ozone Membrane Contactor System

Abstract

Ozone mass transfer rates were determined for nine expanded porous Teflon membranes that had different pore size, thickness, and pore volume, a nonporous Teflon membrane, and a PVDF membrane. The mass transfer coefficient was 7.6 ± 0.5 × 10−5 m/s at Re of 2000 for all membranes tested even though pore sizes ranged from 0.07 to 6 μm and thickness from 0.076 to 0.25 mm. Mass transfer increased with liquid side Reynolds number. Therefore, it is likely that ozone mass transfer is liquid phase controlling and not membrane limited. For a hypothetical case of 4000 m3/d and 2 mg/L ozone transferred, plate and frame membrane and hollow fiber contactors are approximately one and two orders of magnitude smaller, respectively, than fine-bubble diffusers.