Uphill transport of a dilute solute in mass separation devices with reactive co-transport membranes

Abstract

Uphill transport of a solute species against its concentration gradient by a mobile carrier species, which couples the flux of two species in the same direction, is known as co-transport. For fully developed, one-dimensional, laminar flow of a Newtonian fluid in either a parallel plate or a hallow fiber mass separator, the uphill mass transfer rate is analyzed numerically. The effect of diffusion and reaction parameters on uphill transport is investigated. The uphill transport of a dilute solute for a carrier-coupled co-transport membrane process is shown to depend on the wall Sherwood number, the maximum co-transport factor, the dimensionless equilibrium constant of the chemical reaction, the ratio of the initial concentrations of the two coupling species, and the initial concentration difference of the solute across the membrane.