Evaluation of hollow fiber T-type zeolite membrane modules for ethanol dehydration

This work presents the design of hollow fiber T-type zeolite membrane modules with different geometric configurations. The module performances were evaluated by pervaporation dehydration of ethanol/water mixtures. Strong concentration polarization was found for the modules with big membrane bundles. The concentration polarization was enhanced at high temperature due to the higher water permeation flux. The increase of feed flow could improve water permeation flux for the membrane modules with small membrane bundle.Computational fluid dynamics was used to visualize the flow field distribution inside of the modules with different configurations. The membrane module with seven bundles exhibited highest separation efficiency due to the uniform distribution of flow rate. The packing density could be 10 times higher than that of the tubular membrane module. The hollow fiber membrane module exhibited good stability for ethanol dehydration.

Mathematic Model of Unsteady Penetration Mass Transfer in Randomly Packed Hollow Fiber Membrane Module

Based on the membrane-based absorption experiment of CO2 into water, shell-side flow distribution and mass transfer in a randomly packed hollow fiber module have been analyzed using subchannel model and unsteady penetration mass transfer theory. The cross section of module is subdivided into many small cells which contains only one hollow-fiber. The cross sectional area distribution of these cells is presented by the normal probability density distribution function. It has been obtained that there was a most serious non-ideal flow in shell side at moderate mean packing density, and the large amount of fluid flowed and transferred mass through a small number of large voids. Thus mass transfer process is dominated by the fluid through the larger void area. The mass transfer process in each cell is described by the unsteady penetration theory. The overall mass transfer coefficient equals to the probability addition of the mean mass transfer coefficient in each cell. The comparisons of the values calculated by the model established with the empirical correlations and the experimental data of this work have been done.The predicted overall mass transfer coefficients are in good agreement with experimental data.

Introducing 3D-potting:a novel production process for artificial membrane lungs with superior blood flow design

Currently,artificial-membrane lungs consist of thousands of hollow fiber membranes where blood flows around the fibers and gas flows inside the fibers,achieving diffusive gas exchange.At both ends of the fibers,the interspaces between the hollow fiber membranes and the plastic housing are filled with glue to separate the gas from the blood phase.During a uniaxial centrifugation process,the glue forms the“potting.”The shape of the cured potting is then determined by the centrifugation process,limiting design possibilities and leading to unfavorable stagnation zones associated with blood clotting.In this study,a new multiaxial centrifugation process was developed,expanding the possible shapes of the potting and allowing for completely new module designs with potentially superior blood flow guidance within the potting margins.Two-phase simulations of the process in conceptual artificial lungs were performed to explore the possibilities of a biaxial centrifugation process and determine suitable parameter sets.A corresponding biaxial centrifugation setup was built to prove feasibility and experimentally validate four conceptual designs,resulting in good agreement with the simulations.In summary,this study shows the feasibility of a multiaxial centrifugation process allowing greater variety in potting shapes,eliminating inefficient stagnation zones and more favorable blood flow conditions in artificial lungs.