TY - JOUR
T1 - Numerical study on permeate flux enhancement by spacers in a crossflow reverse osmosis channel
AU - Ma, Shengwei
AU - Song, Lianfa
PY - 2006/11/1
Y1 - 2006/11/1
N2 - The impact of spacer configurations (i.e. cavity, zigzag and submerged) and mesh length on the alleviation of concentration polarization and the enhancement of permeate flux in the crossflow reverse osmosis membrane channels was investigated. In this study, the wall concentration and permeate flux were directly determined from the numerical solutions of the fully coupled governing equations of momentum and mass transfer in the feed channel. It was demonstrated that the average permeate flux could be significantly enhanced by the spacers, especially those with zigzag configuration. Simulations showed that the zigzag configuration was the most effective one to alleviate concentration polarization and to enhance permeate flux while the submerged configuration is the least. It was further found that an optimum mesh length (corresponding to the maximum permeate flux enhancement) existed for cavity and zigzag configurations and the optimum mesh length decreased with increasing salinity of the feed water. The results suggested that different mesh length should be used in membrane modules for feed waters of different salinities to obtain the maximum permeate flux enhancement.
AB - The impact of spacer configurations (i.e. cavity, zigzag and submerged) and mesh length on the alleviation of concentration polarization and the enhancement of permeate flux in the crossflow reverse osmosis membrane channels was investigated. In this study, the wall concentration and permeate flux were directly determined from the numerical solutions of the fully coupled governing equations of momentum and mass transfer in the feed channel. It was demonstrated that the average permeate flux could be significantly enhanced by the spacers, especially those with zigzag configuration. Simulations showed that the zigzag configuration was the most effective one to alleviate concentration polarization and to enhance permeate flux while the submerged configuration is the least. It was further found that an optimum mesh length (corresponding to the maximum permeate flux enhancement) existed for cavity and zigzag configurations and the optimum mesh length decreased with increasing salinity of the feed water. The results suggested that different mesh length should be used in membrane modules for feed waters of different salinities to obtain the maximum permeate flux enhancement.
KW - Concentration polarization
KW - Numerical simulation
KW - Permeate flux
KW - Reverse osmosis
KW - Spacer configurations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33748759249&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.memsci.2006.07.022
DO - 10.1016/j.memsci.2006.07.022
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33748759249
SN - 0376-7388
VL - 284
SP - 102
EP - 109
JO - Journal of Membrane Science
JF - Journal of Membrane Science
IS - 1-2
ER -