Unit I

Membrane Modules
Membrane Modules
For partical applications, membranes are installed in a suitable device
which are referred as membrane modules.

Four major different designs of membrane modules

- Plate and Frame

- Tubular

- Spiral wound

- Hollow fibre
Membrane Modules
Plate and Frame:

Similar to Plate and Frame filter press with a series of flat membrane
sheets.

Consists of thin plates covered on both sides by membranes which are

sealed around to prevent leakage.

Support plates consists of small grooves through which the permeate

flows after passing through the membrane.

Major advantages:

- Sheets are very close to each other thereby reducing

concentration polarization

- Easily cleanable
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Plate and Frame:
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Tubular:

Resembles a shell and tube heat exchanger, but the feed flows through
the tubes.
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Tubular:

Permeate passes through the wall of the tubes into the shell side of the
module.

Tubular devices consists of parallel bundles of rigid walled, porous or

perforated tubes. Contains up to 30 tubes.

Major advantages:

- Can be operated with simple pretreatment of feed

- Can be mechanically cleaned by forcing a sponge ball through
the tubes
- Membrane area /Module space ration is small
- Membrane fouling can be minimized by high feed flow rates
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Spiral Wound:

Module consists of a large membrane sheets loosely rolled like a jelly roll
around a centre collection pipe.
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Spiral Wound:

Permeate spacer is sandwiched between two membranes, the porous

support of the membrane being faced to permeate spacer.

Feed spacer is provided through which feed flows parallel to the central
tube, whereas the permeate flows through the permeate spacer
perpendicular to feed flow direction towards the central collection pipe.

Density of membrane module is 300 to 1000 m3/m2. Diameter can be up to

4 cm.
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Spiral Wound:
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Spiral Wound:
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Spiral Wound:

Commonly manufactured with flat membrane of either a cellulose acetate

and triacetate blend or thin film composite.

Thin film composite membranes exhibit higher rejection at low operating

pressures than the cellulose acetate blends. Composite membranes may
be polyamide, polysulfone, polyurea or other polymers

Major advantages:

- High pressure spiral elements withstand pressures in excess of

1000 psi (or) 70 atm
- Membranes are compact; High packing density results in more
efficient utilization of floor space
- Low permeate pressure drop and low membrane contamination
- Minimum concentration polarization.
Membrane Modules
Hollow fibre:

Module consists of fibres with an OD of 25 – 250 μm and a wall thickness

of 5 – 50 μm.

Fibre wall has a structure of the asymmetric membrane, the active skin
layer being placed to feed side.

Hollow-fibre units are almost always run with the feed stream on the
outside of the fibre, i.e. the active skin layer facing the feed side.

Water passes through the membrane into the inside or "lumen" of the fibre.

A number of hollow-fibres are collected together and "potted" in an epoxy

resin at both ends and installed into an outer shell.
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Hollow fibre:
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Hollow fibre:

Modules are formed in 2 basic geometries: (a) shell-side feed design, and
(b) bore-side feed design.

Shell side feed design

A loop or closed bundle of fibres is contained in a pressure vessel.

Feed is pressurized from the shell side, and the permeate passes through
the fibre wall and exits through the open fibre ends.

This design is easy to fabricate and allows very large membrane areas to
be contained in an economical system.

Because the fibre wall must support considerable hydrostatic pressure, the
fibres usually have small diameters and thick walls, typically 25-μm inner
diameter and 100 μm outer diameter.
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Hollow Fibre

Bore side feed design

In the bore-side feed design, the fibres are open at both ends and the feed
is circulated through the bore (annulus area) of the fibres.

To minimize pressure drop inside the fibres, the diameter are usually
larger than those of the fine fibres used in the shell-side feed design.

Major advantages:

- High area / Volume ratio and low cost.

- Flexible membrane module – Carry out separation in either way
– inside out or outside in
- Tangential flow along membrane limits membrane fouling
- Most suitable for single pass operations.
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Hollow Fibre
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Comparison of various membrane modules
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Other membrane modules

Other Membrane Modules:

- Thin Channel

- Parallel leaf type

- Transversal flow capillary module

- Monolithic

- Cassette or flat spiral module

- Rotating disk module

Flow patterns in membrane

4 Different flow patterns for membrane separation processes :

- Complete mixing

- Co current flow

- Cross flow

- Countercurrent flow
Flow patterns in membrane

(a) - Complete mixing (b) - Co current flow

(c) - Cross flow (d) - Countercurrent flow