Unit II

CONTROL MEASURES FOR

MEMBRANE FOULING &
CONCENTRATION POLARIZATION
CP & Fouling Control
 Consequence of CP and fouling is reduction in separation
performance.

 Methods to reduce CP and fouling can be described in a general

manner only because of the complexity of the phenomena.

 Methods to control CP and fouling can be classified in four categories

- pretreatment of feed solution

- adjustment or tailoring of membrane properties
- membrane cleaning
- improvement of operating conditions
Pretreatment of feed solution
 In case of pervaporation and gas separation, a simple 1 μm filter is
used to remove particles and sometimes an activated coal column has
been installed for the removal of higher hydrocarbons.

 Usage of clean feed streams are recommended for separation

processes.

 In case of surface water or ground water treatment, feed is made to

pass through sand filter and candle filter.

 In case of gas separation, presence of water may change the

membrane separation properties and hence this traces of water are to
be removed by adsorption on molecular sieves.
Pretreatment of feed solution
 In case of RO, there is a vast scope of pretreatment. Typical methods of
pretreatment are
- Addition of chlorine (to remove bacteria, algae)
- Flocculants (polyelectrolytes or FeCl3 to remove suspended solids)
- pH adjustment (H2SO4 to prevent scaling)
- NaHSO3 (Chlorine removal)
- Heat treatment
- UV treatment
- Activated carbon
- all types of filters such as multi-layer filters & 1 – 5 m cartridge filters

 Care must be taken that no additives are introduced by pretreatment.

 In case of presence of proteins in feed, pH adjustment of the feed is done

to reach isoelectric point so that adsorption of proteins is carried out
before separation.
Membrane properties
 Membrane properties mainly affect the solute membrane interactions and
consequently, the extent of adsorption and fouling.

 To bring down the effect of adsorption, inclination is towards the

development of hydrophilic membranes which has very less adsorption
effects.

 In case of hydrophobic membranes, surface modification of hydrophobic

membranes is carried out by blending them with necessary additives so
that a resulting hydrophilic surface is obtained.

 Another way to influence the solute membrane interaction is to pretreat

the membrane surface with surfactants or enzymes.
Membrane properties
 Other ways of influencing the membrane surfaces are
- plasma treatment of the surface
- polymerization or grafting of the surface initiated by UV, heat or
chemicals
- interfacial polymerization
- introduction of polar (-OR, -F) or ionic groups (-SO3H) by reaction
with reactive agents such as strong bases, acids or halides

 Another property of membrane that influences solute membrane

interaction is membrane morphology (pore size, pore size distribution
and pore geometry) especially at the surface which could have
considerable effect on fouling.

 Adsorption of solute on the pores not only affect the permeation rate but
also the selectivity.
Cleaning
 Cleaning is the best practice employed to control fouling.

 Frequency with which membranes need to be cleaned can estimated

from process optimization.

 Four cleaning methods are distinguished. They are

- Hydraulic cleaning
- Mechanical cleaning
- Chemical cleaning
- Electrical cleaning

 Choice of cleaning method depends mainly on the module configuration,

chemical resistances of the membrane and type of foulant encountered
Cleaning
Hydraulic Cleaning:
 Methods include
Back flushing (applicable to MF and open UF membranes)
Back shock treatment (back flushing only for a fraction of second)
Pulsation of the flow
Reversing the flow at a given frequency.

 The last two methods can be considered to improve the solution

hydrodynamics.

Mechanical Cleaning:

 Mechanical cleaning can only be applied in tubular systems using

oversize sponge balls.
Cleaning
Chemical Cleaning:
 Chemical cleaning is the most important method for reducing fouling, with
a number of chemicals being used separately or in combination.

 The concentration of chemical (eg active chlorine) and the cleaning time
are also very important in relation to the chemical resistance of the
membrane.

 Some important chemicals used for chemical cleaning are

- Acids ( strong such as H3PO4 or weak as citric acid)
- Alkali ( NaOH)
- Detergents ( alkaline, nonionic)
Cleaning
Electric Cleaning:
 A recent method is the application of a pulsed electric field which results
in the movement of charged particles or molecules away from
membrane surface.

 The cleaning method can be carried out without interrupting the process.

 A drawback of this method is the requirement of electricity conducting

membranes (eg metal membranes) and as special module design.
Improvement of Operating Conditions
 Improvement of mass transfer is the most important factor in reducing
concentration polarization and fouling.

 Since mass transfer coefficient is a parameter that depends both on

solution hydrodynamics and module design, both can be optimized
independently.

 Thus, Improvement of operating conditions could be categorized under

two groups.
a) Solution hydrodynamics
b) Module related methods
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Increase of cross flow velocity:

 Increase in cross flow velocity results in a flux increase.

 However with increase in velocity, the energy consumption increases as

well. The energy consumption is related to the third power of the velocity.
So, an optimal cross flow velocity must determined for all kind of feed
streams and module configurations.

 Other methods related to solution hydrodynamics to improve mass

transfer are pulsation of flow and reverse of flow direction
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Turbulence promoters:

 Other methods to improve mass transfer both in laminar and turbulent

systems can be classified in the group of “turbulence promoters” which
includes static mixers in tubular membranes, mesh screens in spirals and
plate & frame systems, attachment of wires at membrane surface and
fluidized beds in tubular membranes.

 Although in all cases an improvement in mass transfer is achieved, these

methods are not commonly used in industrial systems, except for the
spacer materials in spirals and plate & frame systems. This might be
caused by the resulting pressure drop (static mixers) and damage of the
membrane material (fluidized beds) combined with difficulty of
fabrication.
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Module related methods:

 Reduction of module length results in improved mass transfer. In most

models, the flux is proportionally related to mass transfer coefficient and
a reduction in module length from 1m to 0.5m gives a flux increase of 26
% in the case of laminar flow.

 Apart from the basic four modules, many new module designs are
proposed to increase the effect of mass transfer, thereby reducing the
effect of concentration polarization. Three such new modules are
a) rotating module
b) corrugated membrane
c) transversal flow module
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Module related methods – Rotating modules:

 Module consists of two co-axial cylinders in which the inner cylinder,

which contains the membrane, is rotating.
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Module related methods – Rotating modules:

 Taylor vortices are generated in the annulus which results in improved

mass transfer, thereby reducing the effect of CP and fouling.

 Since high shear rates are induced at low axial flow velocity, the system
can be operated at low applied pressures. An increase of flux is given as
a function of rotation speed in the table given below:

 A drawback of the system is it is costly which will limit large scale

application.
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Module related methods – corrugated membrane:

 Introduction of corrugations on the membrane surface acts as turbulent

promoters thereby reducing the effect of CP and fouling.

 An impression of stream lines for the flow over corrugated membranes is

shown in the figure which indicates the a visible circulation behind
corrugation.

 The local mass transfer is mostly enhanced at the point where the
ongoing stream lines attach again at the membrane surface.
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Module related methods – corrugated membrane:

 As the mutual distance of the corrugates become too small, the ongoing
stream line will not approach the membrane surface and although
circulation flows are still present in between the corrugates – which
improve mass transfer – the overall improvement is not too large.

 On the other hand, when the distance is too large, the effect of the
corrugation also diminishes.

 An optimal mutual distance could be identified based on critical Reynolds

number.

 This design results in an improvement of mass transfer but the

introduction of corrugations is difficult to apply in practical membrane
systems and is only applicable for plate & frame systems. Also,
sometimes, the introduction of corrugates may damage the membrane.
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Module related methods – corrugated membrane:

Mutual distance of corrugates as a function of critical Reynolds number

Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Module related methods – transversal flow module:

 Transversal flow module using hollow fibers or capillary membranes with

top layer outside is a promising design to improve mass transfer.

 In this module, the feed is perpendicular to fibers, as shown in the

diagram, and this results in a large enhancement of the mass transfer. In
this concept, the fibers acts as turbulence promoters.
Improvement of Operating Conditions
Solution Hydrodynamics

Module related methods – transversal flow module:

 This type of module design is not only of interest for pressure driven
processes like MF, UF and RO, but also for pervaporation, liquid
membranes and membrane contactors where the boundary resistance
can be very severe.

 The transversal flow module may be suitable in MF where the actual flux
is a fraction of the pure water flux, generally less than 5 %.

 In transversal flow module, the membrane itself acts as turbulence

promoter. A comparative study of fluxes obtained by Lumen flow
(capillary flow) and transverse flow is given below for the better results
interpretation.
Improvement of Operating Conditions