Nanocolloid cake properties determined from step‐up pressure filtration with single‐stage reduction in filtration area

A sophisticated method was developed for evaluating simultaneously and accurately both the average specific resistance and average porosity of the filter cake formed in unstirred dead‐end ultrafiltration of nanocolloids such as protein solution and nanosilica sol. In the method, a step‐up pressure filtration test was conducted by using a filter with a single‐stage reduction in the effective filtration area. The influence of the pressure drop across the cake on not only the average specific cake resistance but also on the average cake porosity of highly compressible filter cake was evaluated using only flux decline data in one dead‐end filtration test, taking advantage of the decrease in the cake thickness caused by the pressure increase. As a result, the cake properties were easily determined for a variety of nanocolloids. Constant pressure dead‐end ultrafiltration data obtained under various pressures and concentrations were well evaluated based on the method proposed. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 4426–4436, 2015     

Cake properties of nanocolloid evaluated by variable pressure filtration associated with reduction in cake surface area

A potential method has been developed for evaluating simultaneously both the average specific resistance and average porosity of the filter cake formed in unstirred dead‐end ultrafiltration of nanocolloids such as bovine serum albumin solution and silica sol. The method consists of variable pressure filtration followed by constant pressure filtration. The relation between the average specific cake resistance and the pressure drop across the cake was determined from the evolution of the filtration rate with time in the course of the variable pressure filtration period, based on the compressible cake filtration model. The average porosity was evaluated from the significant flux decline caused by a sudden reduction in the cake surface area in the middle of the constant pressure filtration period. The pressure dependences of both the average specific cake resistance and average cake porosity were obtained from only two runs which differed from each other in the pressure profiles. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 3869–3877, 2014     

The Role of Polysaccharide on the Filtration of Microbial Cells

The role of polysaccharide on the “dead-end” microfiltration of microbial cells is studied. Yeast and blue dextran are used as typical samples of microbial cells and polysaccharide, respectively. The filter cake becomes more compressible in the early periods of filtration and exhibits much higher filtration resistance when dextran molecules co-exist in the cake structure. A cake compression mechanism is proposed to explain the pressure effects on the cake structure and filtration resistance. For the two-component cakes, the dextran molecules deform easily even under a pressure as low as 30 kPa, while significant yeast deformation is observed when pressure is higher than 100 kPa. It is attributed to the depletion of most solid compressive pressures by deformed dextran molecules. The cake porosity data indicate that the cake compressibility is higher under low filtration pressure, and blue dextran plays a significant role on the cake structure and occupies a considerable volume in the cake. A resistance model is also derived for understanding the relationship between the average specific cake filtration resistance and filtration pressure. The cake filtration resistance is determined by the effective volume fraction of each component in cake and nearly the same as that of blue dextran under low pressure.     

Measurements of Growth Rate of Filter Cake in Vertical Single-Pass Ultrafiltration Using Hollow Fiber Membrane Module

Vertical ultrafiltration experiments of silica colloid and bovine serum albumin solution were conducted in the single-pass mode by using a hollow fiber membrane module and beneficial in measuring the time evolution of the growth rate of the filter cake during filtration. The extremely small mass flux of the concentrate enabled us to highly concentrate the feed solution on the principle of vertical ultrafiltration in which the filter cake formed on the membrane surface is exfoliated continuously. Both growth and re-entrainment rates of the filter cake formed in vertical ultrafiltration were evaluated from the experimental data of the filtration rate and the mass fraction ratio of the concentrate on the basis of the mass balance within the hollow fiber membrane module. As a consequence, it was found that the re-entrainment rate of the filter cake increased almost linearly with the filtration time in the initial period of filtration and then tended to rapidly approach a constant value. The filter cake stopped growing under this dynamically balanced condition. The variations of the average specific resistance of the filter cake with time were also determined from the time evolutions of both the filtration rate and the growth rate of the filter cake.     

湿式催化氧化/膜过滤组合工艺膜过滤机理

采用湿式催化氧化/膜过滤组合工艺,以Mo-Zn-Al-O粉末作为催化剂降解阳离子红GTL模拟染料废水,探讨在膜过滤过程中平均孔径为0.1 μm的微滤和0.022 μm的超滤聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)中空纤维膜的过滤机理。实验结果表明,两种膜过滤组合工艺对染料的降解效果均优于单独湿式催化氧化,0.01 MPa恒压条件下运行120 min后微滤和超滤的膜通量分别衰减了26.63%和16.48%,其原因是粉末催化剂可在微滤膜孔内部沉积形成中间阻塞过滤,后在表面形成滤饼层;而在超滤膜表面仅形成滤饼层。通过实验结果对膜阻力进行计算,可知在相同反应过程后微滤膜产生的不可逆阻力大于超滤膜。在不同反应条件下,催化剂的沉积量与膜阻力呈现线性相关。     

A combined complete pore blocking and cake filtration model for steady‐state electric field‐assisted ultrafiltration

An analysis for the flux decline and identification of dominant fouling mechanism in electric field enhanced cross‐flow ultrafiltration (UF) is proposed. The model is developed based on the modification of Hérmia's approach for constant pressure dead‐end filtration laws. Electric field‐assisted cross‐flow UF experiments of synthetic juice (a mixture of pectin and sucrose) are performed in a rectangular flow channel. Using the flux decline data, the dominant fouling mechanism is identified by estimation of model parameters. The effect of various operating conditions such as electric field, feed solute concentration, cross‐flow velocity, and transmembrane pressure on the flux decline and the corresponding fouling mechanism are studied. Experimental results show that electric field has significant effect on the onset of cake formation as well as on the enhancement in permeate flux. Model‐predicted results are successfully compared with the experimental data. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

Cross-Flow Microfiltration of Bacillus Subtilis Broths under Various Culture Times

Bacillus subtilis broths under different culture times are filtered in a cross-flow microfilter. The operating condition effects, such as cross-flow velocity, transmembrane pressure, and broth culture time, on the filtration flux, cake properties, and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) transmissions are discussed thoroughly. The culture broths contain B. subtilis cells and EPS which is characterized as polysaccharides (hydrocarbons) and proteins. An increase in broth culture time leads to higher concentrations of cells, soluble and extractable EPS. The total protein to polysaccharide concentration ratio in the broths is ca 0.2. However, the soluble polysaccharide concentration is 10-fold higher than that of soluble proteins. The filtration flux increases with increasing cross-flow velocity or transmembrane pressure. However, the impact of cross-flow velocity is more significant. The filter cake resistance formed by B. subtilis cells and EPS flocs plays the most important role in determining the overall filtration resistance. The mass and average specific filtration resistance of cake can be estimated using a force balance model and empirical equations. The cake structure and thickness are analyzed using SEM. A thicker and more compact cake may be formed under longer broth culture time. Most soluble polysaccharide and protein molecules have the opportunity to penetrate through the cake and membrane into the filtrate because the solute transmissions are measured as high as 0.75–1.0. The influences of operating conditions on the polysaccharide and protein transmissions are negligible. Therefore, to enhance filtration flux by increasing transmembrane pressure or cross-flow velocity is beneficial to improve separation efficiency, especially by increasing cross-flow velocity.     

Effect of membrane morphology on rising properties of filtration resistance in microfiltration of dilute colloids

The effect of membrane morphology on the flux decline behaviors in dead‐end unstirred microfiltration of very dilute colloids of polystyrene latex was examined using mixed cellulose ester and cellulose acetate membranes with interconnected tortuous pores and track‐etched polycarbonate membranes with uniform straight cylindrical pores. The plots of reciprocal filtration rate against the filtrate volume per unit membrane area for the former two membranes exhibit concave downward curves in the initial period when the membrane pore blocking is significant, whereas the plot for the latter shows a concave upward curve in that period. The former results were described by a serial resistance model consisting of the initial membrane pore blocking followed by filter cake growth, and the latter was represented by a parallel resistance model in which the pore blocking and cake growth develop simultaneously from the beginning of filtration. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 3511–3522, 2017     

Modeling of Particle Fouling and Membrane Blocking in Submerged Membrane Filtration

Abstract

The models of particle fouling and membrane blocking in a submerged membrane filtration are developed in this study. The effects of operating conditions, such as aeration intensity (air flow rate) and filtration pressure, on the filtration flux, membrane blocking, and cake formation are discussed thoroughly. The experimental results show that the filtration resistances due to cake formation and membrane blocking play significant roles in determining the overall filtration resistance, but the latter one is more dominant. An increase in aeration intensity leads the filtration flux to increase due to the reduction of cake formation on the membrane surface. However, a higher filtration pressure causes more severe membrane internal blocking and then to lower filtration flux. The cake properties and the filtration resistance due to membrane blocking are analyzed and can be regressed to empirical functions of filtration pressure. A force balance model for particle deposition on the membrane surface is also derived. In order to estimate the shear stress acting on the membrane surface, the diameter, shape, and rising velocity of air bubbles are analyzed based on hydrodynamics. Once the model coefficients are obtained, the pseudo‐steady filtration flux under various conditions can be estimated by the proposed model and the basic filtration equation. The calculated results agree fairly well with the available experimental data.     

Cross‐Flow Microfiltration of Fine Particles Suspended in Polymeric Aqueous Solution

Abstract

The filtration characteristics of cross‐flow microfiltration of fine particles suspended in polymeric aqueous solution are studied. Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) submicron particles are suspended in polyacrylamide (PAA) aqueous solution to prepare the suspensions used in experiments. Effects of operating conditions, such as cross‐flow velocity, filtration pressure, and PAA concentration, on the filtration flux and the cake properties are discussed. The results show that an increase in cross‐flow velocity or filtration pressure causes the filtration flux to be higher, but the filtration flux decreases with an increase in PAA concentration. Since the flow behavior indices of three prepared suspensions are almost the same, the average specific filtration resistance of cakes under various cross‐flow velocities and PAA concentrations remain almost constant; and then the cake mass plays a major role in determining the filtration resistance and the filtration flux. A force balance model is derived for particle deposition on the membrane surface. Once the empirical coefficients are obtained from experimental data, the filtration flux at pseudo‐steady state can be predicted accurately.     

The Effect of Particle Sedimentation on Gravity Filtration

ABSTRACT

Simulation of cake formation of mono-sized and dual-sized particles under gravitational sedimentation and filtration is presented. The dynamic analysis proposed by Lu and Hwang in 1993 is applied to examine the local cake properties formed under a falling head by considering the hindered settling effect of particles in the slurry and the variation of the pressure drop across the filter septum. Results of this study show that, at a given position in a cake, the solid compressive pressure reaches a maximum value and then decreases for a gravity filtration due to the decrease in the driving head. A cake constructed with dual-sized particles has a more compact structure than does one with mono-sized particles, and larger particles will form looser packing than will smaller ones for mono-sized particles. A dual-dispersed suspension with a lower fraction of large particles will result in the lowest cake porosity and the highest specific filtration resistance of cake. Comparison of the porosity distribution in filter cake formed by means of gravity filtration and constant head filtration shows that the porosity near the filter septum of gravity filtration has a convex behavior while that of constant head filtration has a tendency toward concavity. This discrepancy is mainly due to the change in the driving head during the filtration process. Both theoretical and experimental results show that the uniformity of particle size distributions in the filter cake will be much better when the relative settling velocity between large and fine particles is reduced.     

Cake filtration of suspensions in viscoelastic fluids

The fundamental framework for cake filtration of suspensions in viscoelastic media is extended to include the effects of polymer retention, including adsorption in the filter cake, polymer retention and elongational flow in the filter medium, which also undergoes compaction, and evaluation of polymer degradation in the filter cake and medium. Experimental data obtained in constant pressure filtration of starch suspensions in dilute aqueous polyacrylamide solutions confirmed the prediction of an enhanced apparent medium resistance R_ma and a reduced cake resistance α_R. Evaluations are presented of the contributions to the pressure drop due to enhanced normal stresses in elongational flow and to polymer retention (adsorption), and of the ratio of the particle size with and without adsorbed polymer in the cake. The analysis of the data points to high levels of polymer degradation during the flow of the polymer solution through the filter cake and medium.     

Measurements and evaluation of concentration distributions in filter cake formed in dead-end ultrafiltration of protein solutions

To clarify the internal structures of the filter cake formed on the membrane surface in protein ultrafiltration, a method has been developed for measuring the variations of protein concentration across the filter cake on the basis of the principle of inclined ultrafiltration, where the membrane was inclined and a large amount of filter cake was formed, and the results were compared with the calculations based on a compressible cake filtration model, which explicitly took the non-homogeneity and the compressibility of the filter cake into account. The experimental results obtained from ultrafiltration of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions under constant pressure conditions clearly demonstrated that the filter cake tended to have a much more compact structure at the membrane in comparison with a relatively loose condition at the surface. It was also found that the thickness of the filter cake formed on the membrane increased as the filtration progressed. Further, the effects of pH and the solute concentration in the feed solution on the structure of the filter cake have been examined experimentally. The measured concentration distributions accorded well with the calculated results based on a compressible cake filtration model. This study revealed that the dynamic deposition behaviors of the protein molecules in dead-end ultrafiltration could be accurately described by a compressible cake filtration model.     

Performance of fibrous filters during nanoparticle cake formation

Fibrous filters are highly efficient in removing micrometer particles, but their performance in the nanometer particle range is still little known. The aim of this study was to evaluate pressure drop and collection efficiency during nanoparticles cake formation using commercial fibrous filters. The filter media used were High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) and polyester filters. The aerosols were generated by a commercial inhaler using a 5 g/L solution of NaCl and the particles produced were in the size range from 6 to 800 nm, with a peak at around 40 nm. A superficial velocity (v_s) of 0.06 m/s was employed. During the filtration, the maximum pressure drop established was ?P ₌ ?P_f +980Pa, where ?P_f is the initial pressure drop of the filter. The collection efficiency was determined for a clean filter and for intermediate pressure drops. The filtration curves obtained showed that the HEPA filter provided greater surface filtration, compared to the polyester filter. Comparison of the collection efficiencies for clean filters revealed that the HEPA filter was highly efficient, even in the absence of cake, while the polyester filter showed initial collection efficiencies of between 20 and 40% for particles in the size range from 100 nm to 1000 nm. However, after formation of the filter cake, the collection efficiencies of both filters were almost 100% during the final stage of filtration. This shows that the fibrous filter can be applied in several industrial processes with highly efficient nanoparticle separation, after the formation of a thin layer cake filtration.     

Compression and filtration characteristics of yeast-immobilized beads prepared using different calcium concentrations

Yeast cells were immobilized on calcium alginate beads prepared using different calcium concentrations. The compression properties of the immobilized beads (e.g., softness index and retardation time for compression) were strongly affected by the calcium concentration. The effects of the bead properties on filtration characteristics, such as cake porosity, specific cake filtration resistance, cake compression creeping effect and cake compressibility, were analysed using a dead-end filtration system. The filtration curve of yeast-immobilized beads had an “S” shape, similar to that of soft gel particles. The cake compression behaviour and variation in cake properties were directly reflected on the curve trend. The Voigt in the series model was employed to describe variation in cake porosity with time during a compression. The yeast immobilization increased the bead softness; therefore, the porosity of a cake formed by yeast-immobilized beads was lower than that formed by pure calcium alginate beads. The cakes formed by yeast-immobilized beads possessed a high compressibility of approximately 1.0 and a high softness index of approximately 1.5. The beads prepared using lower calcium concentrations had higher softness, shorter retardation times for compression, higher cake compressibility, lower cake porosity and higher specific cake filtration resistance. The results demonstrated that immobilizing yeast cells on calcium alginate beads is beneficial for retaining higher yeast activity than that of freely suspended yeast. However, the activity levels of yeast immobilized using different calcium concentrations were nearly the same after 3 h. Therefore, using high concentrations of calcium for yeast immobilization is beneficial for improving yeast activity and filtration characteristics.     

Factors influencing critical flux in membrane filtration of activated sludge

Membrane filtration of biomass is usually accompanied by significant flux decline due to cake‐layer formation and fouling. Crossflow filtration with flux controlled by pumping the permeate can produce stable fluxes if a ‘critical flux’ is not exceeded. Below critical flux the transmembrane pressure is typically very low and increases linearly with imposed flux. Above the critical flux the transmembrane pressure rises rapidly signifying cake‐layer formation which is usually accompanied by a continued rise in transmembrane pressure and/or a drop in delivered flux. A range of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes with pore sizes from 0.22 to 0.65 µm and molecular weight cut‐off of 100 kDa was used. The feed was an activated sludge mixed liquor with concentration in the range of 3–10 g dm⁻³. The results show that the critical flux depends on feed concentration and crossflow velocity, being higher for higher crossflow velocity or lower feed concentration. Critical flux was also dependent on membrane type, being lower for hydrophobic membranes. Although the transmembrane pressure was higher for the larger pore size membrane, no significant difference in critical flux was observed among different pore size membranes. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of cake layer structure on colloidal fouling in reverse osmosis membranes

A series of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane filtration experiments was performed systematically in order to investigate the effects of various hydrodynamic and physicochemical operational parameters on a cake layer formation in colloidal and particulate suspensions. Bench-scale fouling experiments with a thin-film composite RO membrane were performed at various combinations of trans-membrane pressure (TMP), cross-flow velocity (CFV), particle size, pH, and ionic strength. In this study, silica particles with two different mean diameters of 0.1 and 3.0 μm were used as model colloids. Membrane filtration experiments with colloidal suspensions under various hydrodynamic operating conditions resulted that more significant permeate flux decline was observed as TMP increased and CFV decreased, which was attributed to the higher accumulative mass of particles on the membrane surface. Results of fouling experiments under various physicochemical operating conditions demonstrated that the rate of flux decline decreased significantly with an increase of the ionic strength as well as particle size, while the flux decline rate did not vary when solution pH changed. The experimentally measured cake layer thickness increased with a decrease in particle size and solution ionic strength. Furthermore, the model estimation of cake layer thickness by using a cake filtration theory based on the hydraulic resistance of membrane and cake layer was performed under various ionic strength conditions. The primary model parameters including accumulated mass and specific cake resistance were calculated from the cake layer resistance. This result indicated that the formation of cake layer could be closely related with solution water chemistry. The model estimated cake layer thickness values were in good agreement with the experimentally measured values.     

Compression,Permeation and Flow Behavior of Wet Nanoparticle Cakes,in situ Tested with a Press‐Shear Cell

A new test apparatus for in situ simulation of the expression operation and rheological testing of compressed cake was developed to combine the compression‐permeability cell with a high‐performance ring shear tester. The yield loci for water‐saturated titania (d_S = 200 nm) are measured. These flow parameters can be used to determine in situ the shear strength and compressive strength of a consolidated cake after the pressure filtration steps. The permeability of the compressed cake is characterized by the conventional filter cake resistance versus particle pressure and, for comparison, by an averaged pore size.     

A new procedure for determining specific filter cake resistance from filtration data

A new procedure has been developed for the determination of specific filter cake resistance from experimental filtration data. Unlike the conventional procedure which treats constant-pressure filtration data through the t/V vs. V plot and yields a single value of the average specific cake resistance (α_av) from a given experiment, this new procedure allows the establishment of the relationship of α_av vs. the cake compressive stress (p_s) over a range of p_s values. Results from the new procedures were compared with those obtained from the procedure based on the t/V vs. V plot as well as those from compression-permeability (C-P) measurements. Discussions on the possible improvement of the new procedure are also presented.     

Effect of operating parameters on permeate flux decline caused by cake formation — a model study

A phenomenological model employing cake formation theory has been developed for describing permeate fluxdecline in cross-flow membrane filtration. In the model the physicochemical parameters, which are often difficult to estimate, were excluded. Instead, the flux decline due to cake formation caused by inorganic scaling/precipitation was related to the operating parameters for fouling prediction. The processes of solute deposition on membrane surface and its re-dissolution back to the bulk phase were modeled to estimate dynamic cake formation and permeate flux profiles. The modeled results show that the permeate flux declined rapidly at the early stage of cake formation, then gradually leveled off as time progressed, and eventually reached a steady-state “ultimate” flux when the rate of solid deposition was balanced by back dissolution. Sensitivity analyses show that an increase of cross-flow velocity from 0.06 to 0.14 m/s increased the ultimate flux from 0.016 m/h to 0.035 m/h. Membrane permeability and transmembrane pressure (400-750 kPa) affected the initial flux but not the ultimate flux. The flux decline pattern strongly depended on the specific cake resistance, which affects the time to reach steady state but not the ultimate flux. Verification of the model with data in the literature showed excellent agreement.