TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Abstract/Summary Introduction Objectives Theory Apparatus Chemical Procedures Results Discussions Conclusions Recommendations References Appendices

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ABSTRACT This experiment is carried out to study on four different types of membranes using membrane test unit. It is also to determine the affect that caused by the maximum pressure which set to the system. First, this experiment begins with start-up procedure. Then, the experimental procedure was followed by using Membrane 1. All valves have been ensuring to be in the right position. The permeate sample is collected every 1 minute for 10 minutes and its weight was recorded. It is followed by using Membrane 2, 3 and 4. The result shows that weight of permeate after 10 minutes collection for membrane 4 is highest and membrane 1 is the lowest. When low maximum pressure inlet is applied, the solution reacts more thoroughly. Therefore, the weight of permeates which pass through the membrane will be higher.

INTRODUCTION The membrane technology covers all process engineering measures for the transport of substances between two fractions with the help of permeable membranes. That means in general mechanical separation process for separation of gaseous or liquid streams using membrane technology. Membrane systems are available in variety of separation capabilities have become the technology of choice. It is suitable for the

removal of turbidity, precursors and disinfectant tolerant micro-organisms relating to groundwater and surface water supplies, as well as tapping into new water supplies, such as brackish and seawater. Membrane test unit has been designed to demonstrate the technique of membrane separations. The particular advantage of membrane separation processes is that it operates without heating and thus are energetically usually lower than conventional thermal separation processes such as distillation, sublimation or crystallization. This separation process is purely physical and has a gentle separation which the use of both fractions which are permeating and retentating that provides effective separation. Heat sensitive materials such as fruit juices, can be separated or concentrated by virtue to their molecular weights. The unit consists of a test module
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supplied with four different membranes, namely, reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), microfiltration (MF) and ultra filtration (UF). This separation processes are most widely used in the food, dairy, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. This is because this product is heat sensitive. This self-contained unit which coated by steel framework, it requires only connection to a suitable electricity supply and a normal cold water supply to be fully operational. It consists of a feed tank, a product tank, a feed pump, a pressure regulator, a water bath, and a membrane test module. All parts in contact with the process fluid are stainless steel, PTFE, silicone rubber or nitrile rubber. The unit comes with a high pressure feed pump for delivering the feed to the membrane unit at the desired flow rate and pressure. The retentate line can be either returned to the feed tank or straight to the drain. Appropriate sensors for flow, pressure and temperature are installed at strategic locations for process monitoring and data acquisitions.

Figure 1: Comparison for 4 types of membranes

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Microfiltration (MF) and ultra filtration (UF) systems used a lower pressure compare to reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF). Both MF and UF have been shown to exceed the removal efficiencies. MF and UF membrane systems generally use hollow fibers that can be operated in the outside-in or inside-out direction of flow. Microfiltration and ultra filtration is widely used in food and beverage processing, biotechnological applications and pharmaceutical industry , water purification

and wastewater treatment. In desalination, salt water on one side of a semi-permeable Reverse Osmosis membrane is subjected to high pressure. This causes fresh water to diffuse through the membrane and leaves behind a more concentrated solution than the source supply, containing the majority of the dissolved minerals and other contaminants. A loose version of RO called Nanofiltration typically operates at 85 to 95 percent recovery, with lower pressures. Nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes are mainly used for water purification purposes.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this experiment is to study on four different types of membranes in membrane test unit and to observe the affect on the system by changing the maximum pressure.

THEORY There are several types of equipment for membrane processes. First is flat membrane which is usually to characterize the permeability of the membrane. The modules are easy to fabricate and use and the areas of the membranes are well defined. In some cases, modules are stacked together like a multilayer sandwich or plate and frame filter press. The major drawback of this type is the very small membrane area per unit separator volume. Small commercial plate membranes are used for producing oxygen-enriched air for individual medical applications.
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Next, spiral wound membranes and this configuration retains the simplicity of fabricating flat membranes while increasing markedly the membrane area per unit separator volume. The whole spiral wound element is located inside a metal shell. Then feed gas enters at the left end of the shell, enters the feed channel and flows through this channel in the axial direction of the spiral to the right end of the assembly. Then, the exit residue gas leaves the shell at this point. The feed stream which is in the feed channel, permeates perpendicularly through the membrane. This permeate then flows through the permeate channel in a direction perpendicular to the feed stream toward the perforated collecting the tube , where it leaves the apparatus at one end. Third is hollow fiber membranes and the membrane are in the shape of very small diameter hollow fibers. The module resembles a shell and tube heat exchanger. Typically, the high pressure feed enters the shell side at one end and leaves at the other end. The hollow fibers are closed at one end of the tube bundles. The permeate gas inside the fibers flow countercurrent to the shell side flow and is collected in a chamber where the open ends of the fibers terminate. The the permeate exits the device.

Figure 2: Spiral wound type.

Figure 3: Hollow fiber type.

Type of flow that use is cross-flow membrane filtration processes have become commonly accepted as the best technology for many sensitive dairy separations. It is a cost-effective means of producing very specific separations at low or ambient temperatures with no phase change. It advantages also higher overall liquid removal rate is achieved by preventing solid buildup on membrane surface. Next, the concentrate (retentate) remains in a mobile form suitable for futher processing. Then, the solute content of the concentrate may be varied over a wide range and it may be possible to fractionate solutes of different sizes.

APPARATUS Membrane test unit Beaker Weighing balance Stopwatch

CHEMICAL Sodium chloride

PROCEDURES 1. Performed the general start-up procedures as describes in Section 4.1. 2. The experiment started for membrane 1. Valves V2, V5, V7, V11 and V15 were opened. 3. Switched on the plunger pump to set the maximum working pressure at 20 bars and slowly the valve V5 was closed. 4. The valve V5 was opened. Then, the retentate control valve V15 was adjusted to set the membrane maximum inlet pressure to 18 bars for membrane 1. 5. The system was allowed to run for 5 minutes. The sample was collected from permeate sampling port and the sample weighted using digital weighing balance. The weight of permeates were recorded every 1 minute for 10 minutes. 6. The step 1 to 5 was repeated for membrane 2, 3 and 4. The respective sets of valves were opened and closed. The membrane maximum inlet pressure was adjusted for every membrane.

Membrane 1 2 3 4

Open Valves (Step 2) V2, V5, V7, V11 and V15 V2, V5, V8, V12 and V16 V2, V5, V9, V13 and V17 V2, V5, V10, V14 and V18

Sampling Valves Open V19 and close V11 Open V20 and close V12 Open V21and close V13 Open V22 and close V14

Retentate control valve V15 V16 V17 V18

Membranes maximum inlet pressure (bar) 18 12 10 8.5

7. The graph of permeate weight versus time plotted.

RESULTS 1. Membrane 1 (Max Pressure = 18 bar) Time (mins) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Weight (Grams) 0.0 0.0 0.02 0.08 0.14 0.24 0.43 0.46 0.55 0.70

0.8 0.7 0.6 Permeate Weight (grams) 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 -0.2 0 2

Membrane 1

y = 0.0818x - 0.188

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Time (min)

Figure 4: Graph of Permeate Weight vs Time for Membrane 1

2. Membrane 2 (Max Pressure = 16 bar) Time (mins) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Weight (Grams) 3.65 4.28 5.47 6.30 7.15 8.30 9.00 10.17 11.20 12.02

14 12 Permeate Weight (grams) 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 2

Membrane 2
y = 0.9486x + 2.5367

6 Time (min)

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Figure 5: Graph of Permeate Weight vs Time for Membrane 2

3. Membrane 3 (Max Pressure = 10 bar) Time (mins) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Weight (Grams) 76.09 146.67 209.79 278.87 343.51 404.89 460.87 512.97 562.16 607.98

700 600 Permeate Weight (grams) 500

Membrane 3

y = 59.507x + 33.089 400 300 200 100 0 0 2 4 6 Time (min) 8 10 12

Figure 6: Graph of Permeate Weight vs Time for Membrane 3

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4. Membrane 4 (Max Pressure = 8.5 bar) Time (mins) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Weight (Grams) 1258.97 2072.68 2834.76 3872.66 4604.08 5300.54 6304.09 6961.19 7599.53 8301.76

9000 8000 Permeate Weight (grams) 7000 6000

Membrane 4

y = 792.1x + 554.49 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 0 2 4 6 Time (min) 8 10 12

Figure 7: Graph of Permeate Weight vs Time for Membrane 4

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DISCUSSION This experiment is carried out to study about membrane separation process on 4 different types of membranes. Sodium chloride is pumped from feed tank and pass through the membrane and the weight of permeate collected was recorded. The weight of permeate collected shows the efficiency for each membrane. Some of the properties of the system have been vary to observe the effect of those properties to the system. Based on the result, sodium chlorine was passed through membrane 1 with the pressure inlet 18 bar. For the first two minute, there was no permeated solution drops from the valve. After that, the weight increase slowly. After 10 minutes only 0.7 g permeate collected. For membrane 2, the pressure inlet that has been set was 16 bar. The weight of permeates that passing the membrane 2 is constantly increase from 3.65 until 12.02 g after 10 minutes collection. While, for membrane 3, the inlet pressure is at 10 bar. At 1 minute the weight of permeates is 76.09 g. The flow of the permeate is very fast but it still under control. After 10 minutes, the permeates weight collected is 607.98 g. For the last set of experiment which is membrane 4, the maximum inlet pressure was set at 8.5 bar. The permeates flow very fast immediately after V22 was opened. At the first 1 minute,there was too many of permeates is collected and permeates weight is 1258.97 g. The environment because too murky because the sample container is not sufficient to accommodate the product flowing out from the valve 22. The sample containers need to be change often. This might be error to the weight taken because V22 need to close for a short time to change the container and the time taken to change it does not count in the timing. After 10 minutes, value of permeates increases rapidly to 8301.76 g. After analyzed all 4 membranes, amount of permeates is the lowest for membranes 1 which is only 0.7 g with mass flow rate 0.07 g/min. While the amount of permeates of membrane 4 is the highest with 8301.76 g with mass flow rate 830.18 g/min. The properties that affect the result are pressure supply to the system and the size of the pore depends on the type of the membrane used. Pressure inlet for membrane 1 is the highest compared other membrane but the permeates collected is too little. Also if the flow rate is slower, then the solution has more time to permeate. For
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membrane 4, pressure inlet is 8.5 which is low compared to others membrane and the permeates collected is high compared to other membrane. So, when the pressure inlet is high, the permeates collected also low. This is because when a high pressure is applied on a feed solution that is brought into contact with the one side of membrane, the solution cannot pass or not completely through the pore inside the membrane. This is caused by high pressure inlet and the type of membrane used. When the pressure inlet is high, it will make the solution do not react thoroughly with the pore and it also caused the solution difficult the pass through the pore. Size of pore in membrane also can affect amount of permeates collected. If the size of pore is too small, the solution cannot pass through the pore and amount of permeates also will less. Unfortunately, the result obtained is against to the report by Astan, B. (2001), if the pressure inlet high, the molecule of the solution will have a greater incentive to permeate through the membrane. We cannot account for the difference seen in experiment that makes the result obtained is totally different from the journal.

CONCLUSION For the conclusion, the weight of permeate collected is depending on two factors which are depend on the type of the membrane and the maximum pressure inlet that have been setup. When the pressure inlet is high, it caused the weight of the permeate lower because high pressure will make the solution do not react thoroughly with the pore and it also caused the solution difficult the pass through the pore. Pressure inlet also might affect the size of the pore, if the size of pore is too small, the solution cannot pass through the pore and amount of permeates also will less. Therefore, based on the result, membrane 4 has the highest weight of permeate collected as compared to others membrane with 8301.76 g after 10 minutes collection. Membrane 1 is the lowest weight of permeate collected with 0.7 g after 10 minutes collection. From the performance of the membranes, can be determine that membrane 1, 2, 3 and 4 is reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) respectively.

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RECOMMENDATION 1. For membrane 3 and 4, the container used for collecting the permeate should be bigger because there were a lot of permeates flow and it flow. Therefore, it is difficult to measure because need to change the container often. 2. The weigh balance should be change because it is open to air. It might give some error in reading. 3. Either type of the membrane or the maximum pressure inlet should be constant to ensure the objectives can be reached. This is because it is hard to determine whether the types of the membrane or the maximum pressure inlet give the impact to the amount of the solution filtered. 4. Maybe the solution should be change to get the variety of the product. 5. To enhance the knowledge, it also recommended varying other properties. For example varying the solution used which have different viscosity or varying the flowrate of the feed.

REFERENCES 1. Osada, Y., Nakagawa, T., (1992). Membrane Science and Technology, New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. 2. Zeman, Leos J., Zydney & Andrew L., (1996). Microfiltration and Ultrafitration, Principles and Applications, New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. 3. Warren, L. McCabe, Julian, C. Smith, Peter Harriot, (1993). Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering, 5th Edition, McGraw Hill. 4. Christi J. Geankoplis, (1995). Transport Processes and Unit Operations, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall International Edition. 5. Perry, R.H., Green, D.W. and Maloney, J.O., (2001). Perrys Chemical Engineering Handbook, 6th Edition, McGraw Hill. 6. Astan, B., (2001). Membrane Separation using Ultrafiltration to Separate Complex Gas. Separations, 45, 4732-4741.

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