Membrane Separation

Membrane Technology

It is physical process for the separation of

materials mixture in which the membranes
function like a filter
 Importance
Membrane technology has become a dignified separation
technology over the past decennia. The main force of membrane
technology is the fact that it works without the addition of
chemicals and with a relatively low energy use under easy process
conditions.

Membranes behaves like a selective separation wall. Certain

substances can pass through the membrane, while other
substances are caught.
Membrane filtration can be used as an alternative for flocculation,
sediment purification techniques, adsorption (sand filters and
active carbon filters, ion exchangers), extraction and distillation.
Membrane
“A membrane is a permeable or semi-permeable
barrier between two phases that restrict the
motion of certain components”
Phases on both sides of the membrane can be liquid or
gas form.
Membrane has the ability to transport one component
from the upstream side phase to down stream side
phase more readily than any other component or
components, and as such includes separation
Membrane Classifications
Membranes can be classified according to different
features:
Origin
Materials
Morphology
Structure
Manufacturing processes
Origin
Biological Membranes
Synthetic Membranes

Membranes differ according to structure, functionality

and material transfer.
Material
Organic
e.g cellulose, polymer membranes
Inorganic
e..g glass and ceramic membranes
Structure/ Morphology
The structure of membranes may be
Symmetrical (Isotropic) Membranes
Asymmetric (Anisotropic) Membrane

Symmetric membranes have a nearly homogeneous

structure all over the thickness of the membrane,
while asymmetric membranes are made up of two
layers.
Symmetrical Membranes
Isotropic membranes have a uniform composition
structure throughout, and they can be porous or
dense. The resistance to mass transfer in these
membranes are determined by the total membrane
thickness. A decrease in membrane thickness results
in an increased permeation rate.
Micro porous Membranes
Non porous Dense Membranes
Electrically Charged Membranes
Anisotropic Membrane
Transport rate of species through a membrane is
inversely proportional to membrane thickness. High
transport rates are desirable in membranes separation
process for economic reasons, therefore membrane
should be as thin as possible. Conventional film
fabrication technology limits manufacture of
mechanically strong, defect free film to about 20 micro
meter thickness.
Anisotropic Membrane
Anisotropic membrane consist of extremely thin surface
layer supported on much thicker porous structure.

Thin film composite membranes

Metal and ceramics membranes
Liquid membranes
Asymmetric Membrane
Membrane Forms and Modules
The choice for a certain kind of membrane system is
determined by a great number of aspects, such as costs,
risks of plugging of the membranes, packing density and
cleaning opportunities.
Membranes are never applied as one flat plate, because this
large surface often results in high investing costs. That is
why systems are built densely to enable a large membrane
surface to be put in the smallest possible volume.
Membranes are implemented in several types of modules.
Membrane Forms and Modules
The two main type of modules used are as follows:
Tubular membranes systems
Flat membranes systems

Membranes are arranged in an engineered unit, the

module. Besides, the membrane itself, the module is of
decisive importance for the efficiency of a membrane stage.
There are a huge number of different module constructions
because the modules are adapted in their construction to
meet the requirements of the end use.
The basic membrane forms depend on the conditions
of production. In some special cases this strict
allocation is not permissible, e.g. if some membranes
used in tube modules were manufactured by the
tubular processing of flat membranes.
Concerning tubular membranes, we distinguish as
module constructions the tube capillary and hollow-
fiber module.
For flat membranes we distinguish plate, spiral-
wound, cushion and disc-tube modules.
 Tubular membranes
 Tubular membrane systems are divided up in tubular, capillary and hollow fiber
membranes.

 Tubular membranes have a diameter of about 5 to 15 mm. Because of the size of the
membrane surface, plugging of tubular membranes is not likely to occur. A drawback
of tubular membranes is that the packing density is low, which results in high prices
per module.

 The diameter of capillary membranes is much smaller than that of tubular

membranes, namely 0.5 to 5 mm. Because of the smaller diameter the chances of
plugging are much higher with a capillary membrane. A benefit is that the packing
density is much greater.

 Hollow fiber membranes are membranes with a diameter of below 0.1 µm.
consequentially, the chances of plugging of a hollow fiber membrane are very high.
The membranes can only be used for the treatment of water with a low suspended
solids content. The packing density of a hollow fiber membrane is very high. Hollow
fiber membranes are nearly always used merely for nano filtration and Reverse
Plate & Frame Type Membrane System
Spiral membranes
Spiral membranes consist of two layers of membrane,
placed onto a permeate collector fabric. This membrane
envelope is wrapped around a centrally placed permeate
drain. This causes the packing density of the membranes
to be higher. The feed channel is placed at moderate
height, to prevent plugging of the membrane unit.
Spiral membranes are only used for nano filtration and
Reverse Osmosis (RO) applications.
Operating Modes
Membrane separation processes can be operated in
Cross-flow or dead-end mode
Cross-flow operation
is used in nanofiltration and reverse osmosis. In ultra-
and microfiltration both operating modes are possible.
In this mode, the feed is pumped parallel to the
membrane surface and the permeate is withdrawn
diagonally to it.
Cross-flow mode induces turbulence at the membrane
surface to inhibit the build up of the fouling layer on
the membrane surface
Dead-end operation
The membrane is fed orthogonally, comparable to a
"coffee filter".
In this mode, retained particles accumulate to form a
cake layer and fouling tendencies are therefore high.
Membrane Processes and Applications
Industrial Applications
Biomedical Applications
Industrial Applications
Reverse Osmosis
Ultra filtration
Microfiltration
Gas Separation
Electro dialysis
Per evaporation
Nano Filtration
Microfiltration
Closely resembles conventional coarse filtration and
concerns the separation of particles between 0.1 and
10µm
Suspended solids (colloids), bacteria and large
proteins. MF employs membranes with a porous
structure corresponding to low operating pressures in
the 0.1 to 2 bar range.
MF is applied for clarification and sterilization
purposes, for cell harvesting, separation of oil-water
emulsions, etc.
Ultra Filtration
 Belong to the pressure-driven membrane processes. This
technique uses micro porous membranes whose pore diameters
are between 1-100 nm. Such membranes let through small
molecules (water, salts) and adopt the high molecular weight
molecules (polymers, proteins, colloids).
 Operating pressures are typically in the range of 1 to 5 bar for
cross-flow application. With a semi-dead end operation mode,
the pressures are much lower, around 0.2-0.3 bar.
 UF is ideally suited for fractionation, concentration and
purification purposes.
 Major developments are expected in the area of membrane
fictionalization, e.g. by modification with ligands, by a
combination with enzymes and/or nanoparticles.
Reverse Osmosis
Serves to separate components of a solution. It is
based on a pressure-driven process, the driving force
resulting from the difference of the electrochemical
potential on both sides of the membrane. Operating
pressures can range from 10 bars up to 100 bars.
A typical RO application is seawater desalination. The
major trends for RO for the past 15 years are improved
performance and a significant reduction in price.
Nano Filtration
is a pressure-driven membrane process which is
preferentially used for the recycling of aqueous
solutions. Operating pressures are between 5 and 20
bars.
Recent developments have greatly extended the
capabilities of the membranes to withstand aggressive
environments. Further progress was also made on
improved performance with regard to both
permeability and selectivity.
Gas Separation
Gas separation membranes are applied at an industrial
scale in several areas: Air separation, hydrogen
separation and recovery, natural gas separations, air
dehydration, organic vapor recovery, and reduction or
elimination of CO2 emissions from electricity power
plants fuelled by coal or gas.
Electro Dialysis
 is a membrane process, during which ions are transported through semi
permeable membrane, under the influence of an electric potential.

 The membranes are cation- or anion-selective, which basically means

that either positive ions or negative ions will flow through.
 Cation-selective membranes are poly electrolytes with negatively
charged matter, which rejects negatively charged ions and allows
positively charged ions to flow through. By placing multiple
membranes in a row, which alternately allow positively or negatively
charged ions to flow through, the ions can be removed from wastewater.
 ED is used for desalination, demineralization and the removal of
metals.
Pervaporation
 is a fractionation process in which a liquid mixture is maintained
at atmospheric pressure on the feed side of the membrane, while
the permeate is removed as a vapor. Transport is induced by using
a vacuum pump at the permeate side or by cooling the permeate
vapor to create a partial vacuum.
 PV can be a good alternative to more traditional techniques such
as vacuum distillation and solvent extraction. The process has
advantages over these techniques with respect to energy saving,
process simplicity and lower capital costs.

 Dehydrating the ethanol/water and isopropanol/water

azeotropes & removing organic solvents from industrial waste
waters.
Pervaporation
Biomedical Applications
Hemodialysis (Artificial Kidney)
Blood Oxygenators ( Artificial Lungs)
Controlled Drug Delivery
Hemodialysis
Hemodialysis is the most common way to treat
advanced kidney failure.
Dialyzer is a machine that uses dialysis to remove
impurities and waste products from the bloodstream
before returning the blood to the patient's body
Solution with less concentration of metabolic salts
come in contact with blood through a semi permeable
membrane diffusion takes place across the
concentration gradient and clean blood is supplied
back to the body
 Blood Oxygenators
Are used during surgery when the patient’s lungs cannot functionally
normal.
First oxygenator are introduced in 1980’s
One component of the heart-lung machine is the oxygenator. The
oxygenator component serves as the lung, and is designed to expose
the blood to oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. It is disposable and
contains about 2–4 m² of a membrane permeable to gas but
impermeable to blood, in the form of hollow fibers.
Blood flows on the outside of the hollow fibers, while oxygen flows in
the opposite direction on the inside of the fibers. As the blood passes
through the oxygenator, the blood comes into intimate contact with
the fine surfaces of the device itself. Gas containing oxygen and
medical air is delivered to the interface between the blood and the
device, permitting the blood cells to absorb oxygen molecules directly.
Controlled Drug Delivery
Used to moderate the rate of drug delivery to the body
In some devices membrane control permeation of the
drug from the reservoir to achieve the required drug
delivery rate.
Both mass and rate of drug delivery can be controlled
by using such membranes
Applications of Controlled Drug Delivery
The drug is metered to the body slowly over a long
period thus problem of overdosing and underdosing
can be over come.
Drug is given locally, ideally to the affected organ
directly rather than symmetrically as an injection or
tablet
It improves the therapeutic effects of conventional
medications, while using the fraction of drugs