Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling of high viscous feed fluid in rotating corrugated membrane channel: Shear stress effect

Shear stress on the membrane surface has been proven very important in reducing concentration polarization and cake layer formation in membrane processes. This paper investigates the effect of rotation of membrane channels with high viscous feed solution on the membrane shear stress using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). This study focus on two small membrane channels separated with corrugated spacer. The inner membrane was 39 mm and outer membrane was 41.5 mm from the axis of rotation. The feed solution viscosity used for the simulation was 0.0025 Pa•s and the inlet feed velocity was 2 m sec^-1. The membrane shear stress is found out to be increasing with rotation speed. The shear stress on the outer membrane is also higher than inner membrane. There are three forces acting on the fluid flow in the membrane channels, namely pressure force, centrifugal force and tangential force. The rotation of the corrugated membrane channels can be applied to the spiral wound membrane module so that the membrane shear stress can be increased