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Flow and fouling in a pleated membrane filter

Publication ,  Journal Article
Sanaei, P; Richardson, GW; Witelski, T; Cummings, LJ
Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics
May 25, 2016

Pleated membrane filters are widely used in many applications, and offer significantly better surface area to volume ratios than equal-area unpleated membrane filters. However, their filtration characteristics are markedly inferior to those of equivalent unpleated membrane filters in dead-end filtration. While several hypotheses have been advanced for this, one possibility is that the flow field induced by the pleating leads to spatially non-uniform fouling of the filter, which in turn degrades performance. In this paper we investigate this hypothesis by developing a simplified model for the flow and fouling within a pleated membrane filter. Our model accounts for the pleated membrane geometry (which affects the flow), for porous support layers surrounding the membrane, and for two membrane fouling mechanisms: (i) adsorption of very small particles within membrane pores; and (ii) blocking of entire pores by large particles. We use asymptotic techniques based on the small pleat aspect ratio to solve the model, and we compare solutions to those for the closest-equivalent unpleated filter.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Journal of Fluid Mechanics

DOI

EISSN

1469-7645

ISSN

0022-1120

Publication Date

May 25, 2016

Volume

795

Start / End Page

36 / 59

Related Subject Headings

  • Fluids & Plasmas
  • 49 Mathematical sciences
  • 40 Engineering
  • 09 Engineering
  • 01 Mathematical Sciences
 

Citation

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Sanaei, P., Richardson, G. W., Witelski, T., & Cummings, L. J. (2016). Flow and fouling in a pleated membrane filter. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 795, 36–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.194
Sanaei, P., G. W. Richardson, T. Witelski, and L. J. Cummings. “Flow and fouling in a pleated membrane filter.” Journal of Fluid Mechanics 795 (May 25, 2016): 36–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.194.
Sanaei P, Richardson GW, Witelski T, Cummings LJ. Flow and fouling in a pleated membrane filter. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2016 May 25;795:36–59.
Sanaei, P., et al. “Flow and fouling in a pleated membrane filter.” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 795, May 2016, pp. 36–59. Scopus, doi:10.1017/jfm.2016.194.
Sanaei P, Richardson GW, Witelski T, Cummings LJ. Flow and fouling in a pleated membrane filter. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2016 May 25;795:36–59.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of Fluid Mechanics

DOI

EISSN

1469-7645

ISSN

0022-1120

Publication Date

May 25, 2016

Volume

795

Start / End Page

36 / 59

Related Subject Headings

  • Fluids & Plasmas
  • 49 Mathematical sciences
  • 40 Engineering
  • 09 Engineering
  • 01 Mathematical Sciences