WATER-OIL SEPARATION PROCESS USING A CONCENTRIC TUBULAR CERAMIC MEMBRANE MODULE: A NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION

Abstract

In the present work, it was developed a numerical study on separation processes using ceramic membranes. The study apparatus consisted of a separation module formed by four concentric tubes, where the most inner one corresponds to the ceramic membrane. The system was applied to the treatment of oil and water mixtures. The separation module had a tangential effluent input and a tangential concentrate output. The filtered fluid was collected inside the membrane after filtration. The numerical study used a 3-D computational domain, and it was executed by means of the commercial software ANSYS CFX 12. In the numerical test, the porosity of the membrane was considered as a constant and the permeability as a function of the resistance of the porous media to the flow. At last, it were presented and analyzed the results for pressure, velocity, oil concentration distribution inside the device, permeation velocity, and pressure profiles at the surface of the membrane. The numerical results obtained indicate that the mathematical model used was capable of predicting the deposition of the oil at the surface of the tubular membrane. A geometric analysis of the separation module, supported by the system operation conditions, showed an important influence of this parameter on the dispersion of the concentration polarization at the surface of the equipment. The results showed that the geometric aspects of the proposed microfiltration module and the membrane distribution within the separation module had a significant influence on the hydrodynamic flow leading to polarized layer dispersion.