Dynamic Simulations of Alumina Membrane Fouling From Recycling of Semisynthetic Metalworking Fluids

Author(s):  
John E. Wentz ◽  
Shiv G. Kapoor ◽  
Richard E. DeVor ◽  
N. Rajagopalan

The recycling of semisynthetic metalworking fluids (MWFs) using alumina membranes is significantly impacted by aggregated MWF microemulsions that cause partial and complete blocking of membrane pores. In this paper, computational fluid dynamic methods are employed to model both a portion of a sintered alumina membrane with tortuous pores and the microemulsions passing through it. Several particle size distributions, measured experimentally at various times through the membrane service life and under two different cross-flow velocities, were used to determine the particle sizes simulated in the flow. Simulated MWF particles smaller than the largest pore diameter were found to completely block the pore through the build-up of a network of particles that blocked smaller diameter inlets and outlets. The results demonstrate as well that significant membrane flux reduction can occur by partial blocking of pore inlets and outlets even in the absence of complete blocking.

Author(s):  
Seounghyun Ham ◽  
Shiv G. Kapoor ◽  
Richard E. DeVor ◽  
John Wentz

Microfiltration is an in-process recycling method that shows great potential to extend fluid life and reduce bacterial concentrations in synthetic and semisynthetic metalworking fluids. The primary problem facing the use of microfiltration is membrane fouling, which is the blocking of membrane pores causing reduced flux. In this paper a fluid dynamic model of partial and complete blocking in sintered alumina membranes is developed that includes hydrodynamic, electrostatic, and Brownian forces. Model simulations are employed to study the impact of electrostatic and Brownian motion forces on the progression of partial blocking. The simulations also examine the effects of fluid velocity, particle size, and particle surface potential. The inclusion of electrostatic and Brownian forces is shown to significantly impact the progression of the partial blocking mechanism. The addition of a strong interparticle electrostatic force is shown to eliminate the partial blocking build-up of small particles due to the presence of the repulsive forces between the particles. As a result, the time to complete blocking of the test pore was lengthened, suggesting that flux decline is reduced in the presence of electrostatic forces. The Brownian motion is shown to have a large impact at low fluid velocities. The most effective parameter set is a low fluid velocity, small particle sizes, high microemulsion surface potential, and high membrane surface potential.


Author(s):  
Seounghyun Ham ◽  
John E. Wentz ◽  
Shiv G. Kapoor ◽  
Richard E. DeVor

Microfiltration is an in-process recycling method that shows great potential to extend fluid life and reduce bacterial concentrations in synthetic and semi-synthetic metalworking fluids (MWFs). The primary problem facing this use of microfiltration is membrane fouling, which is the blocking of membrane pores causing reduced flux. In this paper a fluid dynamic model of partial and complete blocking in sintered alumina membranes is developed that includes hydrodynamic, electrostatic, and Brownian forces. Model simulations are employed to study the impact of electrostatic and Brownian motion forces on the progression of partial blocking. The simulations also examine the effects of fluid velocity, particle size, and particle surface potential. The inclusion of electrostatic and Brownian forces is shown to significantly impact the progression of the partial blocking mechanism. The addition of a strong inter-particle electrostatic force is shown to eliminate the partial blocking build-up of small particles due to the presence of the repulsive forces between the particles. As a result, the time to complete blocking of the test pore was lengthened, suggesting that flux decline is reduced in the presence of electrostatic forces. Brownian motion is shown to have a large impact at low fluid velocities. The most effective parameter set is a low fluid velocity, small particle sizes, high microemulsion surface potential, and high membrane surface potential.


2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Wentz ◽  
S. G. Kapoor ◽  
R. E. DeVor ◽  
N. Rajagopalan

Membrane microfiltration is a promising technology that has been shown to extend metalworking fluid (MWF) life by eliminating contaminants while allowing the fluid to stay in use. However, the efficacy of this technology is compromised by the clogging of the filter pores in a process known as membrane fouling. In this paper the fouling issue is addressed by the development of a semi-synthetic MWF specifically designed to not foul microfiltration membranes. The composition of the designed MWF is discussed and compared with a commercial MWF. Cross-flow microfiltration fouling tests were carried out in low-pressure, high-velocity conditions on ceramic α-alumina membranes. Several common MWF components are shown not to be factors of membrane fouling on these membranes. The flux of the designed fluid was found to reach an immediate steady state at about twice the value of the steady-state flux of the tested commercial fluid. Scanning electron microscope imaging was used to further evaluate membrane fouling by each fluid. The machining capabilities of the designed fluid were examined in terms of cutting forces and machining temperature.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Ahadi ◽  
Javad Karimi-Sabet ◽  
Mojtaba Shariaty-Niassar

Abstract Some features of Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD), as one of the interesting membrane processes, has been studied in this effort. 3D computational fluid dynamic simulations were carried out to investigate some geometric parameter effects on flat sheet membrane module performance. It is obvious that using of baffles could noticeably improve the performance of the system. Hence, in present work, some baffle configurations were simulated and some parameters like temperature polarization, vapor flux and pressure drop through module length were investigated. The Simulation was performed based on neglecting viscous flow in membrane pores and dusty gas model was applied to predict vapor flux through membrane. Simulation results predicted that by using the new configuration we could have 40–60% vapor flux improvement (depend on inflow velocity) compared to a module without baffle. It was found that the average temperature polarization (TP), as a proper criteria, was higher for baffled one in all situations.


Author(s):  
Nathan P. Sullivan ◽  
John E. Wentz ◽  
John P. Abraham

Metalworking fluids are a vital part of modern machining processes but have significant negative economic, health, and environmental impacts. In-process purification of these fluids by microfiltration has been shown to reduce these impacts. This research uses a two-stage computational modeling methodology to investigate how particles within the membrane are transported from the turbulent flow within the center of the tubular membrane to the laminar sub-layer near the membrane wall and finally into the membrane pores. A macro-model of the complete flow within the tubular membrane is used to determine the steady-state flow profile within 25 microns of the membrane surface. This flow profile is then used to develop a micro-model of the flow at the membrane wall using a flat-plate assumption. The micro-model includes individual pores randomly located and sized based on statistical analysis of alumina membrane surfaces. A 23 full factorial design of experiments was used with variables of cross-flow velocity, transmembrane pressure, and membrane resistance. The responses of effective filtration region and total mass flowing through the pores were analyzed. Based on the simulation results, recommendations are made for future membrane design to provide the most efficient transport of particles from the bulk into the pores.


2021 ◽  
pp. 073490412199344
Author(s):  
Wolfram Jahn ◽  
Frane Sazunic ◽  
Carlos Sing-Long

Synthesising data from fire scenarios using fire simulations requires iterative running of these simulations. For real-time synthesising, faster-than-real-time simulations are thus necessary. In this article, different model types are assessed according to their complexity to determine the trade-off between the accuracy of the output and the required computing time. A threshold grid size for real-time computational fluid dynamic simulations is identified, and the implications of simplifying existing field fire models by turning off sub-models are assessed. In addition, a temperature correction for two zone models based on the conservation of energy of the hot layer is introduced, to account for spatial variations of temperature in the near field of the fire. The main conclusions are that real-time fire simulations with spatial resolution are possible and that it is not necessary to solve all fine-scale physics to reproduce temperature measurements accurately. There remains, however, a gap in performance between computational fluid dynamic models and zone models that must be explored to achieve faster-than-real-time fire simulations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7593
Author(s):  
Farooq Khan Niazi ◽  
Malik Adeel Umer ◽  
Ashfaq Ahmed ◽  
Muhammad Arslan Hafeez ◽  
Zafar Khan ◽  
...  

Ultrafiltration membranes offer a progressive and efficient means to filter out various process fluids. The prime factor influencing ultrafiltration to a great extent is the porosity of the membranes employed. Regarding membrane development, alumina membranes are extensively studied due to their uniform porosity and mechanical strength. The present research work is specifically aimed towards the investigation of nanoporous alumina membranes, as a function of sintering parameters, on ultrafiltration performance. Alumina membranes are fabricated by sintering at various temperatures ranging from 1200–1300 °C for different holding times between 5–15 h. The morphological analysis, conducted using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), revealed a homogeneous distribution of pores throughout the surface and cross-section of the membranes developed. It was observed that an increase in the sintering temperature and time resulted in a gradual decrease in the average pore size. A sample with an optimal pore size of 73.65 nm achieved after sintering at 1250 °C for 15 h, was used for the evaluation of ultrafiltration performance. However, the best mechanical strength and highest stress-bearing ability were exhibited by the sample sintered at 1300 °C for 5 h, whereas the sample sintered at 1250 °C for 5 h displayed the highest strain in terms of compression. The selected alumina membrane sample demonstrated excellent performance in the ultrafiltration of sugarcane juice, compared to the other process liquids.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 457
Author(s):  
Chunlei Ren ◽  
Wufeng Chen ◽  
Chusheng Chen ◽  
Louis Winnubst ◽  
Lifeng Yan

Porous Al2O3 membranes were prepared through a phase-inversion tape casting/sintering method. The alumina membranes were embedded with finger-like pores perpendicular to the membrane surface. Bare alumina membranes are naturally hydrophilic and underwater oleophobic, while fluoroalkylsilane (FAS)-grafted membranes are hydrophobic and oleophilic. The coupling of FAS molecules on alumina surfaces was confirmed by Thermogravimetric Analysis and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy measurements. The hydrophobic membranes exhibited desired thermal stability and were super durable when exposed to air. Both membranes can be used for gravity-driven oil/water separation, which is highly cost-effective. The as-calculated separation efficiency (R) was above 99% for the FAS-grafted alumina membrane. Due to the excellent oil/water separation performance and good chemical stability, the porous ceramic membranes display potential for practical applications.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3561
Author(s):  
Antti Uusitalo ◽  
Aki Grönman

The losses of supercritical CO2 radial turbines with design power scales of about 1 MW were investigated by using computational fluid dynamic simulations. The simulation results were compared with loss predictions from enthalpy loss correlations. The aim of the study was to investigate how the expansion losses are divided between the stator and rotor as well as to compare the loss predictions obtained with the different methods for turbine designs with varying specific speeds. It was observed that a reasonably good agreement between the 1D loss correlations and computational fluid dynamics results can be obtained by using a suitable set of loss correlations. The use of different passage loss models led to high deviations in the predicted rotor losses, especially with turbine designs having the highest or lowest specific speeds. The best agreement in respect to CFD results with the average deviation of less than 10% was found when using the CETI passage loss model. In addition, the other investigated passage loss models provided relatively good agreement for some of the analyzed turbine designs, but the deviations were higher when considering the full specific speed range that was investigated. The stator loss analysis revealed that despite some differences in the predicted losses between the methods, a similar trend in the development of the losses was observed as the turbine specific speed was changed.


Fuel ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efim Korytnyi ◽  
Roman Saveliev ◽  
Miron Perelman ◽  
Boris Chudnovsky ◽  
Ezra Bar-Ziv

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