Computational Fluid Dynamics Guided Design of Antifouling Surface Patterned Membranes: A Review

Imposing feed turbulence flow in the membrane filtration system alleviates membrane fouling and enhances the overall membrane performance. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation provides easy access to visualizing the hydrodynamic performance of any design and technique employed for generating the membrane feed turbulence flow. Among several membrane feed turbulence flow generation techniques, membrane surface patterning and turbulence promoters are the most prominent. By patterning the surface of a membrane, the antifouling performance of the membrane improved by up to ۵۸%. Moreover, by adjusting the operating velocity from ۳۰ to ۵۰ cm/s, the membrane hydraulic performance was enhanced by ۲۰%. Furthermore, the antifouling performance of feed turbulence flow depends on operating parameters including the feed flow direction towards the turbulence generator. By reorienting the feed flow from parallel to perpendicular to the membrane surface patterns, the membrane lifespan improved by up to ۱۴.۴%. Therefore, for several decades many authors explored CFD to simulate the performance of the feed turbulence generation techniques prior to validation to save costs, time, and to obtain optimum design and operating parameters. Thus, many authors reviewed the CFD simulation results of the hydrodynamic performance of turbulence promoters while ignoring that of the surface patterning technique. This study aims to review the CFD simulation results of the hydrodynamic performance of membrane surface patterning by examining the patterns design and operating parameters performance and limitations as well as identifying the potential research avenues in the field.

کلیدواژه ها:

Flow Pattern Design Simulation ، surface patterned membranes ، antifouling membranes ، feed turbulence flow ، surface shear stress