MODELING OF THE PERMEATE FLUX DECLINE DURING MF AND UF CROSSFLOW FILTRATION OF SUGARCANE JUICE

Abdel-Rahman, Ali K.; Abbara, Abdel-Aziz A.; Bayoumi, Mohamed R.

doi:10.21608/jesaun.2010.123795

MODELING OF THE PERMEATE FLUX DECLINE DURING MF AND UF CROSSFLOW FILTRATION OF SUGARCANE JUICE

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut 71516, EGYPT

² Department of Food Engineering, Al-Baath University, Homs, Syria

³ Vice President of Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

10.21608/jesaun.2010.123795

Abstract

Experimental results on permeate flux decline with time obtained from crossflow microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) tests were compared with those predicted numerically using the two-dimensional convective-diffusion equation. Numerical simulations of the flow and heat transfer were made using the two-dimensional momentum and energy equations. Feed solution consisted of sugarcane clear juice and limed mixed juice to pH of 7.5. Experimental tests were performed in plate and frame module employing three different MF and UF polysulphone membranes (i.e. 1 μm pore size, 25 and 100 kD molecular weight cut-off, MWCO). Influence of process variables viz. transmembrane pressure (TMP) (i.e. 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 bar) and feed temperature (i.e. 50, 60 and 70 oC) on the flux of permeate were studied. The present study shows that the permeate flux obtained both experimentally and numerically is increased as the transmembrane pressure is increased for all the membranes considered in this study. Moreover, permeate flux has been increased as the feed temperature is increased and decreased with time. Numerical predictions of permeate flux show a reasonable agreement with experimental counterparts.

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