TY  - JOUR
N1  - cited By 0
N2  - Membrane filtration is a promising technology for oil/water emulsion filtration due to its excellent removal efficiency of microdroplets of oil in water. However, its performance is highly limited due to the fouling-prone nature of oil droplets on hydrophobic membranes. Membrane filtration typically suffers from a low flux and high pumping energy. This study reports a combined approach to tackling the membrane fouling challenge in oil/water emulsion filtration via a membrane and a flow channel development. Two polysulfone (PSF)-based lab-made membranes, namely PSF- PSF-Nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) and PSF-Vapor-induced phase separation (VIPS), were selected, and the flow channel was modified into a wavy path. They were assessed for the filtration of a synthetic oil/water emulsion. The results showed that the combined membrane and flow channel developments enhanced the clean water permeability with a combined increment of 105, of which 34 was attributed to the increased effective filtration area due to the wavy flow channel. When evaluated for the filtration of an oil/water emulsion, a 355 permeability increment was achieved from 43 for the PSF-NIPS in the straight flow channel to 198 L mâ??2 hâ??1 barâ??1 for the PSF-VIPS in the wavy flow channel. This remarkable performance increment was achieved thanks to the antifouling attribute of the developed membrane and enhanced local mixing by the wavy flow channel to limit the membrane fouling. The increase in the filtration performance was translated into up to 78.4 (0.00133 vs. 0.00615 kWh mâ??3) lower in pumping energy. The overall findings demonstrate a significant improvement by adopting multi-pronged approaches in tackling the challenge of membrane fouling for oil/water emulsion filtration, suggesting the potential of this approach to be applied for other feeds. © 2022 by the authors.
IS  - 11
KW  - Channel flow; Emulsification; Membrane fouling; Membranes; Microfiltration; Phase separation; Water filtration
KW  -  Cross-flow membrane filtration; Energy savings; Energy-savings; Flow channels; Membrane surface; Membrane surface development; Oil/water emulsion; Polysulphone; Surface development; Sustainable engineering
KW  -  Energy conservation
TI  - The Combined Effects of the Membrane and Flow Channel Development on the Performance and Energy Footprint of Oil/Water Emulsion Filtration
ID  - scholars16197
AV  - none
UR  - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85149491967&doi=10.3390%2fmembranes12111153&partnerID=40&md5=9b8df2894f761bf4ccba2111ba732030
JF  - Membranes
A1  - Barambu, N.U.
A1  - Bilad, M.R.
A1  - Shamsuddin, N.
A1  - Samsuri, S.
A1  - Nordin, N.A.H.M.
A1  - Arahman, N.
VL  - 12
Y1  - 2022///
SN  - 20770375
PB  - MDPI
ER  -