TY - JOUR N2 - Membrane fouling deteriorates membrane filtration performances. Hence, mitigating membrane fouling is the key factor in sustaining the membrane process, particularly when treating fouling-prone feed, such as oil/water emulsions. The use of spacers has been expanded in the membrane module system, including for membrane fouling control. This study proposed a rotating spacer system to ameliorate membrane fouling issues when treating an oil/water emulsion. The systemâ??s effectiveness was assessed by investigating the effect of rotating speed and membrane-to-disk gap on the hydraulic performance and the energy input and through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The results showed that the newly developed rotary spacer system was effective and energy-efficient for fouling control. The CFD simulation results proved that the spacer rotations induced secondary flow near the membrane surface and imposed shear rate and lift force to exert fouling control. Increasing the rotation speed to an average linear velocity of 0.44 m/s increased the permeability from 126.8 ± 2.1 to 175.5 ± 2.7 Lmâ??2hâ??1barâ??1 . The system showed better performance at a lower spacer-to-membrane gap, in which increasing the gap from 0.5 to 2.0 cm lowered the permeability from 175.5 ± 2.7 to 126.7 ± 2.0 Lmâ??2hâ??1barâ??1 . Interestingly, the rotary system showed a low energy input of 1.08 to 4.08 Ã? 10â??3 kWhmâ??3 permeate when run at linear velocities of 0.27 to 0.44 msâ??1 . Overall, the findings suggest the competitiveness of the rotary spacer system as a method for membrane fouling control. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. IS - 6 N1 - cited By 7 KW - Computational fluid dynamics; Emulsification; Emulsions; Energy efficiency; Membrane fouling; Membranes; Shear flow KW - Computational fluid dynamics simulations; Dynamic membrane filtration; Dynamic membranes; Energy efficient; Energy inputs; Fouling control; Linear velocity; Membrane filtrations; Oil/water emulsion; Rotating spacer KW - Microfiltration ID - scholars16690 TI - A Rotary Spacer System for Energy-Efficient Membrane Fouling Control in Oil/Water Emulsion Filtration AV - none UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85131348705&doi=10.3390%2fmembranes12060554&partnerID=40&md5=225ed2b5bc238b61585448570a492149 A1 - Mat Nawi, N.I. A1 - Mohd Lazis, A. A1 - Rahma, A. A1 - Elma, M. A1 - Bilad, M.R. A1 - Md Nordin, N.A.H. A1 - Wirzal, M.D.H. A1 - Shamsuddin, N. A1 - Suhaimi, H. A1 - Yusof, N. JF - Membranes VL - 12 Y1 - 2022/// SN - 20770375 PB - MDPI ER -