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We present a comprehensive study of cross-flow ultrafiltration (UF) of charge-stabilized suspensions, under low-salinity conditions of electrostatically strongly repelling colloidal particles. The axially varying permeate flux, near-membrane concentration-polarization (CP) layer and osmotic pressure profiles are calculated using a macroscopic diffusion-advection boundary layer method, and are compared with filtration experiments on aqueous suspensions of charge-stabilized silica particles. The theoretical description based on the one-component macroion fluid model (OCM) accounts for the strong influence of surface-released counterions on the renormalized colloid charge and suspension osmotic compressibility, and for the influence of the colloidal hydrodynamic interactions and electric double layer repulsion on the concentration-dependent suspension viscosity η, and collective diffusion coefficient Dc. A strong electro-hydrodynamic enhancement of Dc and η, and likewise of the osmotic pressure, is predicted theoretically, as compared with their values for a hard-sphere suspension. We also point to the failure of generalized Stokes-Einstein relations describing reciprocal relations between Dc and η. According to our filtration model, Dc is of dominant influence, giving rise to an only weakly developed CP layer having practically no effect on the permeate flux. This prediction is quantitatively confirmed by our UF measurements of the permeate flux using an aqueous suspension of charged silica spheres as the feed system. The experimentally detected fouling for the largest considered transmembrane pressure values is shown not to be due to filter cake formation by crystallization or vitrification.

A gas-liquid hollow fibre membrane contactor (HFMC) process has been introduced for carbon dioxide (CO 2) separation from biogas where aqueous ammonia (NH 3) is used to chemically enhance CO 2 absorption and initiate heterogeneous nucleation of the reaction product ammonium bicarbonate at the membrane-solvent interface. Aqueous ammonia absorbents (2 to 7 M) were initially used in single pass for CO 2 separation from a synthetic biogas where nucleation of ammonium bicarbonate crystals was observed at the perimeter of the micropores. Recirculation of the aqueous ammonia absorbent encouraged the growth of ammonium bicarbonate crystals on the shell-side of the membrane that measured several microns in diameter. However, at high aqueous NH 3 concentrations (3-7 M), lumen side crystallisation occurred and obstructed gas flow through the lumen of the HFMC. The suggested mechanism for lumen-side crystallisation was absorbent breakthrough into the lumen due to pore wetting which was promoted by low absorbent surface tension at high NH 3 concentration. Preferential shell-side nucleation can therefore be promoted by: (1) raising surface tension of the absorbent; and, (2) selection of a membrane with a more regulated pore shape than the PTFE membrane used (d/L 0.065) as both actions can diminish solvent ingress into the pore. This was evidenced using 2 M NH 3 absorbent where shell-side crystallisation was evidenced without the onset of lumen side crystallisation. Raising surface tension through the inclusion of salt into the chemical absorbent also promoted greater CO 2 flux stability. Importantly, this study demonstrates that chemically enhanced HFMC are an attractive prospect for gas-liquid separation applications where reaction product recovery offers further economic value.